To quote author Abel Keogh: At some point we’re all going to face a devastating affliction and cope with loss. How we choose to react to the bad things that happen in our lives defines who we are. We can either learn from our experiences and become a better person, or dwell in bitterness and sorrow. I choose to make the best out of a bad situation.
This is the thesis of Room for Two, an autobiographical book by a man who faced the unimaginable—the violent suicide of his young, pregnant wife—and then turned his grief and guilt into a triumphant growth experience for himself, and a pattern for courage, faith-filled resolve, and ultimate forgiveness for his readers.
From the first chapter:
"Sweetie, I'm home." I tried to put as much kindness into my voice as possible. I didn't want to have another argument—at least not right away.
Silence.
"Sweetheart?"
A gunshot echoed from our bedroom, followed by the sound of a bullet casing skipping along a wall.
Everything slowed down.
From the backliner:
When a life is destroyed, when guilt says you played a role in its destruction, how do you face the days ahead? Twenty-six-year-old Abel Keogh chooses to ignore the promptings he receives concerning his wife's mental illness, and now he feels he is to blame for her choices. If only he had listened . . .
At some point in our lives, each of us face devastating afflictions and must eventually cope with loss. Regardless of how it happens, the outcome is still the same—we are left isolated, alone, wondering what we could have done differently, and where we can turn for peace.
This is Abel's story in his own words. His search for peace and the miracle that follows is proof that love and hope can endure, despite the struggles and tragedies that shape each of our lives.
From the “reviewer” (me):
I read Room for Two at the recommendation of Candace Salima, author of Refiner’s Fire, and a woman I deeply admire as a writer and a person. I opened the book while seated on a hard cement bench, squinting into the hot afternoon sun while my two little nieces played nearby in a park. Three hours later, the sun was setting, my nieces were exhausted, the lower portion of my body was numb (I don’t think I’d moved in all that time; I’m not sure I even breathed at first) and I was still reluctant to close the book.
I can’t honestly say I loved everything about Room for Two—how the guy likes to be kissed is frankly a little too much information—but I can say unequivocally that Abel Kough is not only a solid writer, he is probably one of the most courageous and candid men on the planet. In the pages of this memoir of the worst (and, ironically, possibly the most promising) year of his life, he almost doggedly puts himself out there for the reader to judge if she will. I won’t. If there are shortcomings in his character—or writing—I didn’t see them. Rather, I admire Abel Keogh for being a man who is enough in touch with himself that he is unafraid to ask, and is sometimes able to answer, the hardest questions any of us could conceive.
In the final chapters, Keogh shares how he found a meaning-full poem written by his wife. This tender mercy allows him to at last make peace with a horror he can never fully understand in mortality. Then, with a new love at his side, he stands at the grave of his wife and infant daughter on the first anniversary of the suicide. He writes:
I felt that I should be crying or saying something profound. But my mind was blank, my eyes dry.
This, to me, was profound—and deeply touching. At the close of the third chapter I could not imagine how this young man would ever find hope, let alone peace, love, and eventual joy. Over the course of 200 or so pages I found out. Her name is Julianna and she is as remarkable as he is. The woman he calls “Marathon Girl” in his blog is perhaps the real hero of his book—and his heart.
Having written that, I wonder if I should post a spoiler alert. If I don’t it is because to me Room for Two was not intended to be suspenseful. Rather it is a generous gift: a chronical of a journey few of us have taken, a remarkable and meaningful glimpse into the worst and best life can offer. I could not have read past the thirty-eighth page if I'd had any doubt it would end any way but as it did.
Obviously, this is not a breezy summer read, but it is a book that will grip you from the first page and stay with you long after you have closed the back cover. Published by Cedar Fort, it is available at Amazon and other national booksellers. You can learn more about the author, read the first chapter of the book, visit his blog, and find links to other reviews and interviews on his website: www.abelkeogh.com.
Room for Two
Trade Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Cedar Fort (August 2007)
ISBN-10: 1599550628
ISBN-13: 978-1599550626
Retail: $14.99
No longer forward or behind I look with hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here. ~John Greenleaf Whittier
26 July 2008
09 July 2008
I Guess I Can Die Now
As I was reading e-mail this morning, AOL put up a list of Ten Books to Read Before You Die. I've read them all, so I guess I'm good to go.
Seriously, except for the Bible and possibly Lord of the Rings and To Kill a Mockingbird, I have issues with that list. Not that I don't like many of the books, I do. A few I even love. I just know for a fact that if I made a list of my own, it wouldn't have included any of their picks besides the scripture.
AOL's list:
the Bible (Well, good for AOL, but it was #10)
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (More impressive to me in college than today.)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Would probably make my top 20.)
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (Brilliant man, but ick.)
DaVinci Code by Dan Brown (Oh, come on!)
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (What were they thinking?)
The Stand by Stephen King (Yes, really. I liked this book, but again, really?)
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling (Give me a break.)
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (Well . . . maybe.)
I read lists like this every day and wonder A) what the world is coming to and B) why I continue to subscribe to AOL. But it has made me think. If somebody asked me for a stack of ten books to read before they die, what would I give them?
What would you offer? Send me your list either in the comments section or by e-mail, if you prefer privacy as I know many of you do. I'll give you three whole weeks to think about it. On July 30 I'll post my list and draw a name from a box containing the lists of everybody who's responded. Winner gets their choice of one of the books from my list -- either from my own collection or new from Amazon, their choice. If books are mentioned multiple times, I'll tell you that, too.
I really do want to know what you think!
PS: You may count scripture as one book -- as if a quad -- and include non-fiction if you must.
Seriously, except for the Bible and possibly Lord of the Rings and To Kill a Mockingbird, I have issues with that list. Not that I don't like many of the books, I do. A few I even love. I just know for a fact that if I made a list of my own, it wouldn't have included any of their picks besides the scripture.
AOL's list:
the Bible (Well, good for AOL, but it was #10)
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (More impressive to me in college than today.)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Would probably make my top 20.)
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (Brilliant man, but ick.)
DaVinci Code by Dan Brown (Oh, come on!)
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (What were they thinking?)
The Stand by Stephen King (Yes, really. I liked this book, but again, really?)
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling (Give me a break.)
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (Well . . . maybe.)
I read lists like this every day and wonder A) what the world is coming to and B) why I continue to subscribe to AOL. But it has made me think. If somebody asked me for a stack of ten books to read before they die, what would I give them?
What would you offer? Send me your list either in the comments section or by e-mail, if you prefer privacy as I know many of you do. I'll give you three whole weeks to think about it. On July 30 I'll post my list and draw a name from a box containing the lists of everybody who's responded. Winner gets their choice of one of the books from my list -- either from my own collection or new from Amazon, their choice. If books are mentioned multiple times, I'll tell you that, too.
I really do want to know what you think!
PS: You may count scripture as one book -- as if a quad -- and include non-fiction if you must.
04 July 2008
Happy Fourth of July!
For my take on the 4th of July, please read my musings (rant?) over on Six LDS Writers and a Frog. You can find it HERE.
All my hopes and prayers for a glorious and safe celebration for you and yours!
All my hopes and prayers for a glorious and safe celebration for you and yours!
02 July 2008
Yep, Subliminal for Sure
The e-mail I’m sharing today arrived soon after Counting Blessings was released. It’s so clever and fun I’ve been meaning to get it up ever since I got it. In Counting Blessings I wrote:
As Latter-day Saints we are practically obsessed with anxiously engaging ourselves in good causes. Maybe it’s subliminal. Glancing through the hymnal last Sunday, I noted that as sisters in Zion, we who are called to serve are all enlisted to go marching, marching forward because the world has need of willing men to all press on scattering sunshine. We wonder if we have done any good in the world today, because we have been given much and want to do what is right, keep the commandments, press forward with the Saints, and put our shoulders to the wheel going where He wants us to go. However, as the morning breaks high on the mountain top, truth reflects upon our senses, and while we still believe that sweet is the work, we also realize that we have work enough to do ere the sun goes down. And thus we ask Thee ere we part, where can we turn for peace?
A very terrific woman named Shauna replied:
As a family who loves the hymns I have shared with my husband and children your paragraph where you were glancing through the hymnal and noted that as sisters in zion, we who are called to serve are all enlisted, etc. We loved it! As I was e-mailing it to my children who do not live with me I added this PS at the bottom of your paragraph, and thought you might like it also:
Remember A KEY WAS TURNED so ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING could SING PRAISE TO HIM and use FAITH OUR OUR FATHERS to COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS and COME UNTO HIM. So, DID YOU THINK TO PRAY, “I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR?” Don’t WANDER THROUGH THE STILL OF NIGHT IN A WORLD (OF) SORROW; IMPROVE THE SHINING MOMENTS IN OUR LOVELY DESERET.
HOLD TO THE ROD in that SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER. COME, SING TO THE LORD THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL LIGHT HAS SHONE. THE LORD BE WITH US ON THIS DAY OF JOY AND GLADNESS and remember, OUR SAVIOR’S LOVE will LEAD INTO LIFE ETERNAL. So, YE WHO ARE CALLED TO LABOR, stay TRUE TO THE FAITH for THERE IS AN HOUR OF PEACE AND REST and THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND. OH, IT IS WONDERFUL!
It really is wonderful, isn’t it?
Note: This is used with Shauna’s permission. Don’t be afraid to write to me! I’ll never post anything you write without asking you first, I promise.
As Latter-day Saints we are practically obsessed with anxiously engaging ourselves in good causes. Maybe it’s subliminal. Glancing through the hymnal last Sunday, I noted that as sisters in Zion, we who are called to serve are all enlisted to go marching, marching forward because the world has need of willing men to all press on scattering sunshine. We wonder if we have done any good in the world today, because we have been given much and want to do what is right, keep the commandments, press forward with the Saints, and put our shoulders to the wheel going where He wants us to go. However, as the morning breaks high on the mountain top, truth reflects upon our senses, and while we still believe that sweet is the work, we also realize that we have work enough to do ere the sun goes down. And thus we ask Thee ere we part, where can we turn for peace?
A very terrific woman named Shauna replied:
As a family who loves the hymns I have shared with my husband and children your paragraph where you were glancing through the hymnal and noted that as sisters in zion, we who are called to serve are all enlisted, etc. We loved it! As I was e-mailing it to my children who do not live with me I added this PS at the bottom of your paragraph, and thought you might like it also:
Remember A KEY WAS TURNED so ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING could SING PRAISE TO HIM and use FAITH OUR OUR FATHERS to COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS and COME UNTO HIM. So, DID YOU THINK TO PRAY, “I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR?” Don’t WANDER THROUGH THE STILL OF NIGHT IN A WORLD (OF) SORROW; IMPROVE THE SHINING MOMENTS IN OUR LOVELY DESERET.
HOLD TO THE ROD in that SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER. COME, SING TO THE LORD THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL LIGHT HAS SHONE. THE LORD BE WITH US ON THIS DAY OF JOY AND GLADNESS and remember, OUR SAVIOR’S LOVE will LEAD INTO LIFE ETERNAL. So, YE WHO ARE CALLED TO LABOR, stay TRUE TO THE FAITH for THERE IS AN HOUR OF PEACE AND REST and THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND. OH, IT IS WONDERFUL!
It really is wonderful, isn’t it?
Note: This is used with Shauna’s permission. Don’t be afraid to write to me! I’ll never post anything you write without asking you first, I promise.
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