5 comments about Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography.

1. Excellent book for anyone to read. I also pruchased the teen version for my son. It is an excellent book as well.



2. This year our baseball team (comprised of 13-16 yr olds) decided end of year trophies would be a little juvenile for the boys. The coach let me know about this book and thought it would be a good idea to give each of the boys one for the end of the season gift. We did and it was very well received! An amazing book for anyone that aspires to do something more with their life!
   
   Well written and very easy to read! I highly reccomend!



3. This book provides an excellent insight into the life of Lou Holtz and his motivational attitude on life. His dry humor will make you laugh, his thoughts inspiring, and make you think W.I.N. for those tough decisions in life.



4. Lou listed some great stories.
   
   In fact that is one reason why this is a great book, because Lou is an AWESOME story teller.
   Listen to the audio book as you read, Lou narrates this book very well.
   
   Lou has lived an amazing life.
   He just got it done, no matter what he does.
   Anyone can pick up some great tips about being more successful from this book.
   
   Paul



5. This is an excellent read! You won't want to put it down and it will make you do some self examination.

5 comments about Ronnie: The Autobiography.

1. Ronnie takes us all the way through his life. Interesting stories that are well told, funny & insightful. As well as his fellow members in the Stones, you get an idea on the personalities of other rock musicians which Ronnie shares with you & which you will also have a chuckle at. A well told interesting & enjoyable read.



2. This is a fun read. Just don't trust any of the dates past 1978. The chronology is definitely jumbled. Perhaps this is understandable considering the copious amounts of drugs that he admits to consuming. However, the fact that no editor corrected statements like Woody saying he did a show with Dennis Wilson in 1985 (he died in '83) is almost shameful...



3. THE WOODMANS LONG JOURNEY WEAVES US THROUGH THE
   LABARYNTHS OF ROCKS HALCION DAYS - ETCHED WITH
   CANDID IF NOT GRAPHIC FLASH BACKS TO THE MUSICS
   EARLIEST INFLUENCES TO WHAT HAS NOW BECOME TO ALL,
   QUINTISENSUAL CLASSIC ROCK.
   
   RONNIE IS FOR THOSE WHO LIVED THROUGH THE LATE 60'S
   ONWARDS - AN ENGROSSING READ!.
   
   THE CONSUMATE JAMSTERS ABILITY TO ADAPT HIS CHOPS
   TO SO MANY STYLES OF ROCK LUMINARIES THAT FINALLY
   CULMINATES TO HIS ASCENT INTO WITHOUT A DOUBT THE
   WORLDS GREATEST WORKING BAND IS REMARKABLE.
   
   WARTS - D C'S AND ALL THE 356 PAGES FOCUSES ON FAMILY,
   WIVES,CHILDREN,FRIENDS,PLAYERS AND LEGENDS - NOT
   ENOUGH ALAS WAS SPENT ON THE LONDON YEARS - NO
   MENTION AT ALL OF "THE SPEAKEASY" THE CLUB THAT
   HOSTED MORE HISTORIC ONE NIGHT IMPROMPTU JAM
   SESSIONS THAN CAN EVER BE IMAGINED,WOODY BEING
   IN NEARLY EVERY ONE..
   
   I WOULD OF ALSO LIKED MORE ON THE IMPORTANCE
   OF THE STYLE AND FEEL OF LONDON DURING THOSE DAYS.
   MORE ON GRANNYS - SWEENYS - COSTAS - RUSKINS AND
   OF COURSE THE CHELSEA COBBLER ..
   
   STRANGELY MISSING - HARDLY A WORD ON GLIMMER TWIN
   NUMBER TWO ? BUT THERE AGAIN"LOOSE LIPS MIGHT SINK SHIPS"
   
   WE WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIS MAJESTY TO PUT
   PEN TO PAPER,BUT DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH.
   
   'YOU DON'T WANT ME TROUSERS TO FALL DOWN NOW DO YA"
   
   RONNIE ON THE P C ROCK BIO GRADE TWANGS IN AT A SOLID 7.
   
   WEAVE IT OR LEAVE IT - RONNIE IS DEFINITELY A WEAVER WORTH
   WEADING



4. First get me right here: as much as I do NOT like the Stones that much, this is a very nice and funny little autobiography by one of its members. He has had a much more interesting career as a member of the Faces and the Jeff Beck group among other things. However the very sympathetic way in which he recounts his past experiences make even the Stoens years interesting (OK, I guess they ARE an important group after all). The book is written with a great deal of wit and he comes over really well in this biography which is not the usual "my groupie and drug hell" kind of bio that everybody seems kind of keen on producing as of late.



5. Why this man is not classified as one of the true Rolling Stones is beyond me.

5 comments about The Florist's Daughter.

1. I found this memoir to be extremely boring. My book club members agreed and we even live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area where the book takes place. The author is obviously a poet and used a lot of words I had never heard of. The story was not compelling enough for me to even bother looking up the unfamiliar words in my dictionary. Although the cover is beautiful, do not waste your time or money. There are plenty of other good books to be read.



2. If you are as enamored of Patricia Hampl's writing as I am, this book is one not to miss--up there with _Virgin Time_, an earlier memoir. Elegant prose, filled with insight. Even events and people about which Hampl is ambivalent are clearly limned.



3. With great reviews and glowing praise from a piece on MPR our bookclub thought this would be an excellent read. I didn't love it. OK, not one of us even liked it. I felt that overall the book could not capture my attention. We have enjoyed everything from Don't Let's Eat With The Dogs Tonight, to The Life of PI, to The Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Everyone felt that while The Florist's Daughter was well written, it was a snooze. I am glad I did not buy it here, I am glad I checked it out from the library. If you have a connection to St. Paul you would probably get a kick out of the history. Otherwise, skip it. If you want to read a great memoir, read The Glass Castle!



4. Gosh, I absolutely loved this memoir--the writing is superb and the life of St. Paul, Minnesota from the 1930s and beyond is so vivid, but with lean language--just perfect. The provincialism of the Minnesota Irish Catholics contrasted with the Minnesota Czechs/Bohemians--and each of their neighborhoods in the pecking order, is so well drawn. The contrast too between parents, one who sees life's beauty and one who sees life with suspicion. I am giving copies of this as gifts to three writers I know.



5. Moving,exquisitely written with compelling imagery although at times seemed forced( the imagery ).Richly detailed memoir.

5 comments about Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

1. This diagnosis is a complete fraud. Not just Mr. Walker's case, but almost all of them. In over 20 years as a therapist I have never seen one legitimate case of MPD/DID. It is a diagnosis created by unethical mental health professionals and claimed by patients with overactive imaginations. Read the book "Creating Hysteria" by Joan Acocella if you want the truth on MPD/DID.



2. This book was very informative. DID is a mental health issue that is not often spoken of in such a positive light. Hershel tells his story in a very intelligent and gripping manner. Please try it for your self.



3. Amazing that the title is My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder. He barely mentioned the DID unless it got him out of hot water. The final chapter of the book was a short explanation of what DID is. You could get this info from the Sidran web site and save the cost of the book. Most of his time was spent either stroking his ego or offering an excuse for all the controversial things he has been involved with.
   
   He claims that the splits in his identity occured because of nightmares and some bullies at school. Yet he was able to find solace in a loving and close christian family. Every DID case I have ever heard of, has suffered through horrendous abuse, usually from primary caregivers. Herschel Walker makes light of these survivors.
   
   Save your money.



4. This book was easy to read and informative. There was no bragging -- just a genuine quest to understand and to share with others his struggles. It was brave to reveal so much of himself in the effort to help others. To me, this book is his greatest victory.



5. Overall, I liked this book. One has to admire Herschel for going public with his diagnosis, one poorly understood by the general public and often associated with severe pathology. That took courage, which the author seems to have in abundance. His writing shows an intelligence not commonly associated with sports, and he gives articulate expression to the various manifestations of his version of DID. A real plus of Walker's account is that he describes an "up" side to this condition, stating clearly for the layperson that it has certain adaptive and self-protecting qualities.
   
   That said, I was left with some questions. While the book seemed forthright and honest, he describes about a dozen different "alters" (formerly called multiple personalities) that he claims have arisen from his being tormented as a fat and stuttering schoolboy--while undoubtedly painful, his schoolyard abuse is hardly the type that normally spawns this fragmented condition. And as a clinical psychologist, I have treated DID patients. A more common presentation than his involves distinct changes in personality including voice, body posture, emotional expression, etc. . . . like you are really seeing different people. He says that his shifts were more subtle, nothing that could be seen externally, more like discrete changes in mental state known only to him at the time. That raises (for me, at least) the issue of whether or not this devoted and highly focused athlete is not simply given to a rather strict compartmentalization of his feelings, a medium that he would admit he is not comfortable with. Even his most personal relationships have suffered from his tendency to be so self-contained. Or perhaps DID is best explained as a "spectrum" disorder, ranging in degree of severity, as we now know autism to be. Who knows?
   
   While he talks about his repeated "thrill-seeking" with Russian roulette, Walker notable leaves out of his story the fact that he several times put a gun to his ex-wife's head. And he glosses over a bit the fact that he had an affair despite his born-again Christian beliefs. When a "tell all" book tells not quite all, you are left wondering what more has been left out.

No comments about A Friend Like Henry: The Remarkable True Story of an Autistic Boy and the Dog That Unlocked His World.

5 comments about Possible Side Effects.

1. Nice read--a bunch of short stories--so you can read one, not pick the book up for a couple of days, read another...however, relative to other augusten books (esp. running with scissors, dry, magical thinking), it is not QUITE as good.



2. ...and though it left me less-than-amazed (as a friend promised I would be), I am mostly definitely intrigued when it comes to this author now. I can see myself reading some of his other works, even if this collection of memoir/essays are simply "okay".
   
   All right. "Possible Side Effects" is a pretty good book. It's light and serious simultaneously, at times downright hilarious, and sometimes kind of boring. Fact of the matter is, it's pretty disorganized. Some of the story/essays made me grin, others grimace, and some were just kind of pathetic. At times, Burroughs managed to create the perfect mood - light, but important. Other times, stories were kind of scattered and pointless. Understandable in a memoir, but still somewhat annoying.
   
   This seems like the kind of book you could really like if you just like reading other people tell you semi-funny, semi-sad stories about their lives. And while this memoir is humorously written, it's at times a bit... boring. And while lives are great and all, too much is just too much. Maybe I shouldn't have started here?
   
   It's a pretty good book on the whole, but it's still not all that much. I'm sure I won't detract true Burroughs fans nor those curious about this author as I was, but keep in mind that this is not a stunning memoir, simply an okay one.



3. Excellent book! Loved everything that I have read by Augusten so far. Not as great as Running with Scissors, but still a really good book that held my interest the whole time.



4. Possible Side Effects
   
   Augusten Burroughs has the ability to to tell experiences at all stages of his young life and turn some not so great memories into side-splitting laughter. Who doesn't embellish (a little) once you have grabbed the attention of your audience? Well that is what he does, just enough to make the story humorous. If you need a little laughter READ THIS BOOK. After my eyes would dry, I had to go back and read that paragraph or page again - only to have the same result. These are all short stories so you don't feel (too) frustrated having to put the book down. My favorites were "The Wisdom Tooth", "Getting To No You", and "Moving Violations" . I loved this book and will soon be reading his others. I am glad my first read was "A Wolf at the Table" as it explained to me more about his quirky family - immediate and extended - although "..Wolf.." does not have the humor this book does. Not a book for youngsters - maybe not teens either. A few stories are quite liberal with language, but it is not offensive in the sense that it works with that particular experience. Would I recommend this book to my twentysomething son or daughter? YES.



5. Augusten Burroughs has a way of making mundane events laughable. Possible Side Effects has no plot. It's a series of recollections, but it's his cynical/naive/self destructive point of view that makes the work even more addictive than a continuous storyline.

5 comments about Straight from the Source: An Expose from the Former Editor in Chief of the Hip-Hop Bible.

1. Knowing little about hip-hop, this book was referred to me from a friend of a friend who actually knows the author. Having gone through some crazy things with the men at my own job, what I initially became interested in was finding out how Kim triumphed in her case. But there was little about the actual trial, which probably would have bored the crap out of me anyway (i have a very short attention span).
   
   But I didn't have to read too far to understand how she was able to be victorious in her case. Throughout the course of the book, I kept wondering why the behavior of the men in this book had not been questioned by others at work (or by anyone in hip hop for that matter). It was almost always acceptable for Banzino to come on to her, or for her boss to tell her she couldn't be a part of a woman's right conference, or for them to tell her that rape was a woman's issue. All of this was okay and i even think it was okay to Kim up until a certain point, until she got a stark wake up call that made her grasp the bigger picture.
   
   The press on this book has mostly been around 50 Cent and Nas who she was involved in brief relationships with. I've heard of them, but in twenty years will they really matter? Probably not. This book will be on the shelves and can easily be used as a reference of how women were treated in hip-hop. I'm glad she told her story by using these artists to exemplify just how much of a double standard there is in hip hop. I think the press reaction has only mirrored the issues that are presented in this book.
   
   The other thing about this book that I really enjoyed was the tone. There was a lot of sarcastic, witty humor that made me laugh out loud. Not that the issues weren't serious, but I think to show her personality and how over dramatized things are in hip hop. It was great to read about hip-hop and how the characters all played a role in her story. It was actually quite interesting to know what these artists act like behind the scenes. I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to others, especially women with chauvinistic bosses.



2. Originally I reviewed this book and didn't get past page 194 before I finally gave up, but I was contacted by Osorio to finish the book because she told me things changed on page 195. I make a continuous effort to review books that I've finished completely, so I got access to the book again. It's difficult to rate a book that I don't agree with not even one rationale for. The book is not badly written, minus a bunch of unnecessary details like her pressing the space bar to stop a screensaver; jokes about Nas' attire; one of the men who brought in the Eminem tape being vertically challenged; and why she explained to a friend who the head of Human Resources were. There could've definitely been a lot chopped out that had nothing to do with the plot.
   
   However, by the book being about her, it's impossible to not judge her personality in my review. I don't know her personally, and she may be a great person. But from this book, I'm not convinced. I could write a Christmas list of the tacky times that Osorio used men for money (ex. she asked Kanye West to pay half of a venue and used his money to go shopping for her birthday gift). It was almost like she wanted to be wined and dined, but she didn't want to be respected (ex. she had a fit when 50 Cent opened the passenger side door for her talking about she knows how to open her own door and frustrated that he sent her flowers). Osorio was the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that she kept blaming on Dave Mays. I didn't get her logic in lying about guys she'd slept with in the music industry, especially when she really HAD slept with them and treated them like filth in public.
   
   Every single time she had to write something that she claimed she didn't agree with, she pointed the finger at Dave Mays or Benzino, but throughout the entire book, it never occurred to her to just get up and leave. Nobody had a gun to her head. Nobody had chains to her wrists while she wrote these stories. Her rationale was consistently that she had a daughter and needed money, like there were no jobs in the rest of the world. (The economy is awful now, but not awful enough to leave a job with this much discrimination.) Osorio outed a lot of people who simply didn't deserve the treatment she gave them, and she did it with a childish smirk (ex. proudly showing Jay-Z the article she wrote about Steve Stoute). These are the instances when I finally understand why there are so many rappers who dog women. If this is the treatment that they get in the industry, then I fully understand why they're so mad. Even at the end of the book, the only reason she sought justice was because of her bosses discriminating against her and being a woman, never mind all the men and women she outed repeatedly. Why was it necessary to bring Nikki D and Yo-Yo up? This book was equal to the Superhead book. Blasting a bunch of people's business and feeling like she was justified for doing so because she had been wronged in the past. I hope one day she learns that the way she was treated at the Source was the exact same way she treated everybody she wrote about, like they were an embarrassment, incompetent, and with revenge. It's called karma.



3. As a fan of the era, I was excited at the prospect of getting an insider's perspective. This book, strictly as an informational resource, delivers time and time again with interesting tidbits about almost everyone who mattered. In telling the story of her life, Kim doesn't seem to dwell much on self-reflection. In describing some of the questionable activities she engaged in, she rationalizes that she just needed the money. As a highly educated woman with clear writing talent, it seems unlikely that she couldn't have made other choices. By claiming some sense of ownership of her questionable actions, Kim as person would have been completely crystallized for me, thereby making the book even more compelling. Lastly, and this is the problem that bothered me most, I didn't sense any growth. I walked away thinking if the same opportunity presented itself (working for a masochistic chauvinistic madman for not that much money) Kim would jump at the opportunity. It's this lack of self-reflection that prevents the book from being great.



4. Considering myself an "outsider" to rap/hip hop post 1990, I never gave The Source more than a cursory flip through and didn't know that Kim Osorio was the EIC until after I heard about her lawsuit. In fact, the only thing I HAD heard about the magazine regarded "Benzino's" ego-driven vendettas against certain artists so I was pretty eager to read this book to get the real story.
   
   The flow of the book is excellent, she doesn't waste time detailing her personal relationships but admits to them without the sometimes tasteless sensationalization that others have used in recent tell-alls. As a woman who also grew up on rap & hip/hop, I truly felt her pain and the pain of other women who initially loved the artists, music & lifestyle of hip hop but then gradually got worn down due to the mysogyny & abuse perpetuated by so many males who've also grown up on this genre.
   
   Kim's attempts to remain professional in the face of the kind of madness she worked in was admirable - I probably would've quit long before she did but on the other hand, why should she have to quit such a lucrative position and more importantly, one that she loved because of a crazy boss?!
   
   This is a very entertaining & addictive read told in a matter-of-fact style that will have you laughing out loud at some of her observations and is a book that I'd highly recommend to those immersed in hip hop news as well as the curious (like me) who just wanted to get some insight into how such a popular & influential magazine imploded.



5. This book was a great read! I have been waiting for it to come out and as soon as the book arrived I picked it up and couldn't put it down.
   The "real" hip-hop world is not something I know a lot about beyond what I read in magazines or on blogs. I love the music, but have always known there is more to hip-hop than the music. Ms. Osorio let me in to "her" hip-hop world to see it from the inside.
   I don't need to read about video girls and their drama or about woman sleeping to get to the top. I am a professional woman and I want to read about other real professional women. In this book, I read of the struggles and conflicts that Ms. Osorio had and how she dealt with them. The same things may not have happened to me, but I can really relate.
   It took a lot of courage to fight The Source, but she did and she WON! I am happy Ms. Osorio shared her story and I hope that she will share more in the future.

5 comments about Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.

1. 
   
   over 85 years old and still going strong, read it and find out why



2. Never before had I so much fun reading and learning about the psychology of buying and shorting stocks. This is an extraordinarily written piece of work that eases into explanations of the power of the subconscious as well as the power of emotions on the conscious decisions made during those uncertain moments of trading. Great book!



3. This vintage tomb from a bygone era ... is simply one of the best financial texts you could ever hope to lay your hands on. One of the strongest realizations that emerge from the author's engaging style of writing, is that the lessons learned a century ago, are as relevant and useful today as they were back then. The examples and analysis peppered throughout this book, are some of the most insightful examples available to the average reader. There are no mathematical formulas or detailed charts (one of this book's strong points) yet there is plenty of meat on the bone here, for anyone that is searching for clear and practical advice on successfully navigating the rough waters of the financial markets. Many lessons learned and dissected in clear detail. Highly recommended reading.



4. This book really brings to life an era of finance that is long gone. And the lessons of the book are still very relevant today. It is part biography and part tutorial for aspiring traders. Everyone should be required to read this book before being allowed to play the markets. If even half of the people on Wall Street had read this, the USA would be in much better shape today financially. It is a very engaging and entertaining read.



5. A Wall Street Classic and it does not disappoint. Published in 1923 the book continues to be one of the most heavily references books on trading and speculation. You'll learn about the early days and the history of the markets, some basic trading strategies, and most importantly: the human psychology of ups and downs of trading and how Larry Livingston (pseudonym for Jesse Livermore) dealt with it all.
   
   I'm not a trader, nor am I aspiring to become one, but this was a fascinating read and I'll recommend it to everyone without hesitation.

5 comments about If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation.

1. "Today Ron and I are romantically involved, but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me. However, hopefully it will give you enough to go on to at least question Ron and make sure, if he is behind it, that he won't get away with it."
   
   These were the last words 37-year old Amy Latus would ever write in a letter penned on April 29, 2002 to the Knox County Sheriff, a letter which she placed in her desk drawer at Kimberly-Clark Corporation to be discovered by her co-workers after her sudden and inexplicable disappearance on July 5th. Her battered and partially decomposed body would not be found until July 22nd at a construction site wrapped in painter's tarp, her boyfriend and killer Ron Ball's tools of the trade. It was as if Amy knew with all certainty of her savage fate.
   
   "If I Am Missing Or Dead", a memoir that made the New York Times Bestseller List, isn't so much about Amy as it is about her older sister and author Janine Latus and her angst-ridden childhood and adolescence, as well as the dysfunctional and abusive relationships throughout the better part of her life, particularly her marriage to now ex-husband Kurt. There are few words to describe what one will feel when reading the painful retelling of Janine's subjection to physical and verbal abuse as well as Amy's violent and untimely death at the hands of a man from whom she only wanted love. Expect anger, frustration, sadness and the inability to put the book down until you have reached the very end in an attempt to once and for all read of the resolve and peace that Janine finally acquired, Amy's death in 2002 serving as the catalyst for her emotional release. Part biography and part autobiography, the book is written in an accessible and easy style and at just a little over 300 pages, is a quick read. It is short, but most definitely NOT sweet and emotionally gut wrenching to the last.
   
   Both Janine's and Amy's story are clear examples of psychologically abused women following a cyclical pattern of behavior in which they subconsciously seek out potential abusers because they know nothing of normalcy and/or healthy relationships with men. Janine admits to this herself when she says that Amy "never had a good relationship with a man, nor a relationship with a good man". This stems back to their childhood and their strained relationship with their father, a man who drank copiously, largely disregarded their mother's feelings and made inappropriate, unpleasant and derogatory sexual overtures to Janine, her sisters and their female friends. He is inarguably a sexist pig and indifferent towards the girls' discomfort; after Janine is ruthlessly groped by the father of neighborhood kids she is babysitting, her father apathetically responds with, "If you tell anyone what happened, you'll be known as a slut."
   
   Their upbringing steeped in the guilt mongering and misogyny of the Catholic Church did not help matters.
   
   "In church I learned: Girls are seductresses, starting with Eve, who got us all kicked out of the Garden of Eden by being weak, by taking a bite from the tree of knowledge, and - most important - by enticing poor, innocent Adam to do the same. Everything bad can be traced back to women, and the only way to make up for the lustiness of my gender is by acknowledging my guilt, carrying it, wearing it like a badge." (pg. 29)
   
   It is from both the apathy of the church and of her father that Janine and Amy are destined to suffer in every romantic relationship. Janine says about her losing her virginity to a boy named Kenny that "he actually does love me, with the puppyish devotion of an 18-year old. He says it's because I am incredible, amazing, but I think it's because I give him sex. I will think that and think that and think that. With man after man. I will think that each wants me only for sex, that sex is what I have to offer." (pg. 34) This is only the start of her many afflicted romances. First there is Michael, who takes Janine to an eye-opening Thanksgiving dinner at his parents' house where his father hurls the turkey against the wall in a rage when his mother forgets the yams in their lovely and extensive spread. When Michael flies into his own rage on a skiing trip and severely beats Janine, she runs into the arms of her future husband, a doctor named Kurt who is married with a child on the way.
   
   Kurt seems to be the man of her dreams but once she accidentally wrecks his new Mazda shortly before their wedding, all bets are off. Initially genteel and loving, he graduates quickly to physical and verbal abuse, hurling one unfounded accusation of infidelity after another derived from his fears of rejection and self-induced paranoia. He also belittles her, spitting at her more than once about her feminist views and using passive-aggressive statements to pick fights and incite guilt trips ("If you don't want to have sex, just say so", "You want to f*ck him/he just wants to f*ck you", "every time I try to do something nice for you, you ruin it!"). He is imperious and anal to the nth degree, from his insistence on the alphabetized pantry to the skimpy, revealing clothes he pushes Janine to wear despite her self-consciousness and physical discomfort. This rages on until she finally leaves him about a year after they adopt a baby girl named Sarah. Knowing it is no longer just her that is affected by the darkness and animosity of her marriage, it propels her to ultimately put a stop to it once and for all.
   
   Meanwhile, Amy deals with the rages of her alcoholic husband Jim and once she finally works up the courage to leave him, she soars to greater heights and acquires her job at Kimberly-Clark as a pricing analyst. A few months after graduate school and gaining her first-ever mortgage in her own name, Amy has her fateful run-in with Ron, an unemployed house painter from whom she consistently craved physical affection and received nothing but grief. Amongst all the insincere love notes and whispers of sweet nothings that Amy so believed were genuine are pleas for financial help. After bailing Ron out of jail after his third DUI and paying his exorbitant legal fees, she also purchased a $30,000 truck for him and supplies for the start of his own house painting business. All told, Amy loaned him over $50,000 before he ruthlessly murdered her and lied about it. It's hard to understand why she put so much faith in Ron, a man so unreliable and untrustworthy that most women would never have taken a chance on him, continuing to support him when her gut instinct told her to stop. Ron even refused to consummate their so-called relationship because "he respected her too much to have sex with her", making it perfectly clear that his loyalty lay with her bank account.
   
   The memoir ends with the finalizing of Janine's divorce, the ceremonious spreading of Amy's ashes and Ron's murder conviction two years after Amy's death.
   
   Bottom line: A ruthless and eye-opening dissection of abusive relationships, I (and Janine, most definitely) can only hope that those currently in an abusive situation who read this memoir will find the strength within its pages to stop the vicious cycle once and for all.



2. Janine Latus does a fabulous job of describing the slippery slope of abuse. This book is written beautifully and captures 2 stories of abuse that many can relate to.



3. I just finished reading this Janine Latus book and I was very surprised that this book had little to do with the murder of her sister Amy at the hand of her boyfriend. Rather the book drones on about Janines relationships and her boring marraige.
   
   She mentions Amy a few times and doesn't get to her murder until like page 200..
   
   PASS!!!



4. Clearly Janine Latus has used her sister's death as a lever to enter the book publishing world. As many others have noticed, the title leads one to anticipate a tale of Amy's life and death. Half way thru the book I began to realize that Amy's murder was just a come on so that Janine could tell the story of the most important person...herself!
   
   It was at this point that the writing became redundant and the author unlikeable. After Janine gives us the basic outlines of her marriage to Kurt, she incessantly belabors the points with tale after tale. I almost wanted to shout 'I get the point already!'.
   
   It is clear that Janine was too caught up in her own psychodramas to notice her sister's slide into a destructive relationship. From this book, it appears not much has changed.



5. This book may seem heavy and undesired to one who has not experienced this type of relationship before but it is surprisingly raw and heart provoking. I myself have never experienced anything like this and yet I found myself involved and in relationship with Janine and Amy. The story touches a deep part of my heart connecting me to the struggles that many women face. The story inspires a fight for the cause to protect the real lives of women who experience this every day. I will never forget this story. It has inspired strength and courage of heart.

5 comments about Witness.

1. I've never given much thought to Whittaker Chambers, although I was sympathetic to him in the Hiss case. His book, however, is powerful and insightful. Even though the Soviet Union is gone, the forces at work that are trying to undermine Western Civilization are still present. Now more than ever we need a "Witness".



2. During a recent vacation, I was able to finish reading Whittaker Chambers' startling eight hundred page autobiography, "Witness". And I must say that I feel both well informed and somewhat disturbed by the experience. Perhaps I may be allowed to explain.
   
   Whittaker Chambers is the name finally employed by the very strange character, born as Jay Vivian Chambers. This man was raised by a rather odd set of parents, his father, a failed artist and bisexual, and his mother, a never launched actress. Now despite the failings of his parents at their chosen professions, they nevertheless had the audacity to look down upon their economic peers, among whom the Chambers boys grew up. And, though much of the personal information included in the early chapters of this book, relative to Chambers' formative years, is excruciatingly boring, it is also instructive.
   
   Chambers was a diffident, slovenly young man, though evidently somewhat gifted academically. As a consequence, he was able to gain admission to Columbia University. There, his academic career was singularly unsuccessful. First expelled for publishing a blasphemous play about Jesus Christ, he later returned, but was unable to complete his basic degree. With this, we see a very odd, but recurrent aspect of Chambers' unique personality. Though unable to complete even a bachelor's degree, due to lack of discipline, he had the audacity to style himself as an intellectual. He began then, as his parents had done before him, to sneer condescendingly at those more disciplined and accomplished than he was. And, finally, he found a rationale for his rejection of discipline and orthodoxy in the writings of Marx and Lenin. Chambers became then a "dedicated" Marxist.
   
   Our "hero" then went to work for a number of Marxist journals, and pursued a deviant lifestyle. Finally, he joined, quite willingly, the communist underground, and became an asset of Soviet intelligence. In this role, Chambers recruited numerous government officials, including the noteworhty Alger Hiss, and was associated with such men as Soviet agent and US Treasury Department official Harry Dexter White.
   
   The cowardly Chambers eventually "broke" with communism, ostensibly on the occassion of the Soviet Union's treaty with Nazi Germany. In any case, Chambers then turned on his former colleagues. This turncoat behavior of the traitor brought him finally before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and enabled him to establish a strange professional relationship with a hard charging young congressman on that committee, Richard Nixon of California.
   
   Having charged Hiss, and others, with that which he had been guilty of, being a communist, Chambers spent years as a cooperating government witness. Hence, we have the title of this book. In a stunning admission in this, his autobiography, Chambers allows that he perjured himself before a grand jury on the question of whether he had personal knowledge of espionage activity done in the United States on behalf of the Soviet Union. Hiss was later convicted of perjury on essentially the same set of facts. But Chambers was spared conviction, as a cooperating government witness.
   
   Given the above, it is stunning that the bisexual, cowardly, and deceitful Chambers has become a hero of the American "right". But perhaps this represents an essential aspect of the dialectical materialism of the "left/right" dichotomy of top level American politics. The despicable Chambers "broke" with communism. Hiss, equally despicable, never renounced this hideous ideology. American "conservatives" have since made a fetish of comparing Chambers to Hiss. To this reader, this comparison appears rather like trying to determine which is the taller of two midgets.
   
   Despite the above, the book is worth reading. It is overly long and terribly turgid. And the author is surely no hero. But the history contained within this account is well worth knowing.



3. This reads like a great spy novel, but (of course) it is true. After one has finished the last page there is a feeling of loss ... where are giants like Chambers these days?



4. I read this book when it was first published. I was fourteen or fifteen and in high school. It made a profound impact on me. Besides being beautifully written, its tale of a man who leaves what he calls the winning side (Communism) and joins the losing side (God) in the great conflict of the 20th Century influenced the course of my life.
   
   I am now 69 and still have memories of reading Chambers' autobiography. I became a lifelong anti-Communist even before I became a conservative. I come from a family of blue-collar Irish Democrats but even at a young age felt the call of the other party and when I registered to vote at age 21, I immediately registered as a Republican.
   
   Read this book and be astounded (as I was) about Chamber's life first as an overt Communist writing for the Daily Worker and then as an underground Communist working with cells in our nation's capital. We meet Alger Hiss and other important figures in the Roosevelt administration who led other lives as traitors and spies for the USSR. Doubtful as to those individuals? Then read the many books chronicling the findings in the Soviet archives after the fall of the Soviet Union (the Venona Project).
   
   My only regret is that Whittaker Chambers did not live to see the collapse of the USSR. He would have been pleased.



5. Witness is among the most haunting books that I have ever read. The reader who picks it up expecting only a combination spy story and courtroom drama is likely to be as profoundly surprised as was I.
   
   I had somewhat absent-mindedly placed Witness on my birthday gift list, in deference to the frequency with which it is cited as one of the indispensable political books of the 20th century. Upon receipt, I assigned it to the "to-read" stack, failing to note that it was a daunting 800 pages long. Shortly after I began it and realized its length, I feared it would prove too dense for me to enjoy. How wrong I was: when I at last closed the book a couple of weeks later, I knew that it would haunt me, possibly for all the years I have left.
   
   Many conservatives regard this book as a seminal founding charter, a characterization that not only underrates its literary quality, but which also erects a needless barrier before others who would appreciate it. This book is must-reading, regardless of political persuasion. I myself differ from Chambers in several fundamental ways: I am as predisposed to optimism as he was to pessimism; I relished elementary school as greatly as he was tormented by it; and I do not share his religious faith. But these and other differences do not inhibit a reader from appreciating this magnificent book.
   
   This book not only tells a riveting story, it does so with a poetic, melancholy beauty reminiscent of a great Russian novelist. Something about his writing reminded me of Nabokov (an inexact comparison, given that the style exhibits none of Nabokov's exuberant, puckish wordplay). But Chambers's fluid, graceful sentences, and his gift for reconstruction of sensory and emotional states, are comparable to those of the brilliant Russian emigre. Suffice it so say that this book does not read like a bestselling memoir, but rather as a great work of literature.
   
   The story of Witness is of a man originally alienated from his society, and of his struggle to find good and meaning in his world. Chambers's account of his early life is deeply saddening. One suspects that the entire family was genetically predisposed to depression, considering his brother's suicide, the narrator's own similar attempts, and his parents' many self-destructive actions.
   
   Attending school only accentuated young Vivian's (later Whittaker's) sense of isolation. One story he relates is hard to forget: on one of his first school days, he witnessed three boys urinating on a lollipop, and then tricking a later-arriving fourth boy into putting it into his mouth. (The incident itself is gloomy enough; equally so is the fact that Chambers later remembered it as emblematic of his school experience.) Young Chambers is traumatized by the pervasive cruelty around him. He struggles through the ordeal of school - the mockery of his name Vivian, the taunts of being a "sissy," and being compelled to fight.
   
   One is hardly surprised that such an alienated, secretly intelligent, unappreciated youth, convinced of the intractable injustice of the world, would be seduced by communism. In the central section of the book, Chambers details his gradual descent into that world, first as an open party communist, later as a practitioner in espionage. It is in this section that he meets Alger Hiss, and collaborates with him in betraying his country.
   
   This middle section of the book is probably the most arduous reading. At points, many of the figures and spy escapades seem to all run together. But stick with it, because the final 300 pages or so, detailing the Hiss case, are among the most gripping you will ever read.
   
   Chambers at some point realizes that the actions and amorality of communist agitation offend his still-living conscience. He finally responds to that conscience, and begins a further personal journey to where he locates the spiritual comfort he previously lacked: in truth, in family, in working the land, and in religious faith.
   
   Ultimately, Chambers's break with the party compels him to inform on Alger Hiss and others during a Congressional investigation of communist infiltration of the executive branch. Chambers chooses his title of "Witness" advisedly, meaning "witness" in quite the literal, religious sense - a moral compulsion to testify to what he knows, in spite of the danger to himself, in order to help save the world around him. Indeed, Chambers is convinced that he is defecting from the winning to the losing side when he makes his break, but feels he cannot rightly do otherwise.
   
   Popular memory of this period in American history has been, unfortunately, blurred by the excesses of Joe McCarthy. McCarthy's crude and reckless actions have made him a convenient whipping boy for subsequent Hollywood treatments of the Cold War. It is too little remembered that prior to the McCarthy debacle, it was revealed that in fact, there were many communists who had ensconced themselves in the highest levels of the American government, where they practiced a treasonous espionage. The Chambers-Hiss case, much more than the buffoonery of McCarthy, is the truly dramatic and relevant parable of the age.
   
   Much of the final chapters of Witness is told through transcripts of the Congressional hearings. Reading them, one can only wish for a skilled Hollywood treatment of these scenes. The events included every dramatic turn one could hope for - the steady unraveling of a senior State Department official as his lies are exposed on the witness stand, the relentless and skilled probing of Congressional investigators, dramatic personal confrontations, the discovery of critical evidence midway through the proceedings, and even the secreting of classified material in a hollowed-out pumpkin.
   
   What is sobering to realize is that the case would be likely to play out in much the same way today: the press reflexively sided with the urbane, politically-approved Hiss, while the slovenly, seemingly-shady Chambers was subjected to every calumny imaginable. But it turned out that it was the schlub who was actually the man of intelligence and integrity. Appearances are often deceiving.
   
   One thing that leaps out from these pages after the fact is just how pathetically incompetent a liar was Alger Hiss. You follow him weaving and revising and hedging, and not very convincingly. But so blinding were the ascendant political assumptions of the time that he was the one who was initially believed.
   
   One needn't share Chambers's views on politics, religion, or even of the mind of the typical communist subversive, to find his memoir to be a story of surpassing poetry and haunting resonance. Few people have had such an important story to tell in their memoirs, and almost none have told them so lyrically. Few are the books that are virtually impossible to forget. This is one.