This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Exit the Labyrinth: A Memoir of Early Childhood Depression Its Onset and Aftermath by Stephanie Kay Bendel is a tantalizing memoir that brilliantly documents one of the common ills of contemporary man and woman: depression. Growing up as a child, Margo Witz had been plagued by depression. She suffers from recurrent nightmares and can’t understand why she alone could hear a wooden door slam and why nobody else does. She also can’t understand why she was terrified of the walls in her home as a child. She’s grown up depressed and desperately yearning to be healed, but no amount of therapy can unearth the underlying trauma that is behind her condition. But then an event in her family could bring her to confront a past that has been buried in her subconscious for years. Her father needs emergency heart surgery and Margo returns to the one place she’s always dreaded: her home.
It is rare to find a memoir so well written that it reads like fiction, but Exit the Labyrinth is one such rare book. It is well crafted and I loved the psychological insights and depth of the story. It is hard for any reader not to sympathize with Margo as they watch her struggle with her emotions. Through each page, the reader hopes that she can uncover the childhood trauma that has left her emotionally crippled, unable to connect fully with her deepest emotions. This memoir features family drama, psychological hurts, a woman’s search for wholeness, and buried family secrets. Stephanie Kay Bendel writes excellently and her prose pulls readers in with its music and rhythm. Here is a story that is as entertaining as it is informative, one of those stories that brilliantly show how our past can arrest our present and deprive us of real inner freedom.
