Reviews for Sun Crossword Book 4

The average rating for Sun Crossword Book 4 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-14 00:00:00 Louis Obrien 4.5* It's my second book from this author and she is fast becoming one of my favourites. There is a kind of haunting and poetic quality to her prose. Not much action as such but somehow the story and thoughts that result from it keep playing in your mind long after you've finished reading it. This moving tale revolves around a woman, who has just failed suicide, and her psychiatrist. The latter tries to reach her with difficulty, but one day succeeds when they accidentally start talking about art, and in particular Caravaggio's paintings. Although the subject matter might sound depressing, let me reassure you it is anything but. On the contrary, I found it refreshing. The book doesn't promise the answer to life - just a tale about characters on a journey of discovery. It is simply written but with an elegance that is very touching. No long discourse on theories but thought-provoking discussions, such as the ones about some big misconceptions our societies seem to suffer from, and even taboos, such as the ones about death, suffering, and mental illness. We’d rather hide and forget about it. I particularly loved the following quote, exclamation from one of the protagonists, which sounded so true: "Trouble with this age is it's got hold of the crackpot notion you can do away with suffering... Someone says, "help, help, it hurts", and they hand out a bloody drug and say, "there, there, this'll make it better". That's sticking-plaster mentality. It doesn't make the bloody awfulness go away. It just covers it up. Pathology. The logos of suffering, or the word on suffering. Well, the "word" on suffering is it has to be bloody well suffered, not covered up”. Salley Vickers, who used to be a University Lit teacher and then a psychoanalyst before turning to writing, puts together a strange mixture of literature and psychology, but it works and even complement each other. She also seems to bring art and Italy into her stories one way or the other. On a funny note, the psychologist of the story is quite obsessed with Jane Austen's work at the beginning and compares people to characters...

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-06 00:00:00 Kimberly Samuelson What a good book! It was one you could really "sink your teeth into".... with references to poetry, art, biblical stories, and psychology to think about and learn about. I really enjoyed it. The author is SO insightful. I loved the words that Elizabeth wrote to Thomas at the end,"Were not our hearts burning inside us?" What a great use of the words from the end of the Emmaus biblical story! That made me sob. Just like the disciples, a story that began in gloom and despair ends in new life and hope for all involved. But the author didn't go for the easy ending, either. I thought the way the relationship between Elizabeth and Thomas ends is very realistic -- even if I was sad about it.