Books

Mother’s Day Gift Guide lists two poetry books by Janet Ruth Heller

Stephanie Sumner has included two of my poetry books, Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press) and Exodus (WordTech Editions), in her Mother's Day Gift Guide. You can find the listing at http://stephscheersandjeers.com/2020-mothers-day-gift-guide/ Folk Concert concerns the journey of becoming a woman during difficult times. Themes include feminism, love relationships, college teaching, nature, psychotherapy, travel, the anti-Vietnam War movement, family, the life of an artist/entertainer/writer, and music.  The poems in Exodus are modern re-interpretations and psychological explorations of the people and events in the Bible. A central metaphor is the exodus from Egypt, which represents the journeys that people make: trying new experiences, leaving a bad relationship, finding a new job, taking risks. Many of the poems are dramatic monologues from the perspective of a character in the Scriptures. Cover of the poetry book Folk Concert: Changing Times

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A Review of A Sprinkle of Dust: A Mother’s Struggle with Loss and Healing by Mary Saad Assel (iUniverse, 2017)

            A Sprinkle of Dust: A Mother’s Struggle with Loss and Healing is a powerful memoir about a close-knit Arab-American family’s attempt to sustain a young man battling cancer and to recover after his death. Author Mary Saad Assel, a retired professor of English at Henry Ford College, has had an eventful life. Living in Lebanon, Senegal, and the United States, she has faced many crises with determination, strength, and love. Saad Assel writes in the prologue, “I was a wife at fifteen, a mother at sixteen, a widow at thirty-five, and heartbroken by the loss of my son at fifty” from a “terminal brain tumor” (p. xiii). This book “describes how I struggled to find hope and meaning in a challenging life” (p. xiv). She hopes to “ease the journey of other parents who have lost a child prematurely” (p. xv).  Using lyrical imagery and specific details, Saad Assel creates a memorable portrait of a unified and courageous family.             When her firstborn son Mazen is ten, kidnappers in Lebanon capture him.  Fortunately, they…

Continue ReadingA Review of A Sprinkle of Dust: A Mother’s Struggle with Loss and Healing by Mary Saad Assel (iUniverse, 2017)

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