Politics, love, and the psychology of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It can destroy a family, and mend a soul.
Facebook, politics and and unconditional love as two people deal with the transformation of a family suffering from a NPD father, and a country divided.
Professional Reviews
WOW!
"ILYR," the newest of two releases by Rayna Gangi, is a love story, not only between two people who meet and fall in love via social networking on the internet, but also between a woman and her beloved country.
Facebook is the backdrop for a connection that begins innocently between online friends, two people reaching out to find others who have the same political interests and can relate to family and personal issues in a mature and defining manner. D has a son in emotional turmoil because of religion and his past experiences with his father. She's tried every avenue to help him, but when she reaches out to R for guidance, she finds the counsel and unconditional love that R embraces and lives to be the same spirituality and beliefs she hides behind her smile and tears. Through D's son, John, they become fast friends and share tornadic disasters, climate change questions, the beginning of the Arab spring and all the political ramifications of the changes occurring in America. They also find a connection to each other that neither has ever experienced and neither feel comfortable pursuing.
Through their connection, D begins to find her voice and self-esteem and because she feels loved for the first time in her life, she is finally able to confront the unhappiness in her marriage and the influence both the Mormon and Catholic religions have had on her and her children. Her struggles begin to mirror the fears and changes happening in groups and households all over America. The need for truth. The desire for freedom. The conflict of religious doctrine versus belief in God. Most importantly, the rise of female energy and power that begins to dominate the political scene, and is reflected back to bedrooms and families.
The author segues between the politics of sexuality, marriage and parenting, and the same politics of the macrocosm, but within the love story between these two people is an even deeper sense of soul, a more profound love, and it is through their emails, phone calls, and finally their meeting, that we experience the conflict of love with too many boundaries and the utter pain of the soul's search only for love.
As the country becomes more divided and divisive politics begin to separate friends and colleagues, so does the energy at home divide the children, the parents, and finally, the lovers.
The premise of the story is based on a Cree legend that there are only two relationships that truly exist between humans, friend or enemy, and as we become more involved with the dynamics between D and R and all the relationships that emanate from their connection, we sometimes find it hard to know who is the friend and who is the enemy, even within ourselves.
I also have enjoyed Gangi's other new release, "Souls of the Fire."
This book operationalizes the profound teachings of the Enneagram so that coaches and other growth-oriented professionals can use specific processes,tools and strategies to empower and support the transformation of their clients.
