Title: A message from God in the atomic age
Subtitle: a memoir
First published: 1996
Description: A Message from God in the Atomic Age is a razor-sharp memoir about the allure of suicide for three generations of women in one Puerto Rican family. March 1, 1954: Lolita Lebron, a young Puerto Rican nationalist, opens fire on the United States House of Representatives, proclaiming, "I did not come here to kill, I came here to die." She is sentenced to life in prison.

March 1, 1977: After attending her son's wedding in Puerto Rico on February 27th, Gladys Mendez (Lebron's daughter) leaps from a speeding car driven by her husband, despite her eight-year-old daughter's desperate attempts to restrain her. She dies two days later, without ever regaining consciousness.

February 1, 1988: Recently arrived from Puerto Rico to attend Syracuse University, Irene Vilar (granddaughter of Lebron and daughter of Mendez) is committed to Hutchings Psychiatric Hospital following a suicide attempt.

Alternating between Vilar's notes from the psychiatric ward and her recounting of her family history, A Message from God in the Atomic Age is an urgent, richly evocative meditation on family. Vilar unravels the fantastical myths and delves into the frightening secrets that have haunted a grandmother, mother, and daughter.
Subjects: Mental health, Biography, Mentally ill women, Puerto Rican women, Mentally ill, Family relationships, Case studies, Family, Gladys Mendez, Psychotherapy patients, Psychological aspects, Psychological aspects of Family, Mothers and daughters
Places: Puerto Rico, Biography
People: Irene Vilar (1969-), Lolita Lebrón (1919-), Gladys Mendez
LC classification: RC464.A1 V55 1996