Tuesday, October 9, 2012

A Gift for my Sister by Ann Pearlman UK Review


This is an intense emotionally descriptive story of two half-sisters and their journey of human existence and the trials they face. How they deal with their raging inner conflicts. They explored their emotions of broken trust to betrayal; jealousy to acceptance of their roles in their relationship from the past to present. They put down their barriers and became vulnerable to express their pain and explored their issues and let their self-defences down to discuss the intolerance and misery they had for each other. How they were able to come to terms of tolerance of acceptance and of what they perceive to be or not be true of their dysfunctional life experiences.  To explore, discussed and forgive each other to move on to be part of each other’s lives.

The author’s writing style was poetic as she described how each sister experienced their insecurities and came about their own compromises as they acknowledged their hidden secrets and unresolved anger at each other. 

The author touched this reader's core with her insight and expression of various emotions from anger to the sweet intimacy of loving one so deep it jars the soul to the core  For life is too short to be angry at someone you once loved. Be it family or friends, and not judge them by their race, gender, or beliefs; accept them as they are.

This story has many intense events and the main characters experienced many personal trials, when one sister is about to give up, the other steps in with support and encouragement. Together in the journey of life they survive and learned that no matter how many lightning bolts decide to strike in their lives, they were sisters and sisterly love is forever. 

This reader desires to include some writing of this insightful life tapestry of the two half-sisters and how their struggles of acceptance from anger, forgiveness and love came about.

"I consider the luck of simply being born, of being plucked out of the cosmos and bestowed with eyes to see, and nerves to feel, and ears to hear.  Our senses.  Our speech.  Our breath. How crucial and insistent our ceaseless moving lungs from our first cry to our last."

This book is about life's hardships and two half-sisters, Sky, a lawyer and Tara, a rap star who were estrange until the lighting of tragedy strikes one and they both come together in grief to rebuild their broken relationship. And to remember all they lost to come to know each other deeply. How they repair their broken bond and worked through their issues, to come a new understanding of each other’s beliefs.

During the roller coaster ride they call life there were lost and found and learn lessons and gain a deep bond of insight and understanding about each other. Their past and what they have in common. Decided to release the pent up unresolved emotions enjoy their future as close sisters should. The pinnacle was an event that crushes Sky’s world has Tara deciding to put the bitterness aside to come to a compromise and step up to be a caretaker to her sister Sky. Yet their jealousy, resentment and anger lie under the surface like a volcano and was about to explode.

The two step sisters are walking a fragile line of caring or distancing from each other due to conflicts of their past they can't not get pass.  The author described the tension and emotional pain between the two with a deep intense insight of human psychology and was able to grasp this reader's attention. As the sisters experienced the highs and lows of their conflicts, it took this reader back into past memories of past relationships with family members, and how the secrets in the closet came to light and needed to be express and forgiven to move on. 

This author wrote a realistic and modern tale of two sisters as they shared their past and future and their personal trials in a warm and compassionate tale and let the readers in to share their lives with.
The sisters memories were etched out of colorful description to shown their journey of emotional tug of war as they experienced their emotions and flashbacks to come to an understanding about their roles in their past and present relationships. There were heart wrenching events as well as joyous events as they express their emotional baggage through life events to be released using the seven stages of grief to acceptance levels of healing. 

To add to the mix, Tara is travelling with her homies her band, and they are like family to her and now her sister and Rachael are accepted and are shower with unconditional love as the clouds of suffering were threatening everything she believes in.

The author adds expressive details and speaks of the characters as they were her actual family and friends, he chapters about the younger sister Tara and her husband Aaron and their baby Levy is written with intensity and depth of poetic language of the deepest emotions of what ones hides but does not voiced out loud about fear, jealousy and other sensitive topics. Tara and her family gave the reader a glimpse in the highs and lows about the rise to fame as rap singers, the divorce of her mother and husband and the abandonment she felt when her dad walked out on the family and the resentment she held for Sky, she was the apple of mom’s eye.

The author is able to switch between characters, from the two sisters, the men in their lives, and others with an easy reading flow.  This story touches and expands on many topics from love, fear, jealousy, discrimination, racism, acceptance and forgiveness and all that is between.  It is an intense human experience and this reader was glad to open the cover and join this creative writer on her journey to explore what one defines as existing in a crazy mixed up world and jump the hurdles with other’s support and unconditional love. For them to come to a victory, to awakened the next morning and see their blessings in the midst of the pain one experiences and continue forth bravely  to live another day.

Conclusion: the story is about wounded individuals lost in the darkness and in their journey, they were divided then they came together to heal as sisters and re-join as sisters who travelled through personal tragedies and grief and were able to forgive one another .To join their extended families together and look toward to a brighter tomorrow in their journey of grief, self-discovery and forgiveness.

This book was given in exchange for a honest review. 



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