In FRACTURED, we have the familiar story of how surface appearances can mask what some psychiatrists call “monkeys jumping in your skull.” Outwardly, unlike Woody Allen who exudes neurosis, Antonucci came across as an attractive role model for women everywhere as the founding director of Step Up Chicago Playwrights; but beneath she was practically paralyzed by fear of the unknown.
I know of no other book in recent memory that conveys better the hell of someone who hates being inside their own fear-ridden brain. Fear can practically corner one mentally. An example is those who experience panic attacks. What starts out as panic over certain situations can soon descend into fears of even having a panic attack. But author Elizabeth Antonucci used the process advised by psychiatrists today for patients who have crippling fears: she confronted the worst of them, which in her case, was fear of failure. She did so by taking risks, by being willing to experience “failure” by actually living a full life; and the result was she developed an emotional muscle.
Now suddenly, breakups, which can be the greatest fear for women, even feminists, with the perception that they weren’t good enough to “keep” a man, were instead looked upon by the author as par for the course. She even entertains the possibility that it wasn’t her fault without coming off as smug and superior.
Antonucci has an attractive, grounded personality that never mutates into drill sergeant- like orders for those crippled by fear to stop being wimps and get on with life. Instead, she is empathetic and remembers her neurotic days, while at the same time sending an encouraging message to those still in the grips of fear that they too can overcome them.
~Ron Capshaw for IndieReader