Lithium for Medea is as much a tale of addiction—to sex, drugs, and dysfunctional family chains—as it is one of mothers and daughters, their mutual rebellion and unconscious mimicry. Here is the story according to Rose—the daughter of a narcissistic, emotionally crippled mother and a father who shadowboxes with death in hospital corridors—as she slips deeply and dangerously into the lair of a cocaine-fed artist in the bohemian squalor of Venice. Lithium for Medea sears us with Rose’s breathless, fierce, visceral flight—like a drug that leaves one’s perceptions forever altered.
“Kate Braverman's Lithium for Medea is jumpy, kinetic, and finally very powerful, a deeply felt piece of work by a very gifted young writer.” –Joan Didion
“[Lithium for Medea] has the power and intensity you don't see much outside of rock and roll.” –Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone
“Kate Braverman has the ability to write a great tragedy.” –New York Times
“[Lithium for Medea] lays bare the dark side of the family while ironically affirming the primacy of familial allegiance … The vividness of poetic image is present from the first page.” –Miami Herald
KATE BRAVERMAN is a native of Los Angeles who grew up surrounded by the counterculture of San Francisco. She has published several novels, including The Incantation of Frida K. (2002), Wonders of the West (1993), Palm Latitudes (1988), and Lithium for Medea (1979), books of poetry—Postcards from August (1990), Hurricane Warnings (1987), Lullaby for Sinners (1980), and Milkrun (1977)—and a collection of stories, Squandering the Blue (1990). She won the O. Henry Award in 1992.
Lithium for Medea is as much a tale of addiction—to sex, drugs, and dysfunctional family chains—as it is one of mothers and daughters, their mutual rebellion and unconscious mimicry. Here is the story according to Rose—the daughter of a narcissistic, emotionally crippled mother and a father who shadowboxes with death in hospital corridors—as she slips deeply and dangerously into the lair of a cocaine-fed artist in the bohemian squalor of Venice. Lithium for Medea sears us with Rose’s breathless, fierce, visceral flight—like a drug that leaves one’s perceptions forever altered.
Praise
“Kate Braverman's Lithium for Medea is jumpy, kinetic, and finally very powerful, a deeply felt piece of work by a very gifted young writer.” –Joan Didion
“[Lithium for Medea] has the power and intensity you don't see much outside of rock and roll.” –Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone
“Kate Braverman has the ability to write a great tragedy.” –New York Times
“[Lithium for Medea] lays bare the dark side of the family while ironically affirming the primacy of familial allegiance … The vividness of poetic image is present from the first page.” –Miami Herald
Author
KATE BRAVERMAN is a native of Los Angeles who grew up surrounded by the counterculture of San Francisco. She has published several novels, including The Incantation of Frida K. (2002), Wonders of the West (1993), Palm Latitudes (1988), and Lithium for Medea (1979), books of poetry—Postcards from August (1990), Hurricane Warnings (1987), Lullaby for Sinners (1980), and Milkrun (1977)—and a collection of stories, Squandering the Blue (1990). She won the O. Henry Award in 1992.
