BOOK REVIEW: The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

The Authenticity Project is a clever premise that started with a simple green journal that an elderly gentleman started an entry about a part of his life.  In the journal entry, Julian wrote about his life without his wife, she had been deceased for 15 years.  He found it difficult to be honest with anyone about the impact this great loss had on his life.  As with therapy, when you write about/discuss your troubles they seem to become less troubling.  When stresses are held in, they magnify, thus making life almost impossible to get through their day.  There is a note written at the beginning of the journal explaining the process.  Once each entry has been written and signed, the journal is to be placed in a public place waiting for the next author.

This journal’s purpose was to travel from writer to writer hoping each person who writes will share authentically a life challenge in hopes that this will be a way of healing.  Well, this little Authenticity Project stirred the writers to divulge their innermost struggles.  This Project eventually united the authors within this community that day-in and day-out, passed each other with barely a smile.  Each character grew in empathy and compassion for the other participants, some became a little more involved in the stories of each other.  They wanted each other to live a full life of happiness and purpose.  

I listened to the audio version through Libby and thoroughly enjoyed the voices of the various characters.  Their concern for each other lightened my days.  I pulled for how they were planning, scheming, and organizing the various “accidental” meetings and loved being a part of their intermingled lives.  This group of people grew to truly care about each other.  But can the scheming become intrusive?  Can it disrupt lives instead of the intended purpose of  “happy ever after”?  

Rating: 3.5/5