A poetic memoir filled with unexpected but ultimately confusing recollections of spiritual encounters.
A debut memoir combining essays and poetry that recounts a writer’s spiritual evolution and the remarkable visions that inspired it.
“I was certain that something otherworldly was occurring,” Jean writes of the moment that she saw small circles appear on her hands and felt the pain of nails coming through her palms. For her, this experience marked a turning point in her “faith journey,” as it was the first time, she says, that she experienced something supernatural—but it wouldn’t be the last. In poems and autobiographical essays, Jean connects various biblical quotations to major events of her life, including the death of her mother. After moving to Philadelphia for a new job sometime in the 1980s, Jean met her husband, Charles, and gave birth to three sons, but her life was still far from perfect; she began experiencing severe medical problems that she initially believed were due to multiple sclerosis, but proved difficult for doctors to diagnose. After the family’s move to Charlotte, North Carolina, Jean’s concentration on her Christian faith intensified, and she says that she began to see Jesus and speak with him, and even began to receive visions of heaven on Earth. These incidents eventually led to her son taking her to a hospital, but afterward, her mind continued to churn: “I sat at home talking to Jesus in my head, seeing him in my dreams, and understanding Scripture as if Heaven was flowing right through the Bible and talking to me.” In this memoir, Jean’s shifts between prose and poetry produce some startling results. At times, her writing is clear and straightforward, as in a traditional autobiography, but then suddenly she describes strange occurrences, as when she tells of feeling a “swarm of locusts blanket my body and start to eat away at my flesh.” She also presents poems in a variety of different formats, with stanzas that break into pyramidlike shapes and columns, sometimes accompanied by soft drawings. The result is often intriguing, but at times hard to follow. Overall, the earnest descriptions of supernatural events feel untethered to reality, which may make it difficult for readers to connect to them.
A poetic memoir filled with unexpected but ultimately confusing recollections of spiritual encounters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-73404-301-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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