A bright, graceful, close-up view of nature.
In this debut inspirational art book, a painter combines thought-provoking quotes with opulent depictions of the beauty of plants and animals.
Although Linden describes herself in a preface as “a painter, not a writer,” she introduces this work with a series of mini-essays that are engagingly personal as they reveal her process. In “On early inspiration,” she recalls a summer camp experience in which counselors “would line all us little folk up in a row, on top of a small hill overlooking the lake” to recite the Sufi poem “Look to This Day.” The inspiration she gained from intoning the “ancient exhortation” exerted a lifelong influence on her art, she says. “My studio” and “Painting process” describe the artist’s work space (“Canvasses…piled high, some on walls, some littering the floor…a profusion of color, enough to brighten the dullest day”) and how she approaches her art, which she defines as a holistic, healing practice through which “Painting becomes meditation.” In other sections, Linden examines the roles of flowers in lore, medicine, and cuisine. It’s a welcome introduction that makes this collection of carefully chosen quotes and meticulous artwork feel vivid and warm. Linden’s paintings depict oversized flowers and some animals, expressively drawn and vibrantly colored. Some owe a debt to Georgia O’Keeffe’s work, which Linden indirectly acknowledges by including an O’Keefe quote about her own artistic philosophy. The author’s work does not, however, seem derivative. From the achingly sensuous “Cattleya Orchids” to the stylized angularity of “Garden of Earthly Delights,” she approaches her floral subjects with keen observation and affection, and the results bear repeated examination. The quotes interspersed among the pictures, at irregular intervals, come from widely varied sources, including Pablo Picasso, Lewis Carroll, and the Bible, and generally promote optimism and courage. All in all, Linden’s so-called “little book” is an affirming and satisfying meditation.
A bright, graceful, close-up view of nature.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5043-9374-4
Page Count: 72
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A wondrous mix of races, ages, genders, and social classes, and on virtually every page is a surprise.
Photographer and author Stanton returns with a companion volume to Humans of New York (2013), this one with similarly affecting photographs of New Yorkers but also with some tales from his subjects’ mouths.
Readers of the first volume—and followers of the related site on Facebook and elsewhere—will feel immediately at home. The author has continued to photograph the human zoo: folks out in the streets and in the parks, in moods ranging from parade-happy to deep despair. He includes one running feature—“Today in Microfashion,” which shows images of little children dressed up in various arresting ways. He also provides some juxtapositions, images and/or stories that are related somehow. These range from surprising to forced to barely tolerable. One shows a man with a cat on his head and a woman with a large flowered headpiece, another a construction worker proud of his body and, on the facing page, a man in a wheelchair. The emotions course along the entire continuum of human passion: love, broken love, elation, depression, playfulness, argumentativeness, madness, arrogance, humility, pride, frustration, and confusion. We see varieties of the human costume, as well, from formalwear to homeless-wear. A few celebrities appear, President Barack Obama among them. The “stories” range from single-sentence comments and quips and complaints to more lengthy tales (none longer than a couple of pages). People talk about abusive parents, exes, struggles to succeed, addiction and recovery, dramatic failures, and lifelong happiness. Some deliver minirants (a neuroscientist is especially curmudgeonly), and the children often provide the most (often unintended) humor. One little boy with a fishing pole talks about a monster fish. Toward the end, the images seem to lead us toward hope. But then…a final photograph turns the light out once again.
A wondrous mix of races, ages, genders, and social classes, and on virtually every page is a surprise.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-05890-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.
Lessons about life from those preparing to die.
A longtime hospice chaplain, Egan (Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago, 2004) shares what she has learned through the stories of those nearing death. She notices that for every life, there are shared stories of heartbreak, pain, guilt, fear, and regret. “Every one of us will go through things that destroy our inner compass and pull meaning out from under us,” she writes. “Everyone who does not die young will go through some sort of spiritual crisis.” The author is also straightforward in noting that through her experiences with the brokenness of others, and in trying to assist in that brokenness, she has found healing for herself. Several years ago, during a C-section, Egan suffered a bad reaction to the anesthesia, leading to months of psychotic disorders and years of recovery. The experience left her with tremendous emotional pain and latent feelings of shame, regret, and anger. However, with each patient she helped, the author found herself better understanding her own past. Despite her role as a chaplain, Egan notes that she rarely discussed God or religious subjects with her patients. Mainly, when people could talk at all, they discussed their families, “because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives.” It is through families, Egan began to realize, that “we find meaning, and this is where our purpose becomes clear.” The author’s anecdotes are often thought-provoking combinations of sublime humor and tragic pathos. She is not afraid to point out times where she made mistakes, even downright failures, in the course of her work. However, the nature of her work means “living in the gray,” where right and wrong answers are often hard to identify.
A moving, heartfelt account of a hospice veteran.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59463-481-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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