Floating Between the Tides: Sleep Like Starfish Reveals a Message of Hope & Healing

Sleep Like Starfish tells the true story of Rachelle Atkins, how she deals with chronic illness, anxiety & abandonment issues. Rachelle examines the way that childhood traumas affect the body physically and how trauma can be generational. While reading the memoir, we see Rachelle grow and heal and her journey that eventually led to her writing her journey down and being vulnerable.

Beautiful Writing & Important Messages

Rachelle’s writing in Sleep Like Starfish flows beautifully as though it were a river in a stream. It reminds me of a Virginia Wolf quote Like a river; words flow from my lips. While my experiences are not exactly like hers, I like how in the memoir she learns to trust God more and I also have a close relationship with God even if our religious beliefs are completely different. I also like how she reminds the reader that it’s okay to release our emotions because we have grown up believing that showing emotions is weak especially from people who don’t know how to deal with it. A favorite scene in the book was Rachelle having to share her work with the other creative souls in their writing class and the quote from Rachelle We are sometimes so close to our stories that familiarity blunts the hard edges that others see so clearly. That quote rings true considering that it’s hard sometimes to see the full picture that others see. Whether you relate to Rachelle’s story or not, or even relate to it in little bits, I recommend picking up a copy if you enjoy memoirs & nonfiction.