A Brilliant Light Casts Away the Shadows with Witty Humor

Award-winning novelist, Taryn Simpson, has done it again! This proud and physically-challenged author has written a heartfelt book that shines as a beacon of hope for the underdogs of this world. She writes with passion mixed with lots of healing humor about her life experiences to which many will empathize or sympathize. Either way, you will be touched. I laughed, I got angry, and I felt like crying. Mostly I laughed. In the end, I felt uplifted by her ability to relate a very human life filled with the range of human experiences.


Not being sure of the meaning of the word, I looked up “ellipsis” in the dictionary. The second definition listed spoke to the essence of this deliciously delightful book. Webster's dictionary states that ellipsis is “a leap or sudden passage without logical connectives from one topic to another.” In her musings and essays, Ms. Simpson took me on a rich ride as seen through her own life perspective.

Being a child of the south, she witnessed the atrocities of the Klu Klux Klan and the closed-minded opinions of the Bible thumpers. Dealing with multiple physical challenges such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and chronic pain, she relates her experiences with the inadequacies of the health care system including lack of compassion and greed.

As a lesbian who has experienced prejudice and oppression, she looks at such issues with a curiously detached point of view. She lives her life from a sense of wonder even though she has been wounded in so many ways. She is the voice of conscience who will undoubtedly raise human consciousness through her musings.

She meanders from topic to topic in such a fashion that she weaves a beautiful tapestry filled with both joy and pain. Always, she maintains an uncanny sense of humor. She segues between topics both serious and silly. She talks about politics and corporate America. Then she includes delightful essays on “Southernisms,” “I Would Like to Whine with my Cheese,” “Time to Clean Out my Closet,” and “My Beagle Speaks Yiddish.” She ends with topics entitled “Epiphanies that go Bump in the Night” and “I Think This is What is Called Serendipity.”

This book is like a tempting box of chocolates. You can relish each essay and musing one at a time or you can devour the box in one sitting. It's just the right length to be read on a lazy summer afternoon when you want both light amusement as well as some food for thought. I loved the book and I trust that you will too!

Davis Aujourd'hui
author of “The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude” and “Babes in Bucksnort”


rated at five out of five stars  * * * * *