LIFT

With this intimate book, addressed to her daughters, Corrigan illuminates the joys and the risks of parenthood. Her title metaphor—lift—reveals the inevitable connection between the heady updrafts that help hang gliders soar and the turbulence that inevitably accompanies such thermals. Though Corrigan’s voice first strikes the ear as a little flat, even deadpan, it quickly becomes the only voice to read this material. The author handles emotionally wrenching passages with a matter-of-fact steadiness that underlines how the awful pops out of nowhere and makes its home in everyday life. We’re never prepared for life’s gut-punching events, Corrigan points out, though when they happen, we somehow manage. LIFT will make listeners laugh, cry, and laugh while they cry as they ponder the sacred risks of parenting and love. J.C.G © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2011]