Illumination - How One Woman Made Light of the Darkness [Kindle Edition]

Sophia Van Buren was kind enough to provide me with a review copy of this book and I'm so glad she did. I literally couldn't put this book down and finished it in less than 24 hours.

Here's the premise: What would you do if the life you were living suddenly crumbled beneath you? That's what happened to Sophia, a suburban, financially-struggling stay-at-home mother to three kids. The night the police knocked on her door and she learned her husband's devastating secret, she realized she could no longer ignore the nagging little voice and haunting dreams that hinted to her that something was very wrong with her marriage. The book chronicles her journey from this moment of despair to a life of happiness a few years later.

Financial woes, infidelity, struggling with your faith, divorce, and rebirth aren't groundbreaking topics for a memoir. But the way Sophia delivers her unique perspective on these events is captivating. Her writing is beautiful and clear, and her honesty and transparency come through the pages without the "I-can-do-no-wrong" tone of too many memoirs. She makes some decisions that will surprise readers and make them ask themselves, "Would I make the same decision?" There are so many interesting sub-themes in this book aside from the obvious major ones. It was fun to get a glimpse into Sophia's personality and discover what makes her tick.

I'm having a tough time coming up with many criticisms for this book with the exception that I had a few questions at the end I wish the author had answered. She has a prequel coming out this year, so maybe that will answer at least one or two! Sophia is an excellent writer; this is a captivating story and one of the best memoirs I've read, period. This is your "must read" book for 2011.

It's tough to review this one because I'm going to try not give away anything from the description because what happens just because she opened that door is one of the biggest surprises I have had when reading a book in a very long time. I should say that the author contacted me and gave me a free copy in hopes I would review it. I was so intrigued by the description that I read it shortly after. Honestly, I wasn't sure it would be what it was. I thought it would be yet another "woe is me" tale. I figured I'd read part of it and then put it aside. 24 hours later, I was nearly done with it and out a few hours of sleep.

I actually emailed the author back when I was done and asked if it was fictionalized. It seemed too... just too much. Crazy. Insane. Unbelievable. She assures it's all 100% true. At certain parts, I will admit that I came to be a bit judgmental about the author's actions. Without giving too much away, she points out in the book just because she's female doesn't mean that the rules are different. That being a parent doesn't always mean doing what makes sense to her heart.

Okay, so... the writing is so well executed. I whipped through reading it blazing fast. Not once did I want to fall asleep or want to put it down for a while or even skip ahead a few pages. She grabs you from those first chapters and yanks you screaming into her world and doesn't let you go until the end (and maybe not even then). She's brutally honest throughout - and because of that I kind of wanted to kick some sense into her at parts, wondering why she was allowing herself to be a doormat. And then she got mad. A few sentences where she lays out the truth not only to her readers but to herself make you see this metamorphosis taking place as she's writing it. At one point I even said out loud "That's right, get ticked off, you deserve it!"

This is going on my "must read" list for the year for sure. It's sad. It's salacious. It's gossipy in parts. But more importantly, it feels. It feels a lot of things at all different times. You go from reading it with your mouth hanging open to reading it with your jaw set in anger for her. Most importantly, it's about a woman becoming... becoming who she really is... who she was meant to be... or maybe who she was forced to be. Perhaps all of those women rolled into one.

Recommended mainly for women and for anyone that enjoys memoirs. The author has a prequel coming out in mid 2011. I will be watching for it, but I'm also curious as to what happened next... what's happening today. It's an interesting thing with recent memoirs, it feels almost stalkerish to the reader, but perhaps cathartic to the writer.

Read this one. Don't miss it.

Illuminating indeed.... This is a voyeuristic jaunt through the life of the woman you passed in the grocery store, is sitting next to you in traffic or stands behind you in church. A salient reminder that we don't know what goes on behind other people's doors and we should not be quick to pass judgement but instead should offer a smile of encouragement to everyone. This is also a true story of love and true friendship, of the ugly duckling becoming a swan and the strength of being a mother, a lover and a woman in today's everchanging world. You'll cry with Sophia's tragedies and triumphs, and laugh at her funky-fun style and in the end you'll feel like you have a new friend waiting for you with a bottle of wine. Share this one with your friends, family and book club and don't be surprised when they open up with stories of their own lives.