Anywhere but Here (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Mona Simpson
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: Primarily the 1960’s and the 1970’s
- Setting: Bay City, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles, California
- Principal Characters: Ann, Adele, Carol, Lillian
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, North America or North Americans, Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, 1940’s, Midwest, 1930’s, California, West, U.S., Single parents or single-parent families, Hollywood
- Locales: Bay City, WI, Hollywood, CA
The Novel
Anywhere but Here is the fictionalized saga of an American family. Three generations of women take turns narrating chapters of a personal and cultural history that spans the years between the turn of the twentieth century and the beginning of the 1980’s. The novel’s nine parts do not proceed chronologically. The speakers relate events as they recall them, each adding detail and emotion to one another’s stories.
The first batch of memories is delivered by Ann, beginning with her infuriated mother’s practice of stopping the car on the roads of the...
[The entire page is 2617 words long]
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