All the Silent Spaces by Christine Ristaino is a memoir focusing on a traumatic event and her attempts to cope, to heal, to understand, and to try to make the world better.

The parts of the book I found most impactful were the ones that caused the most discomfort. That is usually the case, honest expressions about topics we rarely truly discuss (though we talk about constantly) create discomfort. The key is to not avoid the feeling but to understand what about it actually makes you uncomfortable. Racism and other bigotry are usually talked about either in broad sweeping generalities or micro-focused dissections. And usually not with people who might offer different perspectives than what we have.

How does one understand when something traumatic happens? We can often find some kind of intellectual understanding but that doesn't answer or satisfy the "why me" aspect. Add in a number of unknown factors and we end up spinning our wheels and coming up with multiple contradictory explanations. Time does help, but it doesn't necessarily heal.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in what personal trauma looks like from the inside. Not sensationalized, and with an eye toward understanding. Understanding the event, those around us, society as a whole, and ourselves in particular. If you have ever suffered a violent isolated attack you will recognize a lot of the actions and explanations. If not, you will definitely empathize and gain some insight into how we all come to have the beliefs and ideals we do.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss. ( )