One of the lovely parts of the story is Veronica’s language—she paints a complex picture of her family, using heavy doses of metaphorical language and lots of questioning about how her life unfolds. She is quite trapped in her lifestyle. She writes much later, looking back and many of the incidences described are all about falling away, falling down, or just not making it.
Category: Non fiction reviews
A review of The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images by the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS)
Most essays take a vivid and telling image as their point of departure, but then range more widely. On the whole, the essays are provocative and richly suggestive, rather than exhaustive; and it is unlikely anyway, to my way of understanding, that the meanings and resonances inherent in a symbol can ever be fully enumerated. That is why they remain vital as symbols, able to intrigue, fascinate and transport.
A reviw of Spirit Junkie: A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles by Gabrielle Bernstein
In our busy world where achivement and ticking boxes seems to take priority over everything else, the message is a critically important one, however it’s delivered. Call it “ego”, or fear, or self-sabotage, and talk about God, spirit, ‘-ing’, or simply our own inner, innate capabilities. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Bernstein’s book is powerful and effective, infused with extraordinary energy and passion.
A review of Sculpting the Heart: Surviving Depression with Art Therapy by Joyce White
The book is an encouragement to risk, go deep, and try new ideas. Practising what she preaches, White opens up about her own struggles with depression, divorce, and health problems. Despite the honesty that underlies the book, White is never dour, using herself as an example, and asserting the unique voice that every person has.
A review of Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown by David Yaffe
He devotes a chapter to Dylan’s voice, an incredible instrument, the thing that primarily differentiates him from a poet of the page. Another chapter, the second, looks at Dylan and cinema: films he has made (e.g. Renaldo and Clara), films that have been made about him (e.g. Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There).
The Leading African-American Literary Critic of His Generation: Henry Louis Gates Jr. and his book Tradition and the Black Atlantic: Critical Theory in the African Diaspora
In England, writer Zadie Smith and actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and rock singer Kele of Bloc Party have made their own giant splashes, as had the androgynous singer Ephraim Lewis, before he died; and Ejiofor played a cross-dressing designer in Kinky Boots, and Kele is gay and alludes to that experience in his songs.
A review of Alternate Beauty by Andrea Rains Waggener
Alternate Beauty is a treasure trove of self-realization for more than just the main character; it can be life altering for the reader as well. In her original world Ronnie desires to be a fashion designer. As a youngster, her mother dashed those dreams and although her desire was strong, she let it go to sink her sorrows in food. We all have something we desire to do or have and we let it go due to deep seeded fear.
A review of Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun by Liza Bakewell
Liza Bakewell is a linguistic anthropologist but Madre is not an academic tome; more like a dance through the linguistic history and difficulties of a word in the Spanish language that does not just mean ‘mother’. Madre, it becomes clear, can take on all sorts of meanings depending on the context of its use.
A review of Don’t Peak at High School edited by Fiona Scott-Norman
Scott-Norman’s book provides fifteen different nuggets of wisdom from some of Australia’s most popular, dynamic and confident stars. All of them were bullied, some so badly that you have to wonder how they managed to make it through at all, much less to rise to the heights of success that they did.
A review of My School by Maralyn Parker
This book would be of particular value to someone moving to Australia for the first time as it provides a very good overview of the idiosyncrasies of the Australian school system, including how to make best use of that system.