True Sobriety Info Done with "Brightness"

Title: Sober is the New Black

Author: Rachel Black
Web site: www.soberisthenewrachelblack.blogspot.co.uk
Category: Self help, Addiction, Alcohol, Memoir
ASIN: B00HZIGNLU
Buy the e-book here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HZIGNLU

 

Reviewed by Anna Buttimore B.A.Hons Administrator, originally for the spring 2015 issue of Law Care News

 

Sober is the New Black by Rachel Black shows very effectively how alcohol can insidiously, destructively and completely take over a life. Throughout it powerfully juxtaposes events in the author's life--business conferences, family holidays, book club meetings--when she was drinking, and after she stopped. There's always a risk with this sort of personal memoir that it can become egocentric and dull, but this one avoids that on two counts. First, because Rachel will resonate with so many readers as a typical working mother, someone they can relate to. Second, because it doesn't go too deeply into aspects of her life (we never learn the names of her children or her Other Half, or what job she does) and stays firmly focussed on the subject of alcohol.




I particularly liked the metaphor where the author compares lifelong abstinence with her mortgage. Both are burdens which look huge and terrifying when viewed as a whole, but are manageable and life-affirming on a day-to-day basis. The book well written, interesting and not overlong, but for me its best feature is the overriding optimism and delight on every page. If it has one message, it's that the sober life is wonderful. Rachel was evidently taken by surprise to find how much better everything, from social events to Christmas, is when you're not focusing solely on wine and how to drink as much of it as possible without anyone noticing. That brightness and assurance shines throughout the book and lifts it above other "sobriety memoirs”.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Black is also the author of‘Fashionable and Fabulous’. Read her blog here.

Join her on Twitter @SoberRachel.



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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

"Minta Forever" Strong Statement on Abuse

Title: Minta Forever
Author: Jean Campion
ISBN-10: 1932738371
ISBN-13: 978-1932738377
Pages: 192
Price $15.95 Amazon
Publisher Western Reflections Publishing Company
951 N. Highway 149, Lake City, Colorado 81235
P.O. Box 1149, Lake City, Colorado 81235
E-mail: westref@montrose.net
1-970-944-0110, 1-800-993-4490 (orders) 1-970-944-0273 (fax)

Reviewed by Connie Gotsch, author of A Mouth Full of Shell and Snap Me a Future and featured in The Complete Writer's Journal --www.redenginepress.com



Some authors go for the sleaze when they write on the theme of domestic abuse, dwelling on physical and sexual aspects until the reader wonders if the book’s a novel or a nursing text. At the end of the story, the heroine puts all the trauma behind her and prepares to head for the altar with some handsome man who rescues her. Her abuser either languishes permanently in jail, or lies under a grave stone.

In real life, abusers destroy their victims mentally as well as physically, and the victims often have no easy way out of the situation. If they do get rid of the abuser, they can’t find peace. The abuser might leave a victim alone, but there’s always the fear that he might come back, because abusers do not go to jail forever. Sometimes they don’t go at all, and just find another woman to batter

Southern Colorado author, Jean Campion knows this, and she recreates the real life abuse scenario in her novel Minta Forever, published by Western Reflections Publishing Company.


Pushed by well-meaning parents, Ella Jane Morgan Skaggs’ finds herself married to the abusive but wealthy farmer, Edmond. He does all the psychological things abusers do, including separating her from family and friends, and berating her at every chance. He brings her to his home town to live, where she knows no one. Worse, when he appears in public with her, he treats her well, so anyone she would ask for help would not believe she needs it.

When Ella decides to escape, she faces the dilemma of all abused women: where to go? Finally aided by a cousin, she gets a teaching job in a one-room school in a small Colorado town. Now the cousin and her husband are in danger of Edmond, as are the people in the town where Ella has taken refuge, under the new name of Minta Mayfield.

From page one of Minta Forever, Campion sets up a cat-and-mouse game between the husband and wife, highlighting the psychological abuse, and suggesting the physical and sexual aspects just enough for the reader to grasp.

Once escaped, Ella/Minta, spends a lot of time wondering in her journal if Edmond will find her, and what that will mean to her new community/ Any real life abused woman faces the same questions.

Around the abuse theme, Campion presents a good picture of how one-room schools operated in Colorado in the early 1920s. She grew up in a family of educators and heard tales of one-room schools and the people who taught in them. The novel began as a research project on one-room schools in La Plata County, Colorado, and the author found plenty of descriptive material to make Ella/Minta’s daily activities and surroundings believable. At no time, however, does she wallow in education history for its own sake. Every single historical mention relates to plot, action, character, or theme of the story.

Of course as Ella/Minta worries about Edmond’s return, the reader does, too, and Campion cleverly creates several heart-stopping moments when Edmond might be lurking in the shadows; and an explosive scene when he finally is.

People in town react as one might expect. Some support Ella/Minta. Some want her fired as a bad example to the students. Campion explores the ideas of forgiveness as supporters outvote the non-supporters.

A final twist in the plot puts Ella/Minta in the dilemma of real life abuse victims. Is she safe from Edmond, or is she not? What decisions should she make about what she does next, based on not knowing for sure if she’s safe?

Forever Minta raises provocative questions, and without being overly graphic, reminds everybody how hideous domestic abuse and violence is. The story also points out that there are no easy choices for an abused woman. She has make the best one with the information she has and hope it’s right.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.