A Book of Common Prayer (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Joan Didion
- First Published: 1977
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: The 1960’s
- Setting: Boca Grande, a fictitious country in Central America, with flashback scenes to San Francisco and New Orleans
- Principal Characters: Charlotte Douglas, Grace Strasser-Mendana, Leonard Douglas, Warren Bogart, Marin Bogart
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s
- Locales: New Orleans, LA
Form and Content
A Book of Common Prayer presents the central character, Charlotte Douglas, through the first-person narration of Grace Strasser-Mendana. Joan Didion has developed and finely honed a style which is abrupt and journalistic, stripped of any expansive descriptions or explanations. The strength of her fiction rests in this dramatic style, which she uses in this novel not only to bring the reader close to the events and characters but also to render Christian allusion, imagery, and symbolism. Sometimes through dialogue alone, she presents ironic and complex...
[The entire page is 2271 words long]
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