PARANORMAL PERSPECTIVES

This novelistic memoir explores a woman’s lifelong spiritual quest.

The story of the main character, Susan, begins before she is born. Susan, as a soul (with the name of Soonam), makes the decision to incarnate on Earth. Her arrival occurs in 1947. Even though this is a choice on her part, she often wonders as a child what exactly she’s doing on the planet. By 1969, she’s married and living in Japan. A few years later, she’s divorced and residing in New York City, where she digs into topics such as the unconscious and God energy. These subjects lead her to the eminent psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Jung’s work will play a major role in her life. The narrative follows Susan over the decades as she spends time in different relationships, earns a Ph.D. in psychology, and adopts a daughter named Charlotte. Throughout it all, the author examines concepts such as intuition and astral projection, which she further develops for readers with suggested exercises. For instance, if they want to enlist the help of their unconscious, they can focus on a “spontaneous fantasy” and observe it closely. As Susan navigates both the changing times and “the ego’s willfulness,” she has much to uncover. The excavating isn’t always easy; at one point, she reflects how, at the end of a relationship, she wishes she could receive a refund for the last 10 years. Plunket’s story skillfully illustrates how humans are “complicated beings with a lot going on.” Much of the tale’s appeal comes from seeing how Susan deals with this complexity during her wide-ranging spiritual odyssey. But the ambitious memoir can be dry at times. Assertions such as “Joy is the state of mind which creates the frequency to allow your desires to manifest” tend to be clunky rather than revelatory. Still, Plunket does a fine job of balancing Susan’s practical world and the dreamier aspects of her existence.

An engaging and edifying look at one woman’s Jungian journey.