5 comments about Living Crazy Like Fly.

1. In her book, Living Crazy Like Fly, author Caryn Suarez invites her readers to travel with her on a journey from the depths of depression to the euphoria of joy, and back again. Author Suarez's has done an able job as she writes of a young woman's daily trek from hell to heaven, from home to school.

   It takes courage for one to write of something so personal, so tragic. And yet Ms. Suarez has provided us an opportunity to explore, with her, the dark corners of that young woman's life and to see the skeletons in the closets of the place she called home for so many painful years.

   To you readers:I hope you plan on giving Ms. Suarez a chance to share with you the heart felt story of one woman's tragedy and triumph, of her heartbreak and joy, by buying a copy of this remarkable book.

   To Ms. Suarez: I hope you plan on sharing with us, in writing, more of your thoughts and stories.




2. After reading the book I realized that I was not alone. I think there are many others out there from the '70's who were in the same boat and did not have anyone to talk to about the abuse they were suffering at home. Like the author, we went to school to escape home life. I think it is a great book and that everyone should read this true to life story of survival. It lets you know there is still a chance for all of us to land on our feet.



3. Caryn has wrote a great but sometimes sad, sometimes happy book about growing up in the 70's. Though I am a personal friend of the author, I believe the reader will throughly enjoy this book and be able to relate to it from their own growing pains. We had lots of fun in that era and hope you will join the adventure. Just watch out for the holes in the ground :-)



4. I found Caryn Suarez' story captivating, a good read, and something I couldn't put down once I started reading. How easily we picture our friends and neighbors as 'typical,' and yet does anyone ever know what really goes on behind closed doors ? A book I recommend to anyone who wants to read about the hidden truths in small town USA.



5. Imagine going home from school, walking in your door and fearing for your life. Now, do that everday for about 15 years. Picture yourself walking into a room and looking down the barrel of a large caliber gun held by your father. The man who is supposed to protect his family and children, instead he is beating them until they can hardly move. This happened in my small town. It was in her household that this story takes place. Her home was her private hell. It was a place that was perfect; an "all American household" on the outside, but to the people who lived in the house it was the worst place on earth. However, her life was not totally miserable. The book tells of her high school activities, her friends and "ze Country Club". This was a club that she and her friends formed and it became a club much loved by most of the students. It was special because the leaders did not limit entrance by social status, money or age: they let you be a part of their lives if you were a good person and fun to be with. In my honest opinion, this book was the most depressing, happy, funny, disturbing and most heartfelt book that I have ever read. "Living Crazy Like Fly" is a book that EVERYBODY should read. It gives you strength to endure bad things; and it makes good things much better. It brings reality to life and makes the human heart a little bit kinder.

1 comments about The Bottom Feeders: (Some call us white trash).

1. It would have been nice to know this before purchasing the book. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the book is impossible to understand due to poor sentence structure, among other things. I gave it a try and gave up before finishing the first page. Complete waste of money.

No comments about South of Lobber Point.

No comments about Carolina Comfort.

No comments about Just Passing Through.

No comments about The Witch of Ferndale: and More Aunt Ella Stories.

No comments about A Tenant Farmer's Daughter.

1 comments about A London Girl of the 1880's (Reminiscence).

1. This is the second volume in Mary Hughes's autobiographical trilogy, which starts with "A London Child of the 1870's". All three are recommended. This volume may be the best of the three, because in the first one Mary Hughes is just a child, but in this book she more clearly shows what a remarkable person she was.
   
   She was raised in a family that valued education and literature, and although she attended no school until she was eleven, she was an outstanding pupil and was one of the first women in a new teacher's training college in Cambridge. She later, in her early twenties, ran a teacher's training institution herself; and her commonsense account of her principles and what she tried to impart to her students--who were often older and more experienced than she was--is fascinating reading.
   
   The real attraction of the book, however, is her personality: Mary Hughes (or rather Mary Thomas, as she was then) was clearly one of those people for whom nothing but real tragedy can overcome a basically cheerful and good-humoured outlook. Her stories of school, family and college life are detailed enough to feel intimate and closely-observed enough to be truly informative about what life was like in the 1880's. Textbooks can give you data, but can't make you feel as though you knew what it was to be a Londoner in Victorian times. This book helps fill the gap so thoroughly you will feel like a friend of the family at the end of it.
   
   The books are moving, too: her large family was not immune to tragedy, and it is an emotional shock when a death occurs.
   
   Strongly recommended; but I would suggest you read the first volume before this -- it is just as good, and if you read it you will enjoy this one even more.

No comments about Just Across the Fields (Ulverscroft Nonfiction).

No comments about Fools and Children.