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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PROFILES
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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Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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