This is a book that only gets in the way of itself. I wanted to like it, and managed to finish it in spite of its best stylistic efforts to thwart that. I feel like the book has an important story and the bones of something good, but it is so overwritten and intentionally obtuse and opaque that it becomes a chore to read. Characters and their stories become shallow and underexplored and in spite of the deliberate use of Bible imagery, somehow even thematic resonance gets lost in the jumble of intentional word salad.

I think the step after purple prose is red flags.

Between this and The Starless Sea, I'm starting to think I have a type for 2022.

Beautiful interwoven revel of the soul of written words, love, and homecoming.

‘We must cultivate our garden’.

This book is comfort food when the world feels overwhelming.

This book is a wellspring of information for survivors of any kind of trauma. Is it triggering? Sometimes. It's it all applicable to every trauma survivor? Not even remotely. Is there an abundance of useful and necessary information about resources, therapy modalities and studies about ptsd and ACEs? Absolutely. His explanations of traumatic memory and IFS is especially exceptional.

I also want to mention that I understand and don't want to diminish the experiences of those that couldn't get past chapter one because of van Der Kolk's sympathy to an individual who committed some pretty egregious things. I'm, however, of the mind that arguments that some people don't deserve compassion is a dangerous stance. Research has proven that when we start to justify the dehumanization of our enemies, we start to break apart our own humanity. We are at our most human when we can offer compassion who those who don't deserve it and it's an important and deeply challenging part of recovery.