While this fast-paced tale of a sculptor delivers unrelenting passion, portions of the narrative lack depth.
An experimental novel focuses on one woman’s artistic struggles.
The protagonist in this brief drama goes unnamed yet readers gather early on that she endures a life of frustration. She has grand dreams of being a sculptor but, as with so many artists, these yearnings do not pay the bills. As someone tells her rather bluntly, “You cannot live off your sculptures.” So what does she do instead? Although it is never entirely clear who is speaking (most of the book unfolds in dialogue and characters are never given names), it seems the artist sticks with a job she hates even though it causes her great distress. And so readers follow along as the protagonist argues with others, criticizes herself and her work, and generally expresses feelings of discontent. She pens brief letters to Passion, Pain, and Phobia (for example, “Dear Phobia, You are hosting me as a prisoner”). She also suffers odd accusations, including that she looks too glamorous to be a sculptor. The whole affair unfolds in under a hundred pages and, while the protagonist certainly gets to vent her frustrations, it is not certain if anything gets resolved. Everything in Jbara’s (Muddy Minutes, 2017, etc.) story moves quickly. From the get-go, it is clear that this sculptor has some feelings to express and she does so without pulling any punches. As she responds to someone who claims she is not changing the world with her art, “Actually, I am changing my world.” The problem with this anonymous fury is that the sculptor and her haters are inherently flat. While it is easy to be empathetic to her plight, it is impossible to know much about her or her work. Dialogue can likewise be vague to the point of distraction. This is the case when one character exclaims “I loathe you!” and another responds: “I loathe you too.” What, exactly, is everyone so angry about? Nevertheless, the arguments are always heated. Even if the characters are ambiguous, it doesn’t mean they—and the book on the whole—aren’t full of emotion.
While this fast-paced tale of a sculptor delivers unrelenting passion, portions of the narrative lack depth.Pub Date: June 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-72838-997-4
Page Count: 94
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.
A British novelist turns to autobiography to report the manifold symptoms and management of his debilitating disease, depression.
Clever author Haig (The Humans, 2013, etc.) writes brief, episodic vignettes, not of a tranquil life but of an existence of unbearable, unsustainable melancholy. Throughout his story, presented in bits frequently less than a page long (e.g., “Things you think during your 1,000th panic attack”), the author considers phases he describes in turn as Falling, Landing, Rising, Living, and, finally, simply Being with spells of depression. Haig lists markers of his unseen disease, including adolescent angst, pain, continual dread, inability to speak, hypochondria, and insomnia. He describes his frequent panic attacks and near-constant anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure. Haig also assesses the efficacy of neuroscience, yoga, St. John’s wort, exercise, pharmaceuticals, silence, talking, walking, running, staying put, and working up the courage to do even the most seemingly mundane of tasks, like visiting the village store. Best for the author were reading, writing, and the frequent dispensing of kindnesses and love. He acknowledges particularly his debt to his then-girlfriend, now-wife. After nearly 15 years, Haig is doing better. He appreciates being alive and savors the miracle of existence. His writing is infectious though sometimes facile—and grammarians may be upset with the writer’s occasional confusion of the nominative and objective cases of personal pronouns. Less tidy and more eclectic than William Styron’s equally brief, iconic Darkness Visible, Haig’s book provides unobjectionable advice that will offer some help and succor to those who experience depression and other related illnesses. For families and friends of the afflicted, Haig’s book, like Styron’s, will provide understanding and support.
A vibrant, encouraging depiction of a sinister disorder.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-312872-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
SEEN & HEARD
Readers Donate Depression Book After Star Suicide
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