Overlay: A Tale of One Girl's Life in 1970s Las Vegas [Kindle Edition]

Marlayna Glynn Brown (Author)

Book Description

*2013 Winner of a Next Generation Indie Book Award*

Fans of The Glass Castle, The Liar's Club and Angela's Ashes will appreciate this award-winning true tale of survival and resilience recorded in spare and convincing prose. This memoir describes the author's turbulent 1970s Las Vegas childhood in a haunting voice full of simple youthful perception.

Born into an ongoing cycle of alcoholism and abandonment amidst fallen adults, Marlayna develops a powerful sense of self-preservation in contrast to the people entrusted with her care. Her profound story explores the characters and events populating her life as she moves from home to home, parent to parent, family to family, ultimately becoming homeless at the age of fourteen.

Out of the resources of her remarkable childhood emerges an inner strength that will charm and captivate readers and remain in their consciousness long after the last page of her story has been turned.

"The language of gambling makes an interesting and recurrent motif throughout this memoir, asserting that it is only by chance that any one of us could have traveled this very same road. Decks are shuffled, hands are played. An ultimately uplifting, beautifully written, and inspiring memoir." - Fiona Edmonds

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marlayna Glynn Brown is a nomadic mother of four, author, screenwriter, actress, producer, poet, yogi and photographer. Marlayna was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada but now lives wherever she lays her head. Marlayna's works include Overlay: A Tale of One Girl's Life in 1970s Las Vegas, City of Angeles, Big as All Hell and Half of Texas, Bleach the Sheets and Forty-Something Phoenix. Her 2009 short film, People That do Something, is based upon a chapter from Overlay and can be viewed on Youtube. Visit Marlayna at www.marlaynaglynnbrown.com.

Product Details

• File Size: 543 KB
• Print Length: 258 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Marlayna Glynn Brown (March 7, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007IKDI0Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,784 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Authors
  • #28 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Authors
  • #35 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Women

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Kept reading well into the night...didn't want the story to end March 27, 2012

By Ann Ryan

Format:Kindle Edition

I couldn't put the book down; I kept turning the pages, reading well into the night.

A story of survival even in the most terrible of circumstances. A child who lost her innocence early on due to her mother's neglect and her father's alcoholism, but who ended up rising above it, guided by her own morality and sense of right/wrong, despite never being taught. It came from somewhere; within.

This book is about the author's childhood but I think there should be a sequel: I want to know how she managed to navigate this world as an adult when she essentially had to learn it all on her own. How did those childhood experiences shape her as she entered her 20s, 30s...? I guess that is a testament to the author: That I was left with wanting more, and was sad when the story ended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable Memoir January 9, 2013

By our3BEES

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was hooked right away on this book. I truly could not put it down. It is a memoir about the author's life from ages 4-17. It was hard to hear of her struggles, especially knowing there are so many children with similar experiences. Her strength was very inspiring and would help others with similar struggles. I did not agree with her statement at the end that she takes responsibility for her actions. It felt as though she was putting part blame on herself which I didn't understand. She was a victim of her circumstances but she handled it the best that she could. Children in those situations have no choices-just survival.
I will definitely be reading her next book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars She acheives what few authors do: making you care April 3, 2012

By Kelly

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

When I picked up this book, a part of me expected a quick read akin to the reprinting of years of diary entries. What I didn't expect was that within a few pages of the end, I would realize that in what remained of the story there was no way I was going to learn as much of her as I wanted to know.

Some authors are able to help the reader create an emotional connection with the characters they create, and in so doing make the reader somewhat sad at the final turn of the page that their journey with that character has ended. Forevermore these characters linger in our mind's eye, and we imagine that somewhere, in some dimension into which the author was able to give us a glimpse, the character is alive and continuing their journey. Marlayna accomplishes the same feeling of connection with her main character, a fact that is made all the more overwhelming when the reader realizes that her protagonist is not a fictional creation; she is real. And she weaves this story with a humanity that leaves the reader feeling as if the emotions could leap from the pages to underscore particularly poignant observations.

One of the things that make writing a memoir tricky (aside from overcoming the obvious question of "who would care?") is in telling a real life story in such a way that the reader feels as if the journey is shared and extraordinary, but not pedantic. Anyone wanting to know what it is like to navigate the minefield that is poverty and addiction, a task difficult enough for adults, but harder yet for children, needs to read this book. In her uniquely simple, unassuming way Ms.... Brown presents her story in a fashion that leaves you with an undeniable urge to invent a time machine just to find her adolescent self, wrap her in a protective embrace and offer a heartfelt promise that "it will all be okay." And you'll mean it when you wish that you could. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting July 19, 2012

By Mary Ann Castro

Format:Kindle Edition

An easy read, seemed like the child herself was writing. Her lonely life was sad, and also the life of the surrounding children were very sad. I am a few years older than she, and I too had an alcoholic father who left us when I was 6 and the youngest of 4. When my mother had to go on welfare, we finally had fruit and other good food in the house. At least I did have a loving mother who sewed clothes for us and rode the bus everywhere and took us to clinics for our health and once for my teeth. (I too had bad teeth.) I'm glad she has children of her own to finally have a family. I do want to continue to read her next book to see how as an adult, she dealt with men, drinking, smoking, eating habits, and bringing up a family.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read June 30, 2012

By Oscar's mom

Format:Paperback

I've read literally hundreds of memoirs, and this was such a pleasant surprise. I look forward to reading more from Marlayna. There wasn't a single time when I lost interest in her story, or didn't want to keep turning the pages.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic journey from beginning to end... March 18, 2012

By Victoria

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a book that you simply cannot put down. Every page leaves you wanting more. More of the heart-wrenching, disturbing, glorious and compelling journey Marlayna Glynn Brown lived hooks you from page one. This book not only reveals Marlayna's story but through her masterful words, leaves us all examining choices, situations and decisions we have made in our own life story. A true inspiration, the story grabs you and simply does not let go.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Underlay to Overlay...and beyond February 20, 2013

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Finding an author who can create a memoir from the voice of a child flowing into a young teen and beyond is always refreshing but especially so when the author maintains the sense of educated dignity in the language, allowing the language of a child to remain of the period but informed with an adult's sensitivity of expression. That is precisely what Marlayna Glynn Brown has accomplished in this tough little book about the slings and arrows of growing up in a family with abusive parents, problems of addiction, foster care and eventual homelessness.

One pitfall that Brown avoids is that lugubrious pit of self-pity that taint so many memoirs of similar life conditions. Instead, this talented author, screenwriter, actress, producer, poet, yogi and photographer (yes, she does have the credentials of a Bachelor of Art in Literature and a Master of Science in Human Services) moves through this series of events both real and approaching fiction by keeping that wide-eyed trusting stance that children maintain when facing new ventures.

Our narrator speaks from the personal pronoun `I' in relating all of these experiences and yet she is able to insert healthy deep inhalations of fresh breath that somehow make us know that this resilient youngster is going to make it through - which she indeed does. There are more absurdly grotesque adult caricatures (except they happen to be real) than most anyone could imagine, and it is the manner in which the author wades through this detritus of humanity that gives her bounce and credibility - and the desire to reach out to her and embrace the one who manages to get through it all. This is a very good read! Grady Harp, February 13

More About the Author

Marlayna Glynn Brown is a nomadic mother of four, author, screenwriter, actress, producer, poet, yogi and photographer. Marlayna was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada but now lives wherever she lays her head.

Marlayna's works include Overlay: A Tale of One Girl's Life in 1970s Las Vegas, City of Angeles, Big as All Hell and Half of Texas, Bleach the Sheets and Forty-Something Phoenix.

Her 2009 short film, People That do Something, is based upon a chapter from Overlay and can be viewed on Youtube.
Visit Marlayna at www.marlaynaglynnbrown.com.