Review: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2014
She left the web, she left the loomShe made three paces thro' the roomShe saw the water-flower bloom,She saw the helmet and the plume,She look'd down to Camelot.Out flew the web and floated wide;The mirror crack'd from side to side;'The curse is come upon me,' criedThe Lady of Shalott.Broken Image, by Rene D. Schultz, made me think of the classic poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.With movies, television, and social media promoting their own versions of beautiful, today's female may feel as if "The curse is come upon me".Like many children of dysfunctional families, Mercedes' mother's comments remain with her long into adulthood, including "Ugly Duckling" and "Dumb-Behind". In spite of her smooth, unblemished skin, Mercedes focuses on her "flaws" as she still hears her mother's voice inside her head. Will Mercedes pull back from the perilous precipice, or plunge into the abyss?Ms. Schultz has written a wonderful, timely book. Broken Image serves a mirror to society, with its unrealistic standards of beauty. Without getting on her soapbox, Ms. Schultz has an important message for us all.