Dead Mentors Sandra Nichols 9781452568447 Books
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In 2005, John Burns, a clairvoyant therapist, provides a reading for a lonely South Florida healthcare manager named Sophia Deming. At fifty-four, Sophia is miserable with work, regret, and failed ambitions. She leaves the reading, disappointed with Burns's forecast and worries that the way to an authentic life is a hopeless dream. From the shores of his cottage on Prince Edward Island, Burns channels Sophia for a period of two years and tells the story of her existential quest. Sophia's journey begins when she finds her dead mother's play, The Antiquity, in the family cottage in Peterborough, Ontario. Its main character, Russell Durnin, a biomedical scientist, finds the missing link to his research among the paranormal inhabitants of a futuristic prison. As an ambitious production of the performance develops in Toronto, Sophia encounters a series of misfortunes back home in Florida that mirror those of Durnin and that force her to confront her darkest fears. On opening night of the play, as her mother's portrait is unveiled upon the stage, Sophia discovers the secret of her emotional captivity.
Dead Mentors Sandra Nichols 9781452568447 Books
I relate to this book is so many ways! In a way i think we all do. This book is about family, life and relationships. This book caused me to have A great retrospective look on how important the people are who are in our lives. People are the currancy of live.Product details
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Tags : Dead Mentors [Sandra Nichols] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In 2005, John Burns, a clairvoyant therapist, provides a reading for a lonely South Florida healthcare manager named Sophia Deming. At fifty-four,Sandra Nichols,Dead Mentors,BalboaPress,1452568448,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Literary,Literary,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
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Dead Mentors Sandra Nichols 9781452568447 Books Reviews
Dead Mentors is a masterpiece in its prose, its message and its unique construction. The story is told on three levels, from three different points of view and in different styles. Each is an art form in itself.
The Narrator- a Psy D with a clinical practice, sees his own life from a different perspective once he begins to channel his client Sophia. Thus, while he is relating Sophia's story as a remote viewer, he is also sharing much of himself. This frees the author to let a bit of her own philosophy slip into the story in the observations of Doctor Burns, without creating a soap box effect. And thus, the narrator engages the reader in a series of dialogs on topics ranging from the challenges of bird-watching to the comparison of the coming of Spring in the south as opposed to the four seasons of the north. All of these digressions fit neatly into the plot
Sophia Once we are introduced to Sophia through the observations of the narrator, we begin to visit her relationships with the principals in her life from her point of view as retold by Doctor Burns. She paints her husband Nigel as an engaging man whose role in life seems to be to provide stability and happiness to Sophia. His pastime seems to be playing Poker. Her relationship with her sisters is more complex, especially since she sees herself as the outsider in the group and the least loved by her parents. She is an engaging, likable woman, trapped in a life she finds stifling, but while she feels unfulfilled, she is not bitter and she is not jealous. She is not Emma Bovary, but she does rue having let her dreams slip by so easily. Her major surface blemish is she hates her job in health care, but the truth of the matter goes much deeper.
The Antiquity (Amelia)The third tier of this engaging book is provided by the posthumous drama written by Sophia's deceased mother Amelia, a multi-faceted talent who Sophia feels fell short of the spotlight she had envisioned for herself. Sophia senses her mother erected a barrier between the two of them which had not shut out her sisters. And yet, when her father dies and the three sisters are cleaning out the house, Sophia discovers Amelia has left a package especially meant for her. It is a play entitled The Antiquity. In its reinactment, Amelia speaks to us in a manner totally unexpected, through the avenue of her drama, a stunning creation in itself. The play stands alone, independent of its frame within the principal plot line. Reading Sandra Nichols' book would be worthwhile if only to devour the italicized portions representing Amelia's play. It is futuristic in its setting but has a compelling contemporary theme - a scientist who has developed a happy pill suddenly refuses to self-medicate. The presentation of the drama is in an entirely different style,one I think of as surrealistic and Orwellian, complete with a sensuous robot fashioned in the image of Elizabeth Taylor.
It is when Sophia's sister who is in the theater suggests she produce the play that the main plot becomes a bit like A Picture of Dorian Gray and the artistry of the author takes flight. At that point, I stopped trying to understand what I was reading, and began to simply experience it. There is a portion of the story that took me back to an experience when I was in law school and my mock trial team was assigned to spend an hour forty-five minutes in a holding cell at the courthouse. Friends who could easily spend that amount of time in the back room at Wild Bill's were banging on the door begging for release. Nichols has captured such an atmosphere perfectly.
While paranormal aspects of Ms.Nichols' novel are never far beneath the surface of her prose, this is not a horror story or a fantasy. It is an exploration of the human condition, beautifully told. Sophia's introspective moments are artfully expressed. For example, `She sat amidst the wisdom of the dead mentors that lined her library shelves, a victim of their complicity.' I wonder how many writers I know have shared the sentiment.
This is not a book to be read once and casually. When I was part way through, I checked its description on .For a book of its rank, it had surprisingly few reviews. When I read further, I understood the reason. To capture the essence of this novel requires reading it again and again, and growing with it. There is a reason why there are benches strategically placed in fine art museums.This book is worthy of a similar setting. It needs a window seat or a garden bench where it can be revisited time and time again.I suspect it will have less appeal to those who overload their ebook readers with pulp fiction, for this, indeed, is literature. I will want to procure a hardbound copy for my special shelf, freeing the paperback for margin notes and wine stains.
The author, whom I did not know, provided me a copy of Dead Mentors without obligation because she discovered I frequently review books I read on and she wanted my unbiased opinion of her novel. I had no idea I was being given the precious a gift of insight. Dead Mentors is not just nourishment for the muse within it is tonic for the soul--a genuine five star experience worthy of repeat performances-- a book lover's book.
A woman's discovery of her late mother's stage play leads her to explore the mysteries of her past and of her own inner world.
Sophia Deming is a disenchanted woman. Stuck in a suffocating position in the healthcare industry, she feels terminally cut off from the creative life she craves. The novel is told through the eyes of John Burns, a psychic who gave Sophia the reading that set her off on her spiritual quest. Through his visions we follow Sophia's travels between her home in Florida to her native Canada as she struggles to rediscover her authentic self. A turning point comes when she and her sisters are cleaning out the family's holiday cottage and come upon a play written by their mother. The main character is a scientist living in a future society where citizens are forced to take mood-stabilizing drugs that stunt all individuality and innovative thought, which closely parallels Sophia's feelings about her own situation.
There's a wonderful Gothic feel here. This otherworldly sensibility is helped by the presence of several ghosts--some actual spiritual entities, others more memory imprints of the past--and Sophia's own richly symbolic dream life. Yet the story is at its best when Sophia is interacting with her husband, and when she and her sisters are together laughing, remembering, and causing mayhem in one another's lives. Sophia and Nigel have wonderful chemistry. I also enjoyed the glimpses into John Burns's life on Prince Edward Island with his wife and mother-in-law.
Ironically, it's John's narration that made it so difficult to orient myself at the start of the story. Observing Sophia at such a great remove, and with John's constant commentary, made it hard to engage with her at first. That said, once I was sure of my footing, the narration became enjoyable. John's head is a peaceful place to linger.
Nichols does an excellent job creating her settings. The Florida scene and the ones in Canada (city and rural) played off each other really well. The sensory detail is extraordinary.
The philosophical/psychological concepts explored (especially in the stage play) do get a bit dense. It's rough going in places, but the characters are so interesting I couldn't help hanging on to the end.
DEAD MENTORS is a book with many layers. I'd describe it as "subtext on steroids"--and yet it also manages to entertain.
This book is hauntingly beautiful. I did not want the book to end because I felt like I still had more to learn from Sophia and the author. I feel the need to go back and read some of the passages in hope of finding more answers
I relate to this book is so many ways! In a way i think we all do. This book is about family, life and relationships. This book caused me to have A great retrospective look on how important the people are who are in our lives. People are the currancy of live.
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