The Vanishers: A Novel by Heidi Julavits

This book is very weird, ferocious, passionate, funny and heart wrenching, all these adjectives and more come to mind while reading "The Vanishers." Heidi Julavits's strange novel manages to be a surrealistic psychic noir mystery, a satire of academia and modern medicine, while simultaneously exploring female relationships -- mother to daughter, teacher to student, friend to friend, enemy to enemy -- with an intensity that humor can only mask for so long. As odd as all this sounds, it is also eminently readable.

As the book opens, the narrator, Julia Severn is a student of the psychic sciences at the Institute of Paranormal Psychology, also known as The Workshop. Her mentor, the powerful Madame Ackermann, hired Julia to transcribe her regression travels, but has been unable to produce results. While Madame Ackermann sleeps Julia has, without her employer's knowledge, tried to cover for her by making up transcripts of their sessions. Madame Ackermann tumbles to the trick and in retribution launches a psychic attack on Julia that ruins her health and forces her to leave the workshop. After retreating to New York and a mindless job, Julia is approached by a pair of researchers who are seeking a once famous artist and offer Julia treatment in return for using her psychic powers to their advantage. Julia hopes the quest will lead her closer to her mother who committed suicide when she was a month old. As expected, nothing turns out to be what Julia expects.

Who is attacking whom? Who is seeking whom? Where is the border between sanity and insanity? The twists and turns of the plot are complicated by characters who refuse to remain anchored in time and space, life or death and will leave you gasping at the imagination that dreamed up this manic chase. Despite the frenetic forward movement of the story, at its heart, "The Vanishers" is a bildungsroman about dealing with grief and loss, especially when the void is created by suicide or disappearance.

If you get to the end and are left with questions, don't worry, that is Julavits' point. Ambiguity is an essential component of the human condition and learning to live means learning to live with seemingly contradictory impulses governing our relationships.

It is a book worth reading and, in my opinion, rereading.

The Value of a Woman

 

When I was born..!!
A Great Woman was there To hold me.. My Mother..!!

When I grew as a child..!!
A Woman was there to Care for Me & play with me.. My Sister.. !!

... When I went to School..!!
A Woman was there To help me learn.. My Teacher.. !!

When I became depressed & whenever I lost..!!
A Woman was there to offer a shoulder.. My Friend.. !!

When I needed company, compatability & love..!!
A great woman was there for Me.. My Wife.. !!

When I became tough..!!
A Woman was there To melt me.. My Daughter.. !!

And.. When I Die..
A Woman is there to absorb me In My Motherland.. !!

If you are a Man Value Every Woman.. !!

And..

If you are a Woman.. Be proud to be the One.. ! :)

POEM

April is the National Month of Poetry. This reminds me of a very beautiful poem which I read years ago, it came in the newspaper and I kept the cutting of this poem in my Precious Gems binder. This poem was written by African Child and was nominated for the best poem of that year. I'm typing this poem as it is and hope u'll like it as much as I did when I read it the first time.

When I born, I black.
When I grow up, I black.
When I go in sun, I black.
When I cold, I black.
When I scared, I black.
When I sick, I black.
And when I die, I still black.
You white folks...
When you born, you pink.
When you grow up, you white.
When you go in sun, you red.
When you cold, you blue.
When you scared, you yellow.
When you sick, you green.
When you bruised, you purple.
And when you die, you gray.
So who YOU callin' C O L O R E D ??

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox (IMM) is weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren It’s a chance for people to tell others about the books they received that week.

Today I received my first book from Ethan, who hosted a Giveaway n I won. THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey

Goodreads Review :

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

I'm most looking forward to read The Snow Child and give my own review. What bookish things have you guys received/bought lately?

FATHER-IN-LAW

I knew what you were going through
But I didn't knew what to say
I knew how you were feeling
But I just knew how to pray
I wish I knew more better way to help you than what I did to
relieve your tremendous pain

I wish I had a magic wand
and take away your pain
There isn't much
that I could do but pray which I did
But all my prayers were unanswered
There again I was left with another WHY? of life

You were the second chance given to me by Almighty,

YOU as a FATHER in my life, but I failed even this time to save you
Oh father-in-law of mine

I've seen the joy on your face
When your grandson took his first walk
Seen the worry and anxiety
When things just aren't going your way
We needed your guidance, skill, and wisdom
A better man will never be found
Your son wishes he were half the man
That you were

I agree, and desperately hope
That my children will be like you, some
I wish that I could give you something
For all that you've given us
Your knowledge, love, and your youngest son

Tears rolls down the cheeks, knowing that your not physically present here,

But as a legacy, your words of wisdom, your smile, your guidance will always remain

Feels happy to know that you are in a much better place and in much safer hands

You will always be missed

May you RIP, Papa