First-time author, IRENE VILAR (ih-REHN-ay vee-LAR). Her book is "A Message from God in the Atomic Age" (Pantheon). This memoir chronicles three generations of self-destructive behavoir: in 1954, her grandmother was imprisoned for opening fire at the U.S. House of Representatives; in 1977, her mother lept to her death from a speeding car; and in 1988, she was committed to a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. Alternating between her notes from the psychiatric ward and the chronicaling of the history of her family, VILAR tells of her own attempts to come to terms with her family history.REV.: Commentator MILO MILES reviews the tribute to the late Nigerian "Juju" music master I.K. Dairo. His music became very popular in Africa in the 1960's.
Copyright 1996 Fresh Air