Escape Velocity
HOW ONE 70-YEAR-OLD PUSH-PULLED HER WAY OUT OF HER TOO-MUCH-NOT-ENOUGH FAMILY (70 MICRO-MEMOIRS, 70 WORDS EACH)
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SYNOPSIS
In Escape Velocity, a genre-bending constellation of 70 micro-memoirs of 70 words each, Deborah Sosin unravels a story of family entanglement with her loving but overbearing parents. Too much intrusion. Not enough space. What one therapist later dubbed “a mirage of intimacy.” A feisty, perceptive girl, Sosin strains against her family’s gravitational pull in search of a separate self. While navigating the confusing terrain of 1970s feminism, she endures a near-rape, enters a fraught romance with a gay man, and makes a momentous choice about an unexpected pregnancy.
Anna Hall’s striking illustrations add depth and humor to the scenes, which include transformative therapy sessions, an empowering alpine road trip, a clothing-optional retreat, and some miserable midlife dates. Escape Velocity also features Sosin’s poignant, often hilarious, teen diary excerpts and provocative “psychology interludes” that weave in concepts she learned as a therapist. At 70, Sosin faces the loss of both parents and the challenges—and delights—of flying solo. Escape Velocity sheds light on what it means to claim our true selves without severing our close family bonds.
AESTHETIC NOTE RE: PAPERBACK VS. EBOOK: Each chapter in the paperback is set on facing pages—title and illustration on the left, micro-memoir on the right. Anna’s wonderful drawings appear on different parts of the page and form an intentional part of the storyline (see samples below). In the ebook, because the content must adapt to different e-readers, the title, illustration, and micro appear in one position on one page. The content is exactly the same but the reading experience is different. (Hint: Hope you’ll choose the paperback!)
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