The Sky Isn't Visible From Here

I have the pleasure of reviewing The Sky Isn't Visible From Here by Felicia Sullivan.


I first became acquainted with Felicia when I stumbled across her blog and noticed she was asking if anyone had recent Martha Stewart Living magazines they wanted to get rid of. Oddly enough, I had been looking at my pile wondering if they would all fit into the recycling bin, so I contacted her and told her I had at least a year's worth and so I sent them to her. I noticed her upcoming book on her blog and couldn't wait for it to come out. Finally it has and I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to read it!

The autobiography details her life as a child while caring for her drug-addicted mother, who subsequently disappears not long after Felicia takes her first tentative steps into adulthood. Now, none of us has had a perfect childhood (if you have, I'd like to hear from you!), but this makes any story I could tell pale by comparison. To be a parent to your parent is something no child should have to experience and the pain throughout the book is evident. The desire for normalcy rife through the story.

And yet, there are those fleeting, shimmering moments of pure joy and happiness that occur with her mother and the love simply spills off the pages. So much so that you feel your heart ache with the need for this mom to just pull it together and be there for her daughter full-time, not just here and there. Her mother is a strong person and one might think that her strength could help her kick the habit, but the environment they live in and the men her mother chooses, just seems to perpetuate it. My feeling through the story was that it was the one thing her mom couldn't overcome. It was her Achilles' heel, if you will. And yet she seemed to love her daughter with a ferocity you might not see in others with similar circumstances.

The story ends in a beautiful tone and it is how I, were I Felicia, would choose to remember my mother.

If you read this book, expect tears, expect laughter, expect the unexpected. Please read this book.

Thanks to MotherTalk for giving the opportunity to review this great story!