'TIL HEALTH DO US PART

In this well-crafted memoir, debut
author Rooney chronicles her journey toward holistic wellness as she healed
from a host of debilitating diseases and years of “emotional malnutrition.”

At age 49, Rooney “was being
treated for a laundry list of auto-immune diseases,” and her family was falling
apart. As she paints this bleak picture, she introduces readers to her past
through flashbacks—physical and sexual abuse as a child, her joyful marriage
disintegrating as her husband’s career progressed, and dozens of doctors piling
on diagnoses and medications. In 2010, Rooney’s life took a life-altering turn
when she moved to Hawaii and met Xavier, a shrewd, composed Eastern healer who
guided her toward health. With his help, she separated herself from the “toxic
environment” of her family, established a healthy diet, and learned to nurture
herself. But the biggest hurdle was weaning herself from the heavy medications
she had become dependent on for years (prescribed “by licensed drug dealers,”
as Xavier puts it). As she made monumental strides to improve physically, she
also engaged in the grueling emotional work of overcoming the “pattern of
self-destruction rooted in an inability to love [herself].” Rooney’s writing
style is genuine and engaging; short chapters keep the pace lively. She casts
herself as a skeptic of Xavier’s suggestions and highly stubborn in
implementing them, which adds some levity: “Do I really have to love myself
unconditionally to get well?” she asks. “Can’t we just double up on the
acupuncture and…sing a rousing rendition of Kumbaya?” It also makes her a
particularly effective advocate of alternative medicine for critics who hold
the same views she once held. Lastly, she captures Xavier’s advice in memorable
stories and phrases, like his observation that in healing, “there’s a
point…where you stop swimming away from something and begin to swim toward
something.”