“I have lived a life in motion,” writes Susan Gardner in her insightful memoir, Drawing the Line. “With a brush in my hand and the silence of the line, I found myself to be real.” Indeed, from surviving as an unwanted child and abused wife, Gardner has moved through her life line “serpentine, calligraphic, curving with deliberate and inadvertent turnings.” This capacity for change has enabled her to adapt to life in Korea, Japan, Mexico and numerous other ports of call as mother, artist, researcher, diplomatic escort, teacher and writer. Using the calligraphic line as an extended metaphor (“I saw a place of silence, first in the line and then in myself”), Gardner has given us a meticulously detailed, ruthlessly honest and emotionally redemptive story of how she has crafted a reality of her choosing. “My line was my epiphany,” Gardner writes. Drawing the Line generously offers that epiphany to all of us.

-Wayne Lee, author of Doggerel & Caterwauls: Poems Inspired by Cats & Dogs

You can travel all over the world and not find what you are looking for. "Drawing the Line: A Passionate Life" is the memoir of Susan Gardner... sharing what she has learned about the world, through a life that is constantly moving and evolving... "Drawing the Line" is a fine memoir with plenty to absorb throughout. 

- Midwest Book Review/Small Press BookWatch Vol 10 No.8 August 2011

Sometimes words paint their own pictures. Drawing The Line is the recollections of Susan Gardner, from her early childhood to last love. It is a fascinating look at a woman's life. Each journal is a verbal painting of what was happening at that time. A snapshot isn't quite accurate, as even the most meticulous picture takes but a moment to capture. Here it is in brush strokes, with each word chosen for particular effect like one would with colors. It makes each event stand out, and allows each to be seen ... in its own context, and growing stronger from the greater context of the total experience. Although there is no plot to speak of, that's fine as it's the study of a life. 

Drawing The Line is a beautiful story of a woman's struggle to be herself. For those looking for a personal exploration of the last six decades, and a peek into the formation of an artist, this is a fun read.  

- Sacramento Book Review | San Francisco Book Review
August 2011

DRAWING THE LINE – IN ART AND LIFE

Drawing the Line is a well-chosen title for the engaging memoir of Santa Fe artist, poet and photographer Susan Gardner. In it she draws many lines.

            Primary, of course, is the line of her life, which she lays out, in this age of dishy celebrity spews, with quiet dignity. Of equal importance are the lines that figure prominently in her art, which is deeply influenced by calligraphy and Japanese sumi-e painting.

Also to consider are the lines of her poetry. Gardner embeds a scattering of her poems throughout her memoir and echoes their spare, highly visual style in her prose. In this manner she creates yet more lines, including the implied lines she lays down for us to read between.

A product of her time, she finds herself in the mid-1960s trapped in an abusive marriage in a foreign country with two small children and no means of supporting herself on her own. She does not, however, dwell on her misfortunes. Instead, Gardner turns her attention to the world around her. Her Foreign Service husband, whom she calls Edwin, was posted in Korea, Japan and Mexico City. While in Asia, she learned tenets of Buddhism, including “pointing,” directing your focused attention to what is directly in front of you.

This practice is evident in Drawing the Line, and among other things makes Gardner an astute travel guide, with a knack for the telling detail. She is equally adept at subtly skewering cultural phenomena. The Foreign Service, for example, comes in for its deserved share of knocks.  

Through the years, she gradually gains confidence, in her art and in herself and at last draws the line with Edwin and divorces him. Shortly thereafter, she meets the man she calls RD, a sculptor, architect, and home remodeler, whom she marries six years later. Their life today she describes as characterized by “. . .an overwhelming, intimate joy….”

Drawing the Line is a work to savor. Gardner calls it, in a modestly placed subhead, “a passionate life.” It’s passion reflected in tranquility, imbued with the same vitality, restraint, and dignity as a perfect line. 

Susan Gardner has written a memoir that is sophisticated in its simplicity and profound in its lack of guile. DRAWING THE LINE is soulful and beautiful. 

- Marc Talbert, author of Altogether Ernest

Susan Gardner’s words sit lightly on the page, belying the emotion they contain.  As I read, I actually heard her voice. She amazes with her ability to evoke so much with each spare phrase. This is a story you experience with the author. Not for the emotionally faint of heart, the story follows a complex woman through the extremes of her extraordinary “ordinary” life. 

- Susan Vander Mast, Santa Fe

Unexpectedly intriguing.... I remain absolutely fascinated by this wonderful, powerful work. This work has tremendous weight that speaks directly from the heart.... Deserves to be widely read and embraced. 

- Michael Clarke, Toronto, Canada

Though a memoir, DRAWING THE LINE unfolds like an intricately woven tapestry. Seamlessly intertwined with Susan Gardner’s fascinating details of an unusual life, weaves a narrative of the social and political events paralleling that life, mimicking an historical memoir. The memoir is ultimately about love – a fundamental commitment to art and beauty, a loyalty to those who have befriended her, and the long journey in learning to identify what remains truly good.

- Michael Hice, Santa Fe

DRAWING THE LINE is an unforgettable experience; it was educational and immensely enjoyable. 

- Glenda Madden, Norman, Oklahoma