Reasonable though lightweight advice.
A common-sense guide to managing everyday stress.
In 1998, Huljich was chairman of the board and joint CEO of a large, successful organic foods company, living in one of New Zealand’s largest homes, with all the trappings of success, including stress. And it got to him. Huljich candidly describes the dramatic, full mental breakdown that tore him away from the home and life he’d built for himself and his family. He goes on to briefly describe his personal experience as he returned to mental health, weaned himself off the psychotropic medications prescribed for him, and developed habits to maintain his overall wellness. This telling is far more self-help than autobiography. (Readers interested in a full account of his breakdown can pick up his barely fictionalized Betrayal of Love and Freedom.) While there’s nothing earthshaking in Huljich’s “nine natural steps to survive, master stress and live well,” the recipe he provides for better living is unusual because it’s so practical and seemingly easy to follow. For example, in spite of his experience with organic foods and nutrition, he doesn’t insist that wellness depends on sticking to a strict diet, just a sensible one. But smart eating habits comprise only one of the nine steps in Huljich’s recommended process for achieving better health by developing a lifestyle that acts like a stress buffer. Sound sleeping, exercising and practicing positive affirmations also make his list. Chapters devoted to each of the nine steps are chock-full of practical advice and suggestions that seem reasonably easy to incorporate into a normal (i.e., stressful) modern life. Huljich’s point—based on his experience, not medical research— is that the key to mental health is having a healthy response to stress, not necessarily avoiding it. “A dependence on avoiding stress…is a mask, not a cure,” he writes. These nine steps aren’t the be-all, end-all answer, but they’re worth following.
Reasonable though lightweight advice.Pub Date: July 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615489209
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Mwella Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dubious exploration of appetite as a metaphor in women's lives, from the author of When Food Is Love (1991), who conducts workshops on women, food, and self-esteem. According to Roth, women desire obsessively—a perfect body, success, love—instead of embracing themselves as they are and appreciating what they already have. A woman who overeats, for example, may be trying to fill a void within herself, not realizing that she already has what she needs. Roth gives examples from her own life: Having obtained what she thought she wanted—fame, a good man, a thin body, a life in scenic northern California—she still wasn't happy. Then she developed chronic fatigue syndrome and a vitamin deficiency that caused her hair to fall out, all of which made her realize that she should have appreciated her health while she had it. A series of chance disasters—an earthquake, a fire that nearly burned her house down—led her to understand that everything she has could easily be taken away, that her deepest satisfaction must come from herself. Though witty and lucid about her personal experience, Roth does, unfortunately, lapse into the occasional New Age, pseudo-Buddhist truism. Nor is it always obvious how particular parts of the narrative fit into her overall argument. Worse, the author can be downright maudlin: Anthropomorphic paeans to her cat's capacity for enlightened contentment, though mitigated by moments of self-mockery, get embarrassing after awhile. Roth's lack of self-consciousness about her own privilege is an even larger problem. It is easy enough to preach about finding happiness within yourself when you have what you always wanted from the world. But those who haven't found love, fame, rewarding work, or money may be less than sympathetic to the spiritual struggles of the ``woman who has everything'' and still isn't satisfied. (Author tour)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-525-94076-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Alice Trillin was 38 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Bruno Navasky was 12 when he was diagnosed with cancer. Trillin wrote Bruno a letter of support and commiseration, which was saved for 20 years. Both survived their ordeals, and now the letter is being published, with illustrations by Ed Koren, for children and grown-ups alike who face cancer. Trillin is never patronizing; her blend of empathy, warmth, and simplicity are perfectly directed at her 12-year-old correspondent. On the vicissitudes of hospital life she writes, ``The thing that always astonished me was how incredibly well-behaved I was, even when I had to wait in the hallway until I thought I'd been abandoned.'' She allows Bruno to share her anger at being chosen for such a painful fate: ``After all, I am a reasonably nice person, had always done my best to behave myself, and there were all sorts of awful people wandering around perfectly healthy . . . while I had to lie in bed having tubes and needles stuck into me.'' Everyone needs a friend like Alice Trillin—and now everyone can have one.
Pub Date: May 8, 1996
ISBN: 1-56584-057-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: The New Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
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