This Christian-themed handbook offers insight and comfort, though falls short of sharing three-dimensional stories.
An oncologist and his cancer-surviving co-author present the stories of 12 cancer patients and analyze each person’s spiritual growth following the diagnosis.
The idea of cancer as the best gift a person could receive is an obviously controversial suggestion. For the most part, the authors do a fine job of clarifying this inflammatory statement by examining how the personal and spiritual growth of the cancer patents profiled here led to enriched relationships, stronger faith and other positive impacts. However, by presenting each patient’s story as a first-person narrative, the authors are hampered by each person’s individual limits as a storyteller. Few of the patients use rich, descriptive language or set a vivid scene, relying instead on clichéd language or pat testimonies regarding their belief in God. A notable exception is a moving account that describes how a man’s relationship with a close friend’s daughter helped him fight cancer and, later, helped the girl’s mother cope with the sudden death of her daughter. A well-researched narrative and perhaps accompanying photographs would help the case studies resonate more deeply. Additionally, the majority of the stories involve those who survived cancer, further implying a positive attitude and strong, Christian faith result in recovery. The analysis following each anecdote takes an increasingly strong, evangelical tone that may alienate those who do not share such beliefs. Such proselytizing distracts from otherwise generally thoughtful discussions and guidance regarding strategies for living in the moment, reducing worry and addressing negative feelings in order to focus on positive ones. Analytical sections also are careful to explain such coping strategies may not cure cancer but may provide comfort and improve quality of life. Footnotes throughout the text often follow vague references to other literature, material generally unnecessary and distracting.
This Christian-themed handbook offers insight and comfort, though falls short of sharing three-dimensional stories.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2010
ISBN: 978-1440187698
Page Count: 167
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.
A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author.
What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed’s collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host (“Dear Sugar”) pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn’t reference the books she’s drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed’s declaration that “Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard.” Others call on the author’s unique observations—people who regret what they haven’t done, she writes, end up “mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions” of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like “Trust your gut.” Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you’ve read Strayed’s other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Strayed’s true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone’s day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it’s no substitute for the real thing.
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-101-946909
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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