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REVIEWING TODAY: PUZZLE PIECES BY C. J. MAC

What lurks on almost every page of C.J. Mac’s indelible tale of mental breakdown and painful, slow recovery, Puzzle Pieces, while remaining somewhat elusive, often invisible, and definitely in hiding from her central character, Ann Caldwell, is the self-destructive notion ingrained in human beings that we are somehow tweaked from normal, and though perhaps not alone, we feel unique enough to warrant keeping our worst facets of abnormality unshared and unrevealed. Each shameful secret becomes the missing piece of a puzzle incomplete and misunderstood. The big picture goes unresolved. A sad irony: there is no normal, except the horrid feeling that we are not. Especially in relationship with one another.

“She wondered if she would ever be able to accept incidental encounters as a ‘gift’ and not some sort of personal test of her resiliency.”

C.J. Mac’s fiction sounds like non-, and her memoir-feeling novel, Puzzle Pieces, reads like one person’s coming to know that while she may be quite unique, she is by no means abnormal. The subtle truth behind such life-supporting understanding derives equally from the “crazies” Ann meets during her involuntary commitment and the professional who treats her after her release, but also from several casually encountered strangers, and one strong, deeply loyal friend. The reader benefits from a continual, intimate acquaintance with Ann’s most personal thoughts, memories, conjectures, and self-directed admonitions. So doing, one hears the familiar echoes of many similar internal dialogues. Rooting for Ann’s success in rising from depression into conscious daily living becomes vital encouragement for oneself. Perhaps without conscious intent, C.J. Mac offers a viable pathway for us all by showing how the puzzle pieces may finally fit together in the end.

Joel R. Dennstedt – Top Reviewer for Readers’ Favorite

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