A luminous meditation, full of hard-won insights and reassuring advice.
You can heal your soul by listening to your heart, according this warmhearted self-helper.
Okumus probes a wide range of psychological and spiritual issues, arguing that egotism, fear, alienation, and social media erode our connections to others and ourselves. She begins with an extended dialogue between herself and God touching on many topics, including extraterrestrials (they exist); communications (the internet will be phased out in favor of books and telepathy); a looming period of war and political chaos; the guardian angels, ascended masters, beings of light, and ancestors who watch over us; and the reasons for suffering and death. God’s overarching lesson is that we need to let go of control, trust in the processes of the universe, reconnect with nature, downplay rational thought, and let feelings and love rule us. Later chapters offer more advice in Okumus’ own voice. She discusses the cultivation of chakras; the importance of women embracing their feminine natures; self-acceptance (she recommends mirror-work with the mantra “I love you, my beautiful imperfection, and thank you for coming here to teach me the most important thing, self-love and love in general”); finance (“remember, money will come when you trust yourself and let go of the need to control”); and, more controversially, the psychic aspects of disease (“the reality is that cancer is simply a manifestation of emotional blockages in the body”). Mixing Christian precepts with New Age mystical themes, the author explores many of the great mysteries of religion, being, and self-awareness. Her vivid, intense prose evokes both the searing anguish of life and the strength and wisdom it brings (“I thought I would not survive it. But I did. And I want you to know that even if this moment feels like the end, it is also the beginning”). Readers beset by trauma, grief, or anxiety about their place in the world will find nourishing food for thought here.
A luminous meditation, full of hard-won insights and reassuring advice.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2025
ISBN: 9798264262272
Page Count: 176
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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