THE SKY ISN'T VISIBLE FROM HERE by Felicia Sullivan
If asked to describe this book in 3 words, I'd have to pick breath-taking, touching, and heart-wrenching.I wish I could say it is in one of those Happy Ever After Ways, and it is--sorta--but instead it is more of a I Can't Get Over That Felicia Survived It Way. And by It I mean a childhood wrought with hardship, little money, a mother obsessed with drugs, alcohol, herself, and men that were no good. And an adulthood that managed to get her "out" of one lifestyle and into another one. One that was full of more money but just as much alcohol and unfortunately just as much cocaine. Only good point, Felicia got out of it. She found a way to push herself past her mother and let go.
Sorry, if I gave the ending away, but seriously, she wrote the book. She'd have to NOT be high. Right? (And Felicia, this is meant as sarcasm. Really. you go girl, because after what you went through, well, no one can play victim anymore. You just go out there and keep writing. Knock 'em dead. Kinky hair and all. Hell, you should see how stringy mine is!)
THE SKY ISN'T VISIBLE FROM HERE is wrought with childhood stories of the haunting kind. For me, an ordinary girl from the Midwest with a "normal" mom, it is almost unfathomable that a child could grow up and out of this environment. I'm not that naive to know that it doesn't happen though. I'm just again happy my life was pretty normal.
The most touching portion of the whole book is Felicia's love for her mother. Still. Even though she hasn't heard from her since the night of her college graduation and the fact that she has indeed let her go. Forever. In fact, the entire book revolves around how she is trying to "shed" this love. Her mother haunts her dreams, her decisions, and even her adulthood. That is, until she finally (finally) decides to let go. Let her mother be who she is, without trying to hide it from the rest of the world. And, by doing that, be who she is without her mother. It's breath-taking and honest. A path not many of us would want to take--breaking ties with a parent. And standing firm on it. But it's one Felicia took full heartedly.
Really, I just wanted to cheer as I neared the end of this book. And cry at the same time. Felicia was honest, open, and earth-shatteringly real throughout the book. She told the world about the worst moments of her life (and likely the most embarrassing). But yet when I read the book, I wasn't thinking it was embarrassing for Felicia, it was for her mother. She had a good thing going for her--a really good thing--and look at where "Lisa" is now?
I can't think of any better cause to go out and get this book other than to support a woman who has done it all by herself. She's come from out from under one of the biggest struggles of her life and made it out on top. Without the parental validation we all crave. And without a mother. So go buy her book.
Here's the official blurb:
Felicia Sullivan’s volatile, beautiful, deceitful, drug-addicted mother disappeared on the night Sullivan graduated from college, and has not been seen or heard from in the ten years since. Sullivan, who grew up on the tough streets of Brooklyn in the 1980s, now looks back on her childhood—lived among drug dealers, users, and substitute fathers. Sullivan became her mother’s keeper, taking her to the hospital when she overdosed, withstanding her narcissistic rages, succumbing to the abuse or indifference of so-called stepfathers, and always wondering why her mother would never reveal the truth about the father she’d never met.Ashamed of her past, Sullivan invented a persona to show the world. Yet despite her Ivy League education and numerous accomplishments, she, like her mother, eventually succumbed to alcohol and drug abuse. She wrote The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, when she realized it was time to kill her own creation.
And if that isn't enough, read the first chapter here (it is a PDF that will download).
Other places to visit online to learn about Felicia and this book are here:
- Felicia's Web Site and blog
- Guest blog post on Girl's Gone Child (this was so touching, it it TOTALLY worth the read)
- Interviews: Literary Rejections on Display, Interview in the Gothamist, Biography on Identity Theory, and Interview on Cruelest Month
- Buy the book at Amazon
This post brought to you by the lovely ladies at MotherTalk. THE place for books, reviews, and all things motherly.
Labels: blog tour, books, MotherTalk, reading, reviews
