A resonant account of self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment.
West reflects on her spiritual and personal journey in this memoir.
The book’s opening scene takes readers into the kitchen of West’s childhood home in a Midwestern suburb as the family prepares to decorate their Christmas tree. Throughout this scene, the author reflects on the ways the holiday story exemplifies each family member’s role. Mom “was always there,” she writes, highlighting her mother’s stabilizing presence in maintaining daily routines and household chores. Alternately, “Dad was more fun but inconstant; you never knew if he would make you laugh or cry.” This opening anecdote, which uses a simple event to make profound psychological and spiritual observations, is typical of the book. The follow-up to her 2020 memoir of family healing, Rootlines, here West focuses on her lifelong quest for meaning. Raised in a devoutly Catholic home, she embraced her family’s religion (e.g., she recalls praying for her drunk father as a young girl). Moving to California in the 1960s, where she studied science at the University of California, Berkeley, the author joined the throngs of baby boomers who found purpose in practicing Eastern spirituality and experimenting with drugs. Still, there remained constant tension between her interest in mantra repetition and other Eastern practices and her academic pursuit of science. As she entered a career in the nascent Silicon Valley, however, she fell victim to her family’s generational struggle with alcohol, diminishing her energy for exploration.
In her raw, intimate work, West examines her own complex internal struggles. When she first attended Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, she recalls her initial recoil at the program’s emphasis on relying on God, telling herself, “I didn’t come here to learn that I’m powerless.” She sought a more empirical, scientific approach toward overcoming addiction. As the book progresses, West outlines her own eclectic brand of spirituality, one that emerged from the myriad experiences that have defined her life. Coming to terms with her own sexuality and accepting herself as a lesbian during the height of antiqueer sentiment in 1970s-era California is another of the book’s central themes. “I finally had to admit,” she writes after breaking away from a ménage à trois that involved a man, “I was as gay as springtime. The time had come to admit it.” She realized that coming out publicly was important both as an act of self-empowerment and a political act—to show that queer men and women existed everywhere. The memoir also serves as a self-help guide; West clearly hopes to reach out to readers who struggle with addiction or are on their own spiritual journeys. To this end, she includes an ample assortment of questions designed for individual reflection or small group discussion. The book is at times repetitive and could use tighter editing, though its occasionally meandering narrative parallels the author’s own spiritual journey. Whether writing about the death of her sister, coming to terms with her sexual orientation, or contemplating the dichotomy between science and religion, West blends sage insights with deeply personal and engaging storytelling.
A resonant account of self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781647428228
Page Count: 352
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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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