This fast-paced, upbeat call for concentrating on the positive should appeal to manifesting fans.
A writer looks at using the power of focus to manifest benefits in daily life.
The central conceit of Brennan’s slim nonfiction book is the idea of employing passion and focus as fertilizer in order to prime the soil of daily life to grow the qualities each person wants. “Simply by being aware of where we place our focus, we can contribute to the reality we are growing,” she writes, “which is why focus is fertiliser.” A key to priming this process is shifting the need for external validation to internal confirmation and concentrating on the specific object in mind, then determining whether the focus involved is positive or negative. Finally, readers should examine the direction of the focus: Is it internal or external? Brennan advocates marshaling internal processes of attention, presence, and appreciation in order to build the concentration required to create this personal fertilizer. “If we focus on the object of our task—our success,” she writes, “we can demonstrate our passion and effectiveness, and others will believe our intentions.” The main problem Brennan addresses throughout is the risk of a disconnection between the inner self and the outer realities—hence, the vital need for focus. “If we are not connected to our self and the moment,” she writes, “we are not able to access our highest potential, which includes creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience.” The narrative the author presents is compassionate and warmly autobiographical; she stresses that it’s never been more important to be in the present moment than in the midst of Covid-19 and all its accompanying tensions. Readers unfamiliar with the whole subculture of “manifesting” will find some of Brennan’s assertions bewildering, as when she asserts that “the human brain does not understand the difference between positive and negative” or when she echoes the sentiment that “our experiences are the results of our thoughts and feelings.” But manifesting aficionados will find the author good company.
This fast-paced, upbeat call for concentrating on the positive should appeal to manifesting fans.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5043-2406-9
Page Count: 100
Publisher: BalboaPressAU
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2021
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
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