An Unfortunate Woman: A Journey is Richard Brautigan's eleventh and final published novel. Written in 1982, it was first published (posthumously) in 1994 in a French translation, "Cahier d'un Retour de Troie", . The first edition in English did not appear until 2000, when it was produced by St. Martins Press.
The story, set in 1982, is a series of diary entries by Brautigan about a woman named Nikki Arai who is suffering from cancer. Her best friend committed suicide and Arai suffers hard times after her best friend's suicide. After the death of her friend she tries to commit suicide numerous times. Eventually, Nikki decides not to take her own life and, in the end, dies from cancer.
Famous quotes containing the words unfortunate and/or journey:
“The duty of the State toward the citizen is the duty of the servant to its master.... One of the duties of the State is that of caring for those of its citizens who find themselves the victims of such adverse circumstances as makes them unable to obtain even the necessities for mere existence without the aid of others.... To these unfortunate citizens aid must be extended by government—not as a matter of charity but as a matter of social duty.”
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