Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Pump Up Your Book blog tour: The River of Forgetting by Jane Rowan



From the back of the book:

People don’t make up things like that for fun. That’s what Jane’s therapist tells her when Jane reports fragmentary memories from her childhood that hint at sexual abuse. A busy, successful scientist, Jane at first fights the implications, but finally has to admit that something indeed happened. With help from a gifted therapist as well as creative arts, Jane taps into her own aliveness and reconciles with both her parents’ love and their betrayal.

About the author:

Jane Rowan is a survivor of childhood trauma and betrayal and is passionate about sharing her healing experiences, including Inner Child work. She is a New England writer and poet. She retired from a long and successful professional career to have more time to write and to live fully. (Jane's name is a pseudonym.)

To learn more about the book and this author’s work, check out her website.

Just my opinion:

This memoir is written a little different than many I’ve read in the past. The author doesn’t dwell on the events that led her to the point of needing therapy; she talks about how it helped her and why.

Anyone who needs to come to terms with something that happened to them in the past would benefit from this book. Jane Rowan discusses the steps in her therapy, how she learned to express herself and how she reached inside to begin the healing process. I found the movement therapy particularly fascinating. It reminds me of a form of meditation where you block out what’s going on around you and concentrate on your inner emotions. It’s very intriguing and I’m sure others would benefit from it.

The author also includes some poetry she wrote, which opens the window to let the reader see inside her heart.

Well-written, interesting and brutally honest. This is a book that may be difficult for some to read, but it’s also an important story to understand the consequences of sexual assault on the victim. You really must read this one!

Some favorite passages from the book:

Feelings are enormous to a child, especially when they have not been allowed to be expressed.

Myra is always going to be my mother. She’s always going to be manipulative, controlling, indirect, helpless, limited, narrow, smart, capable, careful. She does what she can. She loves according to who she is.

To find out more about this blog tour, visit the Pump UpYour Book website.

Note: This tour stop is actually scheduled for tomorrow (June 29), but we will be camping. I'm not sure if I will have Internet connection where we are going, so I'm posting a day early.

3 comments:

Suko said...

This does sound like a different type of memoir, which seems to show a marked degree of acceptance and maturity. Very nice review!

Cheryl said...

Thank you for the wonderful review of Jane's book. I'm glad you found it so meaningful.

Cheryl

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your perceptive review! I'm glad you noticed the differences; the focus on healing and the in-depth view of therapy were exactly what I intended to convey!