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A Review by Rola Phoenicia of Looking for Mary Gabriel by Carole Lawrence
Looking for Mary Gabriel by Carole Lawrence is a finely crafted story that brilliantly segues between
the past and present while taking us on the devastating journey of how the Gabriel family cannibalized one another,
only to discover redemption can arrive too late.
Carole Lawrence tells the story of sisters Bonita and Mary Gabriel and their parents as they cope with the mentally troubled Mary.
The sisters’ father is Dr. John Gabriel and he unequivocally dumps responsibility for Mary’s safety and well-being
onto Bonita with profound consequences for so many people in their sphere. Not only does John create a dense
cloud of denial about Mary’s illness but, he rejects several professional opinions from other physicians
and psychiatrists to put his daughter into a mental facility for treatment.
John is a man with an ego that eventually sinks his entire family and demolishes everyone
and everything he loves; the lessons from this characters life are plenty and well worth
heeding. The girl’s mother referred to as ‘Mimi’ is a beautiful, kind and creative woman
who seems to be impotent and too weak in character to save her daughters from drowning
under the weight of her husband’s arrogance.
Bonita Gabriel is a tormented soul whose burdens have devoured her whole and left her lost,
wandering and trapped in the past. Bonita’s secrets don’t reveal themselves until the last
third of the novel and they are stunning in malice, breath taking in their devastation and
truly shocking. You think you know what happened to this shattered woman but, you have no
idea until the author lifts the veil and the sorrow is released full throttle, only then will you know.
Bonita is one of the most splintered, heroic characters I’ve ever read and her suffering made me weak.
I was less sympathetic towards Mary because I found her mental illness to be excessively irritating
and just wanted some sort of medication to shut her up! I am assuming Ms. Lawrence did this on purpose
to create tension between the reader and the plot, to challenge us to confront our notions of the disabled
and to further complicate our emotional reaction to Mary’s explosive denouement.
This is a tale of the desperate need for self-forgiveness and asks where our obligations to our
loved ones begin and end but, a not so obvious theme central to this heartbreaking saga is the
nature of human evil as demonstrated in a pivotal moment when John gives Bonita a gift of such
subversive malevolence it still has the power to enrage and break me.
In every broken family, there is a sacrificial child and for the Gabriel’s that child was Bonita.
Redemption in Looking for Mary Gabriel is neither a pretty package nor does it arrive in the nick
of time and it brings only bitter sweet pain in its wake.
This book is worth every minute it takes to read it and the author, Carole Lawrence is one to watch,
I am anticipating her next novel with great zeal.
Rola Phoenicia: I have these words to give to you in hope they will offer a friend and beacon, a splinter
of light to pierce the night. I found inspiration and hope in using words to mold an original
canvas of self-expression and salvation in the vast ocean of life.
Web Site
Email: Rola Phoenicia
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