Bright Angel Time (Harvest Book) [Paperback]

Martha McPhee (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: February 12, 1999

From a “gifted novelist, a writer with the ability to surprise and move us” (New York Times) comes a “funny and acerbic” (Time) road novel set during the 1970s, in which an eight-year-old girl records her mother’s fateful dalliance with sex, drugs, and New Age spirituality. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Mom learned to fall backward into the arms of strangers without hesitating or looking over her shoulder. She learned to fall freely, with her muscles relaxed and her mind open..." So begins Martha McPhee's first novel, Bright Angel Time, a story rooted in the freewheeling, free-falling decade of the 1970s. For Kate, the tale's narrator, life starts to crumble the day of the first moon landing. That is when her father takes off with his lover and leaves his family high and dry. Soon after, Kate's mother, Eve, falls in love with Anton, a man with a smarmy charisma that draws one in even as it invites second thoughts. A hippie pied piper, Anton lures Eve and her three daughters into a cross-country odyssey from New Jersey to a commune in Big Sur. There his own children from a previous marriage join the menagerie.

McPhee captures the era when women's liberation mixed with notions of free love led to sexual license, and Gestalt therapy promised enlightenment. Seen through the eyes of Kate and her two sisters, this is not so much a time of freedom as one of confusion, adult carelessness, and neglect. Kate's steely-eyed view of her parents' world, combined with McPhee's brilliant imagery and deft characterization, makes this '70s-era tale a book for the '90s. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-The world, according to eight-year-old Kate, is coming apart. Her father has left and her mother is distraught and angry. Kate narrates this tale of a journey she takes in 1970, the first leg of which is with her mother and two older sisters cross country to the West Coast. There her mother joins Anton, an itinerant therapist she had fallen for earlier, literally, while doing the "trust" exercise of falling backwards into waiting arms. Kate's pilgrimage continues as they travel with Anton and his children through the Southwest in a camper. The girl's life, once rock solid, becomes airy and chaotic, with glimpses of sex and drugs, friendship and passion. Kate clings to durable scraps of her life-road maps, a rock with gold her geologist father gave her, and the names of the geologic formations he loved to say, such as Bright Angel Shale. McPhee's flowing first novel, rich with the emotions of loss and love, captures the feelings of childhood. The author writes with humor, compassion, and a strong sense of location and the effects of dislocation. Kate is a sometimes charming, sometimes tragic, but never sentimental child. Her observations are sharp and true whether her eye is turned to the reckless, floundering adults or the shimmering heat and beauty of the desert. In the novel's pivotal scene, which takes place in the Grand Canyon, Kate comes to realize that she is more resilient than she thought. She knows that she will endure.
Susanne Bardelson, Wheat Ridge Public Library, Jefferson County, CO
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (February 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156005867
• ISBN-13: 978-0156005869
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,746,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A few years ago, when a legendary bond trader claimed he could transform Martha McPhee into a booming Wall Street success, she toyed with the notion -- but wrote Dear Money instead. McPhee has been honored with fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2002 she was nominated for a National Book Award. Her essays and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Newark Star Ledger, Vogue, More, Harper's Bazaar, Self, Traveler, Travel & Leisure, among many others. She lives in New York City with her children and husband, the poet and writer Mark Svenvold.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a flawed novel but a wonderful journey, November 25, 2002

By 

Bibliophile (Galena,IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bright Angel Time (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

I loved the rhythm of this novel and the voice of the narrator, a child's experience as told by the adult. It begins with one of the most eloquent paragraph's that I've ever encountered. Unfortunately, I felt that certain themes in the book could have been more fully expanded and characters seemed to swim just out of reach. This novel was brilliant at times and at others, it left me wanting and needing further explanation. What happened to Julia with the stranger and the car? Why do some characters seem to vanish every other chapter? The plot runs a strange course of moving forward and backward in time. It is as though the narrator has a lapse of memory or does not know how to tell the story from beginning to end. The haphazard journeys through time produce the sense that you are not fully hearing "either" (ie the pre-Anton or post-Anton) story. On the other hand, the story is told with a candor that makes one feel as though a trusted friend is explaining the bizarre nature of her childhood.
I will read more of this author's works. I know that as she becomes more comfortable crafting books, there will be more depth and cohesiveness to them. With that said, I will eagerly begin reading "Gorgeous Lies" tomorrow. :-)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I really loved this beautiful and disturbing novel., March 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bright Angel Time (Hardcover)

People complain about the ending of this book. However, I found it far more believable than tying things up in a pretty little ribbon would have been after all the ugly realism that preceded it. Like the ending of the movie Thelma and Louise, the ambiguity is what is so very interesting about it. Because we never learn what happens to the girls we are free to draw our own conclusions from among all the hopeful and painful possibilities. I found myself worried sick about those kids and wishing I could rescue all of them from that deplorable chaos and misguided "love", and I was deeply touched by the way they yearned to embrace it in the absence of any real stability.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good start but goes nowhere after that, March 29, 2001

By 

Bookreader (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bright Angel Time (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

When I saw this book I recognized the name and wondered if Martha McPhee is related to John McPhee (whose writtings I enjoy reading). The setting certainly seemed John McPHee like, and being trained as a geologist I was intrigued by the Grand Canyon reference. I later learned Martha is John's daughter. It was only a few pages before I got to know and care about the characters. That is perhaps the best and worst of "Bright Angel Time". Once all the characters are introduced the novel goes nowhere. And since we are viewing the action through the eyes and mind of an 8 year old girl the novel goes nowhere in a way that an eight year old would go. The story slowly became tedious to read since the characters remain the same throughout their experiences. I didn't find any of the characters to be likable or redeming in any way. The mother is weak, the father is too uptight, and Anton is too contradictory. But I loved the fact that an eight year old could quote geology! Ms. McPhee does a great job expressing the freedom of the 1960's. I am certainly enviable of those who can live their lives on the road. I found it interesting to look at the comparison of a free spirit against an uptight planner, but with little or no interest in the characters the comparison fall flat. I look forward to more from Martha McPhee. She takes her father's style further into the realm of imagination.