Acquired Book By: I was approached by iRead Book Tours to host a non-fiction title “Life Outside the Box” and during their query I decided to start hosting regularly with iRead Book Tours and their companion hosting company Italy Book Tours as a direct result of how welcoming they are to book bloggers. I received a complimentary copy of “Life Outside the Box” direct from the publisher Influence Publishing Inc. in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
My curiosity was piqued:
I instantly *loved!* the premise of “Life Outside the Box” as it is a theme I can directly relate too inasmuch as I was keenly interested in reading the book! The main thread of the context that leapt out to me in such a stimulating way is the fact that ordinary people took a route in their lives that led them to achieve the extraordinary — little deviant paths towards choosing the creative avenue over the more traditional passageway has fascinated me for awhile, being a creative myself. Each of us who elects to create something out of nothing is by definition an artist. To find a collection of stories based off the interviews conducted in person by the writer who collected these stories together felt like a wicked good read to me!
It isn’t often you get to dig inside a person’s mind to understand how they went from here to there in their creative endeavours — to understand the mind of a creative economist from the inside out and thus, find threads of commonality as much as inspiration out of their journey! These are the types of real-life stories I love warming up too because they give such a well of insight into our shared and oft-times collaborative journey as we walk with a breath of creative light inside our footpaths!
Life Outside The Box: The Extraordinary Journeys of 10 Unique Individuals
by Marilyn R. Wilson
Source: Publisher via iRead Book Tours
Real Stories about Real People to Entertain, Inspire and Challenge You.
Get inspired to step out of your box and into a world full of potential. From the corporate world, to the arts, to working with the disenfranchised – the message is clear. There is no such thing as a normal way to live your life and no one right solution to any problem. Selected from amongst over 100 interviews, the stories shared here open a window on the journeys of seven women and three men who have charted their own path, including Ruthie Davis – top U.S. luxury shoe designer and the winner of the 2014 AAFA Footwear Designer of the Year award – and Geir Ness whose perfume is a staple in Nordstrom, Disney World and on Disney Cruise Lines. Enjoy a glimpse behind the scenes into the unique ways these individuals chose to deal with life's challenges and how they define success in their careers.
Places to find the book:
Also by this author: Author Interview with Marilyn R. Wilson, (Guest Post) The Wisdom of Listening, The Wisdom of Listening
Series: ,
Published by Influence Publishing Inc.
on 1st February, 2015
Format: Paperback Edition
Pages: 236
Published by: Influence Publishing Inc. (@influencepub)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook
Converse via: #RealPeopleRealLives & #LifeOutsideTheBox
About Marilyn R. Wilson
Marilyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for interviewing. It all began in 2006 when she answered a Craigslist ad from a NY magazine asking for story submissions. Two were accepted. The first live interview was life changing and Wilson has never looked back. With over 150 interviews now behind her, the love of interviewing is still as strong as ever. Whether through a random encounter on the New York subway or via a “one-on-one” interview with an internationally recognized artist, the goal is the same—to share the unique journeys of inspiring individuals.
In 2007, this goal led the author to co-launch a successful, innovative magazine focused on professionals working in the fashion industry, paired with photography and illustrations by local artists. Now on staff at Raine Magazine (NY/Miami/LA), as well as freelancing for other publications, Wilson has taken her passion to a new audience with the release of her first book.
Life Outside the Box doesn’t follow the pace and suit of an epistolary novel nor one that is rooted in an interview styled conversational piece; rather, this collection of snippets of the 10 individuals being showcased is told in re-collective narrative by the interviewee. Interspersed with this pace are quotations spoken by the person being highlighted per section whilst an overview of the conversation is collected and flowing through the voice of Wilson. The only thing that truly surprised me is how much clarity Wilson’s voice is coming through the text rather than the people she’s spotlighting. There is a certain style of tone underscored in this book, and I suppose, in some ways I was hoping their individual personalities and persona’s would become reflected through their sections, but instead, I was greeted by Wilson. On one hand this isn’t a bad way to set the tone for the book, but when your sharing a collection of interviews or stories based on those interviews (as it is more apt to refer to this as a collection of stories), I wonder how the voices of the people became a bit lost?
I think perhaps this is why sometimes I falter when I read non-fiction titles, because I’m constantly seeking out the ‘person’ behind the stories – I want to make a tangible connection to a person I am reading about even if their story is realistically a living component of our world verse the fictional ones who enchant me with their stories writ out of their author’s imaginations. Wilson does a commendable job at rooting out the facts and the line of driven achievement in her subject’s lives, but a bit of what I was missing truly is the setting in which the interviews took place. How was the atmosphere of that moment reflected in how they responded to the questions? It couldn’t have been a fact traded for fact experience, as she stated in her interview with me, that she likes how a conversation organically flows forward out of a few key questions that she begins each interview to get a grounding of insight into whom she’s engaged in a conversation.
Initially when I started reading about the shoe designer, Ruthie Davis, I didn’t think I knew of her until I learnt her full employment history, and reflected back on what I knew of those brands during the decades in which she worked with them. Ironically or not, it was like tracing back through my own memories to re-align the observations I had made about those shoes in a new frame of light because the story I hadn’t known then as I do now, is how those particular brands became household names due to an innovative go-getter named Ruthie Davis. I’ve had my eyes tapped on a variety of industries most of my life, and fashion is right alongside the Film Industry and the Publishing Industry as far as tracking seasonal trends inasmuch as industry shifts in design, production, marketing, and flair. It’s nice get be greeted by a bit of a back-story on someone who did leave an impression on me, even if I didn’t purchase the shoes she was branding. It’s the mark she left on the industry itself that signaled to me someone was doing something to gain the attention of those who wanted to curb trends and ride the wave of being fashionable early on what would become the next ‘it’ thing to own.
Part of what was throwing me off a bit reading Life Outside the Box is how much it was reminding me of why I find non-fiction tedious rather than pleasurable. It’s the key difference from expository writing verse creative writing – wherein the underscore of the piece is lit by a collection of facts and figures of time rather than a story slowing unfolding for the reader. I have come across non-fiction writers who have set a pace between both styles, such as when I read The Residence earlier this Spring that told the unknown history and story behind the White House. When I read The Residence I felt as if I had lived those experiences and in some ways, I had; through their recollections I was given a new sensory history of a house that is keenly important to my country and to our way of life. I felt deeply connected by time, setting, and place to where I will not soon forget my readings of that particular house whose inhabitants were equally ‘out of the box’ as those inside this collection of souls.
Wilson does gain your attention to focus on the people she’s interviewing but a lot of the joy for me to read their stories felt a bit bogged down in how their stories were being told. I felt like I was being told a third person historical lesson per individual rather than being on the fringes of an interview that had just ended where the afterglow of joy is still illuminating on the smile of the interviewee. That nexus of excitement for the chance meeting of someone who stimulated your mind and encouraged your spirit towards a reckoning of awareness towards ‘something’ that you hadn’t thought of prior to that meeting or even long after the remnants were nearly a figment of your own imagination; as memory has a way of tricking us after a reprieve.
I didn’t find myself connecting to Life Outside the Box in a way I felt I would when I received the book; truly I felt disappointed because I thought this collection was going to be written as ‘out of the box’ as the lives who were being projected into it’s collective heart. I am also uncertain why the author’s logo had to be placed at the end of each section, as it felt a bit repetitive after awhile.
This book review is courtesy of: iRead Book Tours
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{SOURCES: Cover art of “Life Outside the Box”, book synopsis, author photograph of Marilyn R. Wilson, author biography and the tour badge were all provided by iRead Book Tours and used with permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Comment Box Banner made by Jorie in Canva. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
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— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) June 22, 2015
Thanks you so much for reading and reviewing Life Outside The Box and your very honest comments. Will keep them in mind as I begin work on book 2.
Thank you, Ms Wilson for being warm and receptive to my thoughts about this as I truly was hoping to tuck inside this collection with the same vigor and excitement as I had The Residence and other non-fiction works which truly anchour me into the lives of the people being shared with the audience. I look forward to seeing how you champion the voices of volume two!