A well-written and thoughtful exploration of spirituality from a distinctly female perspective.
A former Olympian explores the sacred feminine.
In this debut self-help book, Claire shares her story of competing as an elite athlete and finding fulfillment through developing a spirituality that encompasses psychic awareness and an engagement with the female divine. In this guide, “W.I.T.C.H.” is an acronym that stands for “woman in total conscious healing,” a term the author applies to herself and other women who have embraced a holistic spirituality and taken control of their lives. Claire combines her personal story—growing up in a Scottish Irish family in Germany, fencing in the Olympics, immigrating to the United States—with advice for readers on developing their spiritual sides and finding happiness. Themed chapters move seamlessly between the two threads as the author uses her experience as an example, then offers a series of questions designed to encourage readers to explore each topic as it relates to their own lives. The book looks at how femininity has been represented and rejected in spiritual traditions, how a solid spiritual practice can lead to a sense of purpose, and how readers can build authentic and honest relationships. Claire is an engaging narrator with a fascinating and unique background, which makes the book intriguing and often compelling. She makes it clear from the opening pages that the volume’s target audience is women and addresses them exclusively. But it is not a guide for skeptics; readers should be prepared for frequent references to energy, vibrations, karma, and astrology, which are fundamental to the author’s experience of the world. Readers who are on their own mystical paths, particularly outside the bounds of mainstream religions, will find the manual useful, particularly when it addresses some of the challenges of incorporating spirituality into everyday life and the hazards of using spiritual engagement as a way to avoid dealing with underlying problems. While it is not a work for all readers, those who are part of its defined audience are likely to find it fits well on their shelves next to books by Gabrielle Bernstein and Marianne Williamson.
A well-written and thoughtful exploration of spirituality from a distinctly female perspective.Pub Date: March 8, 2023
ISBN: 9798986394305
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Siobhan Claire Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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