Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning

Lyons, cofounder of Q, a nonprofit Christian leadership conference, suggests by her subtitle that “meaning” is an important value to her. But by choosing to reveal what she means slowly, Lyons often abandons readers in their own “freefall” as they watch her think. The author narrates triumphs and troubles, freckled with Bible quotes, as she reaches for self-understanding. She opens with a dramatic move from an Atlanta suburb to manic Manhattan, symbolized by her elder son’s meltdown smack in the middle of Park Avenue. Anecdotes disclose her panic attacks, her lifelong connection to words, and her salvific Tuesday-morning meetings with women who insist that she tell the truth about her worst fears. Lyons’s worthy points almost excuse the work needed to get to them through her choppy style, far too reliant on sentence fragments and larded with description. Her stories meander toward reasonable lessons, such as, “one must experience pain in order to experience healing” and “meaning follows surrender.” But readers’ impatience is understandable. (Apr.)