THE THIRD PERSON IN THE ROOM

Name: THE THIRD PERSON IN THE ROOM
Author: Bea V. Larsen
ISBN: 978-1-73334-020-5

STORIES OF RELATIONSHIPS AT A TURNING POINT

by Bea V. Larsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2019

A divorce mediator shares her observations and insights on couples’ struggles in this debut memoir.

Larsen has a long history of helping couples navigate the tumultuous road of separation; she’s been an attorney for 50 years, and a professional mediator for half that time. This insightful collection of case studies portrays the many challenges that come with saying goodbye to a relationship. Along the way, Larsen describes the most common interpersonal dynamics that she witnessed in her mediating career, and discusses whether they helped the couple heal or perpetuated their bitterness and hostility. Communication, blame, trust, and forgiveness are just a few of the many topics that these narratives address, as each chapter offers a detailed, real-life example from Larsen’s mediation work. Some chapters expound on certain subjects, such as negotiations and expectations, and how they play roles in divorce proceedings. The subject matter isn’t always cheerful, but it does provide surprising moments of clarity and insight, which will encourage further reflection. It doesn’t gloss over the painful realities of loss and moving on with one’s life; there are examples of couples who held onto anger instead of letting it go, and of others who more quickly found middle ground. Larsen also compellingly shares her own experience of grief and healing after her husband’s passing: “as the first anniversary of his death approached, my steps slowed, my throat tightened, and my quiet times became more somber.” Overall, her writing style is intimate yet conversational, as if she’s taking readers into her private confidence. Although the book is largely serious in tone, it also includes refreshing moments of humor that help to occasionally lighten the narrative.

An emotional, thought-provoking read about the fragility of relationships.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-73334-020-5

Page Count: 302

Publisher: Nolan Kerr Press

Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION

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Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION

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IN MY PLACE

by Charlayne Hunter-Gault ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992

From the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. of Georgia. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''—the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges—all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. of Georgia as well. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. (Photographs—not seen.)