Alexis Hall and everything you need to know about how to engage with them
What parts of your personality are both fundamentally you and also shameful?
Maybe shameful is too strong or not the right word. But what unique and fundamental aspects of your personality also cause you to dislike yourself? Maybe they cause you to feel like a misfit among ‘normal’ people. Or so few people relate to (or even reject) this part of you that you hardly share it? Maybe it’s a behavior pattern that puts people off a little, but you can’t help it because it’s just who you are and you refuse to deny or repress your core self.
I wonder how Alexis Hall would think of what I’m about to write, but I hope they would know it’s written respectfully and out of admiration, curiosity, and exploration.
In the three books of theirs that I have devoured multiple times (highly recommend you do, too) and written about twice (Never Afterand Something Extraordinary), all of the main characters are both irrepressibly authentic and at least somewhat self-loathing. Every one of them finally comes to accept and love themselves more fully with the help of their respective love interest, often having to be told and shown multiple times, both subtly and forcefully, how valuable they are.
Hall writes so lovingly and relatably about the human condition of self-criticism, how organically it occurs, how insidiously, and how it shows up in all of our relationships, not just romantic ones. I hope every one of us has felt at least partially saved by a supportive other who shows up and loves us for our strengths and gifts before we fully perceive and celebrate them. How lucky if it was a parent or teacher early in life, or a life partner who continually reminds us? But what about those parts that we have yet to reconcile?
I listened to Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion years ago and highly recommend it. She definitely leads by example and walks her talk. I think I’m still integrating the concepts and practices, and life is so much better. “With self-compassion, we give ourselves the same kindness and support we’d give to a good friend,” says the banner on the website landing page. How did society become so perfectionist and hypercritical? Such a downward spiral, the self-criticism that fuels judgment and criticism of others and manifests in harsh words and harmed relationships. [facepalm]
Long before taking up audiobooks or Self-Compassion, I read (or tried to read–never actually finished) The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford. In her attempt to show us the parts of ourselves that we most loathe, I stepped waist deep in my inner psychological shitpile and picked a fight with Hubs that lasted two weeks. I was too afraid to open the book again then, but maybe I will now? Oh, the gift of living longer and learning about oneself…
I will be forever grateful to Book Club for teaching me the value of fiction, and how it opens us more deeply to both empathy and self-awareness. I get so much more out of the non-fiction I consume when I live vicariously through characters’ lives, feel their emotions so closely adjacent to my own.
I so admire and appreciate authors like Alexis Hall, whose prose can so deftly pierce our armor and open our hearts through lyrical expressions of characters’ utterly vulnerable and quintenssentially human fears and longings. Consuming these stories makes me more compassionate in general, to both myself and others. It reminds me that we are all here to love–to seek it, offer it, receive and share it, and thrive on it. And one of the most empowering things we can do for the world–exponentially so–is love ourselves first.
Sharing tonight my review of Something Extraordinaryby Alexis Hall, because once again I sit both enthralled and hung over, re-listening to (reliving!) my favorite passages while marking up the hastily obtained print copy, playing or quoting lines to Daughter because I just cannot help myself, I love it so much.
Posted to Audible: “Wild, hilarious, heartwarming ride of love in all its forms! “Love is love and it SAVES US. Human connection in any context, often despite our most counter-connecting behaviors, is so much more possible than we think! Not with everybody, but with far more folks than we assume, if we only keep our hearts open and vulnerable enough to risk it. That is what this book reminds me. I cannot count the number of times I went from brow-furrowingly sad empathy to laughing out loud to clipping a passage for further philosophical consideration, all in the space of a few minutes. Have already quoted, described, and recommended this story to anyone who crossed my path this week. Ell Potter and Steve West perform all of the characters with distinction and grace, and their voices for the supporting characters even match, making the listening experience that much more delightful. I forwent sleep and life tasks for this audiobook, for the integrated marvel of this story brought forth by the author and voice actors. God bless ‘em.”
This is the third book of Hall’s Something Fabulous series. I listened to a long preview of Book One, Something Fabulous, which I did not go on to finish, and I only read the overview of Book Two,Something Spectacular. I think they are not meant to be standalone novels, but I did not feel lost in the least picking up the series at the end. The main characters’ personalities and relationship are clearly established in advance, yet develop and deepen meaningfully throughout this story.
As in Never After, Hall explores sexuality and the social norms that constrain it with depth, compassion, and stark honesty about our capacity for both generous, loving acceptance and rigid, shaming rejection of our fellow humans. The characters’ clever banter, as well as their touching dialogues, both inner and exchanged, bring reader/listener to a much deeper level of empathy and tender, gentle human awareness than most romances I come across. The writing is both subtle and blatant in turn, and lyrical as ever (see below for some choice exerpts).
Human relationships are messy and complex in any context. Holding, honoring, and then navigating the consequences of natural yet unconventional preferences and desires in the face of punishing social pressures is something many of us may not live first hand. Hall’s books generously, humorously, and lovingly provide us with a window into that experience, inviting us all to open our minds and hearts to our shared humanity no matter who we are and how we identify. The story reads deliciously long and languid, topsy turvy, hilarious and tearful, and leaves us wishing all our fellow humans to find love that provides safety, uplift, and peace. Witty, sparkling dialogue and an utterly whimsical plot hooked and enchanted me throughout. But the deeply humane, gentle yet assertive explorations of love, faith, world view, and reconciliation will keep me reflecting and seeking conversation with friends for weeks to come.
Please find my favorite quotes below, and beware the possiblitity of spoilers. I will enjoy these sections for a while yet, and dive deeper yet into Alexis Hall’s other worlds. I bet you’ll see more of their work shared here shortly. Wishing all a lovely week ahead!
Audible review: 5 stars overall and for performance and story
“…He had wanted from her what he always wanted… what he had spent so many years hopelessly seeking in the bodies of strangers. “Once upon a time, he would have called it love and asked no questions. But the word seemed bigger and smaller than he remembered–differently shaped and less perfectly fitting. No wonder, then, he thought ruefully, that he had been unable to find what he was looking for, if he hadn’t understood what it was. Perhaps that was why he’d always clung to those who did not want him–willing to do almost anything to ensure they didn’t become someone else who wouldn’t stay–when he should have paid more attention to those he’d let go.”
“There was something strange happening to Rufus’s heart. He normally conceived it as hard and gnarled, like a peach pit. Now it was as soft as the peach itself. ‘I… I’m flattered, Bellflower. I do not think anyone has ever felt jealous over me in my entire life.'”
[Belle] “…’If it is not acceptable for ladies to be coerced into sexual encounters, then it should not be acceptable for gentelmen, either.’ [Sir Horley/Rufus] “‘I don’t mind.’ “‘Don’t overwhelm me with your ardour or anything,’ muttered the highwaryman. “Rufus glanced at him. ‘I’m sorry. Take me now, you scurrilous devil. Is that better?’ “‘A bit. But could you put more feeling into it?’
“… Strange how quickly you could grow accustomed to things. Even relatively inconsequential ones like sharing space. One would have thought, after long days in a carriage with Belle, he would want distance, not increased closeness. But she had awoken some brutal, terrifying hunger in him, and now he missed the certainty of her body tucked behind him…He missed being held… The cold feet she would plunge mercilessly between his knees as though she had the absolute right to his body heat. “Since Belle had been shot, he had been clinging to anger like driftwood… until all that remained was fear. “Particularly useless fear, even by the standards of that specific emotion, because it couldn’t change anything. It could only strike out of nowhere like a snake and fill him full of poison, for he could so easily have lost Belle today… Now, though, it just made him feel a kind of pre-emptive grief. For the possibility of a life he could still not truly picture, and would never have chosen, but which nevertheless gleamed richly with the promise of unimagined, undared contentment.”
[Discussing Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, a real novel from 1749] [Belle] “‘Why was it banned, then?’ [Gil, the highwayman] “‘For the same reason most things are: fear and ignorance. In this case, I suspect it has something to do with the fact the book takes as axiomatic that women can be creatures of pleasure just as men can.’ [Belle] “‘And yet,’ she asked, ‘it is not worth reading?’ [Gil] “‘You may if you wish. It’s not really my place to decide for you. Though try not to, you know, fold the pages back or spill beans over it. Very few copies of this book are still in circulation.’ “‘Surely it will be unbanned sometime soon?’ “‘Surely,’ echoed Gil, though he did not sound very convinced on the matter. “‘Well, the idea of a woman liking sex can’t remain so very shocking, can it? I expect we can figure that out in, say, less than a hundred and fifty years.’ “‘Oh please,’ Rufus swiped his had disdainfully through the air, as though dismissing the decades to come. ‘A hundred and fifty years to concede women are people? Give us two hundred and ten, and we will probably still be banning books and hating each other.’ [Gil] “‘I fear his cynicism is not wholly without merit. But… I shall nevertheless join you in hoping for better from posterity.'”
