Reader's Fave

I recently interviewed Cathlamet resident Jane O’Brien for our 54th installment of Reader’s Fave, a casual interview with someone who shares their favorite book.

Opening our conversation, Jane said, “I love to write. In 2025 I wrote ‘Losses Held in My Mother’s Purse: A Journey Through Grief Toward Grace.’ It took me about six months to write this book. It’s about my journey out of the mental despair; the depression I was in. In 2017, I had suffered the loss of my son, which broke things wide open. It was kind of like the final straw. As a result, I reached out and sought help. I used Joseph Campbell’s book ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ as a kind of template; a framework for writing my journey. It’s about this pattern of this long mythic journey we take where we go through despair - go through an abyss - but come out at the other end and realize we can make it. You realize you can, in a way, rewrite your life story; you can be heard.”

Jane outlined her recent journey in upper-level education and follow-on work. “I went to Marylhurst University for my undergraduate,” she said. “It was there that I was introduced to ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces.’ That was in 2013. I then went on and received my masters degree in Mental Health Therapy in 2015. I had been in law enforcement prior to all this. I did go on and work as a mental-health therapist for about three months. I hated it. It was all about the numbers, the assessments. I found it so depressing.”

Sharing deeper from her book and her thoughts, Jane said, “Throughout time, this is how humans live. We go along in life. We go through some kind of mythic journey for ourselves - a struggle - but then we make a new meaning for ourselves. It’s almost cathartic for people. It’s where we’re living in this ordered world, but then something’s not right. Maybe a loss of job, or drugs, or whatever. At first, we don’t want to do anything. We refuse that call to take a risk. [Then] maybe a mentor comes along, or some books, or someone who has come through it themselves and can help. Then there are others who don’t want you to change. They just want you to stay the same, so we have to fight the urge to stay the same. We’ve got to fight to get to the other side. Then we need to practice and practice it in our new way of life in order to keep what we’ve learned and integrate it into our life.”

Retrieving a purse that belonged to her mother and still had some of her things in it, Jane said, “I lost my mom first. She was severely bipolar throughout her life, which was a severe trauma for me growing up. Later, my brother died, so I put some of his things in the purse; his autopsy paper, his watch, and wallet. My brother died out of the blue. After that, my father died and I put similar things in the purse. And last, my son died out of the blue. He’d had addiction problems, along with being developmentally disabled. [He] lived in a trailer with nothing else when he died. I put his things in the purse. I’ve kept it on the shelf of the closet, and I’ll revisit it. It’s almost like a tomb.”

Admitting, she has “never been turned on to reading,” Jane said, “But I love writing. I do remember enjoying the book ‘The Secret Garden’ when I was around 8 to 10 years old. I remember in school we’d go to the school library to check out books, but my family never bought any. I’m writing a second book now. My first book was more of a memoir, but this next book is more for guiding people. The title is ‘Living Through the Abyss,’ and the book will be a guide for people to help them get to the other side.”

May you wonderful Wahkiakum readers, through it all, continue on your reading journey.