A valuable read for those who love poetry and self-help books—and those looking for answers in a world darkened by the...
Much like life, love is not a destination; by using poetry to depict the stages of the relationship cycle, Bayer writes her way to the answers along that journey.
At one time or another, we all experience love and the loss of love. How smooth our journey is on this route depends on the circumstances of the fall and whether or not the journey allows us find love again. By equal measures, Bayer has felt love and been devastated by its loss. Along the way she suffered greatly, left alone in the wilderness of her heart. Turning to her muse and confessional poetry as her vehicle, she pieced back together the idea of love from the ashes of confusion and sadness. Bayer, who is a doctoral candidate in health psychology and a blogger, may be in tune with these emotions more deeply than the average traveler. However, it is the format of her collection and the delivery of her words that makes her work so engaging. The book is separated into chapters that function as milestones in her journey. “Falling” begins a descent into the chaotic levels of heartache unknown. “Searching” explores memories and feelings, trying to make sense of what has happened. “Accepting” goes beyond coming to terms with fate, delving into self-acceptance. “Knowing” is really the first baby steps on the other slope of the relationship parabola. “Loving” is fairly self-explanatory, but framed in elegant, fully realized words. “Having” and “Understanding” add the final pieces to the puzzle. All the while, Bayer’s well-written, matter of fact style of dealing out verses and overcoming emotions pour onto the page. This helps to heal the wounded and bring solace to the reader who is ready to find it.
A valuable read for those who love poetry and self-help books—and those looking for answers in a world darkened by the absence of love.Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1449927912
Page Count: 171
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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