Kirkus.com Book Review - Sally In Wonderland

The author recounts living with an abusive husband and finding solace in chronicling her dreams. Not long after her beloved father died, 18-year-old Kairouze left her Lebanese home for a new life in Melbourne, Australia.

She met Tony, a seemingly kind man, and the two started dating. Despite Tony’s mother’s warning of her son’s “temper outbursts,” Kairouze married him and started a family.

Tony’s habitual mood swings developed into a pattern of psychological and physical abuse directed at the entire family. Finding little support from family or friends, the author took advice from her own dreams. Recording them in a journal proved therapeutic in dealing with the real-life abuse she experienced.

Like most survivors of domestic abuse, Kairouze agonized over leaving her husband, worried how it would affect their children. But after enduring 15 years of marriage, ending the relationship seemed her only option.

Kairouze, whose previous book was More Than a Dream (2021), ably incorporates her dreams into her narrative. She succinctly describes each one, followed by a convincing analysis corresponding to her perpetual stress.  

There are intriguing sides to Kairouze that the book unfortunately glosses over. For example, there’s little on how she persevered while immersed in a culture and a language different from her own.

Despite not writing in her native tongue, Kairouze creates insightful albeit dour passages: “Every small failure in my life became worse when I dreaded Tony’s reaction to it.”

A remarkable autobiography about a creative form of self-preservation.

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