5 comments about The Incredible Shrinking Critic: 75 Pounds and Counting: My Excellent Adventure in Weight Loss.

1. I had trouble finishing the book. I did not find the inspiration I was hoping for as I have with other books. Writing down one's journey through weight loss is a daring move yet not all are worthwhile for everyone to read. I am in my late twenties and feel maybe this book is better for someone in their 30s or so given the age of the writer.



2. I have suffered through one thing or another connected to my body "issues" and losing weight since forever. This is the first book that really inspired me. If you are looking for a boring how to book--this is not for you--buy an atkins diet book or some other "amazing weight loss book that will ensure you lose weight this time around" book (translation ANOTHER waste of MONEY & TIME). This book deals with the fundamental issues involved with why you gained so much weight and how to get it off with a little honesty, humor and plain old fashioned hard work.



3. The thing about this book is that Jami, who lost 75 pounds, lets you see inside her head while she was taking the weight off. Let's face it, those of us who've tried to take this weight off before know all we need to know about weight loss: eat less, move more, stay focused. But Jami lets you inside her head, she shares the frustrations, the joys, the buried issues, the past hurts, the broken relationships, and the need to truly look at one's self to take this weight off. She lets you know that if you don't/won't dig deep into who you are and who you want to become then your shot at losing this weight is pretty small. I needed to hear this story. She's humorous and witty and real. Her writing is engaging and she's a great story teller. Don't miss out!



4. I loved this book, it's just as good as the other personal weight-loss story I read called "Secrets of a Former Fat Girl". I love Jami Bernard's style of writing and her sense of humor. She told her story and made it interesting, while giving tips of useful advice throughout the book. She lost 75 pounds in over 2 years, so her weight loss was slow but she wanted it that way, so that she could get used to the changes she made and make it part of her lifestyle. It's true that slow weight loss is the way to go if you want to be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle and maintain your weight in the end. Jami goes into details about just how she went about losing weight and what she did to make changes in her life little by little (For example, when she was 230lbs, she would eat large amounts of full-fat ice cream. She then changed to frozen yogurt, saving hundreds of calories a day, and then finally after some months, switched to 50-calorie jello and didn't end up missing her full-fat ice cream) She talks about her past and how she was offered free pizza for life at the age of twelve if she would "spend just one night" with the man who owned the place. (She was thin until her 30's) She talks about incidents that happened when she was fat that might hit close to home for some people! Overall her story is really motivational, interesting, helpful, and just fun to read.



5. Its smart, funny, and full of great and helpful information. I love this author's style of storytelling. When I was done reading I felt like Jami and I were good pals. So I read it again and loved it just as much. I hope to see more from this author.

5 comments about Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive ScrabblePlayers.

1. Word Freak surprised me with its depth. It's a work that weaves technical details of what can be a very tedious game at the upper levels, with an engaging tale filled with emotion and humor. It's basically the journey of one guy (the author) going from "I've played Scrabble before" to a bona fide expert at the game. And along the ways, there are fascinating personalities and gripping stories to enjoy.
   
   The story really becomes more a commentary on an underground society -- the personalities, compulsions, emotion, and triumphs of a small group of people for whom Scrabble is more than just a game. You start out wondering just how someone can come to be so deeply into the game. But fortunately, you get to see it firsthand as the author himself undergoes his transformation.
   
   The book at times becomes laden with technical talks...study techniques, game details...which can be a chore to work through at times. But I felt these passages really enhanced the book, exploring just what people go through for love of the game. Without them, it would be difficult to convey the real feel of the game. It can jst make it a bit harder of a read at times.
   
   All in all, a really great book that was more moving than I thought it would be. Very recommended to anyone...just a lot of fun.



2. In choosing to write about the misfits, neurotics, and obsessives who call themselves Scrabble players Stefan Fatsis could have chosen one of two approaches. He could have for one year followed North America's best players as they trained for and played in the National championships -- the result would have been a screwball comedy. Or he could have focused on why he -- an ostensibly successful Wall Street Journal reporter -- would himself become as obsessed with the game as the unemployed geniuses that constitute the core of the Scrabble elite -- the result would have also been a screwball comedy. Instead Mr. Fatsis chooses the middling path, and focuses on how he as an amateur tried to make it as an elite Scrabble player -- the result is interesting but is the furthest away from a screwball comedy -- it's about a serious man with a serious mission to master a serious game.
   
   That's the most frustrating thing about reading "Word Freak." It should be funny and entertaining, light and ironic -- but it takes itself and the game too seriously. That's because when writing the book Stefan Fatsis the journalist cannot separate himself from Stefan Fatsis the Scrabble player -- and the book becomes bogged down by detail, trivia, and minutaie that only Scrabble players care about. Fortunately for Fatsis there just happens to be millions of Scrabble players out there.
   
   For these Scrabble lovers Fatsis offers sound advice and analysis on playing the game, and shows well the stress and pressures of competitive Scrabble. And Fatsis does a decent job on writing about the history of Scrabble. He has a chapter on the solitary genius Alfred Butts who invented the game, and even a chapter on Scrabble's corporate history.
   
   Even though it's useful and highly marketable "Word Freak" is nonetheless written by a very pedestrian and inexperienced writer. The book is much too long, badly organized, and the diction is just terrible. Instead of gliding across the page the reader stumbles through it, sometimes tripping over the clunky words that Stefan Fatsis has intentionally placed there to show off his vocabulary.
   
   The book feels like a rushed piece of work, and not at all edited. It felt as though when writing the book Fatsis was on a 25 minute timer, and it didn't matter if the chapters and paragraphs he created made any sense he just had to get it done under 25 minutes, and if he did he would win. And judging by the sales of this book he had indeed won.



3. A friend recommended this one to me. Not a topic that I ever even knew existed - professional scrabble! But this is a fascinating subculture populated by lovable misfits -- the introverted nebbish Joel from New York, the hip Marlon, who comes from one of the poorest black neighborhoods in America, but scrapes by on his earnings from his totally ingenious mastery of a word game most of us know only as a casual past-time. Fatsis writes with genuine affection for his subject - despite using the term "freak" in his title - and he is a really good guide to the intricacies of the game, which, when played at a really high level is far more complicated than I ever could have imagined. He also gives an excellent overview of the history of the game itself - its invention, its commercialization, its growth as a kind of American icon among board games. I can't say how glad I am that I read this book. It's a joy...even if the topic is a bit unusual. Highly, highly recommend.



4. My advice:
   
   1. Consider the title/subjectmatter of WF. If you're not curious, take a pass.
   2. If you are curious, read the first chapter. If
   2.a. You're not totally (I do mean totally) sucked in, take a pass on the rest
   2.b. You're totally (ditto) sucked in, read on.
   
   My guess is that all of the middling/negative reviews on this page were posted by disgrunted 1- or 2a-readers who should have hit the eject-button early on; all of the praising reviews from us 2b-ers, contentedly strapped in for the ride. With all due respect to 1- and 2a-ers -- and with no aim to convert them from their 1/2a-ish ways (many of them have my sympathies, in fact) -- I'll just say that I'm squarely in the 2b camp. I thought WF was terrific, soup to nuts. I loved every character study, every competition, every lead-up to the next competition, every bout of authorly self-doubt, every instance of authorly self-satisfaction. Fatsis does a brilliant job of capturing -- and, indeed, being captured within -- an exceedingly odd subculture at the crossroads of game- and math-geekdom, on the wire (often literally) between sanity and insanity.
   
   Fatsis writes about Scrabble-mania with a true insider's knowledge, and with a deep affection for both his subjectmatter and his subjects. The result is a greatly engaging, at times inspiring, often humorous, occasionally pathetic glimpse into a slice of life few of us can imagine, but one we must on some level respect.
   
   WF is an odd and entertaining bit of social history. A wonderful read!



5. I am actually in the process of returning this product because the first five chapters were put in the book upside down and backwards. It wouldn't be too much of a problem but the pages were cut incorrectly and the first three or so sentences are missing from the top of each page.

5 comments about Made From Scratch: A Memoir.

1. I became interested in Sandra Lee's past after hearing others on the Food Network mentioning her hard life. Sandra made her own decisions growing-up to have a better life than her parents. Every time she was knocked-down, she got back up and moved forward. A riveting read.



2. With a childhood like Sandra had, you wonder how anyone could survive, let alone succeed. What an inspiration she is! I could not put this book down.



3. Reading about Sandra Lee's upbringing was very emotional and heartwrenching. Made From Scratch is a very apt title. Did not have any idea what a hardscrabble childhood she had. I was interested in learning that she lived in Sumner, just a town away from me. She worked so hard and kept a good head on her shoulders through horrors hopefully none of us have experienced. She truly deserves all the success she has enjoyed. I hope she continues to flourish. I did not know about her former Beverly Hills/jet-setting lifestyle either so it was interesting to get a peek inside that world. I recommend this book--you will have a better understanding of Sandra Lee and her semi-homemade empire.



4. This book was great! I read it ONE day and I'm not a fast reader, but I just couldn't put it down! Gratned, it's not the most well-written or gramatically correct piece of writing I've seen in a while, but who cares! The story is real and honest and so is the woman behind it! The way she tells her real-life story is engaging and inpsirational! k! While I agree that her tablescapes are not always "easy" or "inexpensive," and her food is often chemically ladden with all of the "starters," and artificial crap in it, it IS easy! I think Ms. Lee is a very savy, smart and intelligent business woman, who yes, happened to know the right people and be in the right places at the right times, but hey, she worked her butt off, literally, for years and years and obviously, still does! I can't help but admire a hard worker! I think Ms. Lee's heart is/was always in the right place and her charitable work is admirable! I also liked the fact that she so honest at the end with how this book came to be! She states she's not a writer and also shares some of the pain in re-visisiting these memories and writing this story. I also liked that she acknowledged her divorce and how painful that is, many people glide over that facet of their life, I appreicated her honesty! All and all, I have a WHOLE NEW RESPECT and admiration for Ms. Lee after having read this book; if you want a quick, fast, easy and highly inspirational, encouraging read, you've found it!



5. At our local library you can request new books online. As the library has funds, books are ordered. I waited in anticipation for several months; the reviews were wonderful. I will write a check to our library for the price of the book $24.95 ,what a waste to have such a book in our public library.
   
   From her pathetic reverence to Danielle Steele & St. Tropez to her reaction to Princess Diana's death this poor woman is a star obsessed name dropper. "Sensing my discomfort Charlie Sheen walked up to where I was standing, put his arm around me, and told the drunken guy I was his girlfriend"
   
   
   The book is rampant with grammatical errors, ie; a photo caption "Me and Richie shooting the close of ..." There are many pictures, of Sandra with "famous" people, it's like a "worship me, look at me" book. Counseling will be worth it Sandra, get some help.
   
   As for the quotes throughout the book, I don't believe she would understand or know how to use any one of these. Perhaps the ghostwriter looked these up on the net and inserted them where plausible?
   
   Here are a few quotes for poor Sandra: "You Might Move Out, but You Can't Move On" and "You can take the trash out of the trailer but you can't take the trailer out of the trash".
   
   To be fair, I quit reading halfway through as I could not stomach any more, she is too into herself. I wish there was an option for a ZERO star rating.

4 comments about Dumbfounded: Big Money. Big Hair. Big Problems. Or Why Having It All Isn't for Sissies..

1. 
   
   Learn these 'aristo' tips & more in this ADDICTIVELY laugh-out-loud debut novel. I started this book & couldn't put it down...As someone who loves men who love Judy Garland & who lives in Vero Beach, Fl surrounded by the 'ladies who lunch' crowd this novel hit home. I read more than your average bear & I can honestly say that this is the best book I have read in years! A perfect read, especially those nights when everything on tv is as non-sensical as Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin preaching abstinence. Now if only Hollywood would option the rights....I can see Matt playing himself with me as his hairdresser. Of course a flatiron & straightening gel would simply HAVE to be included in the budget due to the Jewfro. PS: my dog Beauregard the Beagle loved the author photo featuring Matt with his adopted boxer. The dog's name? Why Baron, of course !



2. So you think being raised by wealthy Jewish grandparents in a Fifth Avenue apartment, twelve years of prep and boarding schools, regular trips to FAO Schwartz, chauffeured limousines, or visiting Mom at her husband's Italian villa also means a life on easy street?
   
   Then you haven't read Matt Rothschild's family memoir, DUMBFOUNDED.
   
   In his memoir, Matt paints a lush and detailed portrait of life as a complex, awkward outsider in a world that demands conformity and simple definition. Despite growing up in a completely different environment, I felt a constant sense of familiarity and kinship with Matt, whether he was describing the painful silence that greeted his a capella rendition of "Get Happy" for the sixth-grade talent show, spinning tales of his midget butler, Little Saigon, in the hopes of pleasing his fickle grandmother, or confronting an ever-increasing awareness that his sexuality might not fit society's definition of "normal."
   
   Matt's story runs the gamut of human emotion from laugh-out-loud hilarity to chest-aching heartbreak. DUMBFOUNDED is first and foremost a book about people, and it reminds us that once stripped of all our ideological constructs (wealth, race, faith, gender, orientation, nationality, etc.), at our core, we're all pretty much the same.
   
   Reviewed by: Cat



3. This memoir draws you immediately in with humor and unique characters. while I believe Dumfounded, by Matt Rothschild to be true, it is obvious he takes liberty with conversations--dialog that couldn't possibly be remembered. In fact, the book reads--in a good way--like fiction.
   
   Rothschild is raised by his wealthy grandparents in New York City. He is constantly getting in trouble, usually in school, and often unfairly blamed. His grandparents are eccentric and a joy to get to know. Less joyful are the bits about his mother, living in Italy.
   
   Rothschild writes a very funny, sometimes sad, memoir about his childhood that is extremely readable.
   
   Recommend.



4. On the back cover of DUMBFOUNDED, Matt Rothschild is said to be "the man David Sedaris could have been if he'd been part of an esteemed family on Manhattan's Upper East Side." Likening yourself to a famous writer is always a no-no for emerging authors, but Rothschild's memoir lives up to the comparison. While he doesn't yet have the near-flawless style of Sedaris, this first memoir is not something to be discounted or brushed off as amateur.
   
   Rothschild was raised by his grandparents in New York, while his mother lived her own life in Italy. Throughout the years his family situation, weight, Jewish ethnicity and emerging sexual orientation separated him from his peers. While many children in a similar situation would fade into the background, Rothschild fights back with humor, sarcasm and by singing Judy Garland songs --- one of which he performs at a school talent show. Unfortunately, the humor and sarcasm aren't always appreciated, and he finds himself being shuffled from school to school --- albeit private school to school --- until he enters college.
   
   While Rothschild's childhood is atypical, so is his level of responsibility. As he grows older and his grandparents' health declines, his mother and uncle are caught up in their own lives --- leaving him to provide care, make adult decisions, and juggle ensuring his grandmother isn't taking the car out on joyrides with trying to have his own social life back at college. It is this level of personal responsibility matched with independence and humility that cause Rothschild to make a decision that will radically change his future.
   
   From the beginning, Rothschild hooks us with humor. The first 80 pages are dedicated to childhood antics and funny dialogue from his grandparents, and this is the part of the memoir that reads just like Sedaris. However, Rothschild breaks out of the Sedaris style when he talks about his mother. While every other scene in the book is light with occasional serious undertones, any mention of his mom is just plain heavy. It is in these situations that he switches from Sedaris's style to that of Jennifer Lauck --- an author whose memoirs make us cry for the little girl who loses her parents at an early age.
   
   The problem is that, while Rothschild's strength is humorous narrative, he doesn't excel at the type of dramatic writing that made Lauck so effective. When I read Rothschild's humor, I am so mesmerized by the story that I forget I am reading words on a page. But with the introduction of any narrative about his mother, I have moved from mesmerization to being fully aware that I am reading about something that has touched the author deeply but does not flow as a narrative should. In these instances, instead of being captivated by the writing and thus transported into the world he is narrating, I am propelled back to the book itself and feel as though I am reading a draft for critique at a writing group.
   
   This, however, is my only complaint, and I'm sure one that is not unusual for a review of someone's first work. The story behind the narration is intense, heart-wrenching and full of plot twists, and this makes up for any flaws in the actual writing. Rothschild presents a boy trying desperately to fit in and failing at almost every turn. His story reads so well that it easily could be fiction, and his characters are so rich with personality that they all could have been invented. But the fact that they are not makes it a precious and priceless tale, and one that anybody --- whether like Rothschild or completely different --- will find worth reading.
   
   --- Reviewed by Shannon Luders-Manuel

5 comments about Colors of the Mountain.

1. This book really taught me about what cultural impacts Mao Ze Dong had on the Chinese population. It was an amazing book and I suggest everybody read it.



2. This review refers to the abridged audio version of this book --
   
   UGH. I am fascinated with books about China and life under Mao. However, I couldn't get through the first tape of this book, for two reasons.
   
   One was the reader, Daxing Zhang. His stilted, halting and monotone delivery made it unpleasant to listen to. He evidently is not a professional narrator and it shows. Even a great book can be ruined by a poor reader.
   
   And, believe me, this doesn't even come close to being a great book.
   The storytelling is dull and self-pitying and the language is, in turns, overblown and cliched.
   
   My biggest problem, however, was the author's attitude. Don't get me wrong: I abhor what Mao and his "cultural revolution" did in China. But it's more than a bit ironic when someone from the upper classes (the author's family were landlords and owned several buildings) complains when their property, power and status is taken away.
   
   The author's stated contempt for farm work, for instance, shows the type of elitist attitude that spurred the revolution in the first place.
   
   Never once (at least in the part of the book I managed to listen to) did Da Chen appear to have any empathy for the working classes that were oppressed under the pre-revolution days.
   
   Again, I must emphasize that I do NOT agree with the goals of or methods used by Mao's Communist regime, but nor can I generate a great deal of sympathy for once-rich whiners who feel, for the first time in their lives, the sting of poverty and disenfranchisement.



3. I read a lot of memoirs precisely for what I received from this book, inspiration. The sentence that galvanized me was this one, "I had been studying an average of fifteen hours a day for the last ten months."
   
   Other reviewers have explained Chen's story, so I won't reiterate it. But I will say that when I think about what this man accomplished in pursuit of his dream, I realize once again how easy it is to excuse our failures as a matter of fate or luck.
   
   Da Chen teaches us otherwise.



4. One wonders why the communist system was swept into the dustbin of history. Da Chen tells you why. Intellectuals were purged in Mao's society and people learned very little. In fact, school was not even required of everyone. Only after Mao joined Lenin in a masoleum did intelligence and ability matter much.
   Da Chen relates his early life story about his early Chinese childhood in the rural south of China. He was discriminated against because he was a son of a former landlord. Peasants lorded it over him and his family. Da Chen relates his experiences of the Cultural Revolution and how the school system was devastated by the purges and reeducation.
   Da Chen escaped this poverty by using his intelligence to shine in the reform education system after Mao's death. He received a state education in English and went on to emigrate to New York. A nice rages to riches story and the tyranny of the Communist system.



5. Chen Da's bestselling COLORS OF THE MOUNTAIN is one of the more entertaining memoirs I've run across in recent years.
   
   In this volume, Chen recounts his life, growing up amid the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, through his acceptance into college. In the writing of autobiography, certain liberties are par for the course (memory is never impeccable), but I was overall rather impressed with Chen's determination, and his detailed, direct way of attempting to illuminate the day-to-day texture of life in an out-of-the-way part of China.
   
   Chen's approach is gentle - both accessible to Western audiences, and attentive in its' detailed depiction of his family's life, accomplishments, and the troubles those accomplishments brought (during the Cultural Revolution years); the occasionally mentioned poems of his grandfather were one of Chen's major motivators, and their eloquence was the model this entire memoir was constructed upon.
   
   Perhaps not the most literary, or the most historically rigid autobiography, but definitely one of the warmest.
   
   -David Alston

5 comments about White Line Fever: The Autobiography: The Autobiography.

1. Very amusing autobiography of this legendary rocker. He's very candid explaining his sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle.



2. Lemmy Kilmister is a rock or metal god, depending on whether a fan considers Motorhead metal, or extremely hard nasty rock and roll, ala AC/DC. I, for one, don't see the problem mixing the two, but on a microscopic level, there is a slight difference. mainly in a slightly less restrictive workplace for the hard rockers.
   Nonetheless, Lemmy, who has said he hated the term "heavy metal", praises it in "White Line Fever", and contends that metal is the true spirit of rock and roll. I agree. Perhaps the calling cards of metal, loud guitars and attitude, are much closer in kin to the early rock years than many people would care to admit. And who can argue with the fact that metal bands have much longer life spans than most other performers? Motorhead are in their fourth decade, and still make rock that is offensive, loud and full of joy for the sake of itself.
   Lemmy is a quintessential spokesman - he is blunt, honest in his recalling of his own drug habits, and intelligent. Say what you will about his habits, but he truly knows who he is, and for that one can take notice.
   "White Line Fever" is a good view into the road life of a hard working band and its leader. Along with "12 Days On The Road", the excellent transcription of the Sex Pistols' infamous first American tour in 1977, one of the best books about rock in all its sloppy glory. A must read.



3. This is one of the best rock music biographies ever, written by the most true and real rock musician on the scene nowadays. It's like listening to Lemmy tell you about himself, very easy to read, very funny and cool.



4. Normally I would never take the time to write an online review...I'm just lazy. This time I am compelled to strongly recommend this read! I've been a Motorhead fan since I was 15 (twenty years now) so maybe I am a bit biased but there is no way to argue that this isn't an incredibly well written and entertaining book. As others have stated in their reviews the storytelling flows like a freshly tapped keg of fine ale.
   I started reading this book while dropping a duece and when finished I found that I couldn't put the book down (except to wash my hands, of course)! I read it cover to cover in one afternoon and I wished it was longer! Lemmy is a survivor and proof that not every rock star has to be an arrogant pr!ck. Highly recommended.



5. Here's a guy who paved the way for Motley Crue's excess and debauchery. A fun read. Gives you a glimpse into UK life during the 60's and 70's sex drugs & rock & roll age. Lemmy is the messiah of speed metal and death metal. It all started with Motorhead. Without Lemmy, we wouldn't have Metallica.

5 comments about The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood.

1. 
   There are many stories to come out of World War II, both told and untold, this is surely one of the most remarkable. It is a tale of survival but not without cost.
   
   As a five-year-old boy Alex Kurzem saw his mother and father as well as neighbors shot by the Nazis. For some inexplicable reason his life was spared and he ran to hide in a dense Russian forest. Amazingly he did not freeze to death during the unrelenting cold but existed by searching for food and taking the clothes of dead soldiers.
   
   When he is found by a group of Latvian SS soldiers they never imagine he is Jewish but believe he is Russian and more or less adopt him, making him a little corporal in the SS with his own uniform. Young Alex fears for his life, of course, and does as he is told, even to repeatedly watching repetitions of the same fate that befell his parents and starring in a Nazi propaganda film.
   
   What price survival? What he has done will haunt Alex for the rest of his days. He is so troubled by his past that he does not even tell his wife and only later reveals his entire story to his son, the author of this memoir, Mark Kurzem.
   
   The Mascot is not only a reminder of one of history's darkest times but testimony to the dramatic effects it may have on those who are not killed but sorely injured in their hearts and souls.
   
   - Gail Cooke



2. In the United States most of the time when one reads World War II history it tends to focus on the Normandy Landings and lightning dash to Berlin the Pacific theater is generally ignored and so is the Italian campaign. The Soviets also had to do a large amount of the fighting they were both defenders of their homeland and agents of a tyrannical regime.
   
   Then there were those people who were caught in the middle of it all like one Jewish Latvian survivor who was only 5 years old. Plucked from a firing line by a sympathetic sergeant and warned never to be seen naked this little boy resolves to survive in any way he can. He survived the war and had a family but he was racked by guilt at the manner in which he was saved for many years.
   
   While there are some funny accounts over the course of the novel it is by no means meant to be humorous the two stories that stick with me the most is the account of the time Alex Kurzem (the mascot) went to the train station and was assigned to pass out chocolates to an unruly crowd to claim them; later he reasoned that all or most of those people were killed in an extermination camp. Then there was the time that the soliders he was traveling with used him as bait to attract village women with unpleasant results for the little mascot and the women.
   
   One also admire the author Mark Kurzem who tracked down all of these loose ends partially out of a sense of curiosity and to give his family a sense of closure about the whole issue. It is a truly remarkable effort especially when you consider the unlikelihood that there would be enough people alive to put the sometimes spotty recollections of the father into any context.
   
   Overall-A truly remarkable account and evidence of tremendous courage on the part of the father both as a child to survive all of that and to level with his family years later about what he had gone through.



3. Every story of survival from the Holocaust is incredibly unique and Mark Kurzem's The Mascot is no exception. I must say that once the author's father, Alex Kurzem, begins to unlock the memories--after over 60 years of silence--of escape from near certain death, his nurturing by would-be executioners, and ultimate search for his true identity, the book is nearly impossible to put down. The basic reservation I had about the book--which is presented in narrative form--is that whenever the story drifts away from its riveting father/son dialogue, the telling become a bit wordy and almost extraneously repetitive. I found myself doing a lot of skimming so as to get back to the meat of the story--the father's cathartic-like revelations. But, that said, the book is very worthwhile reading.



4. Our author, Mr. Kurzem, Australian-born, of Latvian Jewish descent, finds out in his late adolescent that his father has been hiding his true childhood story for over 50 years. The son had been raised to consider himself a Latvian, as were others who emigrated to Australia via the German DP camps at the end of WWII. His father had been a reluctant Latvian, who married an Irish Catholic woman, but still, our author did consider himself to be Latvian until he got a call from his father. He was doing research at Oxford, so he was no slouch academically.
   
   AS this very absorbing book progresses, we learn through the son that the father is himself unsure of who he really was, as he stumbled through the Latvian forest until adopted as a "mascot" (age 6) with a Latvian troop. He quickly learned Latvian, and later GErman, as these troops were working with the Nazis in expunging Soviet Communists, i.e. Partisans, from their country, after Germany came to liberate them from the Soviets. The remarkable story unfolds slowly, but with a wonderfully satisfying ending, as the son and his father go back to Latvia in post-Soviet 1990's, to see if the few clues can lead to his village.
   
   Sure enough, through hard pushing and some sheer amazing lucky coincidences, they finally determine that the father is a shtetl Jew, who was spared death in a mass shooting by escaping in the night into a forest behind the village. The photographs in the book are very interesting, showing the details of clothing, houses, people's faces in those terrible times.
   
   The final chapter condemns the Latvians for cooperating with the Germans, which is a slap in the face to anyone who knows the Latvians' miserable history. When they lost their independence to the Soviets, had their farms collectivized, their property stolen, their families shipped to Siberia and so on, most Latvians knew who controlled the Kremlin: the Jews, a fact none can deny. They appointed their own brethren in Riga to bring Communism with an iron fist, forming councils to destroy everyday Latvians' lives. When German soldiers arrived to destroy Communist control, there was no Latvian hesitation in wreaking revenge on the perpetrators, including the women and children. Jews became Partisans, running through the forest to escape arrest, often fleeing to Communist Russia. Many were innocent of any political involvement, as is true in any country.
   
   However, our author, an educated man, omits this critical part of Latvian history, wipes them all with one "brown" brush, yet the Latvians did exactly that: call all Jews "reds", regardless of their true allegiances. Many were true Latvian nationalists and complete capitalists, who would never tamper with the rights to property against anyone. Too bad for these, it seemed; the devastation was too great.
   
   I highly recommend this book for serving up a very exciting page-turner, as one wishes to see exactly how this young boy survived such a strange experience. You can understand how he waited until very late in life to reveal his story to anyone, including his children, because he could be persecuted by both Latvians and Jews, and above all, those millions who suffered at the hands of Communists. Their descendants are still angry!
   
   Poor man! What a terrible time and place he was born into! But he was lucky to get down to Dresden, survived its bombing, get into a DP camp, and achieve an emigration visa to Australia. Imagine if he, like so many of the troop he'd joined, had been stuck back in the Communist land! His son would never have been born, for he would have been shot by Commies.
   
   The son shows bitterness, but the father knows himself to be VERY LUCKY!!!



5. I could not put the book down. It's amazing what a 5-6 y. old can remember after hiding it away and not talking to anyone about his past for 50 years. Written very well, thought provoking, and makes you wonder how one should define a "Holocaust Survivor."

5 comments about Don't Kiss Them Good-bye.

1. Don't Kiss Them Good-bye
   Allison has a gift from God. I only wish that I could open up my mind enough to communicate with my loved ones.



2. Allison DuBois is a down-to-earth psychic! The speptics will dismiss her book and her abilities, as they will dismiss anything that contradicts their own opinions-as-law.
   
   If you are looking for sensationalism, you must look elsewhere. The author presents her experiences and abilities without in-depth scientific explanations. She offers none, quite simply because she is who she is and does what she does. It is as natural to her as breathing.
   
   If you are a skeptic, pass this book over because Allison DuBois' easy-going presentation will enrage you. If you have an opened mind, this volume will convince you that there is something more after this life. If you already believe, prepare to have your spirit renewed by a sincere and wonderful author.



3. Don't Kiss Them Good-bye
   In this book Allison DuBois is laying out her experiences (growing up and as an adult), convincing readers that life after death consciousness is real. By bringing contact to the present with the deceased, she helps reduce the pain that deceased loved ones often feel. She bears a responsilbity for her work and insight far beyond the realm of the norm. I found it "to good to put down" and know that others will feel the same.



4. This book does have summaries of her cases and some examples. I just feel that the book jumps around and the book doesn't flow very well. I found quite a few grammar errors. It seems almost like you're reading a journal or having a conversation with her. So it's ok in that aspect. I guess I was expecting more details of the other side. For instance, how the spirits get there? What do they do all day? Does Mrs. Dubois believe in reincarnation like other mediums? Etc.



5. I bought this book because I have a niece who has an extraordinary insight into the paranormal. It was very helpful in being able to understand what she deals with.

5 comments about Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century.

1. Make no mistake the late, lamented Hunter Thompson was always something of a muse for me going way back to the early 1970's when I first read his seminal work on outlaw bikers, The Hell's Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything that he has written. I have reviewed many of those efforts elsewhere in this space. As I noted recently in reviewing his 2004 work Hey, Rube, a screed on the misadventures of a gambling freak (himself), not all his efforts have been equally compelling. That was the case in my panning of Hey, Rube but here we are back on much more solid `gonzo' style from the old days. Maybe it is because this work is in the form of a memoir and thus intentionally places the good Doc's actions in the center of the writing that puts this effort in the mold of his better compilations like the Great Shark Hunt and Songs of the Doomed.
   
   Thompson uses his patented stream of consciousness trope to create amusing stories starting from the then present (early 2000's) and his then current doings and splices them together, in some segments randomly, to events as far back as his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Along the way we find him at age nine in trouble with the FBI, and none the worst for the confrontation. Later, it is down and dirty in Rio with the crazies. Throughout, we find him incessantly testing his beloved guns and various `hot' motorcycles at various and sundry appropriate and inappropriate times.
   
   Additionally, we have some compelling and insightful stories as this radical journalist tours the news breaking global spots, taking trips to places like Vietnam just before the fall, Cuba, Grenada just after the invasion and elsewhere wherever the journalistic action might be and a story, in the Thompson style, might develop. Needless to say there is plenty of ink about sex, drugs and rock and rock including his deeply affecting and traumatic tangle with the law in Aspen the early 1990's. That, my friends, was a close call.
   
   And throughout, as usual, there are pithy political comments about the various idiots-in-chiefs, their henchman and hangers-on that he spent his life hammering. Maybe not hammering your way, definitely not my way, but his way. His fateful run for Sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Power ticket in 1970 probably accurately set the tone as a lifelong description of his politics. For those who have read other works by Thompson some of the signature language may be old hat as he meanders along in this volume. For others it is a chance to learn the lingo. Damn, especially this election year, I miss him. Read on.



2. Mr Thompsons autobiography is somewhat lacking compared to his other works. It seems, that he in his later years didn't have that much new to say, and this volume shows it very clearly. It deals with the legend of HST, not the man Hunter Stockton Thompson, and only plays the same tune that we've been hearing since F&L in Las Vegas, only in a strongly diluded form.
   
   A great drawback is that he recycles a lot of stuff from his earlier work, which if you're a fan/reader of his you can't help but feel a bit cheated about. The book isn't that long as it is, but when half the material already has been printed before, and therefore probably, for fans at least, is on your shelf already, it gives the feeling of the good Mr Thompson not really making an effort writing this volume.
   
   It's not all bad though. There are highlights in the book. His description of his childhood is enjoyable and very biographical. The last chapter is also very enjoyable, although not that good as biographical material, it does for a good reading.
   
   It starts out legitimate enough, but quickly turns to his rambling and at times incoherent style of writing. Worth reading if you're a completist. I would recommend the compilations of his letters "The Proud Highway" and "F&L in America" as biography instead. They are much better.



3. This book (2003) and "Hey Rube" (2004) appear to be the last of HST's books. While "Hey Rube" contains lengthy discussions of gambling on professional football and basketball (including "March Madness"), this book is more far-ranging, containing everything from Thompson's reminiscences of his youth to his (highly negative) thoughts on George W. Bush. There's even a chapter from "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972," one of the finest political books ever written.
   
   The quality of the writing on the recent pieces is not quite up to that of his best from the past, but is still infinitely better than the mindless slop produced by other contemporary "writers." The man was an artist.
   
   As always, one of the disturbing things about Thompson is his ability to assess politics correctly in real time. Reading back, you think "Why didn't people take this man seriously at the time?"
   
   "Indeed," as Doc would say.



4. It's true, there are lots of parts of this book that can be found in other books, but this is still the best HST book I've read. It's sort of like a greatest hits. The new parts however, are the best part of this book.



5. By far simply one of his best collections. It seems the good doctor saw what was on the horizon and unforunately he was right. The world is a lesser place without him and we should all cherish every word. His insight was frightening an accurate. BUY THIS BOOK!

5 comments about Witness.

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



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



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



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



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