In the Envelope of Memory

There is a river of metaphor running in the unconscious mind of each of us that holds all the insight into our life's meaning we will ever need. This collection of slightly fictionalized vignettes, these clippings stored in the envelope of Ilana Haley's memory, is this river flowing within Ilana. And it is the significance of this that lends this book so much energy, so much punch when we read through these pages of her life.

Each character in this book actually existed, in some form or other, and yet they are all ushered into Ilana's thoughts for the purpose of her seeing things about herself. And we can feel the immediacy, the relevance of this unconsciously driven process when pouring over the pages of this book. It distinctly feels like overhearing some very personal conversation; it is at once thought provoking and almost too personal.

Almost, but quite, because we do not turn away, do we? We actually get more comfortable and settle in for the whole conversation. And we do because there is something in the personal elements of this overheard life that we feel has some undefined but none-the-less important meaning for our own life.

And all of this significance comes in the packaging of a well told story, a very well told story. I think Ilana's story came out so strongly, not just because she is a good writer, but because it is her honest look at her own life. She clearly needs to know what her life was all about. This kind of self reflection will always take us prisoner. We are, all of us, enthralled by such reflection.

Reflection without brutal self-honesty is like ice-cream without the ice. It misses the whole point of the exercise. Ilana has a deep sense of this reality and puts it to good use in this book. And it is this nakedness, together with her sincere and generous kindness, that makes every person and every event, and every human interaction in this story so amazingly relevant to the readers of this work truthful fiction.