After long struggles, some experience new kinds of liberation. I chose to read you the story of Laura, one of the few middle class women in the book, because of the image of grass growing through concrete. This is something I have noticed and reflected on many times. This is an illustration of the power of life and love. Life force wins in the end.
Health can break through oppression.
Liberation after years in the wilderness. In between these stories, Gretchen tells her own painful story. A child of two alcoholics, witness to and victim of rage and abuse, she goes through years of eating disorders and addiction until finally, during a crisis, she has a small awakening. A long period in the confusing wilderness of self-hatred begins to change and heal. A turning point comes when an unknown doctor holds her hand tenderly for a long time in silence and elicits her promise that she cannot go on like this.