THE GODS OF CLOWN ALLEY

In this memoir, a woman seeks to understand the divinity that lies within the human heart.

“Why do we have to forget who we are? Why can’t we remember we are all gods and goddesses on a divine mission of love in this journey toward enlightenment?” These are two of the many metaphysical questions O’Grady explores in her book. Throughout this work, the author, a professional singer, recollects her past; explores her close bond with her Irish immigrant mother, Mary, a “private home caregiver” for older people; and begins to realize that “it sometimes takes a soul a lifetime to know itself, and to know, love and forgive other souls on our shared journey.” O’Grady weaves her story between recollections of her mother’s various charges, her own coming-of-age experiences as an exchange student in Budapest, and a mother-daughter vacation at a spiritual retreat in Sedona, Arizona, “a place known to heal wounded hearts.” (She reveals that she had been doing “some soul searching recently due to a depression brought on by heartache.”) Throughout her odyssey, O’Grady learned that the power to heal from past pains lay within: “We all have the power…to co-create with the Universe by spreading the vibration of love.” The author tells her story with humor and whimsy. A great fan of the Star Wars franchise, she often connects her observations to that SF universe—Sedona’s desert landscape caused her to imagine “the nomadic Sand People from Tatooine emerging with their weapons.” And one of the women her mother cared for had a laugh that reminded her of Jabba the Hutt. At times, some of her recollections of her mother’s employers feel intrusive and unnecessary. She recounts one dementia patient’s attempt to squeeze a caregiver’s “breast like a grapefruit.” But overall, the memoir delivers a captivating and candid look at how humans can learn to “become artisans, transforming pain into love.”

An engaging, honest, and eccentric account of a spiritual journey.