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Liftby Kelly Corrigan |
Kim Sisto Robinson: Author, Ginger Emas, sent me this delightful
treasure exclaiming, "I have a feeling you will enjoy this little book, even though you may shed
a few tears." She was right. "Lift" not only lifted me into flight, but also brought me directly
through the turbulence of Motherhood. In "Lift" author, Kelly Corrigan, writes an insightful,
tearful, hilarious, moving letter to her two daughters: "I think about your futures a lot.
I often want to whisper to you, when we're tangled up together, 'Remember this. This is what love
feels like. Don't take less.' But what I end up saying is: 'This was my dream. You were my dream.'"
But this is not a book exclusively for mothers; it is a book for any individual who wants to be
lifted up and loved unconditionally, fully, tremendously, and forever and ever and ever. I loved it!
Rating: ****
Ginger Emas: I'm only on page 7 of Kelly Corrigan's new release,
Lift, but I've already cried once, had two lumps in my throat, and three vigorous
head-noddings as in, "I know just what you mean." I can't wait to absorb all of this
beautiful little book, but it is really, really little -- only 96 pages, what they
call a single-sitting read. In an email Kelly sent my radio show, she wrote,
"According to O Mag, it's bighearted. According to Anne Lamott, it's rich and intimate.
According to my mother, it's better than The Middle Place." That's right, Kelly is
the author of the also-wonderful Middle Place, which had me sobbing on the
introductory pages that don't even have page numbers, but are stuck with xi
and xii -- my tears soaked the book almost before I began. Oh, did I mention
that I LOVE to cry at books? So this is a POSITIVE point for me! So being that
Lift is only 96 pages long, I have told myself I will only read
a little bit at a time, like eating one tiny milk chocolate morsel ... letting it
sit on my tongue and melt naturally, slowly, so I can enjoy every single sensation.
That is how I am going to read Lift, and I can't wait! More to come...
Ginger Emas: Okay ... I stretched out this beautiful little book
for five whole days, and that includes the last few pages I read on a plane where I wanted to
gobble it all up at once. As it is, my seatmate wanted to know if I was alright, as a smile
played on my lips and tears streamed down my face when I came to the end of Lift. (Did
I mention I'm a cry-er? And I ENJOY that?) Lift encouraged me to feel things that I rarely
take the time to stop and feel. Kelly knows how to do that; to describe moments and people
in a way that is precious, that we can all relate to (without getting overly mushy.) Lift is part
memoir, part inspiration -- to live, to think, to take a moment to memorize what we love when
we look around us. It is not preachy; it is is REAL. She talks about a good friend of hers whose
son died, and gives us a glimpse into what friends do, what moms do, when the unthinkable
happens ... she also shares with us another good friend who wants to have a child on
her own, and what that road looks like, both from a friend's perspective (a friend who
adores being a mother above everything else) and from the perspective of the
single-mom-to-be. Page 79 I think is when I really began sobbing and thought about
locking myself in the AirTrain bathroom so I could emote all I wanted in peace.
But really, is there anything peaceful about an airplane bathroom? Thank you, Kelly,
for taking snapshots ... with your camera, and with your words. I have an idea: what
if we held a workshop and we all worked on a small memoir of what we want to shellack
in our lives?
Rating: *****
