A rousing pamphlet that deserves to spread like wildfire.
A brief self-help volume that covers the basics of life in a humorous, no-nonsense manner.
Blunce, formerly a workaholic investment banker, has plenty of candid advice for living a happy, emotionally healthy life. His book is broken into chapters corresponding to potential readers’ teenage years, the decades beyond and the challenges unique to the various stages. Early on, he emphasizes respect for oneself (i.e., maintaining good hygiene, getting an education) and for society (paying taxes gladly, drinking responsibly). Throughout, he adds bullet-point specifics and “offhand bits of advice.” His discussion of life in your 20s (“The Go-Go Years”) mainly covers—for the purpose of broad appeal—graduating from college, getting an office job and navigating the perils of the workplace. Subsequent chapters, “30 to 40—The Making It Years” and “50 to 60—The Worldly Years,” detail practical ways to raise children, buy property, see the world, retire and acquire the proper health care. Blunce includes funny, insightful visuals (an image about “the chains that hold us” shows a horse tied to a plastic chair) and famous quotes (“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”). More controversial subjects appear, like religion’s negative effect on the world and the emptiness of accumulating wealth (rather than earning and enjoying it). For his debut, Blunce boldly dives into the self-improvement arena, offering a refreshing, down-to-earth work that isn’t padded with anecdotes. There’s also unabashed playfulness; in a segment on dressing for a job interview, Blunce says, “If your suit exudes ‘loser,’ your interview might as well have the sound of a toilet flushing in the background.” He also admits to being a Type A personality, and his advice may not appeal to those seeking a more creative, reflective life. His finale is a frank denunciation of religion as an unnecessary barrier toward living in global harmony. Luckily, Blunce remains jovial even here, sending us off with the message, “I love you...see you soon.”
A rousing pamphlet that deserves to spread like wildfire.Pub Date: March 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1481169066
Page Count: 192
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
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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