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elizabethwb's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.0
An emotional memoir of Davis and her mother highlighting their struggle with reconciliation. I found it to be very good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Incest, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, and Child death
Minor: Alcohol and Drug use
lunarakay's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. I quickly ran out of superlatives for The Burning Light of Two Stars because so many of the scenes grabbed me. From the first page, I was fully engaged in Laura’s world and didn’t want to put the book down. It was as if she was speaking my story, her mother a mirror of my own. I am certain this wise exploration of personality challenges set against the backdrop of deep mother-daughter love will resonate broadly. As I pored over its pages, I didn’t want this beautiful, compelling story to end. And for me, it hasn’t: Laura’s memoir and all of her characters have stayed with me to this day.
adriennedrakemd's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Laura Davis has written a brilliant memoir. The Burning Light of Two Stars is destined to become as much a classic as The Courage to Heal, her groundbreaking book on healing from sexual abuse. The Burning Light of Two Stars, written more than thirty years later, explores Laura’s attempts to reconcile with her mother, who continued to deny that Laura had been sexually abused. Here, a mature writer looks back on the most primal and pivotal relationship in her life. Laura handles the complex emotions and interactions of mother and daughter with deep insight, clarity and compassion. Her storytelling is compelling, poignant and heartfelt. At times gut-wrenching, at other times hilarious, The Burning Light of Two Stars is a ‘must read.’
judithrandall's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. I couldn't put The Burning Light of Two Stars down. I couldn’t stop turning the pages – stayed up too late reading! The times I had to put the book down, I found myself remembering the characters, the stories, and I couldn't wait to pick it up again. There was a sense of intrigue in the story – I wondered, “How will it turn out? What will happen to these characters? What will happen in the relationship?” Yesterday I read for four hours straight and finished it. I didn't want it to end, yet at the same time, I shared Laura’s peace as it did.
What made this book so compelling? Laura didn’t just tell me about her experiences. She took me with her. I was right there in the room as it all unfolded. Laura’s writing is so REAL. So SPECIFIC. So HONEST. She shares it all: her vulnerability, her self-awareness, her passion for finding healing and love (the real thing), her deep pain, breakthroughs, her stuck and ugly places, her learning, insights, suffering, self-awareness, and transformations. She writes with transparency and doesn’t hold back. Because her story is so intimate, she helped me touch places inside of me that are vulnerable, stuck, and ugly, places of breakthrough and transformation. She awakened my own yearnings to find healing and reconciliation.
The Burning Light of Two Stars is an important book because it offers hope and promise to those who have terrifically difficult parental relationships: that reconciliation is possible, love is possible, believe it or not. Here's proof. Here's a picture of love that may not look like you think it should, because it learns to include everything. And it takes a hell-of-a-lot of hard work.
I appreciated being invited by Laura on this reflective journey, appreciated her sharing so intimately her multiple, multiple attempts to find healing with her mother, her failures and, at times, desire to give up. But she never did. I admired Laura’s perseverance and tenacity in the face of the challenges in her life.
Laura’s passion to find healing isn't just personal. She takes her experience care-giving a parent with dementia and shares it as a way to help others so maybe they don’t have to suffer so much. That is bodhisattva work. I feel deeply inspired by it. I’d definitely recommend this book to many friends who love to read and care deeply about human relationships.
druther1's review
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my frank review. This beautiful, searing book demonstrates how the past lives within us and changes with us as our lives unfold. Laura Davis takes us through the final years of her mother’s life, showing how she arrived a new understanding of their difficult history by caring for her mother as her mind and memory failed. The story of these two remarkable women shows what it takes to learn new ways of seeing and being with one another. It’s honest and captivating. I couldn’t put it down.
betsybmurphy's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I have no doubt that Laura Davis’ memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars, will be as important as her first book, The Courage to Heal, was when it was first released in 1988. Once again, Laura has written a book about things people don’t usually talk about—silence around family and secrets. With The Burning Light of Two Stars, she offers readers a special gift. It’s almost as if your own family heals as you read about Laura’s determined quest to make peace with her mother. (I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my review. )
terrysue's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. I’d definitely recommend The Burning Light of Two Stars. It’s beautifully written and I was immersed in Laura’s story right away. I felt very connected to her throughout. I found her to be an honest, likeable, relatable, and admirable narrator. And I’m even more in awe of her portrayal of her mother.
The Burning Light of Two Stars traces decades of a challenging mother-daughter relationship, and Laura’s portrayal of Temme, her mother, is multi-dimensional. Temme comes across as dynamic and charismatic at times, completely ill-attuned at others, limited in her emotional intelligence and courage to face difficulty, yet also deeply loving. Laura never vilifies her, even though Laura’s anger and contempt kept the two apart for so long. I loved the way Laura showed the broad range of reactions she had toward her mother—specifically how powerfully she craved her love and approval and admired her on one hand, while finding her completely intolerable on the other. What ultimately made the book so interesting was the love and reconciliation and forgiveness that came at the end—and how painful the journey was to get there.
Laura Davis has written a compelling book with many deep important themes, many of which resonated with me. I was always eager to return to the book to read more. The Burning Light of Two Stars was an easy story to relate to—definitely a winner!
dlomountains's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
The Burning Light of Two Stars provides the reader with a deeply insightful look into the dynamics of family relationships fraught with tension and unresolved conflict; in this case a mother and daughter bound together by their losses and their deep desire for acceptance from one another. Setting this story against the backdrop of incest and divorce increases the poignancy and burden of rebuilding trust between these two strong women. Woven throughout Laura Davis’ powerful story of reconciliation is the inexorable decline of her mother’s dementia, trapping both women in roles they never had anticipated or desired. When you sit down to enjoy this story, don’t be surprised if your task list falls away and you find yourself deeply engrossed, reading hungrily until the very last page.
The Burning Light of Two Stars provides the reader with a deeply insightful look into the dynamics of family relationships fraught with tension and unresolved conflict; in this case a mother and daughter bound together by their losses and their deep desire for acceptance from one another. Setting this story against the backdrop of incest and divorce increases the poignancy and burden of rebuilding trust between these two strong women. Woven throughout Laura Davis’ powerful story of reconciliation is the inexorable decline of her mother’s dementia, trapping both women in roles they never had anticipated or desired. When you sit down to enjoy this story, don’t be surprised if your task list falls away and you find yourself deeply engrossed, reading hungrily until the very last page.
nguinther's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
Laura Davis crafts a raw, powerful story of her difficult relationship with her mother, from Laura’s birth to her mother’s passing, moving the reader easily and deftly through time like a magician. Her vivid storytelling is so credible and real that after reading The Burning Light of Two Stars, I feel I know her well, and the details she provides only magnify her honesty. In her public life, Laura is a teacher and hero to many who have suffered from sexual abuse. Yet she also has a private voice which is often at odds with her public persona. Like most of us, Laura is a living contradiction, and in this brave memoir, she doesn’t hold back. We see her through her raging moments and in her softer ones. Fearlessly, she exposes her very private thoughts alongside her public ones. It’s that internal voice that she’s not afraid to use, the one most of us keep hidden, that gives The Burning Light of Two Stars its potency and staying power.
Laura Davis crafts a raw, powerful story of her difficult relationship with her mother, from Laura’s birth to her mother’s passing, moving the reader easily and deftly through time like a magician. Her vivid storytelling is so credible and real that after reading The Burning Light of Two Stars, I feel I know her well, and the details she provides only magnify her honesty. In her public life, Laura is a teacher and hero to many who have suffered from sexual abuse. Yet she also has a private voice which is often at odds with her public persona. Like most of us, Laura is a living contradiction, and in this brave memoir, she doesn’t hold back. We see her through her raging moments and in her softer ones. Fearlessly, she exposes her very private thoughts alongside her public ones. It’s that internal voice that she’s not afraid to use, the one most of us keep hidden, that gives The Burning Light of Two Stars its potency and staying power.