A Book of Common Prayer (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joan Didion
- First Published: 1977
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1960’s, Revolutionaries, Revolutions, Friendship, Christianity, Death or dying, Jesus Christ, Martyrs or martyrdom, Central America or Central Americans, Sacrifice, Naivete
- Locales: New Orleans, LA, San Francisco, CA, Central America, Boca Grande (fictive)
Concerned that readers had difficulty perceiving the admirable qualities of Maria in Play It as It Lays, Didion, in A Book of Common Prayer, creates Charlotte Douglas, Maria's equivalent, observed and analyzed by an older, scientifically trained American woman. Grace Strasser-Mendana, orphaned at a young age in the United States, is the widow of a Latin American president who was probably killed by his brother in a struggle for power. What principally keeps Grace overseas, in fictional Boca Grande, is her desire to be close to her son, Gerardo, though he too is toying...
[The entire page is 1004 words long]
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