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An Imperfect Rapture
An Imperfect Rapture in Bloomington, MN
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"Written with the spare, sensual, and deeply evocative prose of a master, this brave and ultimately transcendent memoir is an absolute gem. What Kelly J. Beard accomplishes here is stunning: by stepping nakedly back into her youth as the daughter of Christian fundamentalists, a lifelong couple whose love for one another never seemed to wane, she also steps back into violence and neglect, poverty and the shame of the poor, the striving for one's very selfhood when few seem to be able to help or pay much attention. And Beard renders all of this, and more, with a poet's clear-eyed search for the truth.
An Imperfect Rapture
is a plaintive hymn of forgiveness, and it moved me to tears many times over. This is, quite simply, a beautiful book."
—Andre Dubus III, author of
Gone So Long
and
Dirty Love
"Haunting in its recall, this elegiac book spins through a galaxy of fundamentalism, poverty and mental illness. Instead of 'coming of age,' it's a 'coming to terms' story, burning with desire to cut loose from a demon-possessed past. It's an eyewitness account of what happened inside a dark house. Beard's writing is vast, engulfing, accomplished. In many ways A
n Imperfect Rapture
is itself a faith healing."
—Janisse Ray, author of
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
(Milkweed Editions)
"
is transcendent—a story of personal grace and self-realization, one woman's courageous path through the shadows of a fundamentalist youth. The memoir itself is a kind of prayer, a kind of promise, in which the vibrant prose shimmers, as in this passage, with 'a dreamy quality, as though conjured from smoke, trailing the razor edge of reality…' A luminous debut."
—Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, author of
Presentimiento: A Life in Dreams
"I am deeply shaken and moved by Kelly Beard's conscientious, harrowing, and psychologically acute memoir of her childhood and youth. She evokes the confusing, abusive, fundamentalist world of her impoverished family with an eerie precision and clarity.
is an insightful, courageous book."
—Edward Hirsch, author of
Gabriel: A Poem
The Living Fire
"From religion to love to death to demons to angels to discovering the secret mechanisms of forgiveness,
is, in fact, rapturously perfect. Kelly Beard's debut memoir is not to be missed."
—Connie May Fowler, author of
Before Women Had Wings
A Million Fragile Bones
An Imperfect Rapture
is a plaintive hymn of forgiveness, and it moved me to tears many times over. This is, quite simply, a beautiful book."
—Andre Dubus III, author of
Gone So Long
and
Dirty Love
"Haunting in its recall, this elegiac book spins through a galaxy of fundamentalism, poverty and mental illness. Instead of 'coming of age,' it's a 'coming to terms' story, burning with desire to cut loose from a demon-possessed past. It's an eyewitness account of what happened inside a dark house. Beard's writing is vast, engulfing, accomplished. In many ways A
n Imperfect Rapture
is itself a faith healing."
—Janisse Ray, author of
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
(Milkweed Editions)
"
is transcendent—a story of personal grace and self-realization, one woman's courageous path through the shadows of a fundamentalist youth. The memoir itself is a kind of prayer, a kind of promise, in which the vibrant prose shimmers, as in this passage, with 'a dreamy quality, as though conjured from smoke, trailing the razor edge of reality…' A luminous debut."
—Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, author of
Presentimiento: A Life in Dreams
"I am deeply shaken and moved by Kelly Beard's conscientious, harrowing, and psychologically acute memoir of her childhood and youth. She evokes the confusing, abusive, fundamentalist world of her impoverished family with an eerie precision and clarity.
is an insightful, courageous book."
—Edward Hirsch, author of
Gabriel: A Poem
The Living Fire
"From religion to love to death to demons to angels to discovering the secret mechanisms of forgiveness,
is, in fact, rapturously perfect. Kelly Beard's debut memoir is not to be missed."
—Connie May Fowler, author of
Before Women Had Wings
A Million Fragile Bones
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