A Life in Light

Meditations on Impermanence

By: Mary Pipher

Narrated by: Jessica Garcie

Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A USA Today Must Read New Book

From the bestselling author of Women Rowing North and Reviving Ophelia—a memoir in essays reflecting on radiance, resilience, and the constantly changing nature of reality.

In her luminous new memoir in essays, Mary Pipher—as she did in her New York Times bestseller Women Rowing North—taps into a cultural moment, to offer wisdom, hope, and insight into loss and change. Drawing from her own experiences and expertise as a psychologist specializing in women, trauma, and the effect of our culture on our mental health, she looks inward in A Life in Light to what shaped her as a woman, one who has experienced darkness throughout her life but was always drawn to the light.

Her plainspoken depictions of her hard childhood and life’s difficulties are dappled with moments of joy and revelation, tragedies and ordinary miseries, glimmers and shadow. As a child, she was separated from her parents for long periods. Those separations affected her deeply, but in A Life in Light she explores what she’s learned about how to balance despair with joy, utilizing and sharing with readers every coping skill she has honed during her lifetime to remind us that there is a silver thread of resilience that flows through all of life, and that despite our despair, the light will return.

In this book, she points us toward that light.

©2022 Mary Pipher (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Radiant essays about how joy and loss often coexist.... To nudge readers toward building their own ‘transcendent narratives,’ Pipher braids in insights from her 25 years as a therapist, citing how acknowledging ‘evidence of growth’ in one’s story, regardless of how big or small, can open up pathways toward healing. Those struggling to overcome darkness will find a guiding light in this incandescent work." (Publishers Weekly)

"A writer discovers herself in a new light...[Pipher] reflects on aging, loneliness, and happiness in a serene, gently told memoir.... Sensitive meditations from a ‘solar-powered’ writer." (Kirkus)

Very Inspiring

Somehow MP reminds me of Nabokov, the way she paints pictures in words: I am grateful to hear this and read this at this time in my life. I am Light and I am Water. <3

Disappointed

I am a Pipher fan. I have shared (over the years) uncountable copies of Another Country as well as others.
However,
this work was so saturated with adjectives that I thought myself at first drowning in them. Eventually, I was just really irritated by them.

It may have been reader but what i wassumed was a deep life (the books Pipher read alone reveals that!), came across as superficial and, dare i say, dull. This my opinion only; however, I repeat a disappointing read.

(FYI: I am a 79 year old woman. Pipher and I have lived in and through the same times.)

Mary feels like a kindred spirit

I have read many of Mary Pipher’s books starting with The Shelter of Each Other. I thoroughly appreciated this look back at a life well lived as my own age has me doing this myself. It is nice to read about someone who has made peace with the rough spots in her life. Thank you for this glimpse into this letting go time in your life. I hope it will help me do so too.

Read this book - Do Not Listen to it

I am an almost exclusively listener to books - more than 100 a year. A Life in Light is a beautiful memoir (I think) and one with a powerful, important and inspiring message. I have ordered a hard copy because I want to read it, and I could not continue to listen to the narration. It seemed that the narrator had not read the book ahead of time - placing emphasis on the wrong words or parts of a sentence, mispronouncing words and generally turning well written, complex sentences into trivial, adolescent drivel. The book is well worth reading so do not ruin it by listening to it.

Poorly Read

I found the story of Mary Pipher's life moving, but it was greatly diminished by a disjointed performance. The first person story of a woman now in her later years being read by a much younger person was very distracting. The reader paused in the wrong places and mispronounced so many words that I started looking them up, thinking that maybe I had been mispronouncing them all my life. By the end I was just tired of it.

Mary Pipher and Nebraska

Like her other books I’ve read, I loved this book, especially learning about her personal life. Her theme of light in her life was beautiful. Being a native Nabraskan, I quickly realized the narrator was obviously not from here, as she mispronounced several places, plants and foods from the State.

Alice in Light

A great read and life thoughts for this gal in my early 70’s, she is a gem!

Narrator is a poor fit

I purchased this book after hearing an interview with Mary Pipher on NPR and feeling so drawn to her story. Mary's voice is warm, kind, and reflects her age, which is in her 70's. Everything about her voice felt like a balm.
When I saw her audiobook was narrated by someone else, I was disappointed, but tried it anyway. I'm 10 chapters in and I can't listen anymore. The narrator has a voice like the mice in Cinderella. Saccharin and overworked, it sounds like someone reading to small children.
I will buy the hard copy because the content is truly lovely.

I wanted to like this book, but it was a slog

Very disappointed in the reader which made the authors experienced and age wisened life seem childlike and trivial. The reader was too young for the task, mispronounced many words, and detracted from the gist of the narrative. There were a few compelling chapters but they were buried in unnecessary and trivial details of others. I loved Reviving Ophelia and Women Rowing North from the same author so this was a let down.

Not uplifting

Can’t finish this- mired in dreary childhood episodes that the author romanticizes or reframes. Feels ‘squishy’ just having to listen to someone else’s pain even if they can look back over everything with sentimentality and compassion.