I Run is the story of a woman battling the demons of her childhood, an addictive personality and an injured body in an attempt to get her inner life together. I always thought that running was a healthy thing, but for Sally it's much more complex than that. She uses running to run from her feelings and to punish herself because she feels worthless - the legacy of a childhood of abuse. She also knows that she's f***ed up and that she won't be healed until she faces the past. But facing the past is painful. Everything in this book is painful because author El Farris writes excellent and passionate prose that makes you really feel the character's anguish and turmoil. So, this is not a book I enjoyed. How can you enjoy someone's pain? It's not an entertaining read; it's a painful read, because you're reading about someone's pain. That doesn't mean that it's not a good read, on the contrary, it is a very good read if you want to get inside the head of someone like Sally. In fact, it's a … [Read more...]
An excellent work of literary fiction: Ripple: A Tale of Hope and Redemption by E.L Farris
This is an excellent work of literary fiction, well written, moving and thought provoking, in fact, at times, downright disturbing. Truly, if we didn't find it disturbing, there'd be something wrong with us. In just a few scenes we are shown that, despite our laws, there is still precious little justice for rape victims today. Are they really going to ask that fifteen year old to stand up in public and identify her father as her rapist? Yes, they are, and there is nothing the women can do to stop it. Farris has taken the heart-wrenching topic of incestuous sexual abuse and approached it bravely. She has delved into the guilt, the shame and the horror felt by the victim, a fifteen year old girl raped many times by her father, and the girl's mother, a high powered lawyer who spent more time at work than she did with her daughter. This absence from the daughter's life in pursuit of a career is a topic that many women and, I hope, men will relate to. Phoebe couldn't have become her … [Read more...]
