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Heck on Heels: Still Balancing
on Shoes, Love, and Chocolate! by Mary T. Wagner iUniverse
book review by Jenny Luper
The smell of damp evergreens on a winding two-lane road is an intoxicating as any glass of champagne.
Mary T. Wagner loves a good bonfire. The emptying out of yard detritus, cleaning while at the same time enjoying the light display against the settling night with a good drink in her handshe waxes poetic on the recurring autumnal event but does not fall into sappy terrain. Whenever Wagner shares a story from her life, it comes across as related honestly, told truthfully, while hiding none of her faults. She confesses her nature of thinking in her pre-divorce years when her "...critical thinking skills regarding the house pretty much boiled down to making a better cake and picking out wallpaper. Now I've got my own cordless drill and I'm not afraid to use it." It is through her sincerity of storytelling that the reader comes to believe how much she really enjoys that bonfire. And shoes, nature, her family, and "The Man in Her Life."
Told in an engaging and funny style, Wagner invites the reader to take lessons or solely entertainment from her life via this collection of personal essays. Each essay is concise yet complete; a moment in time fully encapsulated including the wisdom or heartache gained. Her essays on the birds of the state parks and Great Lakes she has visited show the astute observations of nature writing as well as how deeply and personally witnessing nature has affected her life. This honesty and forthright attitude of the narrator combined with a comically engaging writing style make Heck on Heels a compelling but also immensely likeable book.