Blossoms and Bones by Kim Krans – A Book Review

In Blossoms and Bones, Kim Krans takes you on a journey.

It begins simply enough. Krans has taken refuge from herself in an ashram for thirty days. During those thirty days, she has the urge to “draw the feeling”. Every day for thirty days, she puts pen to paper and draws her emotions.

As Krans puts pen to paper, we are witness to her unravelling. We watch as she struggles with an addiction to food, with self-hate and self-loathing. We watch as she tries desperately to deny what her subconscious is telling her, what she has been trying to tell herself for so long.

With each day that she draws, she comes closer to the truth and even closer to the parts of herself that she left behind intentionally. She parts the curtain to travel deep within herself and take a look at some very hard truths.

When the skeleton offers Krans its hand as it offers to be her guide through her subconscious, will Krans be brave enough to take it and follow the skeleton on this journey within herself? She will have to go down to the darkest parts of her inner self.

Will she be able to journey that far? Will she come out again?

It’s difficult to review this book without giving everything away. I knew that I had to read it as soon as it was announced. I’ve ben a long-time fan of The Wild Unknown by Kim Krans, her bright and colourful tarot cards, animal spirit cards and the new archetypes cards. I’ve been reading tarot with her cards for years now. I even had the Strength card, the Ace of Wands and the Ace of Swords tattooed on my right shoulder. I love her work that much.

The cover to the memoir is a riot of colour, but I knew from seeing a few images online that the memoir was drawn entirely in black and white. This lends to the books power. Everything is so very raw and the black and white imagery without the use of colour makes it all seem a little bit more primal.

Sprinkled throughout the memoir are prayers. These are so lyrical and so simple that you can’t help but put the book aside for a moment to contemplate what you’ve just read. I actually want to copy these prayers and fill my office with them.

I love how this book was laid out. As you are reading it, you have to turn it upside down or turn it around to read all of the words. I also love that, even though the book is completely done in black and white, there is a rainbow coloured ribbon bookmark to mark your place. It’s as if that bookmark is like a light in the darkness in some way.

This isn’t a book for the faint of heart. It deals with a lot of heavy personal issues, but if you can persevere, you will be witness to one woman’s coming completely apart and cheer as she puts herself back together. This isn’t just a memoir you read; it is one that you experience.

Blossoms and Bones is a gorgeous, beautiful, gut wrenching, harrowing, dark book filled with so much light. Touching on subjects like infertility, eating disorders, endings and beginnings, everyone needs to experience this book. It will leave you changed.

I am neither perfect nor imperfect. I wait to hear what my new song will be.