Paula D'Arcy

Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Light by Paula D'Arcy is a recommended book of meditations and thoughts on loss and transcending the darkness to find light. So-so for me.

Paula D’Arcy was only 27 when a drunk driver killed her husband and young daughter. She survived the accident and so did her unborn child. As D'Arcy was crying out, she discovered "a presence within her that responded to her fearful cries for help. Her anguished heart was met by a great tenderness and wisdom, which she grew to recognize as a transcendent love." This realization helped her find her way out of the darkness into the light.

She feels that we all have dark times, they are a natural part of life, and may need help making our own way through and back to the light. The Stars at Night offers hope.
Paula is a writer, playwright, retreat leader, and conference and seminar speaker. In 2001, she established Red Bird Foundation, which supports the growth and spiritual development of those in need throughout the world, including men and women in prison. The foundation has sponsored two international gatherings of women known as WOMENSPEAK, conferences which honor the woman’s voice as a force of peace and healing for the world.

D'Arcy writes her reflections in a meditative, poetic manner. This didn't quite work for me. I would be reading, appreciating the tone she was setting and then, boom, I was distracted. I kept finding sentences where my attention to the meaning was lost because I was mentally rewriting the sentence so it made more sense or was grammatical correct. This is notable because I am not a writer and have no illusions about that fact. I am, however, a voracious reader who can recognize the quality of the writing.

This was a so-so book for me that I was hoping I would like much more. I went through a dark period where my whole life was changed. This already stressful time was punctuated by overwhelming, profound loss and grief when two close immediate family members died, 1 1/2 months apart. Now, looking back at that time, which hasn't been all that long ago, it was a season of loss where my faith sustained me, held me, and I survived, stronger but changed. While Stars at Night will offer help and hope for people, it was too vague in the sense of where and in whom their hope should lie during those dark times.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.… (mais)