The Sleeping Father is a novel by Matthew Sharpe first published in 2003 about an average middle-class American family struck by betrayal, separation, and illness. In particular, it is about the coming of age of the two teenage members of the family despite, or rather through, the troubles that befall them.
Wisecracking his way through life until he has eventually reached adulthood, 17-year-old Chris Schwartz has provoked comparison with Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye .
The Schwartzes live their ordinary lives in the aptly named (and fictional) small town of Bellwether, Connecticut. When she thinks her two children do not need her any longer, Lila Schwartz, a sexually active woman, leaves behind her family, calls herself Lila Munroe and moves to California, where she trains, and later works, as a lawyer. Faced with the dual challenge of having to raise two teenage kids while remaining successful in his demanding job as a publicist and speech writer, Bernard Schwartz more and more relies on medication to cope with everyday life. The real trouble begins when he accidentally swallows two incompatible antidepressants and falls into a coma shortly thereafter.
While he is unconscious Bernard Schwartz has a stroke. When he wakes up again he is seriously handicapped—his speech is slurred, his walk is unsteady and his memory is permanently impaired. Similar to a child, he has to learn the meanings of many words. Instead of going to school, Chris teaches his father as best as he can.
In spite of his enforced preoccupation with his "sleeping" father, Chris Schwartz notices that his own life goes on without any major change. Still a virgin, he fantasizes about having sex with Lisa Danmeyer, Bernard's neurologist and actually has his first sexual encounter ever at his father's rehab centre with a sexy speech pathologist who performs fellatio on him.
At the same time Cathy, his 16-year-old sister, is on the brink of abandoning her Jewish roots and converting to Roman Catholicism. However, she also develops a crush on Francis Dial, her brother's best friend and classmate. Chris cannot believe that his younger sister might have sex before he does, but in the end this is exactly what happens, an unwanted teenage pregnancy being the result of their union. At first the young lovers are unsure whether Cathy should have an abortion or not, but Cathy soon makes up her mind to keep the baby.
The Sleeping Father also discusses the issues of racism (Francis Dial is African American), crime, and violence against women (at a battered wives' shelter, Cathy meets a woman whose husband is a violent criminal who, towards the end of the novel, robs the Schwartzes at gunpoint).
Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's adopted son, Heathcliff. It was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction.
Chris Crutcher is an American novelist and a family therapist. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2000 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.
Flowers in the Attic is a 1979 Gothic novel by V. C. Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger Series, and was followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, Garden of Shadows, Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth, Christopher's Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger and Christopher's Diary: Secret Brother. The novel is written in the first-person, from the point of view of Cathy Dollanganger. It was twice adapted into films in 1987 and 2014. The book was extremely popular, selling over forty million copies world-wide.
Brenda Jacinta Chenowith is a fictional character on the HBO television series Six Feet Under played by Rachel Griffiths. She was first introduced in the pilot, and remained until the series finale.
Petals on the Wind is a novel written by V. C. Andrews in 1980. It is the second book in the Dollanganger series. The timeline takes place from the siblings' successful escape in November 1960 to the fall of 1975. The book, like the others in the series, was a number one best-seller in North America in the early 1980s. In 2014, it was adapted into a Lifetime original movie.
Seeds of Yesterday is a novel written by V. C. Andrews. It is the fourth book in the Dollanganger Series. The story continues from the point of view of the protagonist, Cathy, following her from the age of 52 until her death a few years later. Cathy was born in April 1945, meaning the events in the book occur between 1997–2001, which was thirteen years into the future at the time the book was originally published in 1984. The film adaptation aired April 12, 2015 on Lifetime.
Kevin Buchanan is a fictional character from the American soap opera One Life to Live. The character is the first child born to original lead protagonists Victoria Lord and Joe Riley.
The Edge is a young adult novel written by Alan Gibbons which was published in 2002. The book tells the story of Danny Mangam, a teenage boy living in an abusive home. After Danny and his mother escape her abusive boyfriend, he also confronts a number of problems caused by his mixed ancestry. The novel was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the Angus Book Award in 2004.
The Beginning and the End Arabic: بداية ونهاية is a novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, first published in 1949. The novel is set in the suburbs of Cairo in the late 1930s and deals with the trials and tribulations of a middle-class family who are struggling to keep out of poverty after the death of the father, the sole breadwinner. The novel is marked by very bold characterization for the time period and setting, and the story moves at a prolific pace as it tries to look at the world from each character's viewpoint.
The Prince of Tides is a novel by Pat Conroy, first published in 1986. It revolves around traumatic events that affected former football player Tom Wingo's relationship with his immediate family. As Tom grapples with his twin sister's attempted suicide and the absence of his charismatic older brother Luke, the story outlines life in the south and the events that threaten to tear Tom's family apart. The novel was adapted into a 1991 American film of the same name.
Tricks is a young adult verse novel by Ellen Hopkins, released in August 2009. It tells the converging narratives of five troubled teenage protagonists. The novel is noted for its gritty realism in addressing issues of sexual activity and drug use for a young adult readership. This book has also been banned due to drug uses, sexual themes, and language.
The Big C is an American television dramedy which premiered on August 16, 2010 on Showtime. It drew the largest audience for a Showtime original series premiere. Season 2 premiered on June 27, 2011. Season 3 premiered on April 8, 2012. On July 31, 2012, The Big C was renewed for a fourth and final season, named "Hereafter", which premiered on Monday, April 29, 2013 and concluded on May 20, 2013.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Marielle Heller, based on the hybrid novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner. It stars Bel Powley as a 15-year-old girl who becomes sexually active by starting a relationship with her mother's boyfriend. It also stars Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Quinn Nagle, and Austin Lyon. It premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited release on August 7, 2015 by Sony Pictures Classics.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures is a diaristic graphic novel by author and artist Phoebe Gloeckner. It is notable for its hybrid form, composed of both prose and "comics" passages, each contributing to the narrative.
The Neapolitan Novels are a 4-part series by the Italian author Elena Ferrante, published originally by Edizioni e/o, translated in English by Ann Goldstein and published by Europa Editions. They include the following novels: My Brilliant Friend (2012), The Story of a New Name (2013), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014), and The Story of the Lost Child (2015). The series has been characterized as a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story. In an interview for the Harper's Magazine, Elena Ferrante stated that she considers the four books to be "a single novel", published serially for reasons of length and duration. The series has sold over 10 million copies in 40 countries.
The Witness is a French-Italian crime-thriller film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky and starring Alberto Sordi and Philippe Noiret. It is loosely based on the novel Shadow of a Doubt by Harrison Judd.
Incest can be found in many varieties of literature, from popular forms to serious fiction, either as an important thematic element or as an incidental element of the plot. Incest is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity, and sometimes those related by affinity, adoption, clan, or lineage.
Incest as an either a thematic element or an incidental element of the plot, can be found in numerous films and television programs.
Sleeping Beauties is a novel by Stephen King and his son Owen King, released on September 26, 2017. The book was first mentioned during a promotional appearance on the CBC radio program q. Of the novel, Stephen King stated, "Owen brought me this dynamite idea and I've collaborated a couple of times with Joe. I'm not going to say what the idea is because it's too good."
