1 comments about Miracle at Sea.

1. This is an extraordinary and well written little book that celebrates faith and family. The setting is in the early days of World War II before the US gets involved. In 1941 a missionary wife and her six children receive permission to travel to Africa to be with their beloved father. En route the Germans sink their ship, the Zamzam. But despite continuous shelling, not one soul is lost! Mother and her six children board a lifeboat that sinks beneath them. 'Just remember that Jesus loves you,' she comfortingly tells her children. I highly recommend this book. Well written with great narrative. You will not be disappointed.

No comments about Chantemesle: A Normandy Childhood.

1 comments about Book of Beginnings.

1. Reading this book is a little like eating chocolate chip cookies: you read one of the short chapters (laughing all the way, or sometimes crying just a bit), thinking that then you'll go do some serious work--and then the next one draws you in, making you think, "well, I can afford just one more--they're small, after all!" The whole thing is a delight, beautifully written, witty, articulate, and thoughtful. The titles make you want to keep reading ("My Father Kills my Mother," "My Brilliance Goes Unrecognized," "Of Protestants and Potato Soup," for example), the epigraphs reveal the variety of Stuckey's reading, and the totally non-self-deprecating blurb on the back of the book (clearly also by Stuckey) offers a glimpse into his ability to mock himself. This is a terrific book--one that will amuse and engage all readers and that will prompt other people either to write their own memories or to sit with friends and family talking over the joys and pains of growing up. It's also bound to make everybody wonder how little boys ever make it through to adulthood!

5 comments about Weather of the Heart: A Child's Journey Out of Revolutionary Russia.

1. I happened upon Nora Percival in Valle Crucis, NC where she was signing her books. I feel so lucky to have personnally autographed copies of her books and a photo of me with her. Nora Percival is as captivating in person as she is in her story.
   "Weather of the Heart" is wildly educational, exciting and inspiring, a study in optomisism. I literally could not put it down: I carried it from room to room and took it with me if I left the house. When I finished reading the book, I missed Nora the child because I found her so charming; WHAT A GIRL!! What a book!



2. From beginning to end I was caught in the poignant details of this story. The Russian Revolution is brought to life through the individuals who face poverty, uncertainty, and constant changes in their circumstances. Whether people are poor, middle class, or wealthy, they are thrown together in difficult, often dangerous situations. Nora Percival fills the pages with family members who are at times wise and courageous only to later be petty and weak, each one trying to survive in a world that no longer makes any sense and which never stands still long enough to build new understandings about how to respond. Nora's free spirit in the midst of this chaos is a constant inspiration. As a young child and into her teens she tends to her mother who is depressed and unable to find the energy required by this newly restricted environment. Though her mother often becomes tiresome, Nora continues to persevere, giving of her own strength to keep her mother afloat. When Nora finally comes to America the reader comes with her, feeling Nora's celebration of freedom and a chance for a new life.



3. This book details the events that brought an immigrant family to safe harbor in the US after escape from the Russian revolution. The viewpoint is that of a young girl, just 3 years old at the beginning of the story. This young girl is the only daughter of a bourgeoisie family. Her father left the farm as a penniless young man, and through his own enterprise came to own a small shoe factory in Samara. As the revolution takes hold, Percival's father is named as a criminal against society because of his social standing, and he is forced to flee to Manchuria, leaving his wife and daughter behind. Percival describes to us how she and her mother gradually lose their life of relative luxury and ease, how their German governess fled, and how they had to abandon their home and move in with her paternal grandparents. The circumstances that follow develop her into a mature young woman by the time the main narrative ends when she is 8 years old and living in New York City.

   Occasionally, especially in the first chapter, Percival's writing style can be a little annoying. Nevertheless, the story that she has to tell is riveting. She provides unique details of the daily life of ordinary people in the time just before, during, and after the Russian revolution. She also tells us much about the conditions and rules faced by immigrants to the US during the early part of the 20th century.




4. I learned so much about revolutionary Russia and a different way of life from this book. Reading Ms. Percival's life story was intriguing--full of happy reunions and sad partings. The book really makes you realize that people are the same all over the world. This story of a young girl's long journey to America will inspire you and make you cry.



5. This memorable book gives us the memoirs of an 88 year old first time novelist, Nora Lourie Percival. This is far and away the best book I have read in years. It is an interesting and compelling story of a child growing up in and then escaping from Communist Russia. It is wonderfully written and historically significant. The rich descriptive narrative is a pleasure to read and to hear read (my husband and I read it aloud to one another). I found myself continually rereading passages purely for the purpose of savoring the author's exquisite use of language; I have read few contemporary writers whose use of language is as skillful and as sensitive as is this writer's. This is a book to be added to the family library and to be re-read throughout the years. It is an absorbing, heartbreaking and uplifting true story of a child and her family's survival of the Russian Revolution. The reader is grabbed by the first pages and his interest is held throughout. I've bought several to give as gifts. I would recommend it to anyone! It is truly marvelous.

5 comments about Sleeping Arrangements (Isis (Paperback Large Print)).

1. I found myself struggling to finish this book. I almost gave up several times. The first several pages were quite good then it looses steam.



2. Very well written. I felt I had met these people. The writer's words flow smoothly, and I had to slow myself down or the book would have ended too soon. Some of things very young Lily and friend did were hair-raising (in a dark park, cavorting with perverts). What I liked best about this book were her uncles, particularly Uncle Gabe. In fact, I have now purchased Laura Cunningham's book "A Place in the Country" so I can read more about her uncles. I enjoy memiors that deal with unconventional families that provide a nurturing environment and a great deal of love, and this book is that sort of memior.



3. I cannot wait to read more of her work. I loved this book! I loved her writing. This is a must read!



4. This book's emphasis on prurient material turned me off. Also, the "characters" did not seem to behave in an age appropriate manner, which led me to wonder if the author didn't exaggerate many of the escapades described in the book.



5. Like another reader, I was drawn to the unusual cover of this book--a sweet lil' girl's face superimposed over a faded shot of two older men--in these pedophiliactic times of Michael Jackson and Catholic priests, I assumed it was yet another sad story of abuse. Wronnnngg! This is so outrageously funny that you can almost laugh through the sad passages, while still appreciating the depth of tragedy that befell Shaine's unusual childhood. Her uncles really did sound like a couple of Marx brothers, but the love this odd family shared always shines. I'd teach it in my high school classes, but a few passages here and there probably make it questionable--although the haunting description of her continuing search for her father would resonate with many kids. A great find that I stumbled on while hunting for something else at B and Noble.

5 comments about Ellie: A Story of Profound Loss and Abuse.

1. When I purchased this book I was expecting to read the story of abuse, the experience of processing through it, and the aftermath of living with and dealing with the sexual abuse.
   
   What I read was a story about a young girl being abused and how she escaped when she became an adult. There was no account of how she worked through the abuse. The end was terrible, basically she got married, had kids and lived happily ever after.
   
   I commend the author for writting about her abuse, however, this is not a book that someone can learn from. It is more of a diary/journal of her experiences, that avoids getting close to painful memories and events of her life.



2. This book was very good. I could not put it down. What Ellie went through was so sad! At different points of the book I was crying. I highly recommend this book.



3. Wow. I don't even know what to say. I just spent an hour of my life reading this book, and I want it back.
   
   It reads like a synopsis, with no discernible scenes, little dialogue, poor style and punctuation. It's unpublishable material that probably wouldn't have seen the light of day in the hands of a capable publisher such as Random House or Penguin. (The folks who published this book will publish anyone.) Have a look inside and see for yourself.
   
   If the subject matter interests you, try reading a work by someone who actually knows how to write: White Oleander and Ellen Foster are pretty good.



4. In reading the story of Ellie many emotions were stirred within me. I too grew up in an abusive home however I never endured the horrors that she did. I am amazed at the strength this young girl showed throughout years of constant abuse, neglect and upheaval. Not to mention the loss of both parents at such a young age. Ellie could have turned toward a life of crime and drug addiction and she could have repeated the abuse, continuing the cycle but, she didn't. All survivors of child abuse need to read this book for inspiration. And if you never had to endure an abusive childhood you too need to read this book to gain understanding of what it is like for a child to be under the control of a very sick adult.



5. Deborah Rose reveals the inescapable life of abused children in her book, "Ellie - A Story of Profound Loss and Abuse". "Ellie" is a first-hand account of a disturbing reality shared by far too many children - only the intimate details, the people involved and the locations are different. "Ellie" could epitomize the concealed horrific life of a child you know, perhaps even yourself.
   
   "Ellie" doesn't waste words in an attempt to make the issue unduly sensitive or pretty and Ms Rose isn't trying to put the reader in her shoes to solicit sympathy - she's concise and to the point - child abuse is real and she's lived it! It isn't just something that happens in other countries - it happens closer to home but children are forced to never tell their secrets!
   
   Ms Rose not only captures the hell that children experience while being abused, she offers helpful words of inspiration and hope for other Survivors who are searching for a way to heal from childhood abuse. "Ellie" is also a must-read for people who don't understand the agony that constitutes the unfair lives of abused children not only during abuse but for the remainder of their tormented lives.
   
   "Ellie" and Ms Rose are true inspirations!
   
   Catharsis Foundation
   "It's Time To Tell!"

No comments about Mary Paxson: Her Book: 1880-1884.

4 comments about A Bruised Child: A Story of Emotional Child Abuse and the Courage to Heal.

1. words can't describe how much i despise this book. I actually threw it against the wall before it made its way to the garbage can. I read 3 pages. If you want to hear inane commentary of every single cognitive process this guy had over the course of his childhood then go for it. I doubt the author has recovered at all from his abuse and seems to desperately try to turn his tragedy (whatever it was) into something interesting. Very self indulgent. I felt as if he was dictating a psychotherapists cold analysis of himself to the reader. If you are looking for insight into the patterns and recovery of abuse, look elsewhere. Read Judith Herman's "Trauma and Recovery".



2. When your children stop talking to you, you gotta think what you have done to them when they were young or even after they have grown up. All the physical and psychological abuse... do you realize what you have done to them? Can you dare to disagree with your parents? I think NOT. NOTHING... NOTHING... NOTHING can heal all the wounds and bruises... THERE IS ONLY HATE!



3. When your children stop talking to you, you gotta think what you have done to them when they were young or even after they have grown up. All the physical and psychological abuse... do you realize what you have done to them? Can you dare to disagree with your parents? I think NOT. NOTHING... NOTHING... NOTHING can heal all the wounds and bruises... THERE IS ONLY HATE!
   
   THE SWEETEST REVENGE TO THESE KINDA PARENTS - avoid them...
   
   All parents should read this book.



4. Usually I read books that have made me cry (as well as everyone I let borrow the books after me)
   like for example, Dave Pelzer and Marcia Cameron, books like those will make you balw your eyes out when you read what horrible things they went through. However, this book quotes from the Bible a lot, so it can be spiritual. However, I thought it was going to be a book that would depress me after reading it, but it didn't. It was helpful, and the things he described that his mother and father said to him (verbal and emotional abuse as he put it) didn't seem that bad. I think that the time and era that the author grew up in is a time when people didn't know anything about the proper way to adress their families. Children just did what they were told and that was it. It didn't seem that bad. Also, this book read like a textbook in a way too because it stated what the "correct" way to talk to a child was, especially in this day and age.
   It was a good book, but not what I had expected.. Still a good read. Very spiritual and Bible- oriented.

5 comments about Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust.

1. i loved this book. i felt as though i was right there with him and his family through every phase of their lives. this book had everything going for it, sadness, chaos, happiness, tragedy. it was so personal and you just felt as though the author let you in to share with him.



2. Joseph Berger has written a story that needed to be told, but he has included too much extraneous material about his own life. Much of what he tells reveals what it was like growing up as the child of a refugee, but who cares whether or not he dated in high school?

   The best parts of this book were those about his mother's life and about how she managed in the United States as a refugee. Berger's writing is more journalism than story telling. He's got all the facts, but none of his descriptions flare above the mundane. His mother's reminisences are far more artistic, and reveal more than the words on the page.




3. My father's story parallels Joseph Berger's in eerie ways...they were both at the Schlactensee DP Camp and the Landsberg-Am-Lech DP camp...Berger's mother's story of her youth could be my grandmother's, from an unpleasant step-mother to the flight East to Russia. My father was born during my grandparents' refuge in the USSR, and crossed illegally with his family into Poland after the war ended. I have always been close to my grandparents, but this book brought clarity and insight into topics they don't generally discuss...the duality that immigrant survivors (the displaced persons) felt between their new lives in America and the tragedy and loss left in Europe. When I look at my grandparents' happy faces at family occasions---graduations, weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthday parties---I wonder if the events make them remember times similar back in Lithuania. Berger's story, beautifully written and researched, is a must-read.



4. This book will be enjoyed by all who read it for it is a story of survival from the ashes of the Holocaust. This book is also an excellent book club selection that will spark much thought and conversation.



5. This book resonates on many levels. It is a compelling and vivid narrative detailing the acculturation of Holocaust survivors in New York City, specifically, during the immediate post-war period. But this is no dry text. You feel the bewilderment of these brave souls as they desperately try to make a home for themselves in their newly adopted country while, at the same time, deal with the perpetual anguish of searing, catastrophic loss of family, country, and hope (or faith, or optimism). This is all presented through the lens of the author's memory in a series of poignant vignettes, capturing just the right detail to press itself into your heart, time and time again. From the particulars of these experiences, it deepened my understanding for what my own mother went through when she immigrated -- she is considered a Holocaust survivor because she experienced Kristallnacht in Vienna, but she was fortunate enough to have come to America pre-war -- and strengthened my compassion, empathy, sense of kinship and profound respect for all survivors of catastrophe due to war, or abuse, or illness, etc., who have nonetheless managed to make reasonable and productive lives for themselves. So...get the book and treasure it!

5 comments about Crazy in the Kitchen: Food, Feuds, and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family.

1. I usually do not put aside a book before finishing it. In this case, I got about a third of the way through and just skimmed the rest and could not bring myself to read it in detail. I purchased this book hoping (despite prior reviews) that it was more food lit than self analysis. However, the strength of this book is in its description of tense family relationships, and indeed not in its descriptions of food in Desalvo's life. If you are interested in it anyway, good luck - there is a lot of emotion in it.



2. This book is the first in a very long time I've read word by word. Even when I could set aside her subjects, the vitality of DeSalvo's writing style was irresistable for me--elegant, layered, a bit vulgar, self-indulgent, complex, musical, heartbreaking, self-effacing, beautiful.
   My maternal grandparents were Italian immigrants to California; my mother and her sisters born in the U.S. DeSalvo's exploration of the Italian culture both here in the States and in the Old County gave me a handhold among my mother's family as no other source has.
   You'll either hate this book immediately, like tripe, or inhale it like the best cannoli.



3. OMG....I forced myself to get beyond page 13 and just had to give it up. There really isn't any 'food'in her repetitive writing, but a lot of angst squished up into a white bread samich that apparently NO one wants to eat, each for their own screwed up, twisted reasons.... what this book did for my stomach was put it in knots..... BASTA!
   This book makes me happy I am Sicilian NOT "Italian-American".



4. I enjoyed this book from start to finish. The descriptions of food were mouthwatering. I appreciated the view into the lives of Italian immigrants and their lives in Italy. The family interactions were well described. Each chapter was a gem of an essay. Unlike many memoire writers, this author sustained the high level of writing and self-exploration to the very end. I really admire her ability to dig into her real feelings and to try to understand her parents and grandparents. I plan to look for other books by this author.



5. I picked up this book to read thinking it was like so many other books I have read about Italian-Americans in an attempt to better understand my husband's family---a light-hearted look at the "crazy" antics of a close knit, pasta eating bunch of eccentrics. However, this is not at all what this book is, and what it actually is helped me more than any book I've read in understanding the family I have joined.

   When Desalvo says "Crazy in the Kitchen", she is not kidding. Her mother and much of her family really does have seriously crazy tendencies---fury, cruelty, irrational financial habits, long running feuds, etc. And the kitchen is where many of these things are played out---from her mother's poor cooking to her step-grandmother's good but steep in unbreakable traditions cooking, to the cooking and eating of her ancestors in Southern Italy, or the NOT eating---for I finally understood what drove so many Italians to come to America. I had no idea how awful conditions were for the peasants of Italy. What they were subjected to honestly reminded me of accounts of places like Cambodia or China, during the Great Leap Forward.

   I learned a great deal about Southern Italian culture from this book, and found myself reading many passages to my husband, a first generation Italian-American who spent much of his youth in Sicily visiting, and who had parents who spoke only Italian, and even he was stunned to find out much of what I read. I now understand my late in-laws much better than I did before this reading.

   The writing style of this book took a bit to get used to, until I let myself fall into it. It's written like so many stories told by my in-laws---in a bit of a circular way---you find out a bit here, and a bit there, and it all adds up in the end.

   I want to thank Ms. Desalvo for this book. I look forward eagerly to reading the rest of her works.