Deborah Eva Berardi

A Marginal State of Mind Deborah Eva Berardi

Georgie Pantoni shoves hard with her equally hard yet broad shoulders, shedding the shroud of false sanity. She refuses the designation of effigy assigned to her by her family of origin. Rather than licking at her wounds and those of American society, commonplace behavior in those about her, she works as a psychiatric social worker with her own psychiatric illness - fugue states or significant breaks of consciousness. The narrative timeline driven from the 1960's to the present time sends Georgie through meetings with societal icons and trends. Driven out her hometown with its prejudices and unchecked family abuse, she finds herself in St. Louis - nothing more than an effigy set aflame in front of everyone. Dropping in and out of fugue states caused by flashbacks of abuse, strobe lighting, and psychic pain, she is a psychiatric social worker forced into treatment herself. Shortcomings of modern medicine are revealed. Her psychic pain diminishes with Dan Travers, an undercover police officer and Aggie, Georgie's niece, whose presences both bring relief. From the fugue states Georgie's sensory perceptions are collapsed. She finds solace in American folk music, its philosophy and fine arts in general. She fails within the economic structures; forced to live in her car, flop houses and hotels. Each chapter wraps around her flashbacks, fugue states, patient casework and her own treatment with psychiatrists. Georgie rescues Dan Travers by recognizing an unexpected medical condition. Later she learns that she can not only linger in his presence but she can love him as well.