Life Force

 I’m not sure if I have used this quote before in my blog, but it bears repeating this month. It’s an invitation not to lose yourself.

 “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

— Martha Graham

 Bewilderment is the latest novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers. It tells the story of a widower trying to raise his autistic ten-year-old son in what seems an unforgiving world. Behavioral problems aside, the boy’s sensitivity is displayed as if he has no defenses against an environmentally challenged world. He cares so deeply about the natural world; he goes into intense rages. It’s as if he has no skin, no barrier to protect him. Both father and son are still profoundly grieving the loss of the beloved mother. The father, an astrophysicist, grounds his son by describing fictional other worlds on other planets where life has different challenges. Both father and son are broken and struggling to stay above water.

The tragedy at the center of this beautifully written story offers hope for the son and the father but ultimately is unyielding. Worth reading but not for the faint of heart.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams was an Audible selection. Queenie is a millennial trying to navigate as a black woman in modern-day London. A paralyzing break-up generates a sequence of events which ultimately lead to a breakdown. Without a past to support and inform her decisions, she flounders. Her survival instinct kicks in along with the support of her close friends and the begrudging, support of her old-school, Haitian extended family. A bright center is the family’s ultimate growth and support.

Surprising and touching, we alternately yell in frustration and cheer for Queenie as she makes her way. Recommend.