ABOUT THE BOOK
The narrative of Minaโs coming of age is in tension with a cultural satire of the political left. Out From the Pleiades examines the question as to what kind of family culture might contribute to someone becoming a bully.
PRAISE
โLeslie McGrathโs Out from the Pleiades is a hybrid gem, a novella in verse that works utterly both as lyric poetry and as story. The life of protagonist Mina Kali, born to the Seven Sistersโa commune of โradical warrior womenโโunfolds with an epic sweep, from the moment Mina โraged forth from the dark red darkโ to her final love and loss. Out From the Pleiades is a rollicking, raucous, new myth, a classic with its head in Aristophanes and its satiric heart in the 1960s. You will read these poems aloud, laughing, and then find them sneakily haunting you.โ
โSusanne Antonetta
โOut From the Pleiades is a revealing character study, the story of โMina,โ a bully bred from the excesses of liberal culture. Itโs a testament to the bookโs complex vision that we both condemn and ultimately empathize with Mina as she makes her way through the world. Itโs a master class in the psychology of intimidation, marked by McGrathโs signature wit, compassion and insight.โ
โBruce Snider
โOut From the Pleiades is a rich romp, chockfull of feel-good details and enough unanswered questions to make anyone secure in their moral center come, a tiny bit, undone. Ride in Minaโs โyolk-colored Subaruโ as she toes the surfaces of high school, passing through the stoic suicide of โGinger,โ until our war protestor comes full circle to the uncharted depths of โYesโ in soldier Violetโs golden eyes โ and discovers the harsher power of loveโs undoing.โWhy didnโt I get a Barbie Dreamhouse for Christmas?โ So asks Mina immediately after wondering if sheโs a racist because sheโs white too. Priorities, place and position move our hero from well-meaning child to disconcerted bully, borne by a fear of impotence in the world as she tests her own privileged, small power over others.โ
โAmy King
