THE WAY FORWARD IS WITH A BROKEN HEART

Each character is sketched with empathy and economy in a way that helps us understand their motivations and their interrelationships. The range of protagonists and voices is considerable.

Walker is, in this book, as always, compelling and lyrical, binding the soul of the reader into the souls of her characters. I wept, actually, reading "To My Young Husband", a story that resonates so painfully right now in my life as my young husband divorces me for another woman. But as I read, and read these stories of broken hearts, of broken dreams, I realized that this book lacked what I desperately desired: an easy answer, a simple way forward. How DO I survive this? It seems that Walker's characters simply limp on, terminally scarred, never recovering, just surviving. And maybe, just possibly, that will be the way for me; I will go on, but never recover. I lack any sisters to go on midnight swims with, I lack an Auntie Putt-Putt to tell me how much more terrible things could be. Perhaps this book holds too much of brutal reality, that innocence and joy, once lost, cannot be regained. This is not a book of hope, or cheery good endings, of neatly tied strings. It is not "Echinacea And Tofu Soup For The Soul". But it is beautiful, and terrible, and true, and well worth reading many times.

Book was in excellent condition. So excited to start. Thank you

beautiful - i love everything this special woman writes.

It took me a while to get into this book as it swings back and forth but in the end found it a really good read. It pulls no punches however about the human condition.