1 comments about The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky.

1. My daughter read this book, and this is what she had to say about it:
   "This was a very exciting, sorrowful, detailed story. It inspired me. I recommend this book to people of all ages who love non-fiction adventure. This book has almost everything a reader could want. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next in the story. Farah Ahmedi, the writer and main character of this book, detailed the story so much you could picture yourself in her spot; although, you would never WANT to be in her place in real life.
   
   'The Story of my Life' was extemely sad at some points. Losing almost her whole family, getting caught up in the war, losing a leg, escaping from Afgahnistan. Sometimes during the book I almost cried and other times, I laughed in happiness. The book had many different moods.
   
   The message, (or theme) of the book for me was 'Never be afraid of starting again, or beginning a new life'. Of course for everyone this is different, all of us have a different point of view. But this was mine.
   But to come to an end with this review, I really enjoyed every word from beginning to end!! Highly Recommended."

5 comments about Fat Girl: A True Story.

1. It was sooo boring for me. I only got 50 pages in and decided I wasn't gonna waste anymore of my time. She just names off foods and rambles. There's no plot line or anything and it's impossible to stay focused in my opinion. Not worth the money.



2. This book is a really good example, where you can really open up a can of worms with the subject matter (Oh my g-d women and weight!). If you want to start a firestorm and make yourself a target, then go and write a book on a super senstive subject like this. Lets see, words like; objective and perspective are not going to happen for a lot of the people who read this book. I read this book in one day, not because I wanted to, but becaused the book grabbed me and wouldn't let go (Similar to say: A roller coaster ride, a big ugly monster, or let's just say the truth). Lighten up people! it's a great read !



3. Judith Moore can write! I read it, cried, laughed, and then I read it again. It's a powerful book if you're fat, have been fat, have ever considered being fat, or been friends with fat. It's not just about how she was abused - it's a statement about how we treat each other in this country. This book is guaranteed to bring about strong emotion, which one will depend on your background and your spirit. Read it.



4. Honest and sometimes heart wrenching story. I loved this book and will not lend it out for fear I will not get it back. Must read for anyone struggling with weight issues.



5. This book was intense. It made me cry. The life of this girl reminds me so much of my own upbringing. I feel for this girl/woman.

5 comments about My Life as a Traitor.

1. This is a story of a woman's ordeal of humiliation and torture for no reason other than she desired some small freedoms in her life and the lives of her people.
   With much of what we see in the news daily, it is easy to see Iran and its entire people as our enemy. This is not the case and we should never forget the people there who long to just be allowed to wear pink shoes and feel the sun on their hair.
   Well done Zarah, great book, I hope everyone reads it and I am happy to know that you have found freedom and peace. I pray that the country of Iran will also find freedom and that it's people will know the joy of pink shoes and sunshine.



2. This is an excellent, touching and mesmerizing story of courage and suffering. Ghahramani reveals her innemorst feelings throughout in a disarming way. Well written and interesting from the first to the last page. Brutality and torture are described vividly, yet not in a crude or brutal way. A good read and a must for everyone.



3. There are a number of good books out there on the atrocities that have gone on in the prisons of Iran and Iraq. What makes this book unique is that it explores in a very personal way the mind set of the tortured prisoner. The author does an excellent job of explaining her thoughts and feelings while incarcerated. She gives the torture she endured a very personal quality by explaining how even the smallest of psychological details were used to advantage by her captors, e.g., endless waiting and uncertainty, use of details about family to extract confessions, restricted personal hygiene, appeals to her vanity, etc. While the physical torture that she was subjected to was not as severe as that chronicled in some other books, it is clear that the psychogical component was inescapably devastating. A very open and honest recounting of human fraility and exploration of self. It will have you asking "What indeed is courage?"



4. The book is well-written and its a story that needs to be told---to help us understand oppression and the violation of human rights in today's Iran, and the dangerous conclusions arrived at by religious extremists who cause a inordinate amount of suffering in the world. However, it troubles me to know that this author, now safe in Australia, told details that could result in suffering for family and friends remaining in Iran. Zarah Ghahraman knows that the current regime tortures perceived ideological "enemies".
   
   Meanwhile, the Iranian government goes after adolescents who engage in age-appropriate teenage rebellions against authority. This is both ridiculous and dangerous and shows they are not fit to lead! The government's abuse is a far greater threat to their leadership than any student protests.



5. I could not put this down. I finished in a day and can't wait to pass this one to a friend. The human spirt is stronger than we can imagine.

5 comments about The Story of Chicago May.

1. I first heard of Irish writer Nuala O'Faolain when I picked up one of her books in the WH Smith at Heathrow as I ran to catch a flight back to the States. Sometimes we are drawn to certain authors in mysterious ways, as if the moments were meant to be. Thereafter, I was led to her two memoirs, breathtaking in their candor about moving through stages of life as a young Irish girl, a writer, and mature woman coming to terms with her past.
   
   Knowing this writer's work, I didn't expect "The Story of Chicago May" to be a traditional biography, and it most certainly was not. May Duignan, born in post-famine Ireland, nicked her family's savings and ran away to America. There, she achieved legendary status as "Chicago May," working as a thief, outlaw, showgirl and prostitute.
   
   What I find remarkable is how the writer weaves in her own process of discovery and personal experience in researching and writing the book. This approach won't work for all readers. Some prefer the conventional biography, but others will find this book refreshing. No matter how a writer strives for objectivity, biography writing will never truly elude the subjectivity of the writer's own experience. O'Faolain did it her way, though she painstakingly researched her elusive subject. She literally traced the steps of May through city after city on two different continents.
   
   Years of May's life were spent in prisons on both sides of the Atlantic, but she managed to survive a life on the edge. Exhausted and sick at heart, she later met police reformer August Vollmer, who convinced her to write her autobiography as a way toward the light. O'Faolain refuses to sugarcoat the "Queen of Crook's" struggle to make ends meet, her experiences in and out of prison, or her poor choices in men, several notorious crooks in their own right.
   
   "Hope kept me up," May wrote in her last, desperate note to Vollner before her death as "a tired old prostitute" in an unmarked grave in Philadelphia. But the book is not about a character who tried to save her own soul, whatever that may be interpreted to be. It ends with just as many questions about the seeming lack of meaning in May's life, yet assures us that even such a life as hers is worth examining: "Out there, people are waiting in the dark. Shine the beam of attention out there. The dark recoils."



2. Nuala O'Faolain does a remarkable job of humanizing a woman who otherwise would've remained just another fallen woman. This book is a captivating tale of survival, as well as a wonderful source of history. Anyone interested in what it was like to literally survive in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century will enjoy this tale. O'Faolain has a gentle, hypnotic writing style that really works here to evoke empathy for a woman who would otherwise be regarded as a common prostitute and petty thief. I loved it.



3. Like some of the previous reviewers, I was annoyed and bewildered after the initial reading of this book. Not because it wasn't well-written. It is. But the intermingling of the author's experiences and what she perceives May Duignan-Churchill to have felt/experienced was disorienting because I thought I was buying a biography of Chicago May. Most historical biographies are devoid of personal observations unless the author happened to be there along with his / her subject, which certainly wasn't true in Nuala O'Faolain's case.
   
   It didn't take me long, however, to appreciate "The Story of Chicago May" for the unique literary effort that it is. O'Faolain is using May Duignan's story to depict one woman's struggle for independence AND show how similar struggles go on today despite increased earning power and educational opportunity. The author is an accomplished memoirist, and in this book she uses her brilliant capacity for insight to help make sense out of a cheerfully unrepentant female crook's career.
   
   By the end of the second reading, I loved the book. That said, I understand why other readers who expected a no-nonsense historical biography, packed with facts and no fancy, were disappointed.



4. I agree with the previous reviewer that this book is "unfocused, disjointed, unstructured, incoherent, and rambling." It was difficult reading and difficult to keep up with what is fact and what is the author's interjections.
   Also, I did not care for the personal family information from Ms. O'Faolain. In my opinion, it only added to the adjectives mentioned above and to the book's boring length that could have been more interesting if it were not so lenghtly.



5. The biography was much as described in other reviews, where an interesting person was described both through the historical facts found and personal experiences of the author. I enjoyed O'Faolain's strategy and the story of May's life.

5 comments about The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People.

1. Susan Orlean, notable to most as a writer for The New Yorker, became the literary "It" girl in 2003 with the help of the movie "Adaptation" (the movie based on her book The Orchid Thief). In an attempt to capitalize on that book, "Bullfighter..." was released.
   
   The book takes some of Orlean's favorite and most popular articles and complies them into what appears to be a theme about remmarkable people. Orlean speaks candidly in the begining of her book about always wanting to be a writer and ironicly this introduction proves to be some of the best writing in the book. The rest of the books tends to be pretty much hit and miss. A fasinating story about a taxi driver who is in reality an African king somehow ends up being not so fasinating. Another story about a 10 year old is down right boring. My favorite ended up being about a store owner in New York that only sells buttons.
   
   This is not to say that Orlean is a bad writer, she's not: however she writes with a sometimes akward detachment that made it hard for me to enjoy these "personal" articles.



2. Look at the cover of this book and you'll see who and what it's really about. It's all about SO; her subject matter is irrelevant both to her and, consequently, to the reader. Worse, even her style, which seems to sucker in a lot of poeple, is not exactly her own. If you want to read what she's read, and cribbed from, track down a copy of Mr. Personality, by Mark Singer, also a New Yorker writer but a far finer one. Really, I don't see how SO can pass MS in the NYer's hallways and not hide her head in shame. Singer is by far the more human writer. He reserves his style for his short Talk of the Town pieces, drifting it to the side for his longer, more important pices. Unlike SO, he knows when to take it down a notch in order to add some real heart and feeling to his writing. SO's stuff, from one story to the next, is stylistically the same beginning to end. Half.com often has copies of Singer's book. When you find it, be sure to check out what's on the cover; it ain't a picture of Singer.



3. Like her predecessor Joan Didion, Susan Orlean writes of the wide range of human experience--from a traveling gospel group in the South to a budding basketball star--and in doing so presents a portrait of America that is both comprehensive and engaging. What's even better is that she does it without ever being sentimental.

   While I liked all of the essays in this volume, my favorites were ones that showed lives of the "average" American, like Heather Heaton, a young journalist covering the events of a small town, and, of course, "The American Male, age 10." Ms. Orlean has a way of following her subjects around & illuminating their lives, without ever getting in the way. Truly professional work, and I only have to say: give us more!




4. For anyone who enjoys reading profile pieces in major national magazines, you will love Orlean's superb writing! Her choices of interview subjects are far and varied, from the American Man, Aged 10 to the Female Bullfighter, hence the title of the book.
   You will be delighted and most of all, impressed by her deft writing and wonderfully descriptive passages. You will not be disappointed!



5. When I had finished "The Bullfighter checks her Make-up", it had occured to me that many of the rich and famous are quite dull when you take away the riches and fame. You don't believe me? Read an issue of Vanity Fair. In every issue, there will always be some hot star featured that month. This person may sizzle on celluloid, sound great on CD, etc. but is boring as heck or so self absorbed that you go running to a preening, navel gazing 14 year old for some company. None of Ms. Orlean's subjects are in this category. Whether it's a buff Boxer(the dog) named Biff or the Ghanian King who drives a cab; these people are unique.
   In fact Ms. Orleans seems to find the unique in the ordinary. Her first subject is the "American Man" aged 10. Somehow, when reading about this fellow you are paying attention. His interests seem to be no different than other boys at that time. Yet you read and want to finish this. And to think her bosses wanted her do a profile of the then 10 year old Macauley Culkin! Good thing she got her way.
   Many of these vignettes, in fact, would not be what a typical editor would request from a writer. In the sport of Women's Tennis, for instance, she doesn't profile the prominent Williams sisters but the lesser known Maleev sisters. In the dog show world, there isn't a profile of the prize poodle, but a contender in the Working Dog Category. The choices are unexpected and always a treat.
   I would recommend this book to most everyone. Even a subject in which I had no initial curiosity such as Best Working Dog caught my eye. As for the Bullfighter...she's there as well. Happy reading!

5 comments about The Red Rose Crew: A True Story of Women, Winning, and the Water.

1. I am the proud parent of a stroke rower. This story, of very different women, from widely geographic and psychological backgrounds, all coming together to do something no one had done before, is mesmorizing and grabs at every heartstring I have. The forward is equally compelling. I have met one of the Yale rowers in this story, and believe me, if she did half the stuff she is credited doing, I have even more admiration for her. This book taught me a bit about rowing, some equipment nuances, and training techniques. It gave me several nights of wonderful pleasure, some laughs, some tears. Now that this sport, like most others, is so scientific, so over studied (I guess we have the east germans to thank for that), it largely selects the athletes by performance. But the 'Red Rose Crew' had that intangible: spirit and guts. That doesn't always show up on ERG scores, or height charts. I am so glad I read this, and was able to share it with my daughter. The writing is clear, concise, and both narrative and dialogue where appropriate. Great work.



2. I purchased the Red Rose Crew both as a rowing coach and coxswain. I had heard of the book before but never read it. While it was a relatively quick read, it did provide some good insight into how women's rowing has evolved since the 1970s. It gave some wonderful descriptions of the various struggles the women went through, as well as the individuals who helped them along their way.
   
   It would be really nice to see a sequel, or something similar, that documents what women's rowing has become in the past twenty or so years. There is a decent follow-up of the individuals from the team at the end of the book, but I feel like I could have easily stomached another 100+ pages of what has happened since then.
   
   All in all, a good read and a good book to have if you know anything about rowing, and specifically women's rowing at the collegiate level and beyond.



3. If you love rowing, if you love sports, if you're interested in historical moments .... this book is wonderful. I have read it and re-read it. I have lent it and gifted it. This is the true story of several remarkable women athletes. It is extremely well written and takes you through the story with grace and passion. I think I'll go read it again!



4. Books on rowing are rare these days so it is good to see a fine account of a boat being made and coming together. All the more so as The Red Rose Crew chronicles the early days of women's rowing.
   
   Overall, this is a fine and enjoyable read, the only distractions being a number of minor but aggravating errors, preplexing because Boyne is a rower. These are minor in the context of this otherwise fine book about rowing.



5. If Odysseus could have read Daniel J.Boyne's book `The Red Rose Crew" he would have had no reason to be tied to the mast to cox his ear-waxed crew through the Sirenum Scopuli unscathed. The Sirens would have gladly faced their un-timely end with the knowledge that women's rowing had a champion who took the time and effort to chronical a arduous voyage that will be remembered as the break though of woman's competitive rowing in the United States. In a time when story telling has been all but lost as a media to impart history or knowledge, a well-credentialed Daniel Boyne has wove a rich tapestry of facts, protocol, commentary, technical knowledge and colorful antidotes into a narrative that are easily remembered and re-called. Every sport has its legends; Babe Ruth, Billie Jean King, Pele', the utterance of each name conjures a vivid image of the particular athlete's prowess and character. US women's rowing has Ernestine Bayer, Carie Graves, Gail Pierson, and Harry Parker just to mention a few of the people Daniel J.Boyne has profiled as the "Who's Who" of US women's rowing. One of the many pearls of rowing information the author relates is how a good crew has the characteristics of a good baseball team. Rowers spend many hours debating the age-old rower's question of whether power, or technique is more important or why coaches' conduct seat races. Mr. Boyne's account of how the `The Red Rose Crew" was formulated is a wealth of information for any rower or coach looking for the literal and figurative gut wrenching answers. Rowers and coaches who have, or will have to weather the trials and travail of choosing and rowing into the seats of a boat will relate to the myriad of variables and anguish and elation. US Rowing is fortunate that Daniel J.Boyne has taken the time and energy to share his knowledge and insight of where US Women's rowing has been and the inevitable heights that it destined to rise.

   John Wall, Ancient Mariner Berkshire County, USA 6/10/01

5 comments about War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944.

1. This is an exceptional book which bears precious witness to the way WWII brought out both the good and bad--but mostly good--in people living or passing through a region of Tuscany. The author's factual, restrained account of the extraordinary events of the time and her part in them is beautiful and effective. Highly recommended. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
   
   "The rounding-up of the Jews appears now to be completed--though no doubt many unfortunate women and children are still hidden. The Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal della Costa, has taken a courageous stand. When some of his nuns were arrested in consequence of having given shelter to some Jewish women in their convent, the Cardinal, putting on his full panoply, went straight to the German Command. 'I have come to you,' he said, 'because I believe you, as soldiers, to be people who recognize authority and hierarchy--and who do not make subordinates responsible for merely carrying out orders. The order to give shelter to those unfortunate Jewish women was given by me: therefore I request you to free the nuns, who have merely carried out orders, and to arrest me in their stead.'
   
   The German immediately gave orders for the nuns to be freed, but permitted himself to state his surprise that a man like the Cardinal should take under his protection such people as the Jews, the scum of Europe, responsible for all the evils of the present day. The Cardinal did not enter upon the controversy. 'I look upon them,' he said, 'merely as persecuted human beings; as such it is my Christian duty to help and defend them. One day,' he gave himself the pleasure of adding, 'perhaps not far off, *you* will be persecuted: and then I shall defend you!'"



2. This amazing book reveals the feelings of real people who did so much to help others in need, during a ruthless, senseless war. It is a story you will remember forever.



3. "War in Val D'Orcia" is a rather terse diary of events throughout Italy in 1943-1944 written by the English-born wife of a wealthy landowner in Tuscany. As an account of life under Nazi rule it's not nearly as profound or fascinating as Victor Klemperer's "I Will Bear Witness" but after the first 100 pages (or so) which are somewhat strangely detached and impersonal ("In Rome to have the baby"), and mostly an account of Italian national politics at that time, I literally couldn't put it down.
   
   Until I read this book I had often wondered why there are so many abandoned farm buildings in Tuscany: I now understand that until relatively recently there was a feudal system in place, where farmers did not actually own their land but instead worked it for the landowner in exchange for half of their production. "War in Val D'Orcia" exposed me to aspects of Italian culture that I had never even really thought about before. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and culture of Italy and Tuscany in particular.
   
   This is the first book by or about Iris Origo that I have read but it won't be the last.



4. "Greater than the sum of its parts" accurately describes this remarkable diary set in Southern Tuscany during World War II.
   
   Written as a daily record during the tumult of war,Origo does not dwell on emotional reactions to the horror around them. What comes through is the generosity, compassion, and nobility of Spirit that we all are capable of during wretched times.

   This diary has had a greater impact on me since after reading it.A book which had lingered with me and one in which I may never forget,I haved been moved to visit La Foce and the region in which this book takes place this Fall.
   Highly Recommended.




5. The enthralling story of life on the Origo's estate "La Foce" (just South of Montepulciano in South Tuscany and on the main route of the advancing Allied 8th Army) during the years 1943 and 1944. The contadini farmers and workers on the estate, living in conditions closer to the Middle Ages than the mid Twentieth Century, had no interest in or involvement with the forces of war but equally had no option but to suffer its consequences. They, led by Iris Origo and her Marchese husband, juggled simultaneously playing host to refugee Italian children, escaping British airmen and prisoners of war, partisan fighters, and a German officers' mess, not to mention day to day dealings with facist officialdom. All this in the knowledge that the penalty for a "mistake" was summary execution. An easily readable "must read" not just for those who love Italy and a good story, but for anyone who would like to reaffirm their faith in humanity in the context of a greater understanding of the reality of occupation and war.

5 comments about This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor.

1. This is a wonderful, well written, book about a heroic figure who has endured much intimidation by anti-choice thugs who want to control women's bodies. It's a book I would recommend especially to young woman as they have a 50% chance of finding themselves in need of a save and legal abortion sometime in their life and if things keep going the way they are, they may be unable to obtain one. The stories Dr. Wicklund relates about herself and her patients would be unheard of in other developed Western nations so you get an indication of how out of step the U.S. is with respect to women's health. The book contained interesting medical facts about abortion procedures so you'll get factual information about an issue that has been clouded by a great deal of misinformation courtesy of the anti-choice folks. I was surprised not to see more endorsements on the book jacket from well known feminists other than Barbara Erenreich but that may be an indication of their own fear of being targeted. This is an inspiring story of a courageous woman who followed her passion and sacrificed much to serve women in need.



2. This book is simply excellent. No matter your feelings on the subject matter, the memoir is well-written, with a compelling story. Dr. Wicklund makes an excellent heroine for the 21st century--we see her plodding on with resolve, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. But we also see moments of doubt, of reflection, that let us know that she is human. This is a very good book.
   
   Dr. Wicklund focuses her memoir on herself, but also on her patients. The many, many women that she has served over the years play a huge role in this book. However, what was most interesting and eye-opening to me was her recounting of various tactics used by anti-choice protesters, and what she had to do to keep herself safe and to keep working. I had heard of doctors being killed, but I truly had no clue about the everyday lengths to which the "antis" would go in their self-righteousness.
   
   
   Dr. Wicklund, I don't know if you read your book reviews on Amazon.com, but thank you. Thank you for writing this book, and for doing what you have done and what you do. Thank you for never giving up. You are an inspiration, as is your daughter, and everyone who supported you.



3. I was engrossed with reading this book. It is well written and the story is powerful. Also, the details match the details of my life when I worked at an abortion clinic; it is accurate.
   
   Many thanks to Susan Wicklund for telling the world how her life was effected by her work.



4. This is a brave book by a courageous woman. As an Australian, I am not surprised by what she describes as I have become aware of the shameless and gutless tactics used by anti-abortion activists in the US. If it is their faith which drives them to make Susan's life hell, then they are certainly not Christians. The very encouraging thing about this book is Susan's determination not to be cowed by them and the little ways in which she discovers the latent support for her around her eg the man on the plane. As a man I find the over the top zealousness by the male anti-abortion activists almost laughable as they can have no concept of the pressures that may make a woman undertake an abortion.



5. I have always opposed abortion. In the 1970's, I stopped going to public protest functions. At that time, one of my fellows brought a side-by-side shotgun with him to the protests. At first, I thought it was just a sort of symbolic zeal. Later, I found that at least one barrel was loaded. This did not bother me, in itself. What bothered me was that the "organizers" were not willing to suppress or control that kind of misplaced zeal. So, I quit going to the protests. I didn't stop opposing abortion. I just stopped supporting bad organization. I don't support uncontrolled crazies, and they were already in evidence then.
   
   Dr. Wicklund has a right to produce a book, especially after decades of work in the area. However, the book is poorly planned. It is a sequence of personal recollections, a number of anecdotes put together, end to end. If the anecdotes were connected better by a common theme, it could be more revealing. As it is, it recounts the personal emotional excursions of a number of different people. There is no doubt that the emotions are real. They are relevant to an extent, but they aren't some sort of telling argument. Neither side of this particular debate has ever been plagued or inconvenienced by any excessive exercise of sanity.
   
   I have tried over many years to understand the views of the opposition, those who are pro-abortion and prefer to spin it as "pro-choice." To me, it has always seemed that the core argument of their position is convenience. It is convenient to be very sexually active and even to be sexually promiscuous, and abortion is a somewhat unpleasant but very practical version of birth control. So, it has seemed to me---perhaps incorrectly---that abortion is needed mainly as a practical convenience. Even Dr. Wicklund's own original experience was caused basically because she found it convenient or useful to live together with a man who was not her husband at a time of their lives when they had not established a reasonable economic basis. Was it necessary? They thought so. Maybe it was...maybe not.
   
   Is my view wrong? Undoubtedly it is simplistic. Undoubtedly the world itself has shades of gray that I am overlooking or too blind to see. The fact is that this book is written sufficiently badly that it gives me no more clue of the opposite view than I had before. I read the book because I was clueless, and I remain clueless afterward.
   
   People do have a choice, and it is often good to exercise the choice by using a zipper.
   
   Sic transit gloria mundi.

5 comments about Learning to Be Me: My Twenty-Three-Year Battle with Bulimia.

1. Unlike other self-help eating disorder books, this book is an incredibly honest insight, sparing no details on the reality of bulimia. It provides an intimate understanding behind the emotional mental and physical causes of this powerful mind disease. A must read for any young woman, mother or sister!



2. I was influenced by the overwhelming positive reviews of the book so I decided to see what this book was about myself. After reading the book I disagree with the majority of the reviewers (who may have been swayed by the fact they felt a personal connection to the reader). It must be noted that I personally do not suffer from an eating disorder but I read the book in hopes of helping me to understand what it is like to suffer from one. While the author does her fair share recounting her experience with bulimia it is poorly written (it almost reads like a first-person narrative by a teenager with simple sentences and limited vocabulary) and cumbersome to get through at times. A previous reviewer mentioned that s/he felt like s/he was reading an unedited copy of the book and I echo this sentiment. Golden's story while appropriately deserving of empathy lacks depth and insight and somewhat rambles on in a disorganized fashion. In any event, the book starts to get better at about the middle when she starts to go into detail about her binges and purges and the reality of her behavior sets in. As many others have mentioned she does not go into much detail about the recovery process because the book was written during the time she was recovering. Also, while this is somewhat minor, the titles of her chapters have little relevance to the content of the chapters and come across as being kitschy (e.g., "My Blanket of Shadows", "Home Sweet Hurt", and "From a Whisper to a Silent Scream").



3. Learning to Be Me: My Twenty-Three-Year Battle with Bulimia
   Jocelyn Golden did a great job writing this book. It really was one of the best I've read on bulimia. The main character is trapped in a house with people who are supposed to love and comfort her but are incredibly and selfishly indifferent to her yet intolerably critical. Overcoming such odds really is remarkable and stands as an example for others. I highly recommend this book.



4. I had been looking for a book that would help me understand the thought process behind a bulimic's behavior, in an effort to help a family member. I wanted to get inside the head of a bulimic, I wanted to FEEL what a bulimic does, no other book did this for me - Jocelyn Golden's "Learning to be me" did! I've read many bulimia books in my quest to educate myself, but none gave me the insight I gained by reading Ms. Golden's book. I highly recommend "Learning To Be Me" to any sister, mother or other relative trying to help a loved one. It gave me the courage to confront my relative, one more time, and present her with support and treatment options even though I know it may sever our relationship - I love her that much. I thank Ms. Golden for the difference her talented writing has made in my life and for portraying the facts clearly and with emotion.
   
   I would love to see another book by this author.



5. I read this memoir and realized very quickly, that Memoir was an accurate category for this book. It certainly does not belong in self help/recovery.
   Jocelyn's narrative keeps repeating descriptions of her terrible life in a way that makes this tragic disease seem petty. I have endured this dis-ease for 23 plus years and I found Aimee Lu's book "Life after an Eating Disorder" so full of hope and rcovery and revelation about this disease.
   I found this book to be full of triggers and narcissistic thoughts. It is a "Go Ask Alice" for eating disorders.
   ""Sensing the Self" is also fantastic, but a little more clinical. If you are looking for recovery, read about recovery. If you are looking for a description of how tragic and destructive and miserable an addiction can be, read a memoir.

No comments about Never Too Late: A Memoir.