Wholeness Healing Center

Good Morning, Monster A Book Review

A client recommended this book, which was written by a therapist, Catherine Gildiner, a book where she shares “Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery”. I truly enjoyed the book, as it highlights the courage that many people have summoned to live through their traumas, to emerge as contributing members of society. I love the warmth, the detail, the truth of the wounds suffered, and yet the resilience shown by the clients she portrays. I love it because I have seen it, walked through those hard remembering times with clients, and have witnessed the poignant stories of their long and hard journeys, and have seen their successes.

The five clients and their stories (Laura, Madeline, Danny, Peter, and Alana) are all different, with varied stories, with different backgrounds, cultures, and personalities, yet the author witnessed their amazing ability to have walked through some horrendous situations, to live through childhoods that we cringe at, and to summon amazing strength, courage, and empathy to live their best lives. The author wrote the book, not for therapists necessarily, but for lay people, to show the coping skills they all learned, but also to inspire those struggling with their own narratives.

Each story is unique, and upon meeting Laura again, as an adult, she made a comment to the author, which is quite revealing of how she actually walked her path. “I walked, using a hatchet to carve my way through the heart of darkness into swamps with leeches and crocodiles” which is a great metaphor for the difficulties people live through. (Gildiner, pg. 74) Some make it; some don’t, but the ones who keep trying, who keep carving their way learn as they go.

The stories also show some failures, some siblings who didn’t make it through the jungle. But I do think that is also a part of the story of resilience, that for certain reasons people have learned and adapted in certain ways. The stories were different, of abuse, of abandonment, of dynamics in unhealthy relationships, manipulation and control from a narcissisist, many different psychological viewpoints to consider. The issues of transference and countertransference were also part of the story, as well as the author/therapist’s revelations about her own professional (and maybe personal) growth.

In the Epilogue the writer said the book was “about people I consider to be psychological heroes.” (Gildiner, pg. 357) I have come to believe that everyone who enters therapy is a hero. It takes courage to take that step and reach out for help, and awareness that life can be better and the “normal” one is living in might not be all there is, and of course, the strength and determination to continue to push forward.

This book is a story of five of those clients who made an impact, who had lived lives of extreme mistreatment, chose to walk forward and ask for help, and then to continue their journeys in a different manner. Yes, they were heroes, as are all who continue to be aware, to raise their own consciousness, who continue to heal and grow.

Works Cited
Gildiner, Catherine. (2020) Good morning, monster. St. Martin’s Publishing Group. New York, NY.