O'Donnell, Sunshine 1971(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1971; married; children: Kieran and Casey.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Philadelphia, PA. E-mail—sunshine.odonnell@gmail.com.

CAREER:

Poet, essayist, and educator. Creative writing, visual arts, and quantum physics instructor; Coffeehouse Project, founder and publisher, 1994—.

WRITINGS:

Open Me (novel), MacAdam Cage (San Francisco, CA), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sunshine O'Donnell is a poet, essayist, and educator. Born in the early 1970s, O'Donnell founded the Coffeehouse Project in 1994. It serves as a mobile-classroom program that brings educational resources to underprivileged youths and abused and/or abandoned children. O'Donnell has published hundreds of literary magazines for these groups of children. She also tutors in creative writing and visual arts.

O'Donnell published her first novel, Open Me, in 2007. The novel introduces Mem, a young girl who is recruited into a cult of women in Pennsylvania who are trained to weep on cue. O'Donnell researched the topic extensively, including a ninth-century T'ang dynasty poem, twentieth-century periodical accounts of the phenomenon, and records from funeral directors, who have in the past hired these women to help fill out the crowds at funeral ceremonies where not enough family and friends are in attendance. Some family members have also hired these women to "perform" their grief for them at funerals. The methods used, however, to teach young girls this art is considered cruel and is officially banned in many states. The emotional abuse these girls suffer becomes their personal burden as well as the source for performing this ancient ritual. Mem is forced into this lifestyle as her family traces its connection back to ancient Roman times. She is considered to be among the most talented wailers in recent history, but the police are interested in breaking up this cultish behavior.

Booklist contributor Scott Whitney found many disturbing aspects in the story line, and commented that the novel is "not for delicate sensibilities." Whitney, instead, noted that "a mother's love for her daughter … is what ultimately grabs the reader." A contributor to Publishers Weekly found that the "prose is deft and accomplished." The same contributor observed, however, that the novel "suffers in service of an improbable premise that's short on plot." Dianna Marder, writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, remarked that the novel "reveals a secret society of women (in Northeast Philadelphia, of all places) who preserve the ancient trade. The story centers on Mem, who is taught from childhood to cry on cue, with methods that make one cringe," adding that "the concept is at once alluring and revolting, and O'Donnell deftly preys on the reader's ambivalence." Marder further mentioned that "the mother-daughter tale raises questions of identity, purpose and familial heritage—the same issues that haunt her Coffee House Project students." Eleanor J. Bader, reviewing the novel in Library Journal, called the concept "interesting." Bader, however, noted that the story line "is a tease, failing to satisfy our deepest curiosity about the Wailers' invented culture."