Heady, insightful content packaged in a nonthreatening, engaging manner; includes ample opportunity for the dedicated reader...
A refreshingly creative debut that focuses on taking control of one’s life.
Life coach deHart lays out a contemporary method for achieving “self-awareness and self-mastery”; she calls it “StoryJacking,” a clever term that might suggest elevating one’s own life story or, potentially, “hijacking” one’s thinking to shift “internal dialogue.” Each of the four sections—“You are Whole,” “You are Capable,” “You are Resourceful,” and “You are Creative”—contains brief chapters with lots of positive, empowering messages interlaced with exercises, analogies, and numerous examples from the author’s experience coaching clients. The first section explores broad concepts, such as the psyche and how the mind works, and enumerates the StoryJacking steps. Section 2 explores self-actualization through visualization, making choices, expanding awareness, and “archetypes” that are “characters in our internal story.” In the third section, deHart encourages readers to create a personal story using tools that are clearly introduced and described, like the “Locus of Control” and the “Emotional Distress Road Map.” The final section, the shortest, reinforces the flexibility of the tools and discusses creative approaches to StoryJacking. Throughout, deHart gently prods and at times exhorts readers to take control of their stories, noting that “the hardest thing that you will ever do is get out of your own way.” This is typical of her candid, perceptive counsel; the best advice is neatly enclosed in her self-proclaimed “super-secrets of the universe”; for example, “The longest and most intimate relationship you will have in your entire life is the one you will have with yourself.” DeHart’s breezy style and natural storytelling skills keep things moving along.
Heady, insightful content packaged in a nonthreatening, engaging manner; includes ample opportunity for the dedicated reader to consider life-altering directions.Pub Date: May 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-944335-31-1
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Girl+Dog Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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