5 comments about Lucky: A Memoir.

1. Lucky is a thought provoking book that helps readers understand rape from the victim's perspective. Written in an honest manner, it explores the rational and sometimes irrational reactions of everyone involved - whether victim, friend, or family member.
   
   Seabold opens the book with a vivid description of her brutal rape. Initially, this makes it a difficult read because it forces readers to live through a brutal act. However, it also helps to expose a reader's preconceived notions and biases. Seabold describes her struggles to return to a normal life and she honestly discusses societal issues that favor the criminal and penalize the victim. This is a good read for anyone looking for some insight into a difficult issue.



2. 
   I don't recommend this book to anyone who enjoys prose or literature. Sebold's use of a stripped down, matter-of-fact tone desensitizes her story. Though her rape was a traumatic event, I couldn't feel for her. Perhaps it was her intent not to draw out feeling to avoid pity but personally, I think it was uneffective in conveying her complete story because a memoir needs an emotional plot as well.
   
   I wanted to put down this book before I was even half way though there were still many unfinished subplots like the conviction of her rapist.
   
   I would expect this book in the children's/ preteen section if it weren't for the detailed account of the rape.



3. Lovely Bones led me to this book. I really didn't want to read a book about rape, but I'm glad I did because it is so much more. The story is delivered masterfully and written with skill. Read this book for the writing.



4. This book is powerful. I think every high school student should read it, boys and girls. The topic of rape needs to be discussed and understood by young and old people alike. This book really portrays all parties in a "human" light and it's truth is what makes it so powerful. I can't say enough good things about the writing style and the ease of reading, all the while, it draws you in and keeps you interested. Fantastic book!



5. The item was shipped in a timely manner, and bought at a very reasonable price! Loved the book!!!

No comments about A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade.

5 comments about Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year.

1. Funny at times, way too religious at others.
   
   Overall just "ok"
   
   I would recommend "Mother Shock" by Andrea J Buchanan instead.



2. As a married father, you might think I'd have a hard time relating to this story of a single woman bringing up her son more or less by herself. But Anne Lamott's willingness to open up the most intimate details of her private life--her struggles, insecurities, and anger at the challenge of being alone with a new baby--drew me in very deeply. And she's very funny, too. After you've read the "What to Expect" and other standard-issue baby books, pick this up. You won't be disappointed.



3. This book was given to me as a gift when I had my son 3 years ago. I have been giving it as a gift since then. Anne Lamott is amazing and real and forward. This book is not for those who want things sugar-coated. It is real life motherhood for your first year. This book, this author, made me feel so normal and so real. I would tell anyone who can take the harsh reality of becoming a mother to read this! She made me laugh, cry and love...all on the same page.



4. I fell in love with Anne Lamott after reading Bird by Bird. I also heard rave reviews about this book so decided to read it next. I did not like it as much as Bird by Bird. But it was a good read. Her struggles with her friend's cancer and being a single parent with shaky finances really hit home. Her emotional issues and her mood swings, as well as her stories about her past relationships and past behavior, while very REAL, were a little exhausting for me to read about. I commend her for pulling me into her emotional world however.



5. I've always loved Anne's books and this one is no exception. I can relate to her writings in so many ways...our humanity, quirkiness and waywardness. However "Operating Instructions" had one special ingredient: raw reality....as a new mother. Her writings of her moment-to-moment, day-to-day adventures as a first time mom made me feel as though I was right there with her as she delighted, struggled, laughed and cried her way through her son's first year. She often brings up stuff that other people wouldn't dare mention, yet we all know exists and most likely have been through ourselves. This one had me laughing throughout, as well as perplexed, shocked, and saddened at times. I hope she writes another "journal" type book. I loved this one.

5 comments about Here If You Need Me: A True Story.

1. This was a wonderful book. I think it represents well some of the basic tenets of the Unitarian Church.



2. I found this book to be a lovely affirmation of moving through a devastating loss to contentment and new life. If our lives and our luck depend on an optimistic and grateful attitude, Kate Braestrup guides us to simple and rewarding acceptance of day-to-day ups and downs. All things come to those who wait--what a novel idea in our society that craves instant gratification!



3. Author Kate Braestrup is pastor with the Maine Department of Natural Resources. She is there to minister to friends, family, etc. when a loved one has been involved in some type of misadventure - drowning, accident in the woods, missing child, etc. Her journey is interesting and compelling. Her husband - a policeman -- was killed in a random car accident. Suddenly widowed with four children, she decides to carry forward her husband's dream of attending seminary. She does so in the Universalist Unitarian faith.
   
   Bastrop offers vignettes of how she attempts to give comfort and aid to those in difficult situations. At the same time, she tries to cope with her sense of loss, juggling the demands of single parenthood with her own unusual ministry. Tragedies in the great outdoors confront us often with questions of, "How could a merciful God allow this?"
   
   Braestrup offers no pat answers and struggles with the question as well. Part of the answer she sees in the redemptive communities that coalesce to express support to those who have suffered due to accident and calamity.



4. This was a really great read! Although not outwardly religious, I find it exciting to read about those who live their lives trying to follow God's plan. For Ms. Braestrup, that involves working as the chaplain for a group of Wildlife Search and Rescue Operatives.
   
   This book isn't just about religion -- it's about the author's desire to both follow her heart and honor her deceased husband's dream, and about helping others in the only way she knew how.
   
   Very encouraging and uplifting, this is basically just an all-around good read.



5. 
   
   
   
   by Kate Braestrup
   
   
   This book was not quite what I expected. Knowing that Kate Braestrup was a minister, I still expected the book to be about Kate and her life as a single mother with an extraordinary career as minister to the Game Wardens in Maine. And so it was, more or less.
   
   The book is chock full of bible references and quotations. Too full in my opinion. While the book is written in a charming and easy going way, and Kate and her family and friends are portrayed in what you know is a real and even amusing way, the Bible references become intrusive.
   
   I wanted more of Kate! I kept hoping that th next chapter would have more about her experiences in the Maine woods and as a single mom. Clearly she is an amazing and down to earth woman. Obviously her job leads her into difficult and fascinating situation. She uses a self deprecating approach to describing herself in situations that is often endearing.
   
   All too often, what I found was more of the Bible. What I missed in purchasing this book was what became all to obvious in the end, the title is a double entendre. What I took as She would be there if needed by the wardens, and her family was true, but I believe that it also means that God is there for all of us.
   
   Finally, the ending came to quickly. I felt that I was swooped from the middle of her story, to her current life all too quickly. It felt almost as if she woke one morning feeling as if she had done enough writing and and basically wrote that they all live happily ever after.
   
   I am not anti-religion at all, I am just a reader who is somewhat disappointed in a book that I had looked forward to reading.

5 comments about Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion.

1. From the moment I began reading to the last page I was hooked. I think this is a book that every church should own and require all outreach workers to read. In my view, Ms. Miles grasps and conveys in a succinct and direct manner just what it means to act out one's faith, a faith that has nothing to do with politics or what is expedient, or what will please people the most. There is a need, one responds, and that's all there is to it. Ms. Miles does not romanticize working with the homeless, feeding the hungry. She presents the challenges and difficulties clearly and realistically. This is not "fun" work. It's not meant to be fun. Yet,as I read this, I was struck by her understanding and acceptance as well as the clear conviction that this is what she was meant to do. Again, a very worthwhile read,immensely helpful and hopeful.



2. 'Take this Bread' is a wonderful book, funny and profance and touching. I loved every page. I liked the commentary on the clergy and learned so much about how to love the other. Miles brought me to face my fears. Her take on Christianity as a complex, disturbing, scary way to live is so real. With fine writing she takes us into what it means to incarnate our religion, and it's painful to face that. Luckily, her humilty, mistakes and humor keep us on her side and thinking about how we might go forth too.



3. "Take This Bread" by Sara Miles is delightful, heartwarming, and a great insight into one spiritual journey. I read it with tears streaming down my cheeks while I laughed out loud at some parts. Truly a gift to those of us who are questioning the Christian Faith and our place in it. The descriptions of St. Gregory's make me want to make a trip from Ohio just to worship with a diverse and interesting congregation. I can feel in inclusiveness of the building and its people, as well as the joy that emanates from them. A book I have ordered in paper in which to write and underline those parts that speak directly to me. Thank you!



4. I friend handed me this book and said I might enjoy it because of my Anglican background. I took it home and read it. My response to the story of this woman's conversion and following growth into a very active ministry was convicting and sometimes infuriating. From other reviews on this page I find I am not alone. I would recommend this book because it is important to know how people view the church (and evangelicals, watch out - she's quite scathing in her opinions) and where one can find grace. I think that her life story is one of grace and no matter how much I agree or disagree with what she says about life issues and doctrines and those of other christian denominations, that is the main issue. The Grace of God is far more amazing than any of us realize. And her life is a great catalyst to continue the conversation of one of the most important of faith issues - loving others.



5. Sara Miles, a life-long foodie, is hungry. She wanders the bowels of kitchens, war, and politics in search of sustenance. She finds it finally in the cesspool that is the church, and in those banging at its doors. The place Jesus came to be with the lepers, the outcast, and the possessed. And they are all still there. Sara tells her story with funny and troubling anecdotes about both the nonsense and the overwhelming presence of God found in the players and places of organized religion. The fact is, there are loads of people wandering around longing for meaning, or to be a part of the healing of this planet. But the last place they would expect to find it is the church, which seems so embattled with itself it is essentially worthless: filled with hypocrites, snobs, holier-than-thou's, and exceedingly needy people. This memoir takes us into such a place, recognizes the players for what they are, but then generously asks - So what? Aren't we all a little mad? Come to the table anyway. It will fill you, empty you, and fill you again. I bought ten copies of this book for friends who are living on the edge, not knowing where to look for what it is they are missing. I recommend it highly.

2 comments about Who Do You Think You Are?: A Memoir.

1. I loved this book. And I wouldn't have thought of it as my kind of book. A friend who liked it gave it to me to read and I couldn't put it down. There's something about the straightforwardness of the writing that just draws you in. My relationship with my mother wasn't as bad as that of the author, but I saw so many issues of our relationship reflected here that it really moved me. And the unexpected ending was amazing.



2. 'Who Do You Think You Are?' is a beautifully written book. I read it in one sitting because, from the first page, I literally could not put it down. It is such a BRAVE book: it dares to look at that most sacrosanct -- and mythologized -- relationship: mother and daughter. And it tells a truth: that not all of us like our mothers. And not all mothers like their children.
   
   The book begins with the mother's funeral. The only thing the author wants is a wooden box that has been hidden in her mother's closet for as long as she can remember. She takes the box but does not open it, afraid of the secrets contained within. We then flash back to the 60s in a poorer neighborhood in Queens. Through tight, beautiful prose, we learn of the author's childhood.
   
   What is magical about this book is that it is not a chronicle of some nightmare or a retelling of yet another horrifying story of abject cruelty. Rather, 'Who Do You Think You Are?' is the story of what really goes on behind the closed doors of many peoples' lives. Relationships are not perfect. People hurt one another. People damage one another. And life goes on. Especially for the survivor. Ultimately, this is a book about what it means to love and to discover that place within yourself that lets you love in spite of the hurt you have suffered. It is also a book about forgiving and how that contributes to love. This is an amazing book and one that I recommend in the highest possible terms. It's a gem.

5 comments about A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana (Today Show Book Club #3).

1. I concur with much of the praise that precedes me: "Zippy" is a lyrically written, thoughtful, engaging memoir that I read with great pleasure.
   
   And yet, in the end, it was the very pleasure of my reading experience that troubled me. A reviewer below notes, "It is refreshing every once in a while to read a story that doesn't have murder, major drama, or psychological problems." Yet the book is chock full of every one of those things, and then some: those themes are just so sugar-coated, the reader is hypnotized into overlooking them.
   
   A short list of thematic elements touched on by the book includes: depression, alcoholism, birth defects, child-neglect, child sexual abuse, murder, teenage pregnancy, animal cruelty (in abundance), mental illness, religious fanatacism, grinding poverty, gambling addiction, and the Mi Lai Massacre, for goodness' sake!
   
   And yet these themes are all presented in a filmy, dreamlike way that removes their sting and horror. One could argue that that is the theme of the book: the triumph of one child's powerful sense of self over adversity.
   
   However, as I turned the final page, I began to feel that I had been tricked into approving, even admiring, the "good old days" that never were. I believe the author could have and should have demanded more of the reader to connect the dots between events as seen from the child's point of view and the more stark light of adult reality. This book makes it all too easy for the reader to condone a world in which very serious issues are treated as light afternoon reading on the front porch swing.



2. This is the story of Zippy, an imaginative, precocious girl who grew up in the small town of Mooreland, Indiana during the 1960's and 1970's. She tells stories about her family members, childhood friends, eccentric neighbors, and various pets. Through it all, Zippy has a resilience of spirit and a positive attitude that shine through, even in situations that otherwise may not be ideal.
   
   This book is unusual in that it is written with a child's voice, but is interesting and humorous to adults. Haven Kimmel is really able to capture the feeling of being a child, and how even the most minor of events can have major importance. It was refreshing to read a memoir about a happy childhood, and I found myself reciting several sweet and funny passages out loud to various family members. I loved how Zippy shared the stories of the first memory she ever had, the first time she thought about family genes, and the first time she thought about the passage of time. The book is written in very simple prose, but has depth to it as well.
   
   I highly, highly recommend this book. It was an absolute joy, and I loved every minute of it. Do not miss this one!!!!



3. This was a light hearted and hilariously funny book. It is refreshing every once in a while to read a story that doesn't have murder, major drama, or psychological problems. Zippy's story is from a small town where something you and I take for granted every day is described in a way to make you laugh and appreciate the small things in life. I bought the next Zippy book afterwards and loved it just as much.



4. Zippy was loaned to me. After I read it, I knew I needed it in my house to savor as needed. The occasion and content of Zippy's first words are priceless, and I'm trying to memorize them. There's no self pity, no self-righteousness or judgment in this story of a self-possessed child sailing through what to others might be considered a precarious childhood. And it made me laugh, again and again.



5. I laughed so hard. It was so nice to read a memoir that was NOT depressing. Nothing too terribly horrible marred the past of the author and when there are a few set-backs and road-blocks, she chooses to tackle them with humor and a positive attitude. I am amazed at the detail with which she is able to recall and relate to the reader the childhood exuberance and eccentricities we all had but easily forget. Great read!

5 comments about The Bookseller of Kabul.

1. This book has nothing remotely to do with books or love of books or looking at a culture or hard times from a bookseller's perspective or even simply selling books.
   The book feels like a series of journalistic portraitures rather than a coherent comprehensive picture about life in Afghanistan. The author never gets over herself or her anger at injustice that she saw perpetrated (accepted as norm) in Afghanistan. The author's anger does does not help in clarifying the situation but drags the reader from one pointed incident to another pointless incident.
   Maybe this is a sincere attempt to capture a moment, a tough moment in a country, but the pace is uneven and emotions even more so.



2. A journalist spends a few months living with the family of Sultan Khan, a bookseller in Kabul. Khan is an autocratic patriarch, whose idea of being liberal is permitting the women of his home to leave the house without wearing a burka. Khan determines the fate of his sons, wives, and daughters. No one is allowed to exert any autonomy over their own life, without having to leave home.
   Privacy, volition, emotions, expectations and dreams of a better future are elusive, almost non-existent concepts for anyone other than Khan in this home.
   This does fit in neatly with our stereotypes of life for Muslim women. But I sincerely hope this was a story of a family dominated by a particularly controlling man, and not a microcosm of life in Kabul.



3. Just after the fall of the Taliban regime, the author, an award winning Norwegian journalist, lived in Afghanistan with a middle class bookseller and his family for three months. What emerged from her intimate association with this family is a book that almost reads like a novel, so riveting is the account of life in post Taliban Afghanistan.
   
   The bookseller, Sultan Khan, is a canny and shrewd business man, as well as a devout Muslim, who despite his love of books, seems to have learned little from the knowledge at his fingertips. He rules the roost like a patriarchal despot with a decidedly strict view of the role of women. In fact, it is through the women in his household that the reader is drawn into how truly circumscribed and stultifying life is for Afghani women, even after the Taliban is no longer in power. Khan rules his household as if it were a feudal fiefdom, with little thought, concern, or interest in the desires, hopes, and dreams of the members of his household.
   
   The author's reporting on what life is like in post Taliban Afghanistan paints a fairly grim picture of a society fraught with ignorance and corruption. It is a society where women are merely chattel with little or no say in their future. Education is pretty much non-existent, and what passes for such is pathetic. Even that little, however, is routinely denied to the feminine gender. It was also particularly surprising, as well as ironic, that Sultan Khan, being a bookseller and purporting to love books, denied even his sons an education.
   
   The author certainly has had an eye-opening experience by donning a burka and I, for one, am glad that she chose to share it. Despite its lack of any cogent critical analysis, this is certainly a provocative book and one that will provide much food for thought. Her birds-eye view of life in Afghanistan is truly a powerful statement and an indictment of a society so steeped in ignorance and poverty that it will take a miracle for it to enter into the twenty first century. Life in modern day Afghanistan is bleak, indeed. Those with an interest in other cultures will certainly enjoy this book.



4. Well done!!! What a fantastic view of the life of a family in Kabul, Afghanistan as they live. Seierstad, a journalist convinces Sultan Kahn to live with his family and write about their daily life. This is not a journal or diary as you may expect. The author crafts this book to read like a novel and you are there as a member of this family. Surprisingly, she does not seem to hold back in her portrayal of the male role in the family especially Sultan (father) and eldest son (Mansur). I highly recommend this for anyone looking to experience as the author did by living life behind the burka.



5. From the very beginning of The Bookseller of Kabul, I was fascinated by the idea that this young Norwegian female, Asne Seierstad, could compose such a vivid picture of family life in an emerging Afghanistan. While she is obviously talented, she was still faced with the post-Taliban realities of war and censorship and the male-dominated traditions of the Muslim culture there. I was amazed that she was able to survive the experience of living with the bookseller, Sultan Kahn, who in truth is a remarkable character in his own right and a man of many contrasts. Nevertheless Seierstad was able to capture the essence of a complex Afghani family, the people that she invisibly lived with for three months, a feat comparable to the adventures of Freya Stark in the 1930s.
   
   She lets us know up front that that she did not considered Kahn's family to be typical but rather a unique vantage point to see Afghanistan from. In some ways, this story reminded me of Rory Stewart's classic The Places In Between, where the poverty and struggle of the people are characters in their own right. Some may find the brutality of Afghanistan difficult to accept - the multiple wives, the lack of freedom, the inequities - but they are realities in a land that outsiders know little about. However, when you examine their family politics, the bickering and the power struggles for survival from Seierstad's unique perspective, you will find that they contain many of the same human emotions that underline the traditional values within our own families.
   
   Kahn serves us as a reminder that things are slow to change in Afghanistan [and the broader Middle East] and that it will take an understanding of the basic human needs there combined with more education and compassion for the people before any real change will be visible. And as the Epilogue reminds us, things change.
   
   Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - a fact-based novel about Iran, Iraq and the Middle East...

5 comments about Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?.

1. This is a another geat book from Jen. I can so relate to her stories. I highly recommend this. Can't wait for the next one.



2. I saw this book as I was ready to leave at Barnes and Noble and the Title caught my eye- clearly with a title like this, I had to buy it. I LOVE it! I am halfway through it and I am so bummed...I came to Amazon to buy bitter is the new black and to say, if you have a sarcastic, biting sense of humor, you will enjoy this book. Can she be self indulgent? Yes...Can she be frank? VERY....but scarily, she uses a lot of expressions and abbreviations I do...which makes me wonder how she got into my head. I find the footnotes and email excerpts to be a clever way to write (some reviewers do not feel the same). She does talk like a pirate (four letter words galore) but frankly that makes her more real to me and similarly more like me- thus, I love it!
   My husband won't allow me to read this book in bed because I break into laughter often (not exactly the read to help you fall asleep)....but it is a great way to unwind.... You can read this and realize universal truths- Jobs can stink, Neighbors can be awful, and EVERYONE has problems that can be mountains or molehills (it all depends on how YOU react to it). Kudos, 2 thumbs up, 5 stars!



3. I think this book was fabulous! Since moving to Chicago from Oklahoma and from recieving a above average paycheck to being a broke student living on student aid, I could really relate to some of her funny daily dilemmas (ie... the fabulous CTA system and the ever so complicated apartment search). I was searching for something to brighten my day after being around the rude and grumpy dwellers of Chicago. I havent been able to even finish a book in years and I couldnt put this one down, often times even finding myself laughing hysterically and talking to myself in my thick southern accent on the "L" with people gawking at me like a freak (oops). I just bought "Bitter is the New Black" and I cant wait to read all of the books that follow.



4. I couldn't read Bitter is the new black quick enough, it was a great book. When I saw that Jen Lancaster put out another book, I was thrilled! This book was just as great as Bitter.
   
   I have already pre-ordered her next book! Way to go Jen, you are an amazing writer!



5. Because of some of the reviews here on Amazon I was a little hesitant to read this book especially since I thought Bitter is the New Black was so funny but I'm glad I ignored the reviewers. BLBA is just as funny and well written as Bitter!! Jen once again puts her life out there (good, bad & ugly)for the world to read and she does a great job of capturing the classic moments of her life. I found myself cracking up in some parts and even reading certain parts to my husband where we both chuckled at Jen's life moments. Funny, fun and entertaining is to best describe this book. Way to go Jen I can't wait for the next book!

5 comments about The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts.

1. Woman Warrior is one of the most gripping lyrical-memoirs I've read. Author, Maxine Kingston, is eternally haunted by the "no-name" ghost of her dead aunt, and she finds herself displaced and alienated as she attempts to put together two worlds: the old Chinese world of her past, and the new America world of her future.
   
   It is Maxine's Chinese ancestry that teaches her that girls are half-ghosts that walk a tight wire and with one wrong step will transcend into full-pledged ghosts, with all memory of their existence erased from time. Girls in the history of her Chinese culture are regarded much the way Middle Eastern women are regarded today: burdensome, and dangerous. The saying "When fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls," holds a message repeated to Kingston many times over throughout her girlhood.
   
   Compounding Maxine's troubles, not only is it difficult for her to adjust to being an American type of female, which is different than a Chinese accepted female, but she carries with her the eternal displacement of her violently banished, suicide-no-name aunt whose spirit forever lingers, haunting Maxine.
   
   Alienation is also host to Maxine's reality, as she struggles to feel of value---caught as she is between what she's been brainwashed to believe gives a female value in Chinese culture, and what she is learning gives a female value in American culture. Alienation because she realizes that she is no longer authentic to the culture she comes from, just as she is not authentic to the culture she is now a part of. And she discovers that what her and her family has become, is an unintelligible patchwork, beyond definition: "No other Chinese, neither the ones in Sacramento, nor the ones in San Francisco, nor Hawaii speak like us."
   
   Kingston's resentment and further displacement and alienation comes from the many secrets about her past, about her Chinese heritage, kept from her by her elders--the only stories they tell her are the ones meant to haunt her, but even those stories are not fully explained. How is she to form an identity when she isn't aloud to put all of the pieces together, of her past and present, when she can't define her self as being a solid part of any given culture? Without proper definition of place, one merely floats along, trying to make sense of it. This is where the Woman Warrior, Fa Mu Lan, comes into play in this story.
   
   Fa Mu Lan is used as a metaphor for female choice, female purpose, female strength and power. Fa Mu Lan does not simply assume the traditional role of a Chinese female, instead she goes out into the world and she fights! Only after she fights does she return home to resume her traditional female role.
   
   I personally see this metaphor of Fa Mu Lan as Kingston's impression of having her feet in two different worlds, and how to cope accordingly. Fa Mu Lan, to me, represents the old and the new, and also she represents a force of identity that gives strength, and choice, to the traditional female role. Fa Mu Lan is a survivor of both worlds, and because she faces such danger outside of her home, the inside of her home may not be seen as dangerous in light of that outside world.
   
   Danger in Kingston's world, comes from both the inside and outside of the home--whether through ghostly memories and threats lingering in the air, or through present day pressures and dangers from a cold native-America population-- and so Fa Mu Lan serves to bring balance and strength to this two-pronged blade.



2. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is a powerful
   gem about the relationship between the author and her
   mother and other women in her family. It is a memoir
   but reads like fiction. I loved this book and especially
   how she utilizes symbols, particularly ghosts to represent
   people from different backgrounds, whom the author draws
   upon for wisdom, strength and remembrance.
   
   I usually have a tough time with "literary" fiction but
   the author writes in an almost conversational tone. I felt
   like I was there as the author told her story. This is
   an excellent book to read to learn about Chinese culture.



3. An excellent book, funny, insightful, poignant. Ms. Kingston brilliantly conveys how cultures can clash within the minds of those who straddle them. After reading this book I bought half a dozen copies to give to close friends.



4. This is a tremendous novel. The author threads the stories her mother told her when she was a child, through the retelling of her own life, using them to draw you into her own imagination. As she grows up, living half immersed in traditional myth and half in gritty reality, where mothers and daughters are only human, the reader grows up with her. The first person telling of her childhhood stories puts the reader directly in the shoes of a child/young adult working through the stories she has been told, using them to form her hopes and dreams and her understanding of the world.
   
   (N.B. You may not think that your childhood stories influenced the way you live, but if you think for a minute, I am certain some will come back to you and you'll realize that just the other day you did something based on or combatting that belief. Maybe you even still wish on stars?)



5. While the perspective and ideas of this novel are ones rarely seen in modern day literature, Maxine Hong Kingston fails to captivate a reader in a way that one would expect from a novel dealing with the difficulties of not only being a minority in the U.S., but for simply being female.
   
   The story starts off with the tale of Kingston's deceased aunt, who brought shame to the family and was unmentionable due to the fact that she bore an illegitimate child. As she gets into the tale and finds a parallel between herself and her aunt, both not wanting to conform to societal expectations, the story quickly changes to a story of a legendary girl trained by two old people to battle evil. The narration is filled with melodramatic elements and disorganized and often random occurences that make no sense at all, thereby losing the reader's interest early on in the book. The story then changes a few more times to different events in her family occuring in different eras, making it hard to grasp the relationship between themand her purpose for doing so. As you can see, the organization in this novel seems to be its biggest flaw. Instead of focusing on one tale and going in depth about it, the fact that Kingston changes stories so frequently and often before they are fully developed is annoying and seems to be pointless. While the stories she includes share a common theme of decpicting independent and strong women, her melodramatic and ineffective ways of narrating not only loses the reader's interest but in the process, I think even Kingston got confused about what she was trying to say!