Chiseling Memories, Chasing Sleep

Book excerpt: Julie Celaya is a firecracker who breaks all the expectations of domestic life. She is unconventional, determined and outrageous. Chiseling Memories, Chasing Sleep is a culmination of Julie's strange encounters. With forty independent essays, the book leads readers through tales of an awkward sexual encounter in a high school art room, a marriage proposal in the sky, a trial run in an expensive casket, and the assault of a psychiatrist in a southern California clinic. Through a steady accumulation of detail, this eccentric collection unfolds as a true novel. With succinct verbiage and often coarse prose author Carol A. Elliott builds layers of symbolism into this unique read. She employs five literary styles, yielding the unexpected. Is it her dialog that the audience appreciates, the roller coaster of wit or the unusual subjects? Elliott offers readers the randomness of life and those blush-worthy moments that occur when least expected.