5 comments about St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography.

1. Wanting to read a scholarly biography of St. Patrick, this book came up first in my library search so I went with it. I was at first skeptical of the author because of his name and alma mater. What possible legitimate interest, I thought, could some Harvard professor with a Jewish-sounding name have in St. Patrick, except to throw dirt on him? I was expecting an secular Ivy League scholar of Jesus Seminar pedigree, who would delight in discrediting cherished beliefs and tearing down the icons of the faithful from their place of honor. Now, I was specifically looking for nothing but the whole truth, and I accept that medieval legends should be discounted in a scholarly work, but after seeing what academic higher criticism has done to the rest of what Christians hold sacred, from the accuracy of the Bible to the very existence of Jesus Christ, I was a bit suspicious of Philip Freeman. I'm glad to say that my initial prejudices were (almost) totally proven wrong. This is a work of exceptional scholarship, with obvious respect and even affection for St. Patrick.
   
   The first problem in dealing with the life of St. Patrick is the paucity of primary source evidence. His two extant letters provide a wealth of biographical details relative to most other historical figures from the era, but certainly not enough to fill a book. The gaps in his biography have to be filled in with historical context and historical speculation and Professor Freeman excels in both. As a Professor of Classics, he is well qualified to tell us about the Roman-British world in which Patrick was born and the ecclesiastical structure in which he worked. As an expert on the Celts, he is also an authority on the culture, religion and language of the Irish people among whom Patrick spent the better part of his life. And because the details of Patrick's life are so few, Professor Freeman is of course forced to fill in the gaps with speculation. At no time did I find his conjectures anything but judicious, educated and utterly plausible. Apart from scholarly suppositions about the methods Patrick employed and the places he visited, Professor Freeman also beautifully imagines the inner dialogues Patrick must have endured and recreates the various dramas he must have experienced. I quote his wonderful visualization of the scene when Patrick told his family that God was ordering him back to Ireland:
   
   "They probably sat stunned, perhaps thinking it was some kind of joke. When they finally realized he was serious, they surely begged him to reconsider. To leave a prosperous villa, to abandon a promising political career, all for the sake of an island of hideous barbarians who had done nothing except cause pain to Patrick and those who loved him- unbelievable! Fine, become a priest if you must, they probably said, your grandfather Potitus did that, but he never left behind his wealth and position to run off and preach to savages. We'll even build you a chapel here at the villa, have services every day if you want. If you're looking for miscreants to convert, there are plenty here in your own neighborhood!" (page 54)
   
   My only complaint is that for some bizarre reason the word "Catholic" was used a grand total of 1 time in this book, and that was only to describe someone from the 17th century. Throughout the book, the author vaguely refers to Patrick as a "Christian" missionary for the "Christian" Church, to Brigid and others after her as "Christian" saints, to "Christian" monks, "Christian" bishops, "Christian" clergy, etc. That language is very odd. The adjective "Christian" is accurate as far as it goes, but not very descriptive and actually slyly deceitful. Patrick and his faith were indeed "Christian", but also more specifically "Catholic", a name the Church had been using since at least the late 1st century to describe itself and distinguish its divine legitimacy and Apostolic lineage from the various heresies that sprung up every now and then. If the Church used the word "Christian" as often as the word "Catholic" in those days, it was because there weren't 30,000 Protestant denominations around at the time to confuse the issue. The myriad sects birthed by the Reformation necessitated the use of more precise language. So, except for use in the most general terms, (such as "the cross is a Christian symbol") the word "Christian" is an amorphous glop of linguistic and theological goo in this day and age that no serious scholar can claim describes anything specific or tangible, such as a "Christian doctrine" or "the Christian Church". A similarly absurd evasion would be if a scholarly book about the Revolutionary War only described the patriots as "men" (Italians? Lithuanians? Aztecs?) who wanted independence from their "European" colonial overlord (Prussia? Turkey? Switzerland?). Such word usage is superficially true, but that kind of hazy equivocation serves to obscure the full truth rather than illuminate it. Patrick was a bishop in something called the Catholic Church, with a clerical hierarchy of deacons, monks, nuns, priests, bishops and Popes, and which was the direct doctrinal and historical forbear of the modern institution of the same name. So why did the author efface the Catholic Church from his history in an act of almost Stalinist historical revisionism?
   
   Could it have been for pusillanimously pecuniary reasons? Might his editor have told him that being Irish is trendy these days, so it would be advisable to make Patrick as ecumenically friendly as possible and not alienate the Protestant section of the market? Or was it for sectarian reasons? I don't know his faith, but he does teach at a Lutheran college in Iowa. Was he subliminally trying to advance a Protestant understanding of Church history and imply that the Catholic Church of today has no connection with the church that evangelized Ireland? After all, it is a widely-understood code word among evangelical Protestants in America that "Christian" refers to their particular brand of faith. (For example, you don't find Catholic or Orthodox books in "Christian" bookstores). The Protestants who colonized Ireland have long misappropriated Patrick as one of their own, in order to further their cause of religious and cultural genocide. Was this book an example of that kind of sectarian misuse of history? For whatever reason, Mr. Freeman's strange omission is unforgivable in a serious scholar. This book is excellent and valuable, but I'd only recommend reading it if you're savvy enough to read between the lines.
   
   Postscript: This reviewer has learned that Professor Freeman is a "practicing Catholic" who deliberately avoided use of the name of his and Patrick's church in order to "get away from modern divisions of Catholic vs. Protestant that are totally foreign to Patrick's time." Judge for yourselves, readers, whether such reasoning should be respected.



2. There certainly is a very large amount of information packed into a very small book (by comparison) here. This is an excellent work for those who have been curious, or are curious, about this famous Irish Saint, yet who are not so curious that they want to dig through a mind numbing academic work which would be better than xanax to provide a good nap. I am one of those people and I am one who greatly appreciated this work. In other areas of history, yes, I want something more in depth, but not on this particular subject. It is written in a scholarly manner, appears to be very well researched, yet I found not one page that I did not learn something from nor one page that caused my eyes to roll back into my head and wish the author would just get on with it. It was a good and informative read.
   
   I certainly am not going to rewrite the entire work in this form and call it a review. That has already been done. For greater detail refer to one of the well done and very in depth reviews already posted here. What I found most interesting about the book was the author's ability to paint a very vivid picture of the cultural and religious clash that too place in Ireland during St. Patrick's time. I enjoyed the brief look at the state of the Christian Church at that time and how it affected the people of that time. That story, to me, was just as fascinating as the one told by the author of the Great Saint himself. The brief look at the Celtic religious practices and beliefs was excellent. I also appreciated the author's ability to separate fact from all the fiction that has been dished out for years and years and do it in a nonoffensive way. This was quite refreshing. The author is quite careful to note fact from fiction, speculation from written and archeological fact. This was most helpful.
   
   The author has a wonderful popular history style, yet writes in a mode that does not insult your credulity nor does Freeman sensationalize events simply to hold the reader's interest. The facts alone, and the way the author presents them, are enough to keep you turning the pages on this one. The black and white maps provided are quite helpful as is the "dictionary" and foot noting. I enjoyed the translation of the two surviving letters of St. Patrick's "Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus" and the "Confession." Both are a nice touch and added much to the value of the book.
   
   A work such as this, where so much has been lost down through the years is not an easy thing to write, but this author, Philip Freeman has done an excellent job. Now there are books out there that go into much greater depth on the subject of this obviously great man and I certainly would recommend further reading for those who are interested or who want to become experts on the subject. For myself, this work fit my needs perfectly. I wanted to know a bit about the man and I certainly learned it here.
   
   Recommend this one highly.
   
   Don Blankenship



3. This is a great book for anyone interested in getting a glimpse at one of the most influential figures (in my opinion) in early Christianity. Freeman's book presents a concise, easy-to-follow account of Saint Patrick's life and ministry as well as pertinent historical and cultural information about Ireland and Roman Britain during his lifetime.



4. This is an excellent book that details the geography and history of the times, and the station of life that young Patrick hailed from. All of these background historical details are vital in understanding better Patrick's life and ministry. The author appeared to be as thorough as possible. What was startling was just how depraved, pagan, and cruel, at least the roving Irish were (slave traders, murderers, even cannibals) without the tempering influence of Christianity. It makes one realize how the conversion of Ireland did in fact bring the kind of normalcy that most of us take for granted within the context of civilized society.



5. Trivia: Patrick once considered himself a pagan until divine intervention caused him to become the one who drove them out of the Emerald Isle when pagan icons failed to relieve from captivity. St. Patrick's day was a celebration of liberation from the spiritual bondage of pagan practices.
   
   St. Patrick of Ireland, like St. Valentine of Rome, has been commercialized in that pagan secular way of merchandising. St. Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland when he converted the druids and other animal worship practices into Christianity. It was for this achievement that he was made a Saint.
   
   St. Patrick's Day is his feast day which has turned into a parade for Leprachuans, Shamrocks, Lucky Charms, and all sorts of Druid icons. Nonetheless, there was a historical man who became St. Patrick.
   
   Some historical notes for those interested: Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá 'le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig), colloquially Paddy's Day or St. Patty's Day, is the feast day which annually celebrates Saint Patrick (373-493), the patron saint of Ireland, on March 17, the day on which St. Patrick died.
   
   It is the Irish national holiday and one of the public holidays in the Republic of Ireland (a bank holiday in Northern Ireland); the overseas territory of Montserrat; and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the United States, Australia, and rest of Canada it is widely celebrated, although not an official holiday.
   
   It became a feast day in the universal church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding, as a member of the commission for the reform of the Breviary [1] in the early part of the 17th century.
   
   The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Roman Britain about AD 385. His given name was Maewyn, and he almost didn't get the job of bishop of Ireland because he lacked the required scholarship.
   
   Far from being a saint, until he was 16, he considered himself a pagan. At that age, he was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. During his captivity, he became closer to God.
   
   He escaped from slavery after six years and went to Gaul where he studied in the monastery under St. Germain, bishop of Auxerre for a period of twelve years. During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity.
   
   He wished to return to Ireland and to convert the native pagans to Christianity, but his superiors instead appointed St. Palladius. However, two years later Palladius transferred to Scotland. Patrick, having adopted that Christian name earlier, was then appointed as second bishop to Ireland.
   
   Patrick was quite successful at winning converts which upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times, but escaped each time. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity.
   
   His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. After that time, Patrick retired to County Down. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since.
   
   Much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick's Day. Not much of it is actually substantiated.
   
   Some of this lore includes the belief that Patrick raised people from the dead. He also is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland. Of course, no snakes were ever native to Ireland, and some people think this is a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday.
   
   One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. This stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.
   
   The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737, the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated, in Boston, Mass.
   
   Today, people celebrate the day with parades, wearing green, and drinking beer. One reason St. Patrick's Day might have become so popular is that it takes place just a few days before the first day of spring. One might say it has become the first green of spring.
   
   In the recent past, Saint Patrick's Day was celebrated only as a religious holiday. It became a public holiday in 1903, by the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act 1903, an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament introduced by the Irish MP James O'Mara[3]. O'Mara later introduced the law which required that pubs be closed on March 17[4], a provision which was repealed only in the 1970s. The first St. Patrick's Day parade held in the Irish Free State was held in Dublin in 1931 and was reviewed by the then Minister of Defence Desmond Fitzgerald. Although secular celebrations now exist, the holiday is still a religious observance in some areas.
   
   It was only in the mid-1990s that the Irish government began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.[2] The government set up a group called St. Patrick's Festival, with the aim to:
   
   --Offer a national festival that ranks amongst all of the greatest celebrations in the world and promote excitement throughout Ireland via innovation, creativity, grassroots involvement, and marketing activity.
   --Provide the opportunity and motivation for people of Irish descent, (and those who sometimes wish they were Irish) to attend and join in the imaginative and expressive celebrations.
   --Project, internationally, an accurate image of Ireland as a creative, professional and sophisticated country with wide appeal, as we approach the new millennium.[5]
   The first Saint Patrick's Festival was held on March 17, 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2000 was a four-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long.
   
   The topic of the 2004 St. Patrick's Symposium was "Talking Irish," during which the nature of Irish identity, economic success, and the future were discussed. Since 1996, there has been a greater emphasis on celebrating and projecting a fluid and inclusive notion of "Irishness" rather than an identity based around traditional religious or ethnic allegiance. The week around Saint Patrick's Day usually involves Irish speakers using more Irish during seachtain na Gaeilge ("Irish Week").
   
   Shamrock ("three-leaf clover")Many Irish people still wear a bunch of shamrocks on their lapels or caps on this day or green, white, and orange badges (after the colours of the Irish flag). Girls and boys wear green in their hair. Artists draw shamrock designs on people's cheeks as a cultural sign, including American tourists.

1 comments about Letter To A Great Grandson: A Message of Love, Advice, and Hopes For The Future.

1. Imagine coming "to the realization that the more you learn, the more you expand the periphery of your ignorance" . . . that happens when you're 18, according to Hugh Downs in his moving LETTER TO A GREAT GRANDSON.
   
   Downs, who coanchored ABS's 20/20 and who hosted NBC's TODAY show for nine years, originally wrote this book as a letter to his great grandson . . . he meant it to be read at various stages of the boy's life.
   
   It made me realize how much we can learn from our family and made me want to know more about my dad's life (hint-hint to him, if he's reading).
   
   Downs discusses the joys, possibilities and challenges of infancy, young adulthood, middle age, old age, and everything in between . . . I particularly liked the fact that he helped me see that getting old is what we make of it, as evidenced by his own remarkable life . . . for instance, he went through the NASA space training that John Glenn did when both were 77.
   
   There were many insightful passages; among them:
   I tend to be a denier. This is not all bad. I tried to avoid the word "painful." I said my knee condition was "annoying." I did not want to believe the condition was (a) irreversible, (b) painful, (c) something that could diminish the quality of my life. The result was that, toward the last, if I walked six blocks in Manhattan, I found it "annoying" enough that I was ready to sit on the curb and wait for a cab.
   
   The only strong feelings I have that might be linked to a religious outlook are of overwhelming gratitude at being favored with such a good life. If people who have been dealt a bad hand--people who suffer, physically or mentally, or are the victims of great tragedy--can manifest real faith, it would be pathetic if I couldn't feel something long that line, considering my fortunate
   circumstances.
   
   About ten years before you were born I interviewed a number of centenarians who participated in a University of Georgia study. They were the cream of the crop, because the study was not about disease and impairment so much as trying to find out what changes there were in healthy people that old. These people, men and women, ranged in age from 102 to 106, and like any other age group, varied widely among themselves. But they had a couple of things in common: not one of them was bitter, or hate-filled, or complaining. I wondered if that had something to do with their longevity. And while they were mentally agile, and in some cases quite sharp, none of them was
   physically robust. You do not reach one hundred (or for that matter, eighty) and embark on a career as a star athlete.

5 comments about I'm Not Slowing Down: Winning My Battle With Osteoporosis.

1. Not only is the information in the book completely out of date since the hormones (Provera) have been shown to be dangerous and not to help bones or heart, but to my deep disappointment, Ann Richards, it is disclosed, was a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical company who manufactured the hormones!



2. This is an excellent, very current overview of this all too common disease and its treatment. Let's face it--we're all responsible for our own health, few of us use the same physician for our whole adult lives, and education is a must. Most of us are generally aware of this disease, but did you know: that hip fractures are really breaks in the femur neck, the top of the thigh bone? that there are several drugs out there to treat this, not just fosamax? that osteoporosis can result from lack of calcium or exercise during childhood? This book explains what those T-scores from your bone density test really mean. Lots of info here too on exercise and diet. A bit less interesting is the personal discussion from Ann Richards on her own life, but that doesn't mar this extremely useful work.



3. While I found this book to be useful and Ms. Richards' style to be non-technical and engaging, I wish that, before I bought the book, I had seen the statement which is on the reverse of the title page: "Ann Richards is a spokesperson for Eli Lilly, which owns the patent for Evista. Dr. Richard U. Levine, M.D. has been a member of the speakers' bureau for Eli Lilly."



4. I could not put this book down. One would expect a book on Osteoporosis to be a bit dry but Ann keeps it real! You go girl.



5. I just finished this terrific book. I watched my grandmother, and now my mother suffer from osteoporosis. I never totally understood this issue and the fact that it is preventable. I always believed there was nothing that could be done. Now I know the truth. This book explains EVERYTHING! I am calling my
   doctor today to schedule an appointment to discuss the various options. I am 47 and just entering menopause. Please, please, everyone reading this review, buy a copy for every woman you know, regardless of their age. Thanks Ann.

No comments about Over to Candleford (Isis Nonfiction).

5 comments about An Enduring Love.

1. This is a really good book. Not only does it talk about Empress Farah's childhool, education, and marriage it also discusses about the Shah on how he tried to reform Iran and it goes into depth about the issues affecting Iran. It is also touching how she stood by the Shah during his illness and her youngest daughters suicide. It is a well written book discussing about the family's life in the states. This is a must read for a biography as well as a history lover. The book is not lenghty or boring at all. I couldn't put this book down.



2. Very informative insight for Iranians living in the US and abroad. Info on the downfall of the Shah and how the Carter adminstration turned their backs on the Shah and the Iranian people. Carter is a disgrace for what he did to Iran. The Shah was not the purest of governments but far better than the Khomeni revolution and the present day government.



3. Although like any other autobiography ,former Queen Farah's memoirs are presenting a single sided view on a regime, country and people, I have enjoyed reading this book .It gives insights on an era of conflicts and reminds of us of all the personalities who have ruled the world.



4. The Iranian revolution has overshadowed much of the Shah's "other" unofficial life. Most people studying Iran try to make sense of why the events had to unfold with the inevitability that they did. Ofcourse, the obvious reasons of totalitarianism and socio-economic inequity always rise to the forefront. Empress Farah's memoir provides a glimpse into the gentler side of the monarchy. The anecdotes involving the Shah as a suitor, a husband and father are far more interesting than Her Majesty's insights into the actual day to day workings of the government. Ofcourse, no one expects the Empress to stand up and provide a critical analysis of the late Shah's reign, and the reader wonders at times if Her Majesty was glossing over some of the unpleasantries of royal rule. Despite this imbalance, or perhaps because of it, the book is worthwhile in the sense that it brings back our focus to the man demonized by many scholars and historians for the decisions he made and which paved the way to the rise of political Islam. The Shah's human qualities are what endure in this memoir.



5. This book touches human soul, Empress Farah Pahlavi stated how Her Husband King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was working for betterment of Iran, and Iran moved from dark ages to modern ages. And now Iran has been destroyed by looters, Iranian ladies are selling their bodies to buy food for their families.
   
   It is must read book.

1 comments about Infidelity.

1. A courageous revelation of a very personal journey written in a voice that shares the intimacies and experiences with us. This book is peppered with insights and phrases that will stick with you long after you've finished reading it. It allows us to see through the authors eyes and filters, and to grow with her through childhood, teenage years, and maturity. The multiple threads that run from one generation to the next weave a rich fabric of relationships which reveal that we are much more than the products of nature and nurture...that we must each reckon with the thing we call our spirit.

5 comments about Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903-1940.

1. Well-written & highly informative this biography reaches well beyond the thread of Crosby's life to elaborate upon his historic impact on the creation & evolution of the broadcasting & recording industries. Always entertaining, this book has a riveting can't-put-it-down-until-it's-finished quality.
   
   Highly Recommended!



2. I devoured this book the first time I read it and am now reading it for the second time after discovering for myself a lot about the man, Bing Crosby, and his music and films. I wasn't much of a fan before I read Gidden's book, but am now. A facinating and detailed examination of the early life and career of an extremely talented and complex man, much loved during his long career and judged extremely harshly by many after his death. Too bad they forgot about all of the good he accomplished in his lifetime.



3. 
   Anyone interested in Bings life should enjoy this book. Does any
   one out there know when part two will be released?
   
   
   
   
   
   Anyone who enjoys Bing work will find this book interesting. Does
   anyone know with part two is coming out?
   
   
   



4. When I first picked this book up I wondered "700+ pages on Bing Crosby?" Tho a Crosby fan (more of his early work than later), I wondered if there was enough material for 700+ pages, and that just in the first volume. There is, tho with some judicious editing it could have been cut down a bit. (There is some repetition in the book, especially the author's emphasizing again and again that "Bing made great contributions to American Music", as though we in the younger generations really had to be convinced.)
   
   What I didn't like was the author's putting down some of Crosby's contemporaries. He was relatively kind to Russ Columbo, but scathing on Rudy Vallee. I'm not particularly a Vallee fan, but you have to credit the guy's popularity, and his longevity in show business as a big name. He had a wild, faddish vogue in the early part of his career, which was bound to fade when a more talented performer like Crosby came around, but he stayed in show business as a name to be reckoned with until the mid 60s. And tho he was portrayed as a blowhard and boaster, Vallee at least had enough of a sense of humor to mock his own image in movies like "The Palm Beach Story".
   
   Also the author puts down John Boles, a popular actor of the 30s, who beat Crosby out of an important number in the early musical "The King of Jazz" (it was Crosby's own fault). Again, Boles is nobody in comparison with Crosby when it comes to fame or importance, but he had a decent film career, and before I saw "The King of Jazz", I mainly knew him from films like "Frankenstein" and "Stella Dallas", and when I first saw "The King of Jazz", I was impressed that he could sing at all. Boles was famous enough to be part of a gag on a Leave It To Beaver episode--when June told of getting in trouble in school for trying to impress her friends by telling them that John Boles was her uncle!
   
   Also, as a footnote, the author relates the story of a talent contest run in Spokane as part of a Bing Crosby homecoming celebration, noting that one of the winners was Janet Waldo, and not saying much more than that. Janet Waldo did make some movies, never becoming a film star, but she did later become one of the more durable voice artists in radio and television, specialising in teenage girls (famously as Corliss Archer and Judy Jetson-and in one particular episode of I Love Lucy) into what must have been her old age-sort of a female Arnold Stang (I hope that isn't an insult!) I thought this successful part of her career was worth a mention, especially since Hollywood talent contests of the time seemd to be mere publicity stunts, and that winners were usually given a bit part in a b-film and shipped straight home to obscurity.
   
   One other thing that bothered me was the author's apologising for Big Crosby's being a Republican (a rather mild one at that). Maybe the author is a Democrat or liberal, but that's his business. The assumption that everyone reading this book is a democrat and will be offended by Bing Crosby's conservatism is a bit overbearing.
   
   But for the most part, I enjoyed the book very much. It was well written, well researched, and gave more information than you knew existed on Crosby's recordings and his movies. As someone who knows almost nothing about the more technical aspects of music, such as chord changes and harmonies, the technical descriptions of Crosby's singing went over my head and I didn't quite know what the author was talking about, but I guess that stuff is for the jazz buffs amongst the readership, and my ignorance is not the author's fault. The book was also especially good on one Crosby subject I had always been curious about: the break-up of the Rhythm Boys, and Crosby's subsequent relationships with Al Rinker and Harry Barris. I knew from seeing Crosby's films that Barris frequently had small parts in them, and figured they were probably favors from Crosby to an old pal. His split with Rinker was sadder, but from the descriptions in the book, probably inevitable. (I was so dumb on this subject that I never knew Mildred Bailey was Al Rinker's sister!)
   
   Overall, very well worth buying and reading if you are interested in the history of American music, films or popular culture in general in the 20th Century.



5. I enjoyed reading this biography of Bing especially since it included information on my father, Mike Pecarovich. I have to point out the poor editing job, however. My father's name was consistently misspelled as Pecarovitch. I haven't seen the paperback edition but sincerely hope the mistake was corrected.

5 comments about What Becomes of the Brokenhearted: A Memoir.

1. This book isn't terrible. If I could I'd give it 2.5 stars.
   
   E Lynn Harris is black, and gay. This fact is stated so many times in the book that it is a wonder the book isn't titled "MY LIFE SUCKED BECAUSE I'M BLACK AND GAY, BUT MOSTLY BECAUSE I'M BLACK!!!! DID I MENTION I'M GAY!???!!!!!!" Seriously, all in caps, just like that, that should be the title of this book.
   
   Lynn Harris is exactly the type of person I have zero interest in knowing. Nothing is ever his fault. He doesn't work hard, fails at everything, gets a second chance due to being the same race as his boss, or is accepted without proper qualifications because of affirmative action in the 70's.
   
   But then... then he starts to succeed. He becomes a salesman, and you know what, he's good at that. Sure he didn't have the qualifications for the job and was initially hired because he was black, but it turns out that he is actually -good- at what he does. So does that success and greatness become a large part of the story? No, of course not, outside of work his entire life is a mess and he goes from closet case guy to closet case guy wondering why they treat him so poorly... while these guys still have girlfriends. Nothing is ever Lynn's fault of course.
   
   Give me a break.
   
   If you want to hear what it's like to be a complete loser, this is the story for you. You'll be fascinated by how self defeating one man can be.
   
   The kicker is that at exactly 7 hours and 30 minutes in Lynn nails it down perfectly "...who would be interested in reading a story about a sexually confused black man who basically wasted ever opportunity given to him." Not me.



2. At some point I felt as if alot of his friends reflected many of his characters which and while after reading you discover they did lend him inspiration.It must have been very difficult to point out his flaws to his readers , and it was done very well at that. Most people prolly wouldnt want to reveal there past so openly to the public but E. Lynn did it and I can respect that.



3. Follow Harris on his journey of revelations about life and love in this well-written, east-to-read memoir. Within the first couple of pages, I burst into laughter, then as the story unfolded, I felt kind of bad for Harris. The abuse he suffered at the hands of his step-father and then the destructive life he led during his adult life makes you wonder how he survived it all, suicide attempts and everything. I think I've read all of E. Lynn's books and this one really shows you from where all of his prior offerings evolve. I'm glad that at the time this was published he had found the love he was searching for. I hope that love continues.



4. What Becomes of a Broken Heart. In it, E Lynn Harris offers a tough and tender glimpse of the man between the covers of more than a few literary sensations. The raw emotional honesty is heartbreaking at times, yet redeeming at others. Through some of the roughest storms, he blooms, beautiful and strong.



5. I really enjoyed this book. I have read all of E. Lynn's work and by far this was the best. I cried, laughed and got upset several while reading this book. Truly it was remarkable.

No comments about The Private Life of Napoleon Volume VII [EasyRead Large Edition].

No comments about Through the Classroom Window (Reminiscence).