A Marker to Measure Drift

Posted on 13 August 2017 by Alexander Maksik

A New York Times Notable BookA hypnotic, spellbinding novel set in Greece and Africa, where a young Liberian woman reckons with a haunted past On a remote island in the Aegean, Jacqueline is living alone in a cave accessible only at low tide With nothing to protect her from the elements, and with the fabric between herself and the world around her increasingly frayed, she is permeated by sensory experiences of remarkable intensity the need for shade in the relentless heat of the sun baked island hunger and the occasional bliss of release from it the exquisite pleasure of diving into the sea The pressing physical realities of the moment provide a deeper relief the euphoric obliteration of memory and, with it, the unspeakable violence she has seen and from which she has miraculously escaped Slowly, irrepressibly, images from a life before this violence begin to resurface the view across lush gardens to a different sea a gold Rolex glinting on her father s wrist a glass of gin in her mother s best crystal an adoring younger sister a family, in the moment before their fortunes were irrevocably changed Jacqueline must find the strength to contend with what she has survived or tip forward into full blown madness Visceral and gripping, extraordinary in its depiction of physical and spiritual hungers, Alexander Maksik s A Marker to Measure Drift is a novel about ruin and faith, barbarism and love, and the devastating memories that contain the power both to destroy us and to redeem us. Read A Marker to Measure Drift By Alexander Maksik – kino-fada.fr Jacqueline is in flight As part of the Liberian upper class, she has been forced to flee her country as its dictatorship collapsed into smoke and bone, violence and anarchy She s washed up on the shore of a touristed Aegean island with no money, no shelter, no plan, and no one to call for assistance You might think these would be her most immediate concerns, but they are not Jacqueline s external straits pale in comparison to her dire internal landscape Her body is not all that s taken flig Jacqueline is in flight As part of the Liberian upper class, she has been forced to flee her country as its dictatorship collapsed into smoke and bone, violence and anarchy She s washed up on the shore of a touristed Aegean island with no money, no shelter, no plan, and no one to call for assistance You might think these would be her most immediate concerns, but they are not Jacqueline s external straits pale in comparison to her dire internal landscape Her body is not all that s taken flight Her psyche is also on the run A Marker to Measure Drift is an exceedingly well crafted portrayal of catastrophic traumatic shock Most characters in stories...I was compelled by Maksik s debut novel, YOU DESERVE NOTHING, and eagerly anticipatedfrom this author In this, Maksik s second novel, I was bewitched once again by his delicate prose his ability to spin words, connecting them like fine silver filaments, into whirls of poetic images I like to linger on Maksik s beautiful passages, such as There were the patchwork farms and vineyards sloping gently to the white frothing coastline There was the church, pink as bloodied water, and beyond I was compelled by Maksik s debut novel, YOU DESERVE NOTHING, and eagerly anticipatedfrom this author In this, Maksik s second novel, I was bewitched once again by his delicate prose his ability to spin words, connecting them like fine silver filaments, into whirls of poetic images I like to linger on Maksik s beautiful passages, such as There were the patchwork farms and vineyards sloping gently to the white frothing coastl...This astonishingly good story by Maksik tests our empathy levels We live beside a homeless woman on a Greek volcanic island in the Mediterranean Jacqueline her name is, named after Kennedy s wife It is hope, I think, that makes her parents name her this, for how can they know what she will become, how she will look, how she will act But Jacqueline lives up to the dignity of her name, living as she does in an ocean cave, or in parks under old cypress trees, or in abandoned buildings overlookin This astonishingly good story by Maksik tests our empathy levels We live beside a homeless woman on a Greek volcanic island in the Mediterranean Jacqueline her name is, named after Kennedy s wife It is hope, I think, that makes her parents name her this, for how can they know what she will become, how she will look, how she will act But Jacqueline lives up to the dignity of her name, living as she does in an ocean cave, or in parks under old cypress trees, or in abandoned buildings overlooking the sea We walk with her when she buys almonds, or a peach and a tomato We are with her when she sleeps on concrete that gets cold at night, awaking bruised and aching in the morning She does not think overmuch, but...Right in the very heart of human civilization Greece Alexander Maksik places his main character, a woman who has been reduced to the most animalistic instincts for survival.Named Jacqueline ironically after the American first lady she is a victim of PTSD, having witnessed a yet to be revealed catastrophic event that left her the sole survivor of her family Originally from Liberia, Jacqueline s father s fate was twinned with the warlord Charles Taylor as the cou... A Marker to Measure Drift, a novel by Alexander Maksik, engulfs you in an intimate experience You delve deep into Jacqueline s world Maksik does an outstanding job of placing you in her shoes You feel her hunger, loneliness, homelessness, discomfort, and restlessness against the backdrop of the beautiful tourist island of Santorini.As the story progresses, you are exposed to Jacqueline s other world, a world of memories, an escape from her present reality Maksik shifts seamlessly from one to A Marker to Measure Drift, a novel by Alexander Maksik, engulfs you in an intimate experience You delve deep into Jacqueline s world Maksik does an outstanding job of placing you in her shoes You feel her hunger, loneliness, homelessness, discomfort, and restlessness against the backdrop of the beautiful tourist island of Santorini.As the story progresses, you are exposed to Jacqueline s other world, a world of memories, an escape from her present reality Maksik shifts seamlessly from one to the other Slowly, these memories form into a tragic past You discover Jacqueline s family met a tragic end in their home of Liberia after the downfall of its leader Taylor She is a refugee While the novel entails her continuously wandering for a place to stay, it also entails her finding the courage to connect with someone and tell her story and accept her past.A resonating theme is that of pre destina...Book was won in a goodreads first read giveaway First off, this was a very ambitious novel The novel follows a young girl whose connection to reality becomesandobscured as you read on At first, memories of her previous life are slowly filtered in as she struggles to survive on an Aegean island with nothing As the book progresses, these memories becomeandencompassing as the protagonist tries to keep them subdued and continue on with her life What we are left with, Book was won in a goodreads first read giveaway First off, this was a very ambitious novel The novel follows a young girl whose connection to reality becomesandobscured as you read on At first, memories of her previous life are slowl...Alexander Maksik has written a marvel of a book, one that radiates its pain and horror after you have finished it A Marker to Measure Drift left me breathless and tearful, caring deeply for Jacqueline, the book s protagonist It took me a while to really get into it but once I did, I felt like a prisoner to Jacqueline s anguish and stayed up until three a.m in order to finish it.Jacqueline is a Liberian woman, an expat, a political refugee, who is wandering the Greek Isles, currently on Sant Alexander Maksik has written a marvel of a book, one that radiates its pain and horror after you have finished it A Marker to Measure Drift left me breathless and tearful, caring deeply for Jacqueline, the book s protagonist It took me a while to really get into it but once I did, I felt like a prisoner to Jacqueline s anguish and stayed up until three a.m in order to finish it.Jacqueline is a Liberian woman, an expat, a political refugee, who is wandering the Greek Isles, currently on Santorini or Thera, as it was once called As the book opens she is living in a cave that is accessible only at low tide She has a makeshift matt...My Review from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which you can find here the acknowledgments section of Alexander Maksik s unsettling, stripped down new novel A Marker to Measure Drift, the first people the author thanks are the makers of two films Liberia An Uncivil War and Pray the Devil Back to Hell I haven t seen either movie, but it says something about Mr Maksik s novel that I read the acknowledgments section after finishing the book, which I My Review from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which you can find here the acknowledgments section of Alexander Maksik s unsettling, stripped down new novel A Marker to Measure Drift, the first people the author thanks are the makers of two films Liberia An Uncivil War and Pray the Devil Back to Hell I haven t seen either movie, but it says something about Mr Maksik s novel that I read the acknowledgments section after finishing the book, ...Deserves waythan the 289 GR ratings it currently has Jacqueline is a Liberian war refugee suffering from PTSD attempting to survive on a Greek vacation destination island, a country not her own She knows noone She lives the invisibility of homelessness, the desperation of hunger But her constant struggle is with her mind, its voices, its thoughts, its memorie...A starkly written, haunting story, A Marker To Measure Drift by Alexander Maksik will have you completely immersed from the first sentence It tells the deeply affecting story of Jaqueline, a young woman finds herself homeless after the brutal murder of her family during a rebellion in Liberia Fleeing to the beaches of Greece, Jaqueline struggles to hold on to her self respect, integrity, and sanity She lives day to day on found scraps of food, and she offers massages to vacationing beach goe A starkly written, haunting story, A Marker To Measure Drift by Alexander Maksik will have you completely immersed from the first sentence It tells the deeply affecting story of Jaqueline, a young woman finds herself homeless after the brutal murder of her family during a rebellion in Liberia Fleeing to the beaches of Greece, Jaqueline struggles to hold on to her self respect, integrity, and sanity She lives day to day on found scraps of food, and she offers massages to vacationing beach goers to...

English
13 August 2017

Alexander Maksik