Penelope Przekop
Author of Aberrations
About the Author
Works by Penelope Przekop
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1966-07-20
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Louisiana State University (BS)
Southern Polytechnic State University (MS) - Occupations
- writer
consultant (pharmaceutical industry)
artist - Organizations
- American Society for Quality - Senior Member
Narcolepsy Network - Agent
- Christi Cardenas (Agent)
Brian Feinblum (Publicist) - Short biography
- Penelope Przekop is the author of Aberrations: A Novel (Emerald/Greenleaf) and Six Sigma for Business Excellence (McGraw-Hill). Her blog, Aberration Nation, provides weekly thought-provoking essays encompassing various universal themes such as truth, forgiveness, choice, boundaries, relationships, etc. Penelope has a BS in Biology and an MS in Quality Assurance/Systems. Most recently, she was a director for Johnson & Johnson.
Her debut novel, Aberrations, follows the plight of Angel Duet, a young woman struggling with narcolepsy. The novel covers numerious universal themes such as mental illness, parenthood, individuality, friendship, and love. Aberrations is being hailed as the sleeper surprise of the summer! - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Pennsylvania, USA
Members
Reviews
A marvelous and unique coming of age story, Penelope Przekop's Aberrations is the story of Angel Duet as she discovers the who she is and how she can find the missing pieces of herself. It is a book about discovering who you are to yourself, and not what others want you to be, about accepting all the bits that make you who you are and about finding unconditional love, even if it isn't necessarily where you thought it would come from.
Angel Duet, 21, suffers from narcolepsy and has show more strengthened herself over the years by closing herself off emotionally from others, living a solitary existence with her father and the memories of her deceased mother. The only real contact she has emotionally with anyone else is Mac, the married doctor whom she is having an affair with. Through new friends that she makes at her summer job, Tim and Kimmy, Angel begins to see the rut that her life is in (as are the others). Each discovers that they hold a secret that they believe sets them apart from everyone else around them; Angel's narcolepsy, Tim is gay and Kimmy is a virgin. After Tim convinces Angel to come out one night with him to the local gay bar, she meets his cousin, Scarlette, and more confusion sets into Angel's life, as there is an attraction to Scarlette, but is it sexual or simply the comforting idea that in Scarlette, Angel can find her idea of mother?
The book is ultimately about unconditional love, and the want and need of everyone to find that. I believe it's a fairly universal need. Generally, that idea is found in the idea of mother and that is what Angel feels she is missing in her life. She searches for it everywhere; through confrontation with her father over the true nature of her mother's death, through sex, both with Mac and with Scarlette, through artificial means while using Ecstasy. When Angel finally finds her idea of mother, it isn't necessarily where she thought it would come from, but it ultimately was the perfect way for her to find it.
Each character has a slight aberration that sets them apart from what they consider, or what society considers, normal; but are the characteristics that make you unique an aberration, or just part of who you are, to be accepted and nurtured, both by yourself and others? Through Tim's newness of discovering friends that he can share his homosexuality with, through Kimmy's emotional growth, through Angel's discovery of mother, each character grows and discovers it isn't always necessarily the best thing to be the person that other's want you to be or to hide behind your secrets; ultimately the unconditional love that each of us is searching needs to come from within.
To be honest, I couldn't put this book down. I thought I'd get it read in a couple of readings, but after I started, the story moved so well and the writing was so beautiful, I didn't want to stop. The prose is lyrical and flowing and the story moves without shoving it's way through. The characters are real, with real problems and real emotion. The only drawback I had was the "southern-accent spelling." It kept distracting me as I kept trying to read in a southern accent as opposed to simply reading the story. But realistically, it could simply be me. Aberrations is a beautiful story, and I look forward to what gems Penelope Przekop will be giving us in the future. show less
Angel Duet, 21, suffers from narcolepsy and has show more strengthened herself over the years by closing herself off emotionally from others, living a solitary existence with her father and the memories of her deceased mother. The only real contact she has emotionally with anyone else is Mac, the married doctor whom she is having an affair with. Through new friends that she makes at her summer job, Tim and Kimmy, Angel begins to see the rut that her life is in (as are the others). Each discovers that they hold a secret that they believe sets them apart from everyone else around them; Angel's narcolepsy, Tim is gay and Kimmy is a virgin. After Tim convinces Angel to come out one night with him to the local gay bar, she meets his cousin, Scarlette, and more confusion sets into Angel's life, as there is an attraction to Scarlette, but is it sexual or simply the comforting idea that in Scarlette, Angel can find her idea of mother?
The book is ultimately about unconditional love, and the want and need of everyone to find that. I believe it's a fairly universal need. Generally, that idea is found in the idea of mother and that is what Angel feels she is missing in her life. She searches for it everywhere; through confrontation with her father over the true nature of her mother's death, through sex, both with Mac and with Scarlette, through artificial means while using Ecstasy. When Angel finally finds her idea of mother, it isn't necessarily where she thought it would come from, but it ultimately was the perfect way for her to find it.
Each character has a slight aberration that sets them apart from what they consider, or what society considers, normal; but are the characteristics that make you unique an aberration, or just part of who you are, to be accepted and nurtured, both by yourself and others? Through Tim's newness of discovering friends that he can share his homosexuality with, through Kimmy's emotional growth, through Angel's discovery of mother, each character grows and discovers it isn't always necessarily the best thing to be the person that other's want you to be or to hide behind your secrets; ultimately the unconditional love that each of us is searching needs to come from within.
To be honest, I couldn't put this book down. I thought I'd get it read in a couple of readings, but after I started, the story moved so well and the writing was so beautiful, I didn't want to stop. The prose is lyrical and flowing and the story moves without shoving it's way through. The characters are real, with real problems and real emotion. The only drawback I had was the "southern-accent spelling." It kept distracting me as I kept trying to read in a southern accent as opposed to simply reading the story. But realistically, it could simply be me. Aberrations is a beautiful story, and I look forward to what gems Penelope Przekop will be giving us in the future. show less
Penelope Przekop's latest book, Centerpieces, is first and foremost a study about art, and the importance that art can have in a person's life. History tells us that Vincent van Gogh shot himself in 1890, but what if he faked his death? What if he was still alive today? What if his brother, Theo, was still alive, too? What has been keeping them alive and what has been their driving force all these years?
I'm not going to lie, I found Centerpieces completely intriguing and compelling, but I show more don't even know how to describe it. I'm not really sure I've ever read anything like it before. I felt there were just as many questions at the end of the book as there were at the beginning (what exactly are Theo and Vincent, what has kept them alive for so long, what part does the drug taperaquin play in their extended lives), but somehow these questions didn't really need answering at the end. If you just accept the fact that van Gogh is alive 100+ years after his death, that there may be more to his existence and what he has become that what is said, then you will have no problem making your way through this story.
Przekop has said that she wrote this book as an answer to questions she had raised in her own life while working for a pharmaceutical company and wanting to lead a more artistic life. I can see a lot of this conundrum in both Ellis and Holly, as they try to find their way in the regimented world of pharmaceuticals while their actual calling in life is art. Przekop masterfully weaves their lives together, with elements from both the past and present, to help them reach their ultimate potential, as both people and as artists.
Like her book, Aberrations, Przekop takes people with everyday problems and makes their story into something that needs to be told. With Aberrations, it was accepting yourself for who you are regardless of what others think about you. With Centerpieces, it's about finally accepting the parts of your life that may not fit in with the path that you thought you planned for yourself, and deciding that sometimes you need to strike out on that unfamiliar path, even if it means walking away from what you think your life is all about.
Obviously extensively researched, Przekop weaves van Gogh's art, his life, his family and actual historic events together to create a story that is both about humanity and art. What exactly are Vincent and Theo in this modern world? We may never know for sure, but their story is one of brotherly love and of art, and one that I enjoyed reading. I hope to see more of Przekop's stories published in the future. Hers is a unique voice in the literary world that needs to be heard. show less
I'm not going to lie, I found Centerpieces completely intriguing and compelling, but I show more don't even know how to describe it. I'm not really sure I've ever read anything like it before. I felt there were just as many questions at the end of the book as there were at the beginning (what exactly are Theo and Vincent, what has kept them alive for so long, what part does the drug taperaquin play in their extended lives), but somehow these questions didn't really need answering at the end. If you just accept the fact that van Gogh is alive 100+ years after his death, that there may be more to his existence and what he has become that what is said, then you will have no problem making your way through this story.
Przekop has said that she wrote this book as an answer to questions she had raised in her own life while working for a pharmaceutical company and wanting to lead a more artistic life. I can see a lot of this conundrum in both Ellis and Holly, as they try to find their way in the regimented world of pharmaceuticals while their actual calling in life is art. Przekop masterfully weaves their lives together, with elements from both the past and present, to help them reach their ultimate potential, as both people and as artists.
Like her book, Aberrations, Przekop takes people with everyday problems and makes their story into something that needs to be told. With Aberrations, it was accepting yourself for who you are regardless of what others think about you. With Centerpieces, it's about finally accepting the parts of your life that may not fit in with the path that you thought you planned for yourself, and deciding that sometimes you need to strike out on that unfamiliar path, even if it means walking away from what you think your life is all about.
Obviously extensively researched, Przekop weaves van Gogh's art, his life, his family and actual historic events together to create a story that is both about humanity and art. What exactly are Vincent and Theo in this modern world? We may never know for sure, but their story is one of brotherly love and of art, and one that I enjoyed reading. I hope to see more of Przekop's stories published in the future. Hers is a unique voice in the literary world that needs to be heard. show less
Angel Duet is 21 and everything she believed and thought she knew is about to change. Things couldn't be worse when her father's girlfriend, Carla, moves in, making her mark by taking down all of the photographs taken by Angel's mother. The photos are the only material things that Angel really has to connect her to the woman she lost many years ago.
Angel feels like she is sleep walking through life. She puts much of the blame on the absence of her mother and the neurological condition from show more which she suffers: narcolepsy. Her narcolepsy controls so much of what she does and how she reacts, making it impossible for her to live like a "normal" person, or so she believes. She wants more than that for herself, however. Angel wants to break away from the rut she is in and wants to experience what it is to truly live.
Her father tried, in his own way, to be the best father he knew how to be to his daughter. The grief that came with having lost the woman he loved permeated their lives. His lies to protect Angel have never quite filled the void inside Angel, and now, more than anything, she wants to know the truth.
Taking a summer job working in the cotton fields, Angel makes two unlikely friends. Kimmy, the 26 year old virgin, is not so different than Angel, feeling stuck in a rut, barely living life, and longing for something more, something different. Tim has his own secret, which he is bursting to share. He is gay, feeling stifled by his hometown and society, and is tired of the prejudice and secrecy surrounding him. Tim opens a door into a world that neither Kimmy nor Angel had ever imagined stepping into. He offers them hope, but not quite in the way any of them, or even the reader, could have anticipated.
Angel felt lost and empty most of her life. She comes across as immature and selfish at first, but by the end of the novel, she has made great strides in coming into her own. In a way, this is a coming of age story about a young woman who only needed to find her way. The void she feels inside is not something that can be filled by something on the outside. It has to come from within. Angel’s decisions are not always the best ones, but as with all mistakes, she can only hope that she learns from them and is able move forward.
Aberrations is rich in characterization, each character complex and flawed, beautiful and ugly. The characters are so wrapped up in their own problems that they are not always able to see how similar their struggles are to those around them. Each of them has their own secrets and created their own lies. Secrets and lies have a way of spilling out no matter how hard a person tries to contain them. The mess left behind is not always so easy to forgive or accept.
Minor Spoiler Alert Begins Here
Although at first I was not sure what to think of Carla, she eventually came to be my favorite character in the novel. She was an outsider on the inside and her insight and dedication to the broken Duet family was steadfast. Mac was another one that grew on me as time went on, despite the fact that he was cheating on his wife. He came across as confident and sure of himself, and yet that was only a mask for what lay underneath. One of the saddest characters in the novel is Tim, who in the beginning seems to be the most together of the bunch. As Kimmy and Angel come into their own, growing as individuals, he stays much the same throughout the book. What once Angel most admired in Tim, was what eventually she came to recognize as biggest downfall.
Minor Spoiler Alert Ends Here
The writing is beautiful and I liked how the author added a Southern touch to the dialogue, least the reader forget where the novel is set. It actually takes place during the early 1980's in Louisiana. It seems the perfect setting for this poignant story about love, family, friendship, forgiveness and redemption.
Aberrations was not quite what I expected. It was deeper and more satisfying. At times it was tragic but above all it was hopeful. show less
Angel feels like she is sleep walking through life. She puts much of the blame on the absence of her mother and the neurological condition from show more which she suffers: narcolepsy. Her narcolepsy controls so much of what she does and how she reacts, making it impossible for her to live like a "normal" person, or so she believes. She wants more than that for herself, however. Angel wants to break away from the rut she is in and wants to experience what it is to truly live.
Her father tried, in his own way, to be the best father he knew how to be to his daughter. The grief that came with having lost the woman he loved permeated their lives. His lies to protect Angel have never quite filled the void inside Angel, and now, more than anything, she wants to know the truth.
Taking a summer job working in the cotton fields, Angel makes two unlikely friends. Kimmy, the 26 year old virgin, is not so different than Angel, feeling stuck in a rut, barely living life, and longing for something more, something different. Tim has his own secret, which he is bursting to share. He is gay, feeling stifled by his hometown and society, and is tired of the prejudice and secrecy surrounding him. Tim opens a door into a world that neither Kimmy nor Angel had ever imagined stepping into. He offers them hope, but not quite in the way any of them, or even the reader, could have anticipated.
Angel felt lost and empty most of her life. She comes across as immature and selfish at first, but by the end of the novel, she has made great strides in coming into her own. In a way, this is a coming of age story about a young woman who only needed to find her way. The void she feels inside is not something that can be filled by something on the outside. It has to come from within. Angel’s decisions are not always the best ones, but as with all mistakes, she can only hope that she learns from them and is able move forward.
Aberrations is rich in characterization, each character complex and flawed, beautiful and ugly. The characters are so wrapped up in their own problems that they are not always able to see how similar their struggles are to those around them. Each of them has their own secrets and created their own lies. Secrets and lies have a way of spilling out no matter how hard a person tries to contain them. The mess left behind is not always so easy to forgive or accept.
Minor Spoiler Alert Begins Here
Although at first I was not sure what to think of Carla, she eventually came to be my favorite character in the novel. She was an outsider on the inside and her insight and dedication to the broken Duet family was steadfast. Mac was another one that grew on me as time went on, despite the fact that he was cheating on his wife. He came across as confident and sure of himself, and yet that was only a mask for what lay underneath. One of the saddest characters in the novel is Tim, who in the beginning seems to be the most together of the bunch. As Kimmy and Angel come into their own, growing as individuals, he stays much the same throughout the book. What once Angel most admired in Tim, was what eventually she came to recognize as biggest downfall.
Minor Spoiler Alert Ends Here
The writing is beautiful and I liked how the author added a Southern touch to the dialogue, least the reader forget where the novel is set. It actually takes place during the early 1980's in Louisiana. It seems the perfect setting for this poignant story about love, family, friendship, forgiveness and redemption.
Aberrations was not quite what I expected. It was deeper and more satisfying. At times it was tragic but above all it was hopeful. show less
Aberrations by Penelope Przekop traces a pivotal period in the life of Angel Duet, a narcoleptic twenty-one-year old with an extremely dysfunctional family and a non-existent social life. Enter Tim and Kimmy, Angel’s co-workers with their own oddities, who together propel Angel into a new and confusing world that changes her outlook forever and for good.
I didn’t know much about narcolepsy on starting this book and I was surprised by how deteriorating and upsetting it can be. No one seems show more to understand Angel’s condition and her desire to escape it is so great that she turns to drugs as a refuge. The illness drives people away from her and causes them to think that she is lazy, stupid, or retarded, when really she is a clever girl who longs to be normal. I really felt for Angel throughout the book and I wanted her to get that normal life, or at least a semblence of it. Her search for family, particularly mother, was extremely moving. The book also deals with the side issue of homosexuality in the 1980’s South - Tim is gay, as are two of his cousins. We get an interesting glimpse into their underworld as well as their struggle with “ordinary” people who attempt to suppress all that is different.
Another thing this book handles well is relationships. Angel has few relationships at the start of the book - her adulterous liason with Mac, a married doctor, and her confused relationship with her father. She develops friendships with Kimmy and Tim, sexual relations with one of Tim’s cousins, and her relationships with her father and especially his girlfriend Carla progress in believable ways.
For a short book, under 300 pages, this book packs in a lot! I really enjoyed it and I found myself deeply involved in the characters’ lives. Przekop brings up many sensitive issues, but in a way that causes the reader to think and consider them in a new light. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a deeply affecting, well-written, engrossing novel.
For an author interview in addition to my review, go to http://chikune.com/blog/?p=114 show less
I didn’t know much about narcolepsy on starting this book and I was surprised by how deteriorating and upsetting it can be. No one seems show more to understand Angel’s condition and her desire to escape it is so great that she turns to drugs as a refuge. The illness drives people away from her and causes them to think that she is lazy, stupid, or retarded, when really she is a clever girl who longs to be normal. I really felt for Angel throughout the book and I wanted her to get that normal life, or at least a semblence of it. Her search for family, particularly mother, was extremely moving. The book also deals with the side issue of homosexuality in the 1980’s South - Tim is gay, as are two of his cousins. We get an interesting glimpse into their underworld as well as their struggle with “ordinary” people who attempt to suppress all that is different.
Another thing this book handles well is relationships. Angel has few relationships at the start of the book - her adulterous liason with Mac, a married doctor, and her confused relationship with her father. She develops friendships with Kimmy and Tim, sexual relations with one of Tim’s cousins, and her relationships with her father and especially his girlfriend Carla progress in believable ways.
For a short book, under 300 pages, this book packs in a lot! I really enjoyed it and I found myself deeply involved in the characters’ lives. Przekop brings up many sensitive issues, but in a way that causes the reader to think and consider them in a new light. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a deeply affecting, well-written, engrossing novel.
For an author interview in addition to my review, go to http://chikune.com/blog/?p=114 show less
Statistics
- Works
- 6
- Members
- 86
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- #213,012
- Rating
- 4.0
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- 27
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