Product Description
Twenty-one-year-old narcoleptic Angel Duet knows her father harbors secrets. He loves and protects her, but his suspicious refusal to discuss her mother s death drives Angel to worship an image created from the little history she does have: her father's sketchy stories and her mother's treasured photography, studies of clouds that have hung in the their foyer for more than twenty years. When her father's girlfriend moves in, the photographs come down, and Angel's search for truth becomes an obsession. As she struggles to uncover the past and gain control over the narcolepsy that often fogs her world, Angel descends into a dizzying realm of drugs, adultery, and confused desire that further obscures reality. As Angel begins to expose a history she could never have imagined, she discovers her entire life has been anchored around lies. Accepting the truth, once found, is the key to understanding herself, her family, and her life. To truly awaken, Angel must realize that sometimes the gifts we receive are not what we want--and only in time do we see their worth. At first glance, Aberrations is the story of a young woman who learns to live with her narcolepsy, and who struggles immensely to understand how her mom died when she was born and to discover who her mother really was. But the debut novel of Penelope Przekop moves insightfully into a whole other dimension, showing the reader how each of us lives a life of aberration, that we each have some kind of stigma or conflict or handicap to overcome. We also discover that having the strength to first seek out the truth and then to live with it can be quite challenging.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 40 reviews)

A Great Read by Christine (Seattle)

5 Stars
October 03, 2009
This book was recommended by a colleague, another R.N. I'm usually disppointed by authors that try to incorporate medical concepts into a complex story line but this author did not disappoint. The medical concepts were accurate throughout the entire story. The book follows Angel, a young woman afflicted with narcolepsy. Angel is coping with the loss of her mother and dealing with a legacy of family lies she is now determined to uncover. Angel's search for answers leads her to some unlikey discoveries, including most importantly, self-discovery. Igive this book high marks...a great read!

Vivid Glance Into Our Own Aberrations by Scott

4 Stars
September 28, 2009
Penelope Przkop's book, Aberrations, is a vivid look into the aberrations in all of us. Angel Duet is a flawed character surrounded by and attracted to other flawed individuals. Rather than painting a picture of life as it should be, Przkop challenges us to cope with life as it is--raw, real, and sometimes uncomfortable to acknowledge. Her blend of literary reflection and suspenseful storyline keeps the reader riveted. I just had to know what Angel Duet's father was hiding! ~Scott Heydt [...]

Truth and Lies by Johanna C. Wood

4 Stars
May 29, 2009
What I found most enjoyable about this novel was the exploration of the need for truth. Ms. Przekop makes good use of the idea of being trapped by lies - almost everyone in the novel is harmed by the lies they live with. Watching Angel "wake up" enough to begin to recognize the lies, and become transformed through her journey to truth was enlightening. And I liked that Carla wasn't the "evil stepmom" but the agent for introducing truth. This is a "southern" novel, and some of the vernacular was intrusive for me - I kept being surprised by "thang". Also, I was uncomfortable with Angel's thoughts that a baby would make everything different - that she would have someone to fill that "mother" need. Too many girls have babies to "get" something, instead of "give" something. Fortunately, Angel has a good support system to make sure her baby is well-cared for. My copy has a great set of book club questions.

Awesome book by Lisa Autry (Kulpmont, PA United States)

5 Stars
May 16, 2009
A must read book! I had a hard time putting the book down and what a surprise ending! Angel's life is certainly not ideal. She has an illness which in many ways disables her. Angel manages to get herself in situations which complicates her life even more. After Angel finds out her life is lies she is determined to find the truth.

fascinating portrayal of narcolepsy by cln724 (Princeton, NJ USA)

5 Stars
April 25, 2009
This book is a fascinating portrayal of a young woman suffering from narcolepsy, a disease that means she can pass out at any moment. It's embarrassing, it's limiting (she cannot drive) and even when she's awake, she's tired all the time. It reads as if the author herself has narcolepsy (or a close relative with it), but apparently she educated herself by spending time in narcolepsy discussion groups. As I read the story, I felt that I was getting a real understanding and empathy for what it's like to live with this condition. However there's much more to the story. Angel, the protagonist, lost her mother at a young age and longs desperately for a motherly presence in her life. Unfortunately she has an "evil stepmother" who acts as if the narcolepsy is just an excuse for laziness. There are secrets everywhere. What really happened to Angel's mother? Not only does Angel crave the feeling of Mother, but she is also on a quest for The Truth (with a capital T). The suffocating atmosphere of the small Southern town means plenty of people have something to hide. Who is secretly gay? Who is secretly cheating on his wife? But beware: the truth may not always set you free. Although Angel's life could be seen as tragic, the author makes it so much more: a warm and compelling tale of personal growth.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	Narcolepsy: A Funny Disorder That's No Laughing Matter by Marguerite J. Utley (Author) This book provides accurate facts about all aspects of narcolepsy, a little-known neurological sleep disorder. It is estimated that 150,000-250,000 people in the U.S. have narcolepsy, but most of those have not yet been diagnosed. In the past, patients have seen an average of five or more physicians over a decade or longer before receiving a correct diagnosis of narcolepsy. As the public becomes better informed and more doctors are entering the field of sleep medicine, people are being...
	Slackjaw: A memoir by Jim Knipfel (Author) The acclaimed comic memoir by the popular New York Press columnist. ... "An extraordinary emotional ride. It is maniacally aglow with a born storyteller's gifts of observation and an amiably deranged sense of humor."-- TheThomas Pynchon "Knipfel may be blind, but his artistic vision is as stunning as a sunset over the Brooklyn Bridge....It's not like any of the other memoirs you're reading."-- Entertainment Weekly "Life hasn't been easy for Jim Knipfel. He's blind. He has...
	Narcoleptic Sunday by Jeremy Haun (Author), Brian Koschak (Illustrator) Jack Larch can sleep anywhere. Buses, police stations, strip clubs.... In fact, being a narcoleptic, he can't help but sleep. But Jack's condition doesn't make him a murderer. Or does it? After a one-night stand with the girl of his dreams, he wakes to find her dead and himself a suspect in her murder. Following a series of anonymous clues, Jack fights for his life as he gets closer to the secret surrounding her mysterious death.
	Fantastical Adventures of Sleepy Steve (The Fantastical Adventures of Sleepy Steve) by Deronte Smith (Author) After relocating to a new school, Steve Jackson finds himself paired with a group of four kids; two girls and two boys, from all walks of life who learn each other's culture through a class assignment while also learning of Steve's sleeping disability. Tune in for a fantastic voyage of excitement and laughs as the kids learn lessons in life, how to deal with the sleeping episodes of Sleepy Steve, and how Steve tries to bring his family back together.
	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel by Lisa See (Author) In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, an “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s written a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on the fan and compose...