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Title: The Obsidian Mirror: An Adult Healing from Incest by Louise M. Wisechild ISBN: 1-878067-39-7 Publisher: Seal Press Pub. Date: November, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent
Comment: Beautifully written, and still remembered- even after all these years.

Wisechild's skill as a writer shines though her crisp words and evocative imagery as she writes with resilience of her journey through remembering child sexual abuse. Recommended.

Rating: 4
Summary: Seeing yourself in the Obsidian Mirror
Comment: The Obsidian Mirror by Louise Wisechild is a memoir of healing from sexual abuse. Louise was abused as a young child by her grandfather (while living in his home), then as a preadolescent she was abused by an uncle, and as a teenager she was raped by her stepfather. Louise includes many details of her abuse, some of which happened to be similar to abuse that I experienced. At the time that Louise began to remember the incest, her grandfather and uncle were no longer living. However she did still have contact with her stepfather, and she writes about the entire process of confrontation. She even includes the letter that she wrote (and read) to him. Witnessing this process helped give me the strength to imagine confronting the man who was a stepfather to me, in my childhood.

Louise Wisechild's book was helpful to me because I was also abused by multiple offenders. I was able to see that some of the things that happened to me have also happened to other people (though I wish it didn't happen to anyone). At a time when I felt very alone this book was a familiar voice.

In reading her book I was also introduced to bodywork as a helpful therapy to heal from the residual body effects of sexual abuse. Louise provides helpful information about this because she is a massage therapist, who works with incest survivors.

Louise speaks with conviction, clarity and courage. The analogies that she uses (the obsidian mirror and the well) are very descriptive of the experience of an adult healing from incest.

Louise never talks directly about Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), but her book is written about the experience of her different selves remembering the abuse, how each part of herself copes with the memory, and the interactions between the different parts of herself. Through her book she normalizes MPD/DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), which is often very misunderstood. Probably most people who were abused in childhood experience some degree of splitting and dissociation. I do not have MPD (but I know people who do), so it was helpful for me to read about the experience of having MPD. A really good book on Dissociation is "The Stranger in the Mirror". That book helped me to understand that my dissociation is a normal aspect of what happened to me. It gave me hope that I can overcome dissociation. Another good book for dealing with dissociation is "Getting Through the Day: Strategies for Adults Hurt as Children". I also highly recommend "The Laid Daughter" by Helen Bonner, which is a very well written memoir of incest that deals with MPD as a central part of her experience.

Rating: 5
Summary: A powerful and positive journey of healing from incest
Comment: Louise Wisechild's frank account of her incest memories and journey towards recovery is essential reading for anyone recovering from child sexual abuse. She uses her skill as a writer to paint the full picture of her horrifying experiences as a young child, conveying the sense of powerlessness and hopeless that sexual abuse causes.

The therapy sessions are described in detail, it's like sitting in on the session and seeing her process happening as she sifts through memories and makes connections with the way her adult attitudes and beliefs were shaped by the abuse. The reader gains vicarious healing by being drawn along in Louise Wisechild's journey to find her answers from within herself.

The book's message about having the courage to face the memories, and hopefulness about reshaping one's life in spite of the past trauma, is a powerful and healing message that all adult survivors of abuse will benefit from hearing.