touched by Big Magic

For all that has been, Thanks. To all that shall be, YES.

A review in The Guardian is spot-on in noting it's fair to that Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear would probably never have stood a chance of being published had it not been for her mammoth best seller, Eat, Pray, Love. 

To which I say, "Amen & Hallelujah!"

The review is worth a read to experience someone who senses something is going on in the book, but hasn't a clue what it might be.  Does she get the huge truth she shares writing, "Gilbert doesn’t tell a very consistent story about herself.."  Again - amen & hallelujah, because only the rarest of the rare among us do! 

Read The Guardian review, then follow it up with one from The Washington Post which smiles more kindly on the book, written by a critic who has a glimmering of what's afoot.  And even she isn't able to explain Liz Gilbert's book without bringing in Cheryl Strayed's edgier, Wild.  

As for me, I had the same response to Big Magic & Brene Brown's Rising Strong - both feel like they were written for ME.  Small wonder that the two women are friends.  

Goose bumps over how often over the past two months, authors who have rearranged my life keep crossing paths with each other - Nancy Slonim Aronie, Lissa Rankin, Brene & Liz.  Big magic!

In giving the swirly twirly background to how she ended up writing her  historical novel, The Signature of All Things (sheez - who in this day & age writes a novel about a 19th century female botantist??), Liz explains all.  Great ideas are rooted in our everyday interests, so don't shrug them off.  

A sentence from The New York Times review of the novel pings my soul, as it perfectly captures my response to dipping into Big Magic  - "The narrative stretches but its center holds, thanks to the protagonist’s engaging credibility as a woman on good terms with her strengths and limitations."  

After reading Big Magic - over a few devoted days where John got used to seeing me comfy on the couch with book in hand & at least one cat snug by -  can appreciate how that describe my life arc - there have been times my own narrative has been seriously stretched, but my center held enough that I've finally come, in just this past week, mere days after finishing the book, to being a woman on good terms with my strengths & weaknesses.

Amen & Hallelujah!  



Credits:
vogue.com
huffingtonpost.com
thestar.com