Devotion

Right now I am in the middle of a few very good books - The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (which is a re-read and for my book club at school), While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty, and Dirty Little Secrets by CJ Omolulu. Today I spent most of my time cleaning and organizing (which still isn't done) and making a yummy black bean and sausage soup that my husband loved so much he had to take a sample over to our neighbors' just so they could try it. I have hardly been able to sit down and read like I want to, and here it is, Sunday evening and time for bed so I can begin another very busy week tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I read Devotion by Dani Shapiro, and I have been debating actually writing a review of this memoir. Not because I didn't like this book, but because I found a great many ways I could relate to Shapiro, and I just don't know how my review can even do her book justice. And maybe because it really spoke to me, I am slightly biased (although it has been well reviewed many other places). Shapiro's memoir focuses on her search for some form of belief system that is more than she currently has. While she grew up an Orthodox Jew, Shapiro has fallen away from her belief, and instead is questioning and searching for some greater presence - some answer to events in her own life, and a place to find peace. And while this isn't the part that I could relate to, I can relate to the constant anxiety she felt after her son was stricken by a rare seizure disorder and her fear of "the other shoe dropping." As the mother who has also faced losing her child, I too feel that fear on a daily basis, and can understand many of the ways Shapiro's life has unfolded because of that one event. From her experimenting with various religious practices to practicing yoga, Shapiro searches for some answers, all the while realizing that worry or not, life will go on, events will happen, and the worry won't factor in to how things unfold. There are no easy fixes to ones worries or beliefs, but Shapiro is able to help others feel some sense of validation, articulating the feelings familiar to many.