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Reviewed by Nino Lobiladze for Readers' Favorite
A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste by Kelly Sullivan Walden starts with a humorous modern adaptation of the myth of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld. Despite the contemporary twist, the meaning of the myth is still the same: we are not insured against encounters with the dark side of life. Kelly offers a doable strategy that allows us to turn our mistakes into a valuable experience. OGLE is a formula and a tool that helps us look at our missteps and traumas from different perspectives, analyze them, and make them work on our spiritual behalf. The author supports this method with real-life examples. Kelly and her husband, Dana, miss their station while traveling in Italy. A scary-looking stranger offers them help. The tired couple takes a risk and makes a surprising discovery. Kelly wants to adopt a beautiful girl whose parents rejected her. Then tragedy strikes hard. A neighbor asks Kelly to analyze dreams about her missing daughter. The investigation leads to fascinating revelations.
A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste is a very positive book. Kelly Sullivan Walden openly speaks about her past hardships. At the same time, the book is a humorous page-turner. The tales about Kelly's attempt to conquer the summit of a volcano just to be scolded or the awkward situation she found herself in during her friend's biopsy procedure are hilarious and thought-provoking. Yet, the author breaks our hearts with the story of little Tendral and makes us gasp in awe while narrating about the fearless teen named Claire and her battle with cystic fibrosis. I like that every essay has an unexpected twist and a breakdown according to the OGLE formula at the end. Kelly believes that "pain is guaranteed—suffering, however, is optional." She motivates us to make an effort to overcome pain, negativity, and even grief and grow up spiritually. A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste inspires us to become more open-minded, compassionate, and braver versions of ourselves. I highly recommend this book to fans of inspirational and humorous non-fiction books, memoirs, and self-help literature.
