Rusty Walker is an amazingly gifted painter and my Facebook friend. I'm so touched that he had himself photographed while reading Save Send Delete. On the stool in front of him, you can see the books he had to put on hold while reading SSD.
Here's Rusty's review of "Save Send Delete"
Dr. Danusha V. Goska is a deeply insightful, extremely
intelligent writer. Dr. Goska, through her upbringing, life-experiences, and
travels is a proven survivor. She can be as complex, wild and adventurous as
the folklore in which she earned a doctorate.
There is in Dr. Goska a no-BS-allowed interior and a
gritty exterior (her travels include sleeping on ice cold gravel), and yet
Danusha remains feminine and appreciative of real men in her life. Her debating
Atheist, Rand, appears at times to fit this alpha male, and provides so
formidable a challenge that he elevates her writing to a higher plane. She
keeps her word in not disclosing who this real celebrity is, and we do not see
or miss his responses. Her clever writing allows us complete understanding of
what he wrote.
Books that change our life are often those books that
move us by showing us a way to confront that which we most fear- dread of
impending doom, death, danger, and devastating loss. This is the stuff of
philosophers and pastors. Danusha, as "Mira," has given us a way of
thinking about the unthinkable. This book is not simply written for the
religious or non-religious. "Save, Send, Delete" is an exquisitely
written treatise on confronting real life, by living it- through questions of
faith and illuminating stories.
This is a book for anyone who dares to look inside
themselves and confront their own darkest thoughts, motives, morality and
questions during our deepest despair and still find that "rock" on
which to survive. Danusha, as "Mira" communicates through e-mails to
a world-renowned Scientist/Atheist who makes a living not just debating the
existence of God, but, "skewing people of faith."
That "Mira" has to navigate through thugs and
perverts just to walk to her college where she teaches as an adjunct, we might
find alarming, until we are acquainted with her Peace Corps work, having
hitch-hiked and scaled mountain terrain from Africa to Nepal, and beyond.
Through her uncanny storytelling abilities of real events
and scenic descriptions that place you there, we follow her world adventures
from the blue stained glass windows of Chartres to the upper reaches of the world
of Nepal; Should I mention the Monk that tried to rape her? She "basically
beat him up!"
Here is Mira, teaching around untouchables, tribal
children playing near plateaus, with mile deep drop-offs on three sides; the
lush jungle, the torrential downpours and rush of river waterfalls, to
baby-killing jackals; suddenly we are catapulted into the contrast of gloomy
faces of the privileged fortunate of the city. Why? Her too-young-to-die
brother had in fact died, bringing her back to civilization, and reconciling
the absurdity of the two worlds, as would a young Camus. Then back in Nepal, a
barefoot, environmentally endangered child smiles and gives her a marble, later
to emerge as synchronistic affirmation.
The ever-present Atheist Rand we find reading at a moment
of despair, passages from Jung, confronts what should be a game-changer through
a synchronistic, outer-worldly occurrence that appears with the arrival of a
precision coincidence: a 'Mira" e-mail that simply cannot be explained
away by his dialectical materialism rhetoric. Even the scientist, Rand with his
mathematical answers grapples with Mira's claims that even the greats in
science arrive at conclusions when at the limit of calculation, are forced to
rely on creativity: leaps of faith.
There is a chemistry that builds between the Atheist "Rand"
and the college teacher, Catholic "Mira." The heat rises and so does
the language. This is not an unexperienced women in life or love, lust, nor in
handling the licentious Rand, who has a propensity to abruptly change the
subject to sex if losing the argument. She can handle it, in Africa with the
Peace Corps parasites come with the territory.
"Mira," is first and foremost, a world-class
writer and thinker. To me, she has the mind of the Catholic intellectuals: the
Jesuits. A purist, a Catholic, so powerful in her faith that can admit, "I'm
not sure if I love God." Would the narrative, "Jesus come down here
and I will crucify you again," make sense if you existed as she did for
six (6) years, with so dreaded an unknown illness that you were rendered
immobilized, as she was, in a fetal position, blinded, crippled and vomiting
for days, weeks, sometimes months without warning, or available treatment?
Should I mention that during this time she was attempting
to complete her doctoral studies!? Having been turned down by Social Security
Disability to social services agencies, Governors to Senators, and outreach to
rich celebrities from Oprah to Chopra, finally losing all her friends,
nonetheless we find, her faith not shaken- it made her "kinder." How
was she was healed? You will need to read the book to find out.
One of her answers to Rand, included that devastating
time of illness, when, voices took "Mira" to a bookstore, where she
blurred her eyes so as to open randomly to passages from an unfamiliar Bible;
Psalms appeared that completely related to her condition so that she no longer
felt alone! There is synchronicity in lives, hers appear saintly. It is
possible, as you read her stories, to wonder if the hands on her shoulders were
angels.
Twists and turns will captivate you towards the end.
There is surprise, shock, and disbelief in the ending chapters. As Danusha
accomplished in her other important book, "Bieganski: The Brute Polak
Stereotype, Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture,"
she once again shows us she is the consummate storyteller and thinker, ending "Save,
Send, Delete" with a clear resolve- one that allows you to walk away
uplifted, and say, "Wow, I needed to read this book."
Dr. Edward "Rusty" Walker- Collins College,
Provost, retired.
You can see more of Rusty's artwork at his website, here.
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| Roses, Coffee, and Antique Books by Rusty Walker |
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