Wired For Noise

The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here by Felicia Sullivan is a book that has been on my radar for a bit now when I saw it mentioned on another blog. So when Mother Talk sent out the email asking if anyone wanted to read a copy and talk about it on their blog I had my hand raised and was jumping up and down in my seat. “Pick me! Pick me!”

This book tells Felicia’s story. One of a drug addict mother who was never around, of her own downward spiral into drugs, her ability to blend in and hide her dark secrets, and finally her ability to step out. You have to know why I absolutely had to read this book.

My own mother had me when she was far too young, not yet ready, not done with her wild days. How often was I left for days or weeks at a relative’s house while she went off chasing cheap drugs and strange men. By kindergarten I knew more about sex than most married women know. By high school I was drinking daily, doing what ever drug I could get, and going home with what ever man said something nice to me that day. I was the spitting image of my mother.

So reading The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here really hits home. Her story touches on raw spots from my own life that I don’t often like to think about. There are memories that I would rather erase than concider what they mean. But Felicia doesn’t let me get away with that. She tells her story, brings it all out into the light, and in a way forces me to look at my own as well.

The story goes back and forth, from her childhood to her adulthood. In one moment you’re watching her as a 10 year old child trying to walk her mother down a flight of stairs to the taxi below as she overdoses on cocain. The next she’s an adult drinking wine in an expensive resturant trying to fit in with the high class world. But the transitions from one life to the next are smooth, not confusing like some writers can make them. Maybe it’s because this is her story, the one she lived. She’s not creating a life for her book, she’s transcribing her own. You can easily see her moving back and forth from the shy, confused child to the high powered adult hiding her own addictions behind $300 shoes and Ogio bags.

When I sat down to read I devoured the entire book in one evening. The way she writes, her attention to details, the flow made it so I couldn’t put it down. It’s brutally honest, the images of her mother and the men and the drugs. You can see them all so clearly, almost smell the sweat and the booze as it comes off the pages. It’s thick and heavy, yet with enough light moments so that you don’t feel weighed down.

Felicia Sullivan has her own blog too, that I’ve found myself devouring after the book. It isn’t some pretty “about my book” blog either, she shares just as many nitty gritty details of her life as it is now. Even if you don’t read the book just go read her blog. You’ll be overwhelmed with the urge to reach out and give her a huge hug.

You can also go check out her interviews in The Gothamist, Identity Theory, and Cruelest Month. You can also get a sneak peak of the book over at The Huffington Post.

I really cannot encourage you to read The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here enough. Honestly, get a copy now and read it for yourself. You’ll thank me for it later.

[tags]books, The Sky Isn’t Visable From Here, Felicia Sullivan, life, drugs, mothers, daughters, addiction, family[/tags]

Related Reading:

The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

Hope After Betrayal: Healing When Sexual Addiction Invades Your Marriage

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power