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Book Review One
Book
Review Two
Author
Interview
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God Rides a Yamaha
Musings on Pain, Poetry and Pop Culture
Kathy Shaidle
142 pages
Northstone Publishing, 1998
Retail Price: $9.95
See Amazon's discounted price
 Kathy Shaidle has been publishing poetry, fiction, essays and reviews since 1984. Her work has appeared in Seventeen, The London Free Press, America, and in a variety of anthologies. Her columns for Catholic New Times won four Canadian Church Press awards, including Best National Columnist.This collection of articles are about her life and the incurable autoimmune disease known as lupus.
Book Review One
This review was written by both Sr. Gretchen Hailer and her niece, Nancy Brown.
Sr. Gretchen Hailer:
When this small column arrived for review awhile back, I glanced at it and thought, "That's a catchy title; wonder what its about." But as busy life have it, I set it aside. Recently, however, I rediscovered the book hiding beneath the many "layers" of my desk. As I flipped though its pages, I was fascinated to see that the author had addressed a number of issues alluded to in her subtitle. In her chapter entitle "Confessions of a Bearded Lady," Shaidle likens her illness to Lent: "Lupus is a lifelong Lent, a chronic opportunity for self-examination, do-it-yourself X-rays."
After that great description, I wanted to enlist the services of a second reviewer, as I though she could give more experienced reading to the book than I. One of my nieces, Nancy, had just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which, like lupus, is a chronic disease with similar symptoms and subtleties.
Nancy Brown:
When my aunt gave me God Rides a Yamaha, I was in search of a genuine voice to describe my feelings about having a chronic, disabling disease. The sterile, austere books I had read about MS were in sharp contrast with Shaidle's refreshing outlook and entirely brilliant book.
The author's unconventional attitude lends a bittersweet humor to her fresh and poetic eye. Shaidle says of her diagnosis, "I was a poet. On disability. I basically did nothing. Twice!" When this empty life threatened to ruin her, she took up contemplative prayer, which allows her to feel as though she is contributing "some mysterious something to the world."
Personally, this book has given me tremendous relief and consolation, as Shaidle articulates with wisdom and wit many of the feelings and experiences that have entered my life with MS.
Sr. Gretchen Hailer, RSHM, is a consultant for adult faith
formation and pastoral communications and is on the Editorial Board of Tidings. Her niece, Nancy Brown, is an artist and attorney who works for the California State Bar.
Book Review Two
A healthy cynicism toward modern theological vocabulary and theories while maintaining an openness to a variety of faith and healing practices makes God Rides a Yamaha a refreshing and enjoyable group of essays. Shaidle’s frankness and down to earth writing style invite the reader into her innermost thoughts regarding the challenges and emotions that she faces as a writer, a person of faith, and a woman fighting the degenerative effects of lupus.
Shaidle’s “musings on pain, poetry, and pop culture” are hilarious, intuitive, and honest. Her tirades against Disney movies had me laughing out loud and vehemently nodding my head in agreement, while her preference for a transcendental over an immanent God caused me to stop and reflect. Shaidle does not squirm when it comes to sharing her opinions - and does so in a way that leaves readers asking for more.
Shaidle is likable because she is a great storyteller. Being forced to face the unknown every day in a very personal way, she writes with an overriding tension between her traditionally held beliefs and the doubts that are caused by her illness. She does not ask for sympathy or attempt to justify her choices. Instead, Shaidle accepts her everyday emotions and experiences and unabashedly shares them with the reader, while also adding personal reflections and demonstrating an extensive knowledge on theological matters.
Sara Ryan, a graduate of Notre Dame in theology and sociology has worked in the areas of human services with the homeless in South Bend, those with HIV/AIDS in Oakland, CA, and impoverished children and families of Guatemala, Central America. Presently she is working at an agency in San Francisco that serves the recently arrived immigrants from Latin countries. Sara loves reading, dancing and writing.
Author Interview
Sara Ryan conducted this interview via email.
When and where did you begin writing? When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I began writing relatively late in life. In my last year at high school, we were all required to write a short story for a nation-wide contest. My story was a runner-up. Years later it occurred to me that probably almost every other student got to be a runner up, that being the nature of those contests. Luckily, I was inspired to study writing in college before I figured that out. I had bee reading since age 3, but that story was my first attempt at writing. I was accepted into the late lamented Media Writing program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. At the end of the two-year program, I'd been published in Seventeen magazine and had been voted the school's most promising writer. All that helps explain my big swollen head.
What do you most want to share with your readers?
I just carry on a conversation with them (in my non-fiction, at least). I like to pass along interesting information, make them think a little, laugh, and cry. I'm not on a big, heavy mission to save the world.
Who has most influenced you as a writer? What books have most influenced your life?
The movies, and even TV, have influenced me as much as books. The pacing, diction, and syntax of British comedy has influenced my prose style. Woody Allen's early films and essays had a huge effect on me in my teens. I love Linda Ellerbee, Flannery O'Connor, Anne Lamott, Margaret Atwood, female mystics from Teresa of Avila to Simone Weil; Anthony Storr's Solitude is one of my touchstones. Other Canadian poets have influenced y poetry of course, especially Lynn Crosbie, Don Coles, Don McKay, and Elizabeth Harbour; I wish they were better known to Americans! I am not a snob and will read anything from Kierkegaard to the Weekly World News.
What advice would you give to budding authors?
Write! This sounds stupid, but most people who say they want to be writers really mean they want to hang out in cafes or bars. You really have to write something. And read, anything and everything, or else you will never be any good at all. I read hundreds of books and articles a year. It is the only way. Finally, buy books and help other writers make a living too! Canadian science fiction author Robert Sawyer has put up Heinlein's Rules for Writers on his website http://www.sfwriter.com. I would recommend checking that out.
How has the internet affected you career as an author?
The web lets me reach more people and keep in touch with fans around the world. I've found excellent places to post my previously published pieces so that they'll live beyond yesterday's paper. The net is a wonderful networking and publicity tool for authors; God Rides a Yamaha is almost two years old, yet I feel it is finally coming into its own, due in large part to the internet.
To what extent does your writing help you to cope with the effects of lupus?
When I was first diagnosed, writing about lupus helped me clarify my thoughts about having this illness, which struck suddenly and unexpectedly. My mind was in a whirl and I needed to organize my thoughts. Catholic New Times asked me to write "a couple of articles" about having lupus, and that turned into a regular column that went on for years. I won a number of Church Press Awards for those pieces, and of course the best were later collected into God Rides a Yamaha. I am in remission now and honestly don's think about having lupus very much. I was diagnosed in 1991 and so the novelty of talking and writing about it has definitely worn off! All this writing, and the positive feedback I received, did help me emotionally, although I am normally against the idea of writing as a form of therapy. To me, writing is first and foremost an art form. I tried to craft my columns in such a way as to make the "literature," not just spleen venting. Perhaps this is why they appealed to many people and have still held up over time.
What message do you hope to convey through your wiring to others who have a debilitating illness?
I've always resisted the notion of becoming a lupus poster girl, so I don't want to get all "TV Movie of the Week" here. I can only say that lupus was not the end of my world. I have a rewarding career, many friends, and understanding partner. Due mostly to quirks in my particular temperament, I simply faced and accepted my diagnosis. I do not "fight" my disease and find books about "battling" this or that illness very unappealing. Having lupus has been an amazing adventure and made me who I am today. I don't expect everyone to understand this sense of gratitude. Having lupus has definitely brought me closer to God, and for that I will always be grateful.
To read more about Kathy Shaidle, go to http://www.kathyshaidle.com.
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