Sleep Before Evening by Magdalena Ball (eBook)
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Marianne is teetering at the edge of reason. A death in the family sends her brilliant academic career and promising future spiraling out of control until resentment towards those who shaped her past leads her on a wild and desperate search for the truth about herself. On the seedy side of New York, she meets Miles, a hip musician busking the streets and playing low-rent venues in a muddled bid to make his own dreams come true. In her new life, she finds anarchic squalor, home grown music and poetry, booze, drugs, sex, violence, love, loss … and, above all, exhilarating freedom on her troubled journey from sleep to awakening. This gritty, relentless story unfolds with the same cool detachment that motivates the central character to peel back the layers of her life and expose the painful scalding within. Read an excerpt from Sleep Before Evening Listen to Magdalena Ball read an excerpt of Sleep Before Evening View the Sleep Before Evening book trailer Click here for more information about Magdalena Ball Reviews: It’s been a while since I’ve read a literary young adult novel, especially one about a fall into drug addiction. Magdalena Ball’s Sleep Before Evening, published by Be Write Books, was a great way to return to the genre. When the grandfather of seventeen-year old scholarship student Marianne dies while playing chess with her, his death is the last cord holding her in her normal life. Her grandfather has been the only constant loving figure in her life. Her mother, Lily, loves her of course. She and Lily have a good relationship, but Lily’s second husband has just left the family, abandoning Marianne just as her father did years earlier. Grief and abandonment is tough for any teenager but when Mari encounters Miles, a somewhat older, self-destructive drug-addicted musician, the reader knows it’s only a matter of time before Mari’s life takes a downward spiral. Mari, unfortunately, is a kid and not as wise as the cynical reader. Very slowly, as if on a determined path, Mari goes from premarital sex with this guy to cocaine and heroin addiction. It’s a story about how drugs, sex, and grief can work together in a great choreography of subtle evil to deprive a lonely innocent soul of her willpower. Mari is a scholarship student who loves music and poetry. Her love of the arts is reflected in the poetically written book and in the way famous lines of poetry often jumps into her memory as a way of explaining her life. Thus, as certain elements of art call her to destruction, other aspects also try to save her. There are also memories of her grandfather, whose death Mari cannot quite accept because her mother allowed the hospital to cut off the life support. In the end, however, Mari’s mother does not stop her support for her. Mari is a typical teenager in many ways. Naïve in many ways, living by and through art (classical and modern), and unable to speak about her emotional needs. It’s always hard for an adult writer to create such a character. So often angsty teenagers are clichéd or unlikable or they just seem plain unreal. Here, however, the author does a good job. There were times I wanted to shake Mari because she reminded me of know-it-all teenagers who think they are free from danger. Other times I remembered my younger days when being allowed to hang out with older trendy types seemed like the greatest thing that could happen to a person. The story takes place in the past, in the Reagan era, but it doesn’t feel nostalgic or old-fashioned. Its geographical setting is New York City, my old haunt. Magdalena ball does a great job in showing the dangers of the New York art scene. This is not a book about someone falling into debauchery and those folks who like a happy read shouldn’t buy it. It’s a triumphant book and teenagers will like it, although they may react differently to many of the poetic passages. Carole McDonnell It took a little while for me to get into this novel, but once I was, I realised the power contained in the depiction of drug addiction and general abjectness. Marianne Cotton is a substantial, complex character, one who will stay with me ... a very good first novel. Marianne is playing chess with her grandfather Eric when he has a stroke. His death begins her spiral into a painful place, abandoning all she has known for a bitter world full of false pleasures and promises. She is only seventeen, and a good student, with a promising future. But her alternate journey is one of sex, drugs and blues, a seedy world that she may or may not be able to escape. the wordy gecko Marianne Cotton is a straight A student. Her loving grandfather provides the constant support of a caring father figure while her bipolar mother flaunts around the country chasing her dream of becoming a successful artist. But when her grandfather dies of an unexpected stroke and her mother's marriage falls apart, Marianne finds her stunning academic career unraveling and her prosperous future darkening. Marianne meets an exotic street music performer, Miles, who introduces her to the lures of the lower east side. Marianne's private school scholarship becomes unimportant and her easygoing teenage life is thrown away for one of sex, drugs and murky music clubs. Through Miles' music, freedom and connections Marianne opens her eyes to the depths and shadows of New York's rugged and dangerous inner city scene. This was a harrowing and believable book, which I actually really enjoyed! Magdalena Ball writes with such conviction and describes even the grittiest scenes with their own kind of beauty that makes this novel hard to put down. Having never read anything quite like this book before, I was dubious at the beginning. However, upon finishing the novel, I realized that I had been living as Marianne, experiencing her loss, grief and struggles. I lived the painful emotion behind the words of the narrator while sharing the experiences and feelings of Marianne; this sets the book apart. I would definitely recommend Sleep Before Evening to others but possibly to those older than myself. Throughout the novel Marianne is faced with the daunting trials of drug addiction, sex and the fight for survival in the big city. While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I think it might be better suited to people from 16 up. The words of Magdalena Ball in Sleep Before Evening will without a doubt stay with me for years to come. SMill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,Flamingnet Student Book Reviewer Reviewer Age: 14 Maggie Ball is a guest poster on this site (Boychick Lit), and I hope she noticed the hazing that our colleague Craig Alan Williamson got on these pages for his “college comedy.” Welcome to the boys’ club, Maggie. But we were expecting you to bring the fun and games. Instead, we get grief, from a woman who is both a looker and a thinker. Chick lit, it’s not, convenient as that would have been for the sake of contrast to the boychik variety. No, what we have here is a full-on rush of ambitious literary fiction. That it largely succeeds as such is no consolation to horny but bookish males hoping for a bit of fluff or a few chuckles while killing time in the airport departure lounge. Her central character, seventeen-year-old Marianne Cotton, doesn’t have a problem—she has onion-like layers of them—each drawing its quota of weeping as it is rudely stripped off to reveal more of the same beneath. And she seemed like such a nice, bright girl from the burbs, most likely to succeed, even if she’s headed for the success-starved achievements of the liberal arts. It all starts when Marianne’s godlike grandfather, who is her chess master and father-substitute, croaks. No clean death, this. He suffers a devastating stroke (as she watches) and lingers on painlessly (for him) until his tormented daughter (Marianne’s mother Lily) decides to pull the plug. Except she doesn’t bother to ask Marianne. That’s major life crisis number one (unless you count the time her natural father took a hike when she was three). To this point, Marianne has been an A-student out on politely competitive Long Island, bound for NYU with a scholarship and earnest plans to major in music. (Grandpa was fond of quoting Wittgenstein to her, so we guess she will also minor in philosophy with no strain.) Propelled by her grief over the loss of the only sane man in her life, Marianne goes into socioeconomic free-fall. It seems all she has to do is set foot on the Long Island Railroad and inevitably she’s spiraling down into the rock music and drug culture of lower Manhattan. A creepy-sexy harmonica player named Miles is her undoing, and he does a helluva job, deflowering her and getting her hooked on horse, not necessarily in that order (or maybe simultaneously—she doesn’t seem to notice or care). Life as a junkie and a wannabe groupie isn’t glamorous or fun, although at times Marianne seems to think it’s all she deserves. She delights in high-life sex with Miles, although unfortunately for voyeuristic male readers, we have to take her word for it—there’s no graphic content here. What follows for much of the book is a whipsawing of agony and ecstasy as Marianne struggles to scrape up enough cash to cop and occasionally also eat. Bukowski comes to mind—no glamorous existence there, either. (Some practitioners of fratire don’t seem to grasp this, fascinated as they seem to be with the puke on their own shoes. Ah, well.) Oh, it’s an artful whipsawing, in that the narrative respects the rhythms of the reader’s expectations. Just when we think Marianne will get smart and win back some self respect, she gets knocked down, someone dies, she gets a bad dose, she catches her boyfriend in flagrante with the band hag, and so on. (Fiction isn’t life. In its contrived worlds, as in the movies, people rise, suffer, and die on cue, even to a beat. It has to be that way—art is artifice, after all.) Just when Marianne has been beaten to a bloody pulp, she winds up in rehab, and there begins the arduous climb back toward reconciliation with her mother and the middle class. Late in the book as she starts to spill it in psychotherapy, we begin to appreciate (as she does) what precipitated her fall. Up until now, she’s blamed the inept other men in her life—her father and her mother’s subsequent string of loser lovers, along with the infamous Miles and an all-male cast of criminals, dope dealers, and sleazy employers. But here comes the epiphany: All along she’s been disappointed by the lack of love and attention from her mother, a self-absorbed painter with a manic-depressive lifestyle. Marianne’s image of herself has been reflected through her mother’s neuroses, and they both have to get through, and past, that core issue. So, relax, guys. You may be crass, sleazy, opportunistic, and inept. But you’re not at fault. This time, you'll have to let the women work it out. Boychick Lit I've never been addicted to drugs, but first-time novelist Magdalena Ball in Sleep Before Evening made me feel as if I had been so, in New York, way back in 1982. When Marianne's grandfather dies, her innocence disappears with him and she abandons her potential academic career in an effort to find herself and re-establish some much needed stability in her life. All this happens while falling in love, learning about sex, drugs, booze and homeless life, and generally growing up far too quickly with plenty of freedom. The year 1982, a year of torment in the life of sweet Marianne. She's brave yet she manages to reach the bottom. Will she climb back up? The characters are the reason I love this book. Their dependence on drugs and their all too human feelings come out vividly. Miles, for instance, might look like the typical bad guy at the bar but he's real all the way through. His feelings for Marianne and his addictions, hopes, dreams and sometimes even violence are straight-in-your-face all throughout the book. The writing is deep and memorable making the novel a true page-turner. The words are chosen masterly; the narrative and the imagery are excellent. The book sounds like the music Marianne wants to compose. The frequent flashes from the past complement the narrative and add a certain element of mystery to the story. The peak of the story is carefully reached, with the reader being let down and thinking it was reached quickly when in fact it was not. Indeed, not even Marianne was convinced by her earlier sudden decision to turn her life around. Sleep Before Evening is a well-written insight into addiction and the ugly life. A seemingly good girl can be able to let go so much and be thrown in with the most 'bad'. But if you want to know what happens to Marianne and all the other characters in Sleep Before Evening, you'll have to read the book! Maressa Zahra Sleep Before Evening is the story of a brilliant young woman who, after experiencing a death in the family, abandons the promise of her academic career for a desperate search within herself. Her new life is immersed in the dark side of New York, in all its squalor, booze, drugs, sex, violence, poetry, and original music. Despite the dangers, she braves morass for its stimulating freedom, and the opportunity to burrow underneath the layers of her life and uncover the inner pain that hurts so badly. A haunting and absorbing narrative of trying self-discovery. Margaret's Bookshelf This is a first novel by Magdalena Ball, author of The Art of Assessment and a collection of poetry, Quark Soup. She is also creator and editor of the Web's premier literary site, The Compulsive Reader. Mari and her mother Lily form the nucleus of the novel. Mari is a brilliant, but limited, high school student. She has a scholarship to NYU and is an accomplished pianist. Her father faded away from his family early in her life and she has found a substitute in her grandfather, Eric. Her mother, Lily, has remarried. She is an artist, subject to mood swings that are exhausting to Russ, her husband, and to Mari. Lily in fact drives Russ away by the jealousy that torments her. Eric has a stroke that is severe enough to leave him unconscious and without brain activity. His doctor recommends the removal of life support. Mari is opposed to this and insists at least that she be made part of the decision respecting her grandfather. Lily and Russ agree to this, but decide without her and Eric is gone before Mari knows what has happened. In an already difficult home Mari now experiences the extremes of alienation from her mother. Accustomed to visit the city at her pleasure, Mari begins to visit it more frequently. She meets Miles, a young street musician and, cast off and vulnerable, begins a relationship with him. A large part of the book becomes concerned with sex and drugs and - well, not rock and roll exactly - blues. Ball is very good at showing the shabby musicians that alternate between hopes and disappointments. Miles, the harmonica player, and Cath, the singer, and the other band members lead lives of noisy desperation with a heavy dependence on drugs. In this environment Mari becomes addicted. This is a remarkable novel, not one detail of which rings false. The setting is New York City and one of its suburbs and the time is the Reagan years. Ball has achieved the remarkable in recovering this particular time past and the drive of the narrative makes this a compelling and an exciting book. Bob Williams In her debut novel Sleep Before Evening, Magdalena Ball probes into the psychic maze of teenage delinquency. The book shows the angst of the heroine Marianne Cotton, a 17-year old girl of artistic aptitude, who grapples with the emptiness of life by resorting to drugs and ends up close to death. From the death of her affectionate grandfather to the nearly fatal drug overdose, Marianne’s life instantiates the pattern of disrupted attachment that underlies most (if not all) cases of juvenile delinquency. It is a fictional but thoroughly investigative case study of the tenderest age of life and the elements that render its disintegration. Set in the year 1982, Sleep Before Evening is a an engaging character-driven narrative, focusing on the images, speech, feelings, and dreams of Marianne, turning the inside of her mind out for the readers to explore. The emerging talent of her artistic spirit is checked by the death of her mentor-her grandfather-and her mother’s failure to provide the necessary love and care. Soon Marianne’s quest for peace and human attachment begins, carrying her astray like a detached leaf in a wild wind. The author’s control of the story is masterly; her insight combining with her exceptional narrative skills to write a story that presents the case of millions of young drug addicts, right here amidst us. Sleep Before Evening is certainly more than a novel. It is an honest piece of commentary on familial and societal elements that tear apart the tender fabric of innocence off youngsters’ lives. Marianne comes to the readers as the true picture of loneliness, her survival resting on the development of a human connection. Yet, her failure to find one in a crowded city because people are insecurely and frantically looking for career, fame, and money, is a thought-provoking tragedy. Whether or not she comes out these tempestuous waters is a separate issue; the need to understand her, look for her in our homes and lives, and help her out of her throes is crucial to our own survival as humans on this planet. Ernest Dempsey Life isn’t perfect, but seventeen-year-old Marianne Cotton is blessed with a loving and devoted grandfather who carefully schools her in piano, the arts, and literature. An “A” student, Marianne basks in his attention while eclipsing memories of her deadbeat dad. Lily Cotton, Marianne’s self-involved, bipolar mother, loves her daughter within her own limitations. The needy artist frequently requires tending when moods swing, forcing Marianne to table her own needs and emotions to care for her. A series of men has invaded their lives, providing a less than perfect environment for Marianne. The brilliant young woman manages to survive until her senior year in high school, when just before finals, Eric Cotton collapses into a vegetative state. Although Marianne is convinced her grandfather is still alive inside, the decision to pull the plug is made by Lily and her current husband, Russell. Marianne interprets this act as a deep betrayal, and reels in shock when she’s notified that her grandfather has been removed from life support. Magdalena Ball’s writing, insightful and deep, engages the reader from page one. Her characters linger long after the story resolves to its perfect conclusion. Highly recommended for a glimpse into the motivations behind heroin abuse, as well as thoroughly alluring family drama, Sleep Before Evening is powerfully addictive in its own right. Aaron Paul Lazar, Author of the LeGarde Mystery Series I tend to read novels in one of two ways. If I don't like it, I stop after about 30 minutes and don't touch it again. If I like it, I can't stop until I've finished. Sleep Before Evening falls into the latter category for me. It is a moving, gripping and gritty story of many different kinds of love, loss and addiction. The sordid world of heroin addiction is set against a background of chess, poetry, music and art to create a strong storyline. But the use of language and imagery in this novel are also fantastic. Sarah James The tale opens with seventeen year old Marianne and her grandfather Dr. Cotton playing chess and chatting as grandfathers and grandchildren will. Without warning Grandpa topples from his chair. Mari is sure he is teasing as Grandpa is wont to do. This time it is different. This time it is not Grandpa teasing, this time it is a stroke which has left Eric Cotton with no brain activity. From that beginning we follow Lily, Marianne’s melodrama driven mother, an artist who is lost in her painting, Russell Wilkinson the second husband, and Marianne. Eric Cotton, writer, philosopher, and speaker has been a mainstay of love, hope and stability for music prodigy Mari. Without him Mari feels her life is whirling without direction. Lily’s manic behavior, depression and suspicion begin to wear on them all. Russell leaves, Mari sets out on her own, finds a boy friend, drugs, sex, violence, loss, a job and an invigorating sense of freedom; life Mari had not anticipated spirals relentlessly onward. Twelve Step, Lily replaces Russell and Mari’s pain continues. Lily and Mari begin a tenuous tentative try at adult relationship. Before her life can progress toward a positive, fulfilling plane Marianne meets with a committee to decide her fate. The outcome of the meeting is a surprise for Mari and satisfying for the reader who is left with the feeling that some good can come even from pain, loss and prior hopelessness. On the pages of Sleep Before Evening Writer Magdalena Ball presents her debut novel and what a read it is! The reader is caught up in the narrative immediately as we sit with Marianne and her grandfather in the tranquility of a chess game overlooking Long Island Sound. Within a short time seventeen year old Marianne is tottering on the brink of disaster, the death of her grandfather has taken away the life line to which she has been clinging for most of her life and with it her anticipation for encouragement, understanding and adult leadership and has sent her into a miasma from which she will have trouble extricating herself. Her fine academic work to that point as well a promising musical future are sent into a disastrous downward whirl leading to nothing worthwhile until Mari’s understandable bitterness aimed at those who were instrumental in shaping her past propels the teen on a frantic search for the reality that is herself. The reader is provided an emotion charged peek into the awfulness of drug addiction and comes away with an understanding for how addiction CAN happen to anyone and can rocket onward even to a point of no return. For Marianne she was able to hit bottom, find the help she needed and begin to raise herself up and out of the depths she had plunged. Sleep Before Evening is a riveting and fast moving coming of age story dealing both with the attractive as well as the revolting aspects of anguish suffered by many who have fragile inner strength to guide them in their search for discovering who they truly are. Marianne at 17 is intelligent although she has learned to withdraw into herself as protection against the craziness of her family peopled with a childish, bemused pretty self centered mother, absentee father, patient but fed up step father, loss of the grandparents who had provided a steadying rock to which Mari might cling. Writer Ball presents plausible dialogue which become at times gritty and tart, well-fleshed characters who very well may be people we all have known; smiles, pleasantries, warts, foibles and all. The horrors of dependence and torpidity of drug scenes are portrayed in stark realism. Sleep Before Evening is a must read for the high school literature reading list, the public and high school library, the personal reading shelf as well as the counselor and therapists collection of books to loan to the students and clients with whom they are working. This is one of the books I will be suggesting to our school counselor. Molly Martin, Bookpleasures.com Magdalena Ball's Sleep Before Evening recounts a year in the life of 17-year-old Marianne, gifted pianist and straight-A student. A dazzling future lies ahead of her with a full scholarship to NYU as a stepping-stone. Then life rears its fickle head: her beloved grandfather dies, and her mother's unpredictable manic moods leave her feeling disoriented and betrayed. Seeking refuge on the anonymous streets of lower Manhattan's west side, she meets the beguiling twentysomething Miles who offers her comfort and the sweet taste of oblivion. And so begins a young girl's dark journey into night as she takes her first baby steps on the downward spiral of drug addiction. Though the reader might surely want to look away (as this one did), Ball does not. She renders every graphic detail in vivid color and with a fine, unflinching brush. We go with Marianne as she graduates from pot to heroin and pipe to needle. We follow close behind as she crawls willingly into the unthinkable places only hardcore addicts go. We watch her life predictably unravel, and Ball creates such a feeling of intimacy that we feel with Marianne, not just for her. Magdalena Ball demonstrates her mastery of the musicality of language and many scenes are imbued with striking imagery. Though the early scenes with Miles seem to follow romance plot formula, I surmised later on that Ball is telling the story always, and correctly, from Marianne's viewpoint, and of course, her experience of the world -- before her headlong plunge into the dark side of it -- is innocent, seen through the eyes of a young romantic, and the writing reflects her transition from child to adult. As the drama coils tighter and tighter, it is this quality of writing that keeps the reader utterly glued. As Marianne struggles with her demons and we almost hold our breath as she nears her eighteenth birthday, Magdalena Ball's Sleep Before Evening shows us that in order to find yourself, you sometimes have to lose yourself first. Cathy Biribauer, Rose & Thorns Once you start reading Marianne's tragic story you will not be able to finish. I read this book for 4 start hours. It was like the story took me over. The book connects to you the way Thirteen did. It is moving and harsh and every word seemed true. I thought it was a great read. Bria Phillips This is a well written, absorbing and fast moving coming of age story involving the ugliness and beauty of life. Marianne at 17 is a very clever girl but also a bit of a loner. When her much loved grandfather and friend dies she becomes more isolated and confused with her parents and school. In a year we clearly see the disasters of the downward spiralling path she follows, and it is a wonder that she survives. Her sense of self and loss are deeply felt by the reader ... she makes the decision to reclaim life and with the help of love and music matures with wisdom, insight, and conscious understanding of herself. Margaret Broughton The writing is exquisite, without ever calling attention to itself, which is a real feat. It is a pleasure to read. The pitch is perfect and the characters are so beautifully developed and very intriguing. Joan Schweighardt, author of Virtual Silence, Island, Homebodies and Gudrun's Tapestry Sleep Before Evening is music. Magdalena Ball weaves the sounds of poetry with an important story, compassionately 'sung'. Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This is the Place and Tracings There is so much beautiful writing here, soaring passages. Ruhama Veltfort, author of The Promised Land The dialogue is solid and believable, and the characters live and breathe and scratch themselves. The drug scenes and the horrors of dependence are especially well-rendered. Chad Hautmann, author of Billie's Ghost Sleep Before Evening is Magdalena Ball's debut novel. It is a beautifully crafted piece dealing with rejection and betrayal. Those of us who have felt that someone we loved deeply betrayed us, will form an immediate bond with the main character. Marianne is a vivacious nineteen year old, full of life and a brilliant scholar. She is at the peak of her powers when life decides it will test her character. Eric, her much loved grandfather and mentor, is suddenly struck down by a stroke. His death begins a series of events that takes Marianne into a world of darkness, filled with drugs and depression. Hurting to the core about the loss of Eric, and the fact that she was denied the chance to say goodbye, Marianne hates the world. She also starts to hate herself and seeks solace in the arms of Miles. He is a struggling musician who for a time is the maestro who conducts her life. Lily, Marianne's mother, also has her own demons eating at her. She is so wrapped up in her struggle to find happiness and fulfillment, that she cannot see what is happening to her daughter. It is a flaw that many parents are guilty of, not through an act of selfishness, but one brought on by their own struggle to survive. Confused and angry Marianne deteriorates to the stage where fantasy, reality and pain are so intermingled within her, that she loses contact with her real self. She was entering the stage of what the noted British psychiatrist Hall called, drifting back to the time before you are born. It is a stage along the path of mental recovery, where one's mind is in an infantile state, as it retreats from the hurt it finds itself in. Then when it feels strong enough it comes forward again, out of the darkness and into the light. This usually brings with it a positive change in an individual, making them mentally stronger and enhancing their creativity. This is a good story that makes the reader feel the highs and lows of Marianne as if they are their own. It reminds me of the style adopted by the Russian writer Dostoyevsky. He had the ability to get the reader to feel exactly what his characters felt; a gift Magdalena ball has too. Sleep Before Evening is a well written insight into human suffering. The author shows an in-depth knowledge of how to hold readers attention, and make them eager to know more. This is a debut novel that shows the author has many more novels inside her, which will provoke strong emotions in readers of her work. Warren Thurston, Owner of Pentales