Two damaged souls -- #LiteraryFiction #Depression #ReviewTuesday

Blurb

On the night of a blue moon, while walking his dog, middle-aged widower Jim sees Gladys on the roof of a neighboring apartment building and is inspired to speak with her. There’s just one problem: she can’t hear him.

Indeed, Jim isn’t even sure that Gladys truly exists—that she isn’t just a rooftop patio umbrella silhouetted against the moon. Hampered by debilitating social anxiety, he cannot work up the courage to even wave.

Yet Jim returns to the same spot night after night, and Gladys—who is indeed real—sees him and becomes equally interested. She even contributes to their “conversation,” though he cannot hear her either. And while Gladys struggles with her own demons—self-loathing and depression—she is lifted by Jim’s attention, even as she describes how difficult her life has been.

Two characters, driven by sadness and a longing to connect. Will they?

Excerpt

Women aren’t jumpers. Did you know that? We don’t use guns either—at least not on ourselves. We’d shoot a prick on a moment’s notice, though. Ha ha. Anyway, John—although I’d love to throw myself off this planet, it ain’t going to happen. But you never know, do you? Sorry. Not trying to fake you out. Are you lonely, John? God, it’s getting cold and miserable out here. Walk Bowser, John, so I can leave my post and get warm. I’m going to stay very still until you leave. Maybe you’ll forget that I’m a real person. We can continue our chat some other night. I’m going to stay very still, so you can drift away.

Review by Lisabet Sarai

Meet Jim. A real estate lawyer who lost his wife to cancer, he lives a quiet, lonely life: going to work, cooking for himself, walking his dog Gus. Nobody would suspect he was a keen observer of his fellow humans. Aside from his clients, nobody cares what he thinks or feels. Only Gus knows what’s going on in his mind and heart.

Meet Gladys. An LPN on stress-related leave after a work-related breakdown, she’s trying to drum up the courage to kill herself. Night after night she stands motionless on the roof of her apartment building, contemplating the possibility of jumping. For days at a time she doesn’t talk to anyone, doesn’t sleep, barely eats, just sits at home drowning in a slough of self-disgust.

Walking Gus after dark, Jim happens to look up and see Gladys, silhouetted against the moon. He’d noticed her before, but thought she was a deck umbrella, but that night, he feels sure he’s detected some movement. Now there’s a purpose to his nightly strolls with his dog; he sits on the low wall opposite Gladys’ building, carrying on long conversations that she, of course, cannot hear.

Meanwhile, Gladys has noticed him as well. Mentally, she taunts him, berates him, implores him to notice her. She desperately wants him to wave, but as time goes on, she comes to believe she’s just as invisible to him as she is to everyone else.

Paul Swingle’s novel Silhouette captures the disconnected conversations between these two isolated people. As the book progresses, we learn more about both Jim and Gladys – their family histories, largely responsible for their lack of self-esteem, their past joys, their dreams. We come to see that both are good, caring people, apparently cast aside by society. The reader is desperate for the two of them to connect. But is it realistic to believe that two such damaged souls could complete one another?

You’ll need to read the book to find out.

Silhouette is both painful and uplifting. The author is a therapist. I’m sure he’s known people like Jim and Gladys. Through their voices, he brings the desperation of depression and the quieter agony of loneliness to vivid life. I suspect that some readers will identify with one or both of the characters. I hope that this short, insightful novel will offer them some peace.

About the Author

Dr. Paul G. Swingle can be considered one of the founding fathers of Clinical Psychoneurophysiology, one of a select few, directly responsible for bringing Neurotherapy out of university labs and clinics to the general populace in the 1980’s.

His academic positions include, Professor of Psychology at the University of Ottawa from 1972 to 1997, Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from 1991 to 1998, Associate Attending Psychologist at McLean Hospital (Boston), Head of the Clinical Psychophysiology Service McLean Hospital (Boston). Professor Swingle was also Clinical Supervisor at the University of Ottawa from 1987 to 1997 and Chairman of the Faculty of Child Psychology from 1972 to 1977. Dr. Swingle is a Registered Psychologist in British Columbia and is Board Certified in Biofeedback and Neurotherapy. He is actively involved in research and practice. His numerous publications include nine books and numerous peer reviewed journal publications.

https://www.amazon.com/Silhouette-Paul-G-Swingle/dp/B09C3D527K

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61878792

Paul G. Swingle will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

 

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