An intriguing prescription and road map for relationship success.
A life coach makes the case to balance feminine and masculine energy for better connections with others and oneself in this debut self-help guide.
The author, in an increasingly sexless marriage with “Mr. Beige,” came to realize that “while my masculine energy served me extremely well in my business life, it did not really serve me in my personal life.” In this guide, she outlines particularly for women (although she notes that her concepts apply to both sexes) the need to consciously balance and harness one’s male and female energies to attract a desired romantic and sexual partner. Women should be aware they’ll likely need to have “polarity” of energies with a man, that “carrying…masculine energy into the quest to find a loving relationship will make it virtually impossible for them to attract a masculine man.” She details the distinctions of masculine and feminine energy, at one point noting, “Masculine energy focuses on doing, feminine energy is all about being and feeling.” She offers tips for women on how to lead with their feminine energies while trying to meet a romantic partner (including to be joyful, positive, and vulnerable) and how to handle the balancing act required to maintain a relationship and in deciding to end one. She cautions women against assuming a man’s preoccupation means problems with the relationship instead of perhaps another concern on his mind. She concludes her useful commentary with the contention that greater self-awareness of one’s preferences and tendencies in these energies will aid in the realization of one’s “true self.” B., a successful entrepreneur who’s also certified in neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and as a life coach, brings a relatable if not always fully explained personal story (what exactly is her relationship status with her new “Mr. Big”?) in offering advice to women struggling to find success in their personal lives. While her perspective may seem antifeminist at times, she makes a convincing argument for “polarity” in relationships and offers many helpful cognitive exercises, including to leverage NLP-type “anchors” of clenching one’s left or right fist to consciously tap into and assert female or male energy as the situation warrants.
An intriguing prescription and road map for relationship success.Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-925471-05-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A generous and singularly insightful examination of memoir.
A bestselling nonfiction writer offers spirited commentary about memoir, the literary form that has become synonymous with her name.
Personal narrative has exploded in popularity over the last 20 years. Yet, as Karr (Lit: A Memoir, 2009, etc.) points out, memoir still struggles to attain literary respectability. “There is a lingering snobbery in the literary world,” she writes, “that wants to disqualify what is broadly called nonfiction from the category of ‘literature.’ ” In this book, Karr offers both an apology for and a sharp-eyed exploration of this form born from her years as a practitioner as well as a distinguished English professor at Syracuse University. She begins by considering classroom “experiments” she has conducted to show the slipperiness of memory and arguing the need to give latitude to writers tackling memoir. Writing with the intent to record what rings true rather than exact is one thing; writing with the intent to lie is another. Voice is another critical aspect of any memoir that manages to endure through time. By examining works by writers as diverse as Frank McCourt and Vladimir Nabokov, Karr demonstrates that it is in fact the very thing by which a great memoir “lives or dies.” Rather than focus on the narrative truism of “show-don’t-tell,” Karr thoughtfully elaborates on what she calls “carnality”—the ability to transform memory into a multisensory experience—for the reader. When wed to a desire to move beyond the traps of ego and render personal “psychic struggle” honestly and without fear, carnality can lead to writing that not only “wring[s] some truth from the godawful mess of a single life,” but also connects deeply with readers. Karr’s sassy Texas wit and her down-to-earth observations about both the memoir form and how to approach it combine to make for lively and inspiring reading.
A generous and singularly insightful examination of memoir.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-222306-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
PROFILES
Analyzing his craft, a careful craftsman urges with Thoreauvian conviction that writers should simplify, simplify, simplify.
A New York Times columnist and editorial board member delivers a slim book for aspiring writers, offering saws and sense, wisdom and waggery, biases and biting sarcasm.
Klinkenborg (Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile, 2006), who’s taught for decades, endeavors to keep things simple in his prose, and he urges other writers to do the same. (Note: He despises abuses of the word as, as he continually reminds readers.) In the early sections, the author ignores traditional paragraphing so that the text resembles a long free-verse poem. He urges readers to use short, clear sentences and to make sure each one is healthy before moving on; notes that it’s acceptable to start sentences with and and but; sees benefits in diagramming sentences; stresses that all writing is revision; periodically blasts the formulaic writing that many (most?) students learn in school; argues that knowing where you’re headed before you begin might be good for a vacation, but not for a piece of writing; and believes that writers must trust readers more, and trust themselves. Most of Klinkenborg’s advice is neither radical nor especially profound (“Turn to the poets. / Learn from them”), and the text suffers from a corrosive fallacy: that if his strategies work for him they will work for all. The final fifth of the text includes some passages from writers he admires (McPhee, Oates, Cheever) and some of his students’ awkward sentences, which he treats analytically but sometimes with a surprising sarcasm that veers near meanness. He includes examples of students’ dangling modifiers, malapropisms, errors of pronoun agreement, wordiness and other mistakes.
Analyzing his craft, a careful craftsman urges with Thoreauvian conviction that writers should simplify, simplify, simplify.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-307-26634-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
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