“THIS OUTSTANDING BOOK: A MUST-READ,” a review by Fran Lewis for JustReviews/MJ Magazine

CRADLE OF THE SERPENT by Linda Lee Greene

A therapist caught in a web of deceit and lies when working with an archaeologist named Lily Light. Psychotherapist Michael Neeson has listened while she relates her dreams going back to another time period and the Indian White Flower. Feeling confident in confiding in him Lily tells him of being at odds with her husband Jacob and that he decided to not return home during his two-week break. But, for some reason this psychotherapist is drawn to her and travels to her dig thinking he would ignite his own passion for archaeology. Her reaction at first is one of anger and invasion of her privacy but as they begin to bond and talk she becomes Lily and he becomes Michael until Lily has a bad feeling, gets all upset and thinks something has happened to Jacob. Lily takes on the persona of this Indian woman and experiences different emotions when she learns about what happened to him and the fact that a woman was found dead but is this woman he was cheating with? Jacob is shot and paralyzed and the fact that he had a mistress more than upsets Lily. As you get to know Michael learning about Jacob and on their brief time at the dig you get a feeling that he is drawn to Lily as more than just a client. Miriam his wife is reliable, warm and caring but for some reason he needs some adventure in his life.

There are two voices that are heard throughout this novel: Michael the therapist and Lily talking about her relationship with Jacob and how she feels about taking care of him. Looking at him in the hospital and hoping that he gets well yet when it’s her turn to care for him she passes it off twice to his parents. Work is her salvation and talking to her therapist the second as he becomes more involved in her life trying to guide her to make the right decision that will either take her closer to Jacob or away from him completely. She still does not know the name of the mistress and the author has yet to reveal whom the woman is that was shot too.

Reverting back to White Flower it is almost as if Lily is living in a world that she would like to be in instead of the present. But, Lily seems unnerved at times and has trouble making choices yet she reveals her tattoo of a serpent as a male dragon and her husband’s as female dragon. Added in we learn about Serpent Mound where she is working.

Lily appears to be living in two different worlds trying to escape the realities of life even by sorting out photographs and deciding which ones to keep and if at all which ones to toss hoping to almost delete Jacob from her life. As she appears to be in the doctor’s site when he and his wife visit Serpent Mound he’s not sure if she’s there or in Phoenix. Flashing to two time periods we see Lily/White Flower going about life in different ways, each one trying to create their own perfect life. Meeting Jacob and feeling betrayed when she learns the truth behind a plaque signed We Love You Daddy. Joining her on her trip into another world where we are present on the Navajo reservation and learn more about what Jacob’s role is in dealing with them in the present might account for her thoughts about the past. What about his two children from this other woman; how will that play out?

The psychotherapist seems fixated on her at times and although he tries to keep his thoughts and advice objective at times you feel that he is pulling himself back in order to stay impartial and not give Lily a real way out but allowing her to sort things out on her own.

Her Indian background comes into play as she sits in court trying to get her husband custody of his two children born to a Navajo Indian.

Jacob is now paralyzed and might get back the use of his arms to a limited extent while Lily speaks at times with Michael as we hear his rendition of their talks or visits and we get the feeling she is restless, conflicted as author Linda Lee Greene shares the history of the Navajo Indians, the correlation of this story of Jacob to that of FDR and Christopher Reeve who played Superman and was truly an inspiration for Linda writing this story as you will read in the author’s notes at the end of the book. As Jacob progresses a little Lily decides to find a way to meet his children leaving her remembering what her father did to her and the child she lost. Added in we learn that White Flower was having a child and Running Deer was with her trying to save her but her fate was not what Lily would have hoped for her alter personality. At times it seems that she reverts to this other time period and place just to release her tension and find a way to deal with the present but Lily seems bent on divorcing Jacob yet hoping he gets custody of his daughters. Lily listens closely to the judge both times during the two hearings as he explains Navajo Law and the reasons why he is going to postpone his decision for another 6 months until she decides on whether she wants to remain with Jacob. The judge is sure that the children will have a nurturing home with two foster parents on the scene. Whereas she and Jacob plus his parents are beyond the age to adopt children the judge reserves judgment at this time.

The author shares the history of many of the places Lily and Jacob visited when dating and when married and it brings to light their relationship before things went south and this woman, his mistress was killed.

I loved the history of the Navajo Indians and the chapters on the research done to help quadriplegics move again and the surgery that Jacob wanted to undergo hoping he would be able to move his hands and arms again. The tension runs high and Lily is torn between leaving Jacob or supporting him in his efforts to get his two daughters to live with him, being a parent of some type to the girls and yet deciding where her career was going. Would she remain on digs or would she decide on something else? The ending will shock readers and take you along with Lily on a journey that is so compelling, so heartwarming, tormenting and will let you the reader learn that sometimes mistakes lead to something better if you can forgive. With the help of her sister Hannah to listen to her complaints, hear her scream and wipe away her tears, Lily just might decide what is right for her but will it be with Jacob and his parents living under one roof with his children, or will it be to find her own way?

A story of a love gone wrong, forgiveness, understanding her heritage and the heritage of the woman who was part of Jacob’s life, respecting who you are and understanding that not everything is cut and dry or black and white. Davina Yashi was the victim who was shot with two gun shots in her back and if she had survived she would have been worse off than Jacob as the author describes using medical terms his injuries and what they mean and where they are. She compares it to the injuries sustained by Christopher Reeve which becomes a stronghold for Jacob to want to emulate him and hope to have more mobility. When Lily decides to face the man who shot her husband something within her snaps, the reality of the situation takes hold and she begins to feel like she is about to fade and decides to get a bottle of vodka to drown her sorrows. Her anger soars when she tells Jacob about her past and her father and at this point she comes to a crossroads as to what she wants to do about her life, her marriage and why doesn’t he understand her pain?

Miracles happen, perspectives change and it’s up to Lily if she can withstand what Jacob will endure in the future with the healthcare he needs and will she assist his parents as another caregiver? Read what the therapist says as he analyzes their marriage and tries to make sense of Lily Moore Light and Jacob Clay Light and their future. Whether he agrees or disagrees does not matter; what does matter is whether each one can forgive, forget, understand and join as one once again.

A story that will give readers much pause for thought and one that hits home, as my cousin is a paraplegic losing his legs the week before his wedding and with hope, family support, the support of the woman who married him anyway, two children and tons of grandchildren he is now one of the most renowned Oral Surgeons in the world. Jacob refused to give up but what about Lily? For anyone in the same situation this book is a definite must read and will give you and your families hope. Jacob was the light and a paralyzed person and the research sites listed at the end of the book will provide resources.  Posted in the footnotes are also resources that will help readers understand the struggles of others that the author sited within this outstanding book. Cradle of the Serpent - goo.gl/i3UkAV

Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine

Superman, On and Off the Silver Screen

 

My initial reading of Still Me, the autobiography of competitive sportsman, A-list actor, Emmy-nominated director, producer and screenwriter, passionate activist, and author Christopher Reeve was immediately following its 1998 release, three years after he was thrown headfirst from his horse during the Memorial Day, 1995 horse jumping competition that left him unable to move or breathe—a time when I, along with almost everyone in the civilized world, was still reeling from the irony of the fact that “our” Superman would never walk, or do anything under his own power again, much less fly. I needed to read it again recently as research for the book I am writing that I hope to publish in the autumn of this year—a novel in which one of the main characters is paralyzed from his chest down by a bullet wound to his spine.

                I searched every nook and cranny for my pristine, hardback, first-edition copy of Reeve’s autobiography, and to my horror realized that in a harrying period of downsizing nineteen months ago, I donated it to a local public library, apparently. I remember weighing the pros and cons of holding on to it, and I was sure I decided in its favor—but…oh well. I have experienced this same gut-wrenching regret over the donation of other precious books that held places of honor in my formerly extensive library. Oh, the awful things life too often forces us to do! I ordered another copy of it, and my second reading of it reminded me of what a good and important book Still Me is. I will state at the outset, just to get it out of the way, that its only drawback that I can see is its title. As explained in the book, the title derives from Reeve’s wife Dana’s assurance to him following the accident that despite everything, he was still the same person, and she would be with him forevermore. Regardless, from the moment I first heard the title, it also suggested to me a double entendre on Reeve’s “stilled” condition. No matter the motivation behind it, it is an unfortunate title, in my opinion. However, it is the first and last mistake in this significant, well-written, non-fiction book.

                Reeve begins his life story with the following: “A few months after the accident I had an idea for a short film about a quadriplegic who lives in a dream. During the day, lying in his hospital bed, he can’t move, of course. But at night he dreams that he’s whole again, and is able to do anything and go everywhere. This is someone who had been a lifelong sailor, and who had always loved the water, and he had a beautiful gaff-rigged sloop. Not like my boat, the Sea Angel, which was modern and made of fiberglass. In the story the boat is a great old wooden beauty, whose varnish gleams in the moonlight…In his dream he sails down the path of a full moon, and there’s a gentle breeze, perfect conditions—the kind of romantic night sailing that anyone can imagine. But by seven in the morning, he’s back in his bed in the rehab hospital and everything is frozen again…” He goes on to relate the entire idea, and then says“…But the way out is through your relationships. The way out of that misery or obsession is to focus more on what your little boy needs or what your teenagers need or what other people around you need. It’s very hard to do, and often you have to force yourself. But that is the answer to the dilemma of being frozen—at least it’s the answer I found.”

                Throughout the book, just when the inner workings of the agonizing daily routine of his “frozen” existence as he describes it, is in danger of treading territory too heartbreaking for the reader to bear, Reeve turns to lighter fare. He embarks on a spellbinding, often funny, always moving, treatise of his life before his disability, including his bittersweet childhood as a product of divorced parents, his triumphs in sports, his first-rate college education, his advocacy for funding of the arts, his seemingly anointed pathway to acting, for many years on stage, both in classical and contemporary productions, and then in films, with his role as Superman skyrocketing him to stardom. The breadth and diversity of his acting career was a revelation to me, so attuned was I to him as Clark Kent in Superman, to the romantic lead Richard Collier in the cult film Somewhere in Time, and to the American Congressman Jack Lewis in the British film The Remains of the Day. He takes us into his ten-year relationship with the mother of his two older children Matthew and Alexandra, teenagers at the time of the release of the book. And then to Dana, and although his beloved, his commitment issues threatened to sabotage their love. His humanity came through most clearly with his admission of that weakness in himself, but true to the pattern of his life, he set out to rid himself of that flaw. He sought counseling, and it worked. He and Dana married and bore their son William. For the first time, he was happy in his personal life, for the first time as well, gave it precedence over his career and sporting life. The accident occurred only three years into their marriage.

                His disability ceaselessly tugged at him to be told, however, and with flawless timing and immaculate taste, he returned to the subject of paralysis as a result of spinal cord trauma, interspersing his personal trials and triumphs pertaining to it with a generalized discussion of spinal cord injury, its modes of treatment and its ramifications. An in-depth review of his new life is included—his return to his film career, and his use of his celebrity to become an ambassador for all victims of the disability—fund-raising for the American Paralysis Association, and other such entities, as well as a consistent program of lobbying Congress for funds devoted to research, for insurance reform, among other things. His speaking itinerary was so full that his previous life seemed almost static by comparison. In this way, he continued his financial support of his family. His crowning achievement was the foundation he and Dana formed—The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Paralysis Research Center which is dedicated to raising funds for medical research of and—ultimately—a cure for spinal cord injury paralysis—Toll Free (800) 539-7309; International Callers (973) 467-8270 – www.christopherreeve.org. Matthew and Alexandra serve on the board of directors of the foundation.  

The format of the book is spot-on. Reeve merged his past and present seamlessly. It is like a father and son gently lobbing a ball back and forth, or a duet between Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga—divergent in every possible way other than the matched quality of their voices and their mirrored urgency to tell their individual versions of the same story.

                   I wish I had known Christopher Reeve—I wish I had been his associate, his pal. His was a purposeful life—a life well-lived.