“I know, I know. This isn’t what
journaling is supposed to be about. Here I am defacing these pretty pages with
all this whining. Whining. You’re supposed to process your feelings with
your writing; that’s what the how-to journal books say. Whatever. My feelings
say my life sucks right now.” (151)
Dedicated to “anyone who ever dreamed of running away,” Women on the
Brink is just what it says—it’s about women stepping out on the ledge and
facing the high altitudes of the world.
In these
stories, we learn of the quiet strength and resilience of women. Whether it be
from depression, boredom, sadness, or hormones, we just don’t find the
fulfillment and, therefore, do not feel the happiness.
In “Skydancer,”
a woman battles with her motherly instincts and a wailing child. After all, “an
animal didn’t require the commitment of a lifetime. A lifetime.” (18)
“She’d known him a while by then, but
only as his pilot, bringing him out to base camp and back, and that night she imagined
climbing mountains, or trekking through jungles, or flying off to sunny beaches
with him. She’d turned her head and looked out at the sideways snow and
listened to the moaning wind, and she’d wondered why she wasn’t enjoying his
touch, his sex. She’d been anxious for it to end, so that, after he left her
bed, she would have her body to herself again, to hibernate for the rest of the
year inside her soft, warm clothes...” (19)
“She was too upset to think, right
now, about where the abandonments of her past and the responsibilities of her
future might lead.” (26)
“Float Away” is told in the
perspective of a young 13-year old girl branded with a school nickname; she “was
a mutt without a history.” (48)
“Something about turning in that
[library] card made my eyes fill up. Or maybe it was that suggestion about
there being no happy endings for girls.” (50) If only she could follow the
river like Huckleberry Finn.
“Like today, I’d been in bed with a
bad case of what I called the alligators, those dark thoughts that swarmed
about, closing in, snapping their big sharp teeth at me, much like they had
been today. I had never told anyone about these feelings, or the way I thought
of them metaphorically as primordial reptiles. They’d think I really was loony.
But I knew I wasn’t. Just as Sylvia Plath described her own depression as an
owl’s talon clenching her heart, my dark thoughts reminded me of alligators.”
(73)
“Girls Against Perfection” is a
testament to our inner beauty and general humanity. It goes to show that raw potential and
special talents are hidden beneath layers of blemished flaws (i.e. fat, dark
skin, ratty clothes, etc.)
Of course, I enjoyed some more than
others. For example, I didn’t think reading poetry to a crazed patient was
helping much. While some were rich in balanced detail, others dragged on and on.
I did wonder why they were sectioned off by seasons though (I didn’t think that
was too relevant.)
Poetic and
well-versed, these tales reveal the true endurance of woman, as deep, poignant,
and lovely as can be. And, yes, written words are therapy.
My rating: 3.5 stars
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