4 comments about Nobody Knows My Name.

1. Bearing the subtitle "More Notes of a Native Son," "Nobody Knows My Name" is a follow-up to Baldwin's earlier, more famous book. Originally published in national magazines between 1954 and 1961, these essays are more mature, if less biting, than his first collection--and they are certainly just as witty. With one notable exception, they are timeless and trenchant commentaries on racial and cultural issues.
   
   The first group of eight essays focuses on the political and social divides in the United States. The opening article reiterates the discovery he made in "Notes of a Native Son": that by living in Europe he paradoxically discovered what it means to be an American. Others examine the despicable inhumanity of a Harlem public housing project ("cheerless as a prison"), the success of the student movement and the rise of Muslim power in black politics ("a very small echo of the black discontent now abroad in the world"), and the first efforts to integrate Southern public schools ("the entire nation has spent a hundred years avoiding the question of the place of the black man in it"). The two most memorable essays detail the daily bravery, trauma, and humiliations of a schoolboy who is the first black in an all-white school and respond to Faulkner's despicable remarks on race (which were made when Faulkner was seemingly drunk and which were later repudiated when he was atypically sober).
   
   The only disappointing essay is "Princes and Power," an account of Le Congres des Ecrivains et Artistes Noirs (Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists). The internal disputes and lofty goals of this gathering--convened to consider "the history of Euro-African relations" and the postcolonial "cultural inventory"--did not lack for interest, and Baldwin ably relates the tensions between and cross-purposes of American blacks and Africans. But, overall, he seems to be just phoning it in, muffling the obvious passions of the conference participants and highlighting instead the abstract academic tone.
   
   The second and final group of five essays highlight cultural subjects. He follows a speech detailing the outline for an imaginary novel with biographical appraisals of Andre Gide, Ingmar Bergman, Richard Wright, and Normal Mailer. His eulogy for Wright, initially composed and published in three disparate parts, simultaneously expresses regret for Baldwin's youthful criticism of the older author that resulted in the irreparable destruction of their friendship and recounts Wright's sad social decline: "he had managed to estrange himself from almost all of the younger American Negro writers in Paris ... [who] had discovered that Richard did not really know much about the present dimensions and complexity of the Negro problem here, and, profoundly, did not want to know."
   
   But the gem of the collection is "The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy," Wright's tongue-in-cheek account of his friendship with Normal Mailer, written both as not-so-subtle payback for Mailer's criticism of Baldwin in the self-indulgent "Advertisements for Myself" and as a tribute to Mailer's talent and "responsibility" as an artist. After sending off a number of barbed (yet good-natured) repartees, Baldwin acknowledges not only Mailer's importance as a "very good friend" but also his worth as a writer. Baldwin's assessment of that career serves at as fitting coda to Baldwin's own essays: "His work, after all, is all that will be left when the newspapers are yellowed, all the gossip columnists silenced, and all the cocktail parties over, and when Norman and you and I are dead."



2. For my humanities class I was instructed to read an autobiography of my choice. Through shuffling through the library for an autobiography that I can actually read and appreciate I stumbled across this great James Baldwin title. Nobody Knows My Name is a collection of his writing while he was self exiled in Europe. I opened the book with excitment and urgency. As the words regestired in my head I began to realize that the experiences he described articulated exactly how I feel as a black man in American society.
   Each essay discussing another aspect of society or the life of a black man in the world I grasped with utter enthusasim. His observations and theories were articulate critical and insightful. James Baldwin's tales of another continent are intising and informative of where our society was and how it is still the same in many ways.
   If you are interested in Baldwin's previous writings or African American authors and perspective I know you will enjoy this combiation of essays.



3. This collection of essays show James Baldwin as he strives to figure out who he is as a writer, as an American and as a black man. Beginning with his self-imposed exile to Paris in the 1950's, he calls his own identity as both a black man and an American into question. The Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists which met in 1956 showed him just how different Europeans and Africans viewed cultural identity and hinted at ostracizing the American contingent. And he felt distinctly American in that crowd. Through his essays about returning to Harlem, his criticisms of William Faulkner ("Faulkner and Desegregation"), his review of a work by André Gide, his dealings with author Richard Wright, his friendship with author Norman Mailer ("The Black Boy Looks At the White Boy"), and his interview with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, Baldwin displays his own feelings at finding his own identity as both man and writer in a world that tries to both accet and to reject him at the same time.

   Powerful essays from one of America's best authors.




4. what i love about baldwin is that he does not have delusions of grandeur about himself - unlike many blacks in the public sphere. this book of essays on society and his personal experiences in the US and abroad is majestic b/c baldwin has a way of writing about complexities of people and societal issues in an introspective yet practical way. although i was impressed with every essay, his essay on richard wright was mindblowing. BUT YOU HAVE TO READ IT FOR YOURSELF! i think it is a great book for black and latin men to read. in doing so many bruhs - if they are honest - will find that they are as similar baldwin as we like to believe are are to malcolm x. either way, you do not go wrong as both were great human beings. in short, i was totally edified by this text. It will easily make my top 10 list - which is very, very, very difficult.

3 comments about A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison.

1. This book is an incredible account of the life and times of Mary Jemison, a white woman taken captive during the French and Indian War and adopted into the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois in western New York. This tale covers her more than 70 years living among them through many of the most vital years of the long history of the Iroquois Confederacy.

   In November 1823, when she was in her 80s, Mary Jemison, at the urging of many of the friendly local inhabitants, gave her amazing life story to James Seaver to publish for posterity. Though his truthfulness in some details of that account has often been called into question, this book is one of the most important and complete of any of the Indian captivity narratives to come out of the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812, which most historians mark as the end of the period of influence of the Eastern Woodland tribes. This account gives unequalled insight into the Seneca Indians and their ways including religion, food, hunting, warfare, culture, etc.

   Mary had many opportunities to leave the Indians and return to white civilization but chose not to do so and thus was witness to some of the most amazing events in the history of her adopted people. Her tale is important to not only historians and ethnologists, but to the general public itself as it is a truly amazing story of triumph and tragedy for a proud people struggling to survive in the face of overwhelming odds as a young United States continued to expand, forever extinguishing their way of life.




2. The narrative is fascinating reading, both in terms of the history revealed in the words of Mary Jemison and in terms of James Seaver who gives us his own version of her story. The effect is a layering of historical periods. With the help of the editing, you can peer through and see not only the period of Mary Jemison's captivity, but also the prejudices of the following time. An interesting example of the simultaneous respect and loathing with which the early settlers viewed the native inhabitants. I first read the narrative in high school, and would recommend it for young and old readers alike.



3. They say if you visit New York State you will find her descendants; many native-americans have her last name. Taken captive; her parents killed - Mary becomes part of a native-american family. She married a Delaware (Lenape) warrior, with whom she was very content and has many children. This is a dramatic, true story, told in her own words. She is in her 80's, and reminisces about her unusual life.

5 comments about Maggie's American Dream: The Life and Times of a Black Family.

1. I read this book for a college class this past semester and was truely amazed at how well this book was written. This book is basically broken down into three parts, all equally intersesting. The first part is based in Maggies story, her life, struggles and amazing accomplishments. The second part is all about the author, James, who is also Maggies son. The story of "Maggie's American Dream" is an excellent representation of a family that went through tough times and prevailed through a combination of church, education as well as being "taught and strongly encouraged to develop the needed social skills and personal controls." Maggie raises her family during a time when it was difficult to be a black person in America. Maggie was ridiculed and pushed away from any opportunities simply because of the color of her skin. Maggie became a wonderful mother, which I feel is the most important part of this story. Her son James tells the stories of how he was raised. These are stories of a mother that attended all sporting events, assisting her children in becoming talented at several different activities ranging from playing the piano to playing sports. Maggie was always there for her family. She taught them right from wrong as well as a strong sense of that "never give up" attitude. These children continue to strive to do their best in anything they did, even during a time when they were held back from doing just that. This is an example of how a family can make it through most adversities as long as they all stick together and work towards their goals and dreams.
   
   Wonderful book Mr. Comer and thank you for opening my eyes to a great story.



2. Comer tells the story of his family by focusing on the remarkable life of his mother, Maggie Comer, whose determination helped her survive poverty and segregation in the South and discrimination in the North to raise of family of successful children. The first half of the book is told in Maggie's own words. The second half is in Comer's. An excellent example of the broader social migration of black families from the South to the North following Reconstruction.



3. I did a research study on American Dream in America during the 20s-30s decade. I've read a lot of books concerning the subject; literary works, forming the main portion of my resources. These ranged from Fitzgerald's 'Great Gatzby' to Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath', from Dreiser's 'An American Tragedy' to Lewis's 'Main Street'. In addition to these quite old literary works, I collected statistical, analytical information about the particular decades, to verify what I've acquired from the novels. It was a hard study, but I managed to write a reasonably concise thesis, with the help of not the sources I listed, but with this book, 'Maggie's American Dream' instead. Why?

   Almost all of the books I've read were productions of imagination. Even Dreiser, who was inspired from a real account, did not stick to facts in his book, but altered them to create a fiction. However, 'Maggie's American Dream' is a true story. It is told from James Comer's point of view, in a very poetical fashion. The second part of the book is his mother's story, which is again expressed by James. The book also contains a nice section of pictures of the Comer family, which are quite interesting after reading about the family.

   James P. Comer had a very hard childhood, as it could be expected during the years of never-ending racism issues. Comer beautifully expresses how they managed to stand tall, and get their share in the competition of living. Mr. Comer is now working as a psychiatrist in New Haven, after having completed his doctoral work in Yale University. It is a dream that is realised, indeed.

   This book will provide you with a lot of insights about the lives of black families, American societal norms, family relations during the 20s and 30s, which you cannot find easily in any other source this clearly and truely.




4. What a wonderful book. Very easy to read with lots of short chapters so that even the busiest of us can get through it quickly. And of course Maggie and her family are so real that you find you can't put the book down...you just have to find out what happens to them all next.
   It's a great story, and worth reading from that angle alone. But all the way through this book also gives you plenty to ponder - whether you are someone with an interest in education (and doesn't that include all parents?), someone who wishes that all people had an equal opportunity to realise their potential, or someone who really wants to know what life is like for others from different backgrounds and countries. The author also inspires us to think about how we can make a difference, in some small way, wherever and whoever we are.



5. This book I have read is the best book I have ever read. It has inspired me by not being mad ever time someone gets in my face and be racis toward me. I really like this aurthor he is a very insperational writter. I would tell everbody who is going through something very hard, reconmemd this book to any and every one

5 comments about Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain.

1. I bought and read this book as part of a bookclub selection. The first 60 pages were good almost even interesting then it went downhill from there! She was a complete Drama Queen and sort of an Elitist. If I was really interested in a history lesson (like the one you'll get reading this book) I would have grabbed a history book instead and not spend 15 bucks on this. So all in all it was good in the beginning then quite a torture to finish.



2. I must admit that I vacillated between sorrow and anger for Lori. She seemed to have such a hard time identifying with her Blackness and I didn't realize young Black people struggled with this identity crisis while coming of age in the '80's. Having lived through the turmoil of the '50's and '60's, I assumed that people of African descent living in America were Black and Proud.
   
   I'm happy that Lori is finally appreciating the blessing of being born Black, one manifestation of the Source of all of us.
   
   Now she will be able to impart to her children and others that on a spiritual plane, all of us share the same Source even though the multitude fails to realize that the breath of life, the air that sustains us all is the same. Many will go through life not realizing this simple fact and will continue to erect barriers/walls to separate us.
   
   Her memoir is a gratifying read and many will enjoy her awakening.



3. This memoir by Lori Tharps, who also the co-authored of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, was a nice, easy, lightweight coming-of-age story. The book got a little whiny at times as the author tried to reconcile the differences between the Spain of her imaginations and the real Spain especially as it related to the treatment, ideas and attitudes of Black people. But I was completely on-board as she struggled to figure out her identity as a Black person. She grew up in an area that was predominantly White and was never really confident in her Blackness especially when dealing with other Black people. As a first generation Nigerian born and raised in the states, that has been something I too have struggled with. If you speak English properly, enjoy reading and the Opera, well, then, you are not really Black. We know that's not true but I think it's something that many young, upwardly mobile, intelligent Black people face. What does it mean to be truly Black? Ms. Tharps story is inspirational in that she finds her own way to be authentically Black. I felt like she glossed over some things (like her children's birth and her practice of the Ba'hai faith) but these, I suppose, were not the focus of her book. She is, however, refreshingly honest about herself and her feelings/emotions in her page-turning memoir. I think it's that candor that makes you want to continue reading because there is nothing overly exciting going on in the book. It's her story. And it's just life. The ups. The downs. And the in-betweens.
   
   Great summer reading.



4. Tharps' story about her love-hate relationship with Spain was high on my list of must reads for this summer - and it turned out to be time well-spent. Tharps chronicles her youth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was the only Black girl in her predominately white classes, to her undergrad days at Smith college, where she is one of the few Black women on campus. Tharps struggles to find herself and determine where she fits in. As a youth, she develops a strong love for Spain and vows to see this country that she has fallen so deeply for. Tharps takes her readers to Salamanca and we watch as her adoration for this country slowly turns to something else when she encounters its citizens and learns its hidden truths. This is simply a love story - and in the end, I think Tharps eventually learns to love the thing that is most important - herself.



5. I could not put down Kinky Gazpacho!!! Lori's delivery of her story was heartfelt and warm, as well as insightful and educational. It has made me even more determined to broaden my life experiences by travelling to other countries (including Spain!!), and immersing myself in different cultures. Kinky Gazpacho leaves the reader hopeful, inspired, and ready to engage life fully.

5 comments about Thirteen Senses: A Memoir.

1. Started out a little slow, but became one of my favorites by the end. The second time I read it, it was much better. It is definately on the top of my recomindation list.



2. Stream of consciousness books like this one are always a risk. So in the end, I liked it. I liked it for the candidness and the luck that seemed to pervade the characters. More than anything though, I like "13 Senses" for the magical realism and the strength of the women. The Bonnie and Clyde "esque" quality lends itself to a recklessness that is the exuberance of youth. Villaseñor's situates the whole book on the extra senses that is almost forgotten by hard core materialists - yes matter precedes all but the senses six through nine. (Ten through thirteen seem to reside in some outer realm) but it is funny. Many will argue that it is short on reason and full of anecdote - yes, but that is the strength of the book not its weakness. My guess is that if we changed that "thing" within ourselves that looks for the clean and neat narrative - we lose all the heavenly glory.
   
   Miguel Llora



3. I was truly excited to hear Villasenor had written a continuation to Rain of Gold! I could hardly wait to get my hands on a copy of Thirteen Senses, and I'm so happy I did. Rain of Gold did so much to change my perspective on the Mexican experience in this century, and I felt a longing to know what happened to Lupe and Salvadore after their marriage ceremony. This story really came through, showing their growth as a couple along with their individual spiritual growth. This story is about growing into real adulthood and loosing our childish self centeredness. It's about discovering how incredible a person can be, and how far limits can be pushed.



4. I think the sequence where Lupe is talking with her mother-in-law an Idigeneous Mexican Indian was very moving. Finished the book on our way to San Francisco were we visited our daughter-in-love" and our son and grandchild. Have been struggleing with the "Thirteenth Sense" all my life, and if I can't make it on a beautiful barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico, with my husband of 37 years, there is no hope for the rest of us. Buying the book for Christmas gifts to give all the people who give meaning to my life. Beautifully written and with such sensitivity it makes you want to invite Victor for dinner.



5. I would suggest reading "Rain of Gold" first as it lays the background for Thirteen Senses and I, personally, thought Rain of Gold was the better story which pointed out the meaning of LOVE in a myriad of ways that was better than most other descriptions I have ever read.

   The weakness of this story is the overuse of the Almighty's powers and Salvador's mother's retelling her philosophy of life page after page after page. If 50 to 75 pages of this type dissertation was edited out, it would be a much better story. The religious nature of both primary familys' is very important to the story, however, it is overdone. While reading I was comparing the American Indian's religious beliefs (which I love) along with the Mexican Indian's outlook. Quite the same in many ways, particularly when actually changing from human to animal form and then back to human. Fascinating.

   I read this book out loud to my wife and she also enjoyed it and would most certainly recommend this being a fine reading experience, however, she also agrees there is too much philosophy given by Dona Guadalupe, Salvador's mother. Her meanderings are important to the story, but you can pass by many paragraphs when she gets too wound up.

5 comments about Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting).

1. I cannot remember if I watched the medal presentation ceremony for the 200 meter race at the 1968 Olympics. I think I did, if I did not then I missed a historic occasion.
   At that time racial problems in USA were not unfamiliar to me and I knew of people like Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis... However I thought that those problems would not affect top class athletes and that they were fairly treated by the white society. So I regarded the medal ceremony as a strong and emotional protest by people who though not directly affected wanted to give a voice to the majority of afro-american citizens.
   I could not be wronger. For instance, it never crossed my mind that Carlos and Smith feared to be shot by someone from the crowd.
   The book under review is a detailed account of Tommie Smith's life, focussing on the events that led to Mexico 68 and what happened afterwards.
   It is hard to believe what the two athletes, Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medallists respectively, had to endure: insults, menacing junk mail (a friend of a Smith's sister later confessed she used to send similar messages just for fun), the collapse of a marriage, a wife's suicide, the lack of support from people who could have helped (the former footballer Jim Brown was one of those), other black athletes strongly complaining their careers had been destroyed (Jim Hines, for example), no jobs...
   Also the families suffered. Smith's mother died at 57 and he strongly implies her death was caused by the stress that the situation generated. His brothers and sisters suffered all sorts of abuse and his youngest brother still seems to blame his life failures on him.
   It is no wonder that Muhammad Ali threw his Roma gold medal into the Mississipi river when realized that he was treated as before in his home town.
   The story appears to have a happy ending, the book closes with the unveiling of a statue
   portraying both athletes where everything started - the campus of San Jose State College -,
   but has it? Does anything in the world erase the strong suffering both athletes had to face?
   On reading this book I was reminded of a TV movie I watched long ago. The character played by Bette Davis, an old teacher, bumps into a former and much, much younger pupil.
   They recall her motto - It's better to lose on one's terms than to win on someone else's. (I'm quoting from memory). I think that Tommie Smith might agree.



2. I thought the book was wordy but interesting. I wish the ghost writer had more control. Sometimes preachy. Slow read.



3. I enjoyed learning more about Mr. Smith, but found the writing to be cumbersome, and a bit boring.
   
   The concept was a good one, unfortunately the writing was poor.



4. With several long-winded sections on the kinetics of sprinting and slams against athletes - John Carlos, George Foreman, Bob Seagren, Lee Evans, teammates on the Cincinnati Bengals - and others - Dr. Harry Edwards, Jim Brown, the NAACP - it is no wonder why it took 40 years for Tommie Smith to get his autobiography published.
   
   In what is oftentimes a very tedious read, Smith and co-author David Steele ruin what is a powerful personal account of an athlete who truly wanted to use his talent for a greater good and the institutionalized racism in this country that he has confronted his entire life.
   
   Smith's recollections of the Olympic Project for Human Rights is particularly moving and he does an excellent job is dispelling the myths that has clouded the issue since the late 1960s. For the record, his Olympic gold medal was never seized by the International Olympic Committee.
   
   But his personal vendettas against so many people and institutions detracts mightily from his message. It may have been theraputic for Smith, but whining about the salaries of Bengal teammates and magnifying every perceived slight from friends/colleagues into high drama becomes juvenile and silly.
   
   I was very excited when I heard that Smith's autobiography was finally going to be published. But it proved to be a very disappointing read.



5. I feel that the previous reviewers each has an ax (albeit a different ax) to grind. I am simply a progressive who happens to follow the sport of track & field, and have since before 1968. I admire both Smith and Carlos, but I thought Smith's book (I have not read Carlos')was self-serving and, as one reviewer noted, compromised by regret. To those of us of that generation , to whom that silent gesture was meaningful indeed, whatever its exact motivation, this volume constitutes a terrible disappointment. I'll take the Tommie Smith of 1968 without resrvations, but who's THIS guy?

5 comments about Geisha: A Life.

1. This is a beautiful story about a little girl who became one of the most famous geisha in Japan. Mineko, which is her adopted geisha name not her birth name, moved into the Iwasaki geisha house when she was only five years old. She started her artistic training when she was merely six. At a time when most five and six year olds in America are starting kindergarden, playing video games and sports, Mineko was already "working." Her passion and greatest devotion became the dance.
   
   This biography came out in 2002 which may or may not have been around the time Memoirs of a Geisha published as well. Both novels are strikingly similar I noticed, especially when it dealt with World War II. But this novel, as opposed to Memoirs, is an actual biography.
   
   The Japanese terminology is so fascinating to learn and explained very well. I learned that geisha in training were called maiko, or "women of dance," and geisha or geiko actually means "women of art." For a period of twenty five years (from age five until twenty-nine), Mineko practiced all the traditional and ancient customs including dance forms, music, and tea ceremonies (ochaya). Maiko is simply amazing. Despite learning traditional customs she is also an incredibly skilled business woman. She worked 7 days a week, 365 days a year, from the time she was fifteen until she was twenty-one. In the Iwasaki okiya she was the hardest working and most devoted geisha.
   
   Her experience with love was also very humorous. Because she worked so intently she viewed most men as business transactions and nothing more. One man, by the name of Toshio, eventually changed her views. After visiting her multiple times he finally expressed his love for her, which she just scolded him as a young child (despite him being twice as old) and he was also married! Toshio explained they were both in a loveless marriage, but Maiko didn't want to hear of it; she refused him completely. Finally she told him, after his countless advances, if he came to the Gion Kobu every day for three years then maybe she would consider it. She pretty much figured that was that.
   
   He came every single day for three years. But despite this their romance became rocky and unstable. He never left his wife. She later met a young painter, Jin, that won her over.
   
   When Mineko decided to retire at the "old age" of twenty-nine, she was sent thousands of letters from her adoring fans. She met kings and queens, royalty, presidents, diplomats, politicians, and celebrities from everywhere in the world. Her assets were in the millions. She opened up her own club, then later sold it. She decided to get her art license and became an art dealer.
   
   The beauty of this novel is how truthful and painful it was for her to grow up. I didn't really feel that she ever had a childhood, she always worked and trained every day. Her training did pay off because she was so incredibly popular, but there was still a hint of sadness in my opinion.



2. I found this book to be extremely intriguing and informative. Quite possibly fabricated in some aspects, but when your trying to learn about a culture that has so much secrecy behind it you read into whatever you can find. The secrecy is probably what makes it so fascinating to begin with!
   
   In attempts to preserve something thats so important to a culture the author may or may not have been entirely truthful with things. A case of "what should be" or what is expected of the geisha vs. what actually exists. The depiction over the years of the geisha has resulted in a bit of a smeared reputation, I think her desire to preserve the name may have overwhelmed the actual fact. Not to mention the desire to market the concept probably alters the cultural differences to an "americanized" standard that will sell books.
   
   Regardless I enjoyed this book very much I suspect there is truth beyond the story, but who really knows?



3. I LOVED this book. If you are interested in Geisha's you must read this one. It details everything about a Geisha's life. Plus tells you what is truth and what is fiction. The way the author express things is just lovely. I really recommend this book.



4. After first reading Memoirs of a Geisha, by Authur Golden, I wanted to find out how accurate it was. After reading Geisha, A life, I felt that the author Mineko Iwasaki truly represented herself. From her book you can tell that the she is an authentic Geisha wanting to dispel inaccuracies that Memoirs of a Geisha created. It is disappointing to know that society is so willing to accept inaccuracies regarding women and their accomplishments.



5. One of the reasons Mineko "came out" and decided to write this book was to set the misrepresentation of Geisha culture by Arthur Golden, whom she sued for the publishing of Memoirs of A Geisha (and settled out of court).
   
   The biggest items in contest were the facts that the concept of the Mizuage as a fee for a deflowering ceremony of a girl only applies to the oiran and tayu (prostitutes), not Geishas (where the word stands for the amount of money made by appearances over a period of time) and the notion that Geishas don't provide sex, only company. These were two items that was misrepresented by Golden.
   
   If by definition, an autobiography is to be a revealing self-portrait, then Geisha, A Life succeeds brilliantly. As readers, it is human nature, I think, to seek common ground and find people we can identify with when we pick up a book, especially a biography. However, if one can accept that the act of reading can also serve as an insight to individuals whom he or she will never cross paths with, then the absence of common ground no longer becomes an issue.
   
   Like many others here, I found this book through the controversial source for Golden's Memoirs of A Geisha. I was hoping to read about the witty conversations Geishas are reknown for. Certainly, Iwakasi- who never lets up from constantly reminding us, until the very final page- portraying herself as the greatest legend in the Geisha culture in the last hundred years, would be positively emanating with wit in every page.
   
   There was none.
   
   Instead, we are treated to a 300-page reiteration of a narrator who continues to win in almost every situation. She is No.1, inspiring jealousy in her colleagues; she excels in her dance, she instills mass hysteria and adoration from her numerous fan clubs; she is highly in demand in the Gion kobu; people sneak photos and out-takes of her into posters, commercials, and annual events, she makes so much money that she owned over three hundred kimonos worth tens of thousands of dollars, she comes from an aristocratic family (and yet, curiously, she had to "chose" a hard life of work at the age of five, separating from her family which she points out, was the only time she was truly happy in life).
   
   Even when she was at the point of retiring, not only does a good-looking younger man ask for her hand in marriage, but she keeps all her appointments, have an affair with a married superstar, and manages to make the Queen of England jealous enough to send the Duke of Edinburgh to the doghouse for paying too much attention to our heroine.
   
   She openly admits she doesn't like people. She is impetulant and spoiled from a young age. There is a unfortunate dearth of any humane voice in her narration. At the same time, she overworks herself because she wants to be liked by everyone.
   
   If all of this doesn't seem to add up, it's because the root of the story lies in one line, imparted to Mineko by her father at the beginning and the end of his life. "The samurai betrays no weakness even when starving. Pride above all."
   
   Given this filter, you begin to realize that you have to read this autobiography as if it was selectively recounted with a heavily prejudiced pen, often in the writer's favor.
   
   The only big dramatic moment occurs on Page 159, when our author pays a visit to her Onesan (the mentoring older sister to a maiko at the Okiya) who also turns out to be her real sister. She finds their mother hunched over like a maid, cleaning something. The older sister enters and screams "This is the [...] who sold us and killed Masayuki." Our author cries and runs out of the house.
   
   So the reader first thinks "whatever happened to making her own decision at five years old to lead a superstar life of a Geisha? I guess I'll find out in the next chapter."
   
   We never do.
   
   It immediately jumps back to the busy schedule of our triumphant heroine. All we have to go by is the closing chapter line "I never went back. Some proprieties were just not worth it."
   
   There is never a Geisha that equals Mineko in the narration. We are told there is a graceful beauty who was an exquisite dancer in the Gion district. Her name is Satoharu, but she is only alluded to in passing. Why? We get a glimpse of the reason on pg 232, as Mineko pleads with her Okiya mother Masako to dress down when they go meet Mineko's love interest. Here is a 21 year old superstar Geisha at the top of her game, with men falling all over her, and she is begging a 47 year old woman to go in everyday clothes because she couldn't bear being outdone?
   
   A person who doesn't like competition can tell a story only one way.
   
   One of the inherent problems of a non-fiction account of Japanese culture is that the subject is known to be extremely insulated as a community. Even if they beg to differ, or they are put off by a gross misrepresentation of the facts, we, as non-Japanese people, will never know. I think this sets the stage for a free-for-all, with the prize going to the person who choses to speak.
   
   And that's how I made it through the last hundred pages. It became more of game for me as a reader, to see how the narrator could continue to cram yet another example of self-glorification into her story.
   
   In this, she did not disappoint.

5 comments about Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau.

1. This book is was not written in an enjoyable format. Martha Ward jumped from person to person and date to date and back and forth and all around. She also injected her views on people and places without presenting proof of validity. They were simply her views, but the way she wrote them in, they could appear to be factual.



2. Another reviewer here has stated that the author should perhaps have written a historical fiction influenced by Leveau, like what Atwood did with Grace Marks in "Alias Grace".
   
   To be honset, I wouldn't have read the book then either. That's because I can't read this book without feeling... well... search inside and read a brief excerpt. The writing reads like a freshman comp paper. I can't take it seriously because the author's put so much fluff into it.
   
   Check it out for yourself, but read the excert before you go out and actually blow some scratch on this book. Who exactly is she qouting in that first chapter?
   
   Bah... if you're interested in Marie Leveau, a topic worthy of interest; then I recomend Long's investigation into the who Marie Leveau was. It too, has it's short-comings, but I assure you that it is more worth your time than this.



3. Great book , loved it, thought it was wonderful



4. Many people have fallen in love with the women who is known as Marie Laveau. Not much is truely known about her, but Martha Ward does an excellent job in giving it's readers an inside look at the "Spirited Life of Marie Laveau". This book is a must for anyone interested in the subject of New Orleans folklore.



5. Martha Ward deserves great kudos for this incredible work of love and devotion, Finally bringing the enigma of "Marie Laveau", BOTH of the Marie Laveau's to us in this day and age where she is so very much needed again to Bless her 21st Century Children now as a bona fide "Lwa"! Excellent!!! May the Good Mother Bless Martha Ward, And ALL of Us! So Be It!

3 comments about Great Jews In Sports.

1. THIS IS A GREAT COLLECTION OF STORIES COVERING JEWISH ATHLETES. FROM MARK SPITZ TO SANDY KOUFAX, EACH PERSON IS COVERED IN NICE DETAIL TELLING A BIT OF THEIR LIFE AND WHAT THEY CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR SPORT. I REALLY FOUND THIS ENTERTAINING AND INTERESTING. A RECOMMENDED READ.



2. I gave this as a Bat Mitzvah gift to a young woman who is into sports. Her mother reported that she really enjoyed it!



3. Outside the names of Sandy Koufax and Mark Spitz, it's hard to rattle off a list of great Jewish athletes. For me, this encyclopedia of Jewish athletes (complete with photos) offered encouragement in the field of athletics, and I think this can be a very empowering book for aspiring Jewish athletes in any sport. It's fun to flip each page and learn about another exciting career!

5 comments about All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs.

1. Elie Wiesel may be best known as the author of "Night", his harrowing and sparse account of his time spent in the concentration camps. His literary works have focused around the events that shaped Holocaust survivors and the questions those survivors had about their faith afterwards. His life's work is heavily imbued by those events early in his life, his novels vast testaments to making sure the world never forgets the atrocities man inflicted upon man.
   
   Yet there are many sides to this amazing man, which can often be forgotten when one dwells solely on his literary works. The first volume of Wiesel's memoirs, "All Rivers Run to the Sea", is a brilliant introduction and elucidation of the author. He relates quickly his early childhood and his time in the camps, but moves onto and focuses on his path after those events. As he forges a career as a journalist, meeting statesmen and celebrities, he finds himself and what causes he is willing to fight for. As a stateless person, his life is often difficult as he arouses suspicion, and he struggles constantly to make ends meet. Reading about his personal adventures, the reader sees how he is passionate, full of empathy, timid and captivating, a brilliant man with many stories to tell.
   
   For anyone who has read Wiesel's writings, the style of "All Rivers Run to the Sea" will be just as familiar: while it is divided into sections, his reminiscenses are as tangential as his fictional stories. Learning about his real-life adventures, readers can easily see how Wiesel has woven his experiences into all of his fictional works. The praises and accolades he has received are more than well deserved, for as long as he writes, his people will have a testimony to their past and to their faith.



2. This spectacular memoir of Elie Wiesel, the great author and voice of conscience, begins with his boyhood in the small Transylvanian village of Sighet.
   
   A pious child, with a great thirst for Jewish knowledge, a student of Torah and Talmud, and fascinated with the Kabbalah. Elie is swept into the Nazi ghetto and then death cams where he loses his parents and his beautiful little blond sister Tzipora, all of whom perished in the Nazi furnaces.
   
   He writes in memory of his losses:
   
   "If only I could recapture my father's wisdom, my little sister's innocent grace. If only I could recapture the rage of the resistance fighter, the suffering of the mystic dreamer, the solitude of the orphan in a sealed cattle car, the death of each and every one of them. If only I could step out of myself and merge with them".
   
   Wiesel writes of the prophecy told to his mother by the Wizhnitz Rabbi that her son would become a gadol b'Israel (a great man in Israel) but that she would not live to see it.
   
   Wiesel records some of the horrors he witnessed in the death camps such as live children being thrown into furnaces by the Nazis, and laments the inaction by the Allies to do anything about the extermination they knew was taking place of the Jews- saving Jews was not a priority for the Allies either.
   
   He mentions that most of the Jews who collaborated with the Nazis were intellectuals- not surprising in light of the fact hat most Jews who have thrown themselves into the campaign of hate against their fellow Jews in Israel.
   
   He writes about the liberation of the death camps by the Allies after the war, and how one of the youngest child survivors of Buchenwald was eight year old Israel Meir Lau, later to be the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel. In his section of his travels around the world as a young man during the early 1950s he writes of his great compassion at the plight of poverty-stricken children in India.
   
   Wiesel records his life in a youth home for Jewish refugees in Paris and the fate of displaced Jews after World War II, his life as a journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot for whom he covered the Eichmann trial, civil rights struggles, the Six Day War, the 1968 Student insurrections in France, and other world events.
   
   He has always been greatly interested in philosophy and parapsychology and writes of his discussions with such great leaders as Golda Meir and David
   Ben-Gurion, as well as the greatest thinkers of the day. He writes of his great love for Israel and it's people for which he has been attacked by the hate-filled bigots of the International Left. He also took a strong stand for persecuted Soviet Jewry during the 1960s and 1970s. Elie Wiesel also writes of his great compassion for humanity as a whole, such as his pain at seeing the suffering of destitute children during his travels in India. But unlike certain Jews of the Left, he does not see a contradiction between this and his great love of Israel and the Jewish people- Ahavat Israel.
   
   He writes with great compassion, passion, anger, sadness and hope.
   In a plea for the plight of his own people today, especially the youth and children of Israel today targeted by terror and forces of genocide (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Ahmadinejad regime- as well as all who are sympathetic to these anti-Jewish elements) he penned an open letter to President Bush stating: "Please remember that the maps on Arafat's uniform and in Palestinian children's textbooks show a Palestine encompassing not only all of the West Bank but all of Israel, while Palestinian leaders loudly proclaim that 'Palestine extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, from Rosh Hanikra (in the North) to Rafah (in Gaza). Please remember Danielle Shefi, a little girl in Israel. Danielle was five. When the murderers came, she hid under her bed. Palestinian gunmen found and killed her anyway. Think of all the other victims of terror in the Holy Land. With rare exceptions, the targets were young people, children and families. Please remember that Israel--having lost too many sons and daughters, mothers and fathers--desperately wants peace. It has learned to trust its enemies' threats more than the empty promises of 'neutral' governments".
   Elie Wiesel is a true voice of truth and conscience.



3. I found this a very compelling read, lasting over several readings. It's true the author did not stick tightly to chronological order, but anyone who has read his fiction knows his style tends to be very esoteric and rather free-floating (I personally do not care for his fiction, which I admit I do find to go over my head). However, as a reader, I certainly got a feel for emotions he felt throughout different experiences in his life. I found the last scene describing his emotions before and during his wedding to be really profound. It's true that there is a lot of Jewish content in this book, which may cause some of his analogies etc. to be less accessible to someone from a different background. However, for someone who wants to read a first-hand Holocaust experience without very strong graphic details, I do recommend it. (As a side note, just last week I actually attended a speech by Mr. Wiesel, and he is really a personable, funny, self-effacing and sweet man, not the really sad and somber person you might expect from his writings. I was surprised by this, pleasantly so!)



4. I would strongly recommend that all readers on Amazon read the review whose title caption is ' Remember'. It is far more extensive and far better than the small remarks I am about to post.
   Elie Weisel is the one human being who more than any other has helped the world understand the horror of the Shoah , the Holocaust the Nazi destruction of one - third of the Jewish people six million human beings.
   For this he should always have a place in the historical consciousness of both the Jewish people and mankind.
   His memoir is at times very moving .For those who know his other work and his masterpiece ' Night' there will be much familiar here, though here the story is enriched by greater detail.
   I find myself whenever I am reading Weisel unable to really judge in abstract or purely literary terms. His significance as a human being, as a witness as one who has spoken to me in my own life is so great that my feeling is closer to reverence than anything else.
   I read this book with the idea that any additional detail about his life and work, any additional understanding of his thought about Man's relation to G-d would be worthwhile. I read this work as I will read all his future works as an admiring student of a great teacher.
   May he be blessed by many more years of great creative work.



5. This is one of the times when I think we should be able to go higher than 5 stars. Elie Wiesel's All Rivers Run to the Sea gave us a more in-depth look to the concentration camp survivor. He really gives us a rich experience in weaving together the threads of his past, from his days in school to the horror in the concentration camps, right up to his days of being a journalist, and ending with him as a groom. You really get a feel for the type of person he is as well - a wonderful, compassionate, and intelligent man. If you've read Night already, you're definitely going to want to check this out.