Heartfelt testimony of an arduous search for self-affirmation that will appeal to fellow seekers.
A candid chronicle of determined self-transformation.
In 2011, one month before she turned 49, Price (Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography, 1999, etc.) realized, not for the first time, that she was miserable. Although she was a successful designer, living in Santa Fe with a woman she loved, she felt burdened by a “colossal workload and industrial-strength work ethic” that left her stressed and anxious. Desperately unhappy, she decided to leave behind her career and relationship to embark on a journey of self-discovery. As the author recounts her spiritual quest, she discovers that the only time she felt joy was when she traveled around the world talking with fans of her late father, the actor Vincent Price, and giving inspirational talks. “I felt the joy of adventure, new encounters, meaningful connections,” she writes. But that joy eluded her in everyday life. Reading inspirational books and attending a “transformational speaking workshop” taught her that she could generate joy through practice and sharing. Besides giving talks, she conveyed her message of joy through a blog that helped her to create “a community of fellow joy practitioners.” Much of this memoir focuses on Price’s parents, as she looks back to her childhood to examine the deep roots of her fears and self-doubt. She adored her doting father, whom she—and others—remembers as loving, generous, and joyful. However, her relationship with her exacting, demanding mother was far different. Her mother took every opportunity to demean her only child and make her feel unworthy and untalented. “I learned my fear of being not good enough from my mother,” she admits. When Price told her mother that she was a lesbian, her mother’s horrified response resulted in a three-year estrangement. Discovering the religious perspective of interspirituality proved to be decisive in Price’s growth and healing, and she offers a five-step process to help others “release qualities that may once have served us but no longer do.”
Heartfelt testimony of an arduous search for self-affirmation that will appeal to fellow seekers.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-486-81605-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ixia Press/Dover Publications
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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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