by Derek Doepker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 21, 2015
A lively and engaging, if occasionally bombastic, read; shows solid insight into human nature, but leaves any personal angst...
A self-help guide focuses on exploring one’s own foibles.
“Telling it to you straight” is a phrase that could well apply to this work by self-help book author Doepker (The Healthy Habit Revolution, 2014, etc.). One short, punchy chapter after another brims with rapid-fire advice about how to stop falling prey to internal fears and psychological hurdles. Doepker is relentless at tossing out such nuggets as “Pride is the ultimate impediment to reaching your potential,” “Separate your future possibilities from your current reality, and you’ll have countless options to choose,” and “The longest relationship you’re ever going to have is with yourself.” Much of the book’s content cogently addresses the manner in which just about everybody is, at least to some extent, self-delusional. It also points to the inadequacies, failings, and lack of confidence that may impede people from reaching their highest potential. Still, for those seeking a clear path to self-reliance and self-respect, this volume offers no easy fix. Instead, the author quite intentionally wrestles with issues (including right vs. wrong) and exposes gray areas between the black and white. He even occasionally steps outside himself and engages in a dialogue with his own mind. As he explains, “Do I try to argue with my mind and make it wrong, or do I appreciate what it has to share? I may simply tell my mind, ‘Thank you for sharing,’ and then move on. I don’t make it ‘bad’ or ‘wrong.’ ” This notion may be the most intriguing, and for some, unsettling part of this artfully written book; Doepker works hard to keep his own moral judgments outside his purview. What’s more, he admits his goal is to leave one “with more questions than answers.” A tendency toward good-humored vulgarity, tongue-in-cheek verbiage, and silly hashtags could leave some feeling the volume may have been written more as a creative exercise to shock and amuse than to enlighten.
A lively and engaging, if occasionally bombastic, read; shows solid insight into human nature, but leaves any personal angst and uncertainty for the reader to resolve.Pub Date: Dec. 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5228-7983-1
Page Count: 316
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Glennon Doyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2020
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
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More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
by Matt Haig ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 2016
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.
A British novelist turns to autobiography to report the manifold symptoms and management of his debilitating disease, depression.
Clever author Haig (The Humans, 2013, etc.) writes brief, episodic vignettes, not of a tranquil life but of an existence of unbearable, unsustainable melancholy. Throughout his story, presented in bits frequently less than a page long (e.g., “Things you think during your 1,000th panic attack”), the author considers phases he describes in turn as Falling, Landing, Rising, Living, and, finally, simply Being with spells of depression. Haig lists markers of his unseen disease, including adolescent angst, pain, continual dread, inability to speak, hypochondria, and insomnia. He describes his frequent panic attacks and near-constant anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure. Haig also assesses the efficacy of neuroscience, yoga, St. John’s wort, exercise, pharmaceuticals, silence, talking, walking, running, staying put, and working up the courage to do even the most seemingly mundane of tasks, like visiting the village store. Best for the author were reading, writing, and the frequent dispensing of kindnesses and love. He acknowledges particularly his debt to his then-girlfriend, now-wife. After nearly 15 years, Haig is doing better. He appreciates being alive and savors the miracle of existence. His writing is infectious though sometimes facile—and grammarians may be upset with the writer’s occasional confusion of the nominative and objective cases of personal pronouns. Less tidy and more eclectic than William Styron’s equally brief, iconic Darkness Visible, Haig’s book provides unobjectionable advice that will offer some help and succor to those who experience depression and other related illnesses. For families and friends of the afflicted, Haig’s book, like Styron’s, will provide understanding and support.
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-312872-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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