Customer Reviews

Nickels: a tale of dissociation

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Today I read a book that touched down to my very soul. It took me on a journey of healing, through the back alley, through the pain of truth of abuse as a book has never taken me before. Nickels, written by Christine Stark, is a masterpiece of writing and a timeless effort to reach out to the unknowing, in an attempt to help them to understand that beneath the surface of perfection there is a world of hatred and anger and abuse and unconsciousness, a world in which women have no rights and are treated like a piece of junk, to be used and then thrown away. In a constant stream of thought Little Miss so and so remembers, and in doing so, we go with her on a life journey of incestual abuse and degradation of self as a human female being, only a small child when it all began. With raw emotions she breaks us open to the experience of what it is like to be locked in a dissociative mind as all parts vie for attention.

Abuse touches us all at the very core of our existence. It takes over our every day attempts at fitting into a world in which only the innocent can remain unconscious. While there are certainly men who have been abused, it is to the women that Christine brings this story, hoping to bring awareness of the rich inner world created by those who have been neglected and abused, and also the feelings of shame and powerlessness that one can heal from. Christine reminds us that the only way to heal is to speak, and the only way healing can occur is if there is someone there to listen.

This book can be very triggering, as well as confirming, to survivors, and can be a wealth of knowledge to the uninitiated and therapists who work with those who have been through the horrors of abuse.

Shamai Currim PhD

This book reads more like a thriller than a memoir or a novel about growing up. It takes you inside the world of a young girl in a way few books are able to do. I found it very difficult to put down. Below is one review I totally agree with.

"This is the book we've been waiting for. Christine Stark has crafted a language and a diction commensurate with the shredding of consciousness that is a consequence of childhood sexual abuse. She brings us a wholly original voice in a riveting novel of desperation and love. Stark enables the reader to inhabit the intricacy and chaos of this potent inner landscape, and we have not seen this before. Every sentence vibrates with a terrible beauty. Every sentence brings the news." - Patricia Weaver Francisco, Telling: A Memoir of Rape and Recovery

I recommend this book without reservation. It is first and foremost a beautifully written work of literature - a novel in the "tradition" of breaking through the barriers of style and significance adopted by current literary standards. The author has invented an altogether new language for conveying layers of memory and complexity of character. Neurolinguistics is a relatively new discipline, one that would surely appreciate this ingenious language of memory, paradoxically plain and richly nuanced, weaving metaphor with common threads of daily survival. Among many recurring images that serve to coalesce and bind the passage of time and event is the red ribboned thread.

The style of Nickels is uniquely suited to the content. It is the story of Little Miss So-and-So, who is viciously incested for most of the years of her childhood. It tells the story of survival through dissociation. It lays bare the flesh and bones of the child's reality and its transformation through that child's creative adaptation in a world of unimaginable and inimitable beauty. Yes - beauty. The splendor of a soul that survives horrific abuse and discovers the beauty that lives in her own spirit - the spirit of her Native American ancestors, the spirit of her artistry, the spirit of her strong athletic body transforming years of betrayal. It is the story of a burgeoning artist, the tale of a young lesbian's exploration of her incipient sexuality. It tells. It tells in words and in the silence between them.

Thank you Christine Stark for this marvelous book - it is a revelation. To lovers of literature and of truth: read this book!

--Mel