Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

In C.A. Kuhlmey’s Fables of the Deconstruction, Kuhlmey looks back on his spiritual life and the marriage that became inseparable from it. Years spent studying spiritual psychology teach him to listen for messages he calls the “airwaves,” which he believes can carry direction from God into ordinary life. His relationship with fellow student Tabitha, eventually his wife, appears to confirm that belief, yet their separation leaves Kuhlmey questioning what those signs were telling him. Ayahuasca ceremonies intensify the uncertainty as visions of Tabitha keep returning long after their life together has changed. Through linked essays, Kuhlmey revisits the beliefs that once organized his world as his search moves beyond private spirituality toward questions about love and the world around him, asking what remains when the ideas he once trusted begin to change.

C.A. Kuhlmey’s Fables of the Deconstruction is an exceptional compilation of memoir essays, and Kuhlmey’s visionary way of seeing the world gives the book much of its character. Kuhlmey has a gift for taking an everyday moment into spiritual possibility, and that instinct feels wonderfully natural here. At Arches National Park, the landscape opens into an imagined exchange with Coyote, Kuhlmey’s spirit animal, until the rock formations seem to belong to another realm. That approach suits the compilation beautifully, since each essay follows one experience into whatever question it awakens. A dinner at the Capital Grille shows the same instinct when Kuhlmey begins wondering whether the waiter could actually be Jesus after receiving extraordinary kindness during the meal with Emily. There is a real sense that Kuhlmey sees spiritual meaning everywhere, which gives the book its wonderfully unconventional quality. Readers who are into visionary spiritual memoirs should definitely put Fables of the Deconstruction on their reading list. Very highly recommended.