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I know I've been quiet as of late, but please know it's because Lucy has been sick and we've been working on something potentially BIG and I sincerely have not had the time to blog that I want to. I'm barely staying on top of my reading schedule! So please come back tomorrow and I'll have some updates for you all. Phew!
May Cause Love: An Unexpected Journey of Enlightenment After Abortion - Kassi Underwood
In this powerful memoir, a fiercely honest and surprisingly funny testament to healing after abortion, a young woman travels across the United States to meet a motley crew of spiritual teachers and a caravan of new friends.
At age nineteen, Kassi Underwood discovered she was pregnant. Broke, unwed, struggling with alcohol, and living a thousand miles away from home, she checked into an abortion clinic.
While her abortion sparked her “feminist awakening,” she also felt lost and lawless, drinking to oblivion and talking about her pregnancy with her parents, her friends, strangers-anyone.
Three years later, just when she had settled into a sober life at her dream job, the ex-boyfriend with whom she had become pregnant had a baby with someone else. She shattered. In the depths of a blinding depression, Kassi refused to believe that she would “never get over” her abortion. Inspired by rebellious women in history who used spiritual practices to attain emotional freedom, Kassi embarked on a journey of recovery after abortion-a road trip with pit stops at a Buddhist “water baby” ritual, where she learns a new way to think about lost pregnancies; a Roman Catholic retreat for abortion that turns out to be staffed with clinic picketers; a crash course in grief from a Planned Parenthood counselor; a night in a motel with a “Midwife for the Soul” who teaches her how to take up space; and a Jewish “wild woman” celebration led by a wise and zany rabbi.
Dazzling with warmth and leavened by humor, May Cause Love captures one woman’s journey of self-discovery that enraged her, changed her, and ultimately enlightened her.
I know I have some readers who fall into the "absolutely under no circumstances" column when it comes to abortion but I implore you to read this book with an open heart and an open mind. Truly. One of the greatest things about memoirs, the beauty of them, is that it gives us a personal look at someone's story. It gives us the behind-the-scenes, the dirty details, the intimate thoughts of someone who most often are at their lowest point in life. We get that access and when done right, we close the book with a new understanding of a perspective different from our own. It can shake what we thought we knew and give us food for thought, show us that no scenario is cut and dry. A good memoir leaves you empathetic and makes you want to reach out with love to someone who maybe you don't understand but it doesn't matter because they are still human, they still have heart and we are all flawed but it's OK.
That's what this book does. I'm telling you right now there aren't enough stars in the world for me to give this book, five stars does not do it justice. I finished this book in a flash and not only do I wish I could have gone on this journey with her, but I want to be her friend. It's not a choice I would make for myself (I don't think), but I absolutely think she deserves the right to make it and it's OK.
I'm not going to go into specifics about the book because it would absolutely, 100% ruin it for you, but I will tell you the Buddhist water baby ritual was maybe my favorite part. Well, aside from the author herself who is so incredibly relate-able, she's all of us. She's a friend we have in our group, she's the cool co-worker you really want to be friends with outside of work, she's self deprecating in the best way, she's funny, and she's a realist. She's a dreamer, she's a good girl, she's a bad girl, and she battles what she should do and be with who she is and it's hard. You'll find yourself nodding along because she shows you how easily this could be any of us. This story is unapologetic, it's entertaining, it does an amazing job of lightening the conversation about a serious topic but not to the point where it downplays it. She balances it all out and this might be one of my most favorite memoirs. Truly.
I invite you to learn more about Kassi Underwood and her journey through her website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. In the meantime, you should check out the HarperCollins website and purchase her book.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
2 comments:
A book that opens up conversation about such a hot button topic is one I will always support. I'm glad to see how highly you recommend this one!
Thanks for being a part of the tour.
I loved it too! Your description was great. I hope people will get over their prejudices and read this book.
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