{"product_id":"separate-reality-1","title":"Separate Reality","description":"Set in the early 1970s, A Separate Reality is the story of Mark Grosfeld, a twelve-year-old growing up in Phoenix with politically active liberal Jewish parents. Mark, who is lonely and unhappy, meets Anna Voigt, a teacher who becomes his mentor. Anna, an ex-hippie poet, encourages Mark to write, and he becomes part of a circle of teenagers who meet at Anna's house to smoke pot and read poetry. She introduces him to the Beats, Zen Buddhism and the popular pseudo-anthropologist, Carlos Castaneda, author of Journey to Ixtlan. Mark goes on a semi-comic suburban vision quest, trying to conduct his life according to the teachings he uncovers in the books he finds through Anna , most significantly, Castaneda's. Mark soon discovers all these books share the belief that through a loss of \"self\" one can, somehow, transcend reality. A Separate Reality is a novel about the risks and appeal of the desire to be perfect a portrait of the artist as a young man in the Seventies.","brand":"Carroll \u0026 Graf Publishers Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Product","offer_id":54252933611864,"sku":"9780786717156","price":25.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780786717156__6774c5cf3ebd8.jpg?v=1741134875","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/separate-reality-1","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}