Strange Piece of Paradise

terri jentz

In the summer of 1977, Terri Jentz and her Yale roommate, Shayna Weiss, make a cross-country bike trip. They pitch a tent in the desert of central Oregon. As they are sleeping, a man in a pickup truck deliberately runs over the tent. He then attacks them with an ax. The horrific crime is reported in newspapers across the country." "No one is ever arrested. Both women survive, but Shayna suffers from amnesia, while Terri is left alone with memories of the attack. Their friendship is shattered.
Fifteen years later, Terri returns to the small town where she was nearly murdered, on the first of many visits she will make "to solve the crime that would solve me." And she makes an extraordinary discovery: the violence of that night is as present for the community as it is for her. Slowly, her extensive interviews with the townspeople yield a terrifying revelation: many say they know who did it, and he is living freely in their midst. Terri then sets out to discover the truth about the crime and its aftermath, and to come to terms with the wounds that broke her life into a before and an after. Ultimately she finds herself face-to-face with the alleged axman. Powerful, eloquent, and paced like the most riveting of thrillers, "Strange Piece of Paradise "is the electrifying account of Terri's investigation into the mystery of her near murder. A startling profile of a psychopath, a sweeping reflection on violence and the myth of American individualism, and a moving record of a brave inner journey from violence to hope, this searing, unforgettable work is certain to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Genres true crimenonfictionmemoircrimebiographybiography memoiraudiobookmysteryhorrorwomens

560 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2,2006

Literary awards

edgar award, national book critics circle award,

This edition

Format: 560 pages, Hardcover
Published: May 2, 2006 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374134983
ASIN: 0374134987
Language: English

About the author

terri jentz

Terri Jentz (born 1957) is an American writer. She wrote Strange Piece of Paradise, about the attack she and a college friend from Yale University suffered in Cline Falls State Park (in Oregon) in 1977, while on a cross-country bicycle and camping trip and how she, after 15 years, returned to Oregon to investigate the attack and come to terms with the experience. The New York Times in its Sunday book review wrote, "Imagine that it had been Truman Capote himself who'd been savaged in Holcomb, Kan., and that he had survived to describe his ordeal. That is the level of command and sinew at work in the writing."

Strange Piece of Paradise was chosen by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year.

Jentz's partner is film director Donna Deitch.