Editorial Review

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life. ... Read more

Reviews

Masterfully researched and written biography of a great woman
Stacy Schiff took a great risk when she wrote "Cleopatra: A Life." Can a woman branded a "whore" by the Great Bard himself, ever really have a reputation as anything else? Directly challenging 2,000 year old assumptions that were enhanced by the likes of Dante, and director Joseph Mankiewicz, is a tall order for even the most accomplished writer. Ms. Schiff brilliantly rises to the task.

Ms. Schiff brings to vivid life a very different Cleopatra from the one depicted to us by playwrights and movie directors. Instead of a wanton seductress relying solely upon her looks, Cleopatra was one of the most authoritative rulers in the history of humanity, inheriting at the age of 18 one of the greatest kingdoms ever known, during a time in history when women had about the same social stature as farm animals.

Furthermore, Ms. Schiff is a wordsmith extraordinaire. In beautifully constructed prose that reminded me more of Nabokov than your typical biographer, Ms. Schiff paints a lovely, nuanced portrait of a great and vastly misunderstood woman. And what life the author brings to ancient Egypt too! The descriptions of the ancient world in which Cleopatra lived were so vivid that you would think the author was Cleopatra's contemporary, and not her 21st century biographer.

Ms. Schiff had a tough act to follow with herself; all her previous books have won, or been nominated for, just about every pretigious literary award you can think of.
I wouldn't be surprised if she at least gets on the short-list for the Pulitzer with "Cleopatra: A Life."

A fuller, deeper, much more interesting take on Cleopatra.
I'm an avid reader and certainly don't mind books by and/or about men, however, I've always wished there were more books about dynamic, interesting women. "Cleopatra: A Life" more than fulfilled this wish. What I knew about Cleopatra before I read this book came from long ago college classes, the movie with Elizabeth Taylor, and a viewing of the play about her and Antony at a Shakespeare festival. I had the vague impression that Cleopatra was first and foremost a woman who would cast an unbreakable sexual spell on any man who was convenient for her to control. I'm so glad and thankful that Stacy Schiff shows us that Cleopatra was so much more than a seductress; Cleopatra had wit, charm and superlative intelligence.

The fact that Cleopatra lived through her 20's is a tribute to her intelligence alone, as I simply could not believe just how commonplace murder was for those with power in the ancient world. Then, to maintain her position as Egypt's sovereign, Cleopatra's circumstances dictated that she had to ally herself with the Romans, the world's greatest power at the time. For a time, Cleopatra maintained the upper-hand in the power relations with two of the most powerful Romans, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony; with both men she had much written about sexual relationships. In the end, Rome became her enemy, and they also became her biographer. After reading "Cleopatra: A Life", I get the sense that the patriarchal Romans couldn't bring themselves to write a narrative showing that two of their greatest leaders were outwitted by a woman. Imagine what a biography of Monica Lewinsky would be like if it were written by ardent supporters of Bill Clinton.

Now, on a separate note, I've read all the reviews thus far for this book, and I've noticed a trend in some of the negative reviews. Although "Cleopatra" was written more for a general audience than Schiff's prior biographies, this is still a work of serious scholarship. I doubt this is a book that most people could easily read at the beach. So with this in mind, if you love the intriguing stories of antiquity, but a book that will demand your attention, then this book is for you. If you want a historical version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" then you probably won't like this book.

In closing, I loved this book. I hope Stacy Schiff's next book is about an overlooked, or misunderstood woman.

The elusive, evasive queen; Slandered for 2000 years

"It is indeed most fine, and befitting the descendant of so many kings."

Editorial Review

It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation.

Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous—the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years.

Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.

Reviews

How Patti Smith became Patti Smith...absolutely riveting!
Before she became the Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith was just some girl who came to New York in search of herself. We have a tendency to view her as always having been a rebel, guitar in hand, spouting her distinctive mix of poetry and invective at society. But the reality was that Smith came to New York as a refugee, uncertain of who she was and what she wanted to be. That's sometimes a bit hard to believe or realize, but in "Just Kids" Smith reveals just that: she wasn't one half as confident then as she is now, and that she had no idea what she was going to do once she arrived in New York. While this is true of almost everyone from her generation, it is somehow shocking and bizarre to ponder. More interesting was that her first lover and partner in New York was none other than future photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The bulk of "Just Kids" is Smith's recollection of Smith's early years in New York with Mapplethorpe and how they came to create their own image as artists and autuers and to craft their image and art. Again, it seems weird to think of either of them as being anything other than fully formed individuals, and that, in and of itself, seems supremely bizarre. We seldom think of the intervening events that came to create them as artists, yet here is Patti Smith lying bare exactly how she came to be what she became. The result is a fascinating and spellbinding narrative that you can scarcely set down. Ultimately Smith learns that Mapplethorpe is gay and both go on to find their own loves and their own directions in life and in art. In that degree "Just Kids" feels like only the beginning of a captivating story, the transition to another chapter, and I sincerely hope, a transition to another volume of memories, as I'm no doubt certain that Smith has a wealth of other memories than span well into the 80s, 90s and beyond. But for now I'm heartened to hear what she has to say as for now, the era before she became Patti Smith. And rather than being a trip down memory lane, "Just Kids" reminds us that everyone had to start somewhere, and success is never easy or certain. Smith's prose also wonderfully captures an era of New York City that has largely faded to the mists of time and memory. It is a time and place I was glad to revisit for a while. Immensely enjoyable and quite readable "Just Kids" is probably one of the best rock autobiographies I've ever read!

Where friendship and art meet.
This is an interesting memoir, especially for fans of Mapelthrope or Patti Smith. For the younger generation who may not be familiar with these two names. Maplethorpe was a photographer with a style that was recognizable no matter his subject (he died of AIDs in his early 40s in 1989) and lets just say he wore his homosexuality proudly (for more on mapelthorpe I recommend Mapplethorpe: A Biography). Smith is the poet singer song writer often referred to as the grandma of punk rock and an activist for many causes to this very day. In this Memoir Smith writes about her relationship with Maplethorpe in the late and early 1970s before they became famous. I thought it was fascinating to read about these two icons before they realized who the were or wanted to be. Its hard not to think of Smith as a poet rebel, guitar in hand or Mapelthorpe as the in your face artist, but Smith's book takes the reader back to when both were "Just Kids." You see Smith and Maplethorpe as young people, not always secure in who they are, groping to find their passions that were burning inside but not fully understood. In this memoir Smith also presents a picture of a New York that no longer exists, and that alone makes this wonderful reading. Not all song writers can successfully write lyrics as well as prose, Smith though has a gift with the written word that is transcendent. Heart felt and honest, like her music, I highly recommend this book. For more honest reading concerning Hollywood Icons in the 1960s I have to recommend "Misfits Country."

Memoir Served With Nostalgia & Humor
Just Kids is Patti Smith's memoir of her and Robert Mapplethorpe's time on the edge, two kids who found each other on streets of New York and were determined to become artists.

Just Kids doesn't inundate the reader with biographical details about Mapplethorpe or too many of Smith, it`s not a diarists memoir but more of an impressionistic one. Smith writes like her prose is poetry, it flows easily over the page, and flows easily from scene to scene as she and Mapplethorpe struggle to define themselves and their art. What it does give is a sense of the person Mapplethorpe was, a person who cared about Smith, and she about him. Her insight into Mapplethorpe is both sympathetic and empathetic, without seeming to have the forced perspective of hindsight. It may be, but Smith's understanding and acceptance of Mapplethorpe's dualities seem contemporaneous to the moment. We're witness to the portentous moment Mapplethorpe is given his first camera, and when Smith was releasing her first album, Horses, she knew no one else but Mapplethorpe could do the cover photograph. Just Kids is interspersed with Mapplethorpe's photographs of Smith.

Smith has a good sense of humor about herself in this period, living at the Chelsea Hotel, Allen Ginsburg tried to pick her up because he thought she a good looking young man. Or how no one in her and Mapplethorpe's circle believed she was neither a heroin addict nor a lesbian.

Smith who claims among her influences, Rimbaud and Baudelaire, is firmly in the romantic vein, down to the presentation of the book with rough hewn page cuts and sepia wash, all combine to the nostalgic feel of the book. If someone were to write a memoir for me, this is what I would wish it to be.

So Crazy I Knew I Could Break Thru With You
I just finished reading Patti Smith's "Just Kids." I read it like a glutton. Scarfing it up, page by page, long into the night. Occasionally I would have a glass of wine, or put it down to think back to my own memories of New York from the late '60's +. It's a book filled with possibilities. Patti's mantra, possibilities, "one who siezes possibilities," sung in "Land." It's a book of drive, vision, ambition, talent, risk, verve, destiny, love, fidelity, friendship.

I had to stop occasionally to wipe away a tear. The New York City of Patti's book doesn't exist anymore. Back then it was city on verge of bankruptcy. Back then you could actually afford to live in Manhattan, have a low pay job, go out at night, and live your dreams. If you spent your food money on art or seeing a band or nursing the two drink minimum you could see greatness every day of the week. New York City is culturally dead now. There is no community, art, music, culture. There is no longer a sea of possibilities. But as "Just Kids" sanctifies, testifies, signifies, artists will find a way. It's probably out there in the Rust Belt - with dead shells of former factories - or in the Heartland - or somewhere in America with foreclosing homes and decay - or some other country - somewhere - it's happening. Artists find a way because they can't help themselves. They are ornery and can't be contained. That's the message in "Just Kids," have a dream, make an oath, keep it real, do it. Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!

But back then, back in the day, the Dead Zone was New York City. We spilled out of Jersey, Long Island, BBQ Bridge & Tunnel crowd, who could no longer be contained. I first saw Patti on WOR on a Sunday night talking about graffiti subway cars as Jackson Pollack. I have "Seventh Heaven" and "Witt" with her evaporating signitures, "Ha Ha Houdini" in hand-minted offset typeface. She was the one with the true grit to climb out of the audience and get up there and do it.

Robert Mapplethorpe I came to appreciate. It took me a while to warm to him. It took me a while to warm to him in "Just Kids." Patti makes a complex man human, and it's a loving portrait of an artist often sensationalized. Patti keeps at it until you see him through her eyes. As Sam Shepard paraphrased, his dream wasn't my dream. But it's a dream she knew well, and she uses all her talent to make it real for us.

In "Just Kids," Patti and Robert's finding one another thru pure happenstance, is the stuff of kismet. Their support and love for one another is palpable. There is new information about both of them in this book that nobody but they could possibly know. This, if nothing else, makes this book necessary and vital.

Nothing I've read about either Patti and Robert comes close to this book. I thought I'd read, heard, knew, everything about Patti Smith. We have mutual friends. I was at the same places, at the same time, as she. Robert Mapplethorpe is equally well documented. This is the stuff of the Inner Sanctum.

God, what a testiment. This is a great gift. Robert would be proud. He'd say, "Patti, no!" Thank you.

As great as one of Patti Smith's live performances.
Have you ever awoken from a dream and yearned to tell someone close by all the seemingly concrete details that made so much sense in unconsciousness, but upon consciousness are rendered incomprehensible, even worse, banal when spoken? Or, have you ever had to retreat midway through a story about how interesting a scene or city was to have experienced with that sad qualifying statement: "Well, I guess you had to be there," those blank stares and yawns from listeners way too much to bear?

Well, I have. Patti Smith has not, at least not in the case of her exquisite new memoir, "Just Kids". The difference between me and her is that my attempts to transcend mere description when writing about my past always deflates either into senseless name dropping or banal "my summer vacation essay" style explorations, whereas Smith, in "Just Kids," transcends all the pitfalls of the memoir genre and tells a poignant tale of two struggling artists in the late 60s - 70s in New York City--her and Robert Mapplethorpe--without sounding pompous, pretentious or boring.

It's always the inexplicable that's most interesting. If you strip away what's ineffable about the spirit of a defining period of time you are left mainly with the banal: eating, sitting, hanging out, arguing, making money, paying rent, and so on. That's why memoirs are so difficult to execute and only a talented writer tempered with restraint, such as Patti Smith, can adequately do the genre any justice.

As I was reading "Just Kids" I was continually struck with just how easy this book could have degenerated into a self-absorbed, indulgent tale of bohemianism and name dropping. The story itself is set up to lend itself to this sort of abuse. The fact is that Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were in New York City during an especially vibrant and exciting time for art and artists and otherwise bohemian types. The beats, rock and roll, which was still relatively new and exciting, Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground: the list goes on: see, I'm name dropping; it's hard not to do!

Instead, Smith uses a contemplative voice to recount her and Mapplethorpe's travails as they both went from two unknown starving artists to the great stars they later became. Where it could have been an appallingly boring story of braggadocio, such as telling the story of their ascendancy from front of the house to the "round table" at Max's Kansas City, instead is done masterfully through Smith's self-depreciation and reluctance.

As much as the reader gets an insight into Robert Mapplethorpe, his personality, sexuality, and art, he still never lets the mystery of his character bleed through, certainly not a two dimensional character. In a way, he's the one holding the reader in suspense throughout the book. This demonstrates just how talented Smith was to carry this off--and how telling! for it was ultimately Smith who never completely came to an understanding of him. For instance, on numerous occasions she states her bewilderment at a finished piece of art, or his subject matter (the gay S&M underworld of New York City, e.g.) or the sudden choices he would make, for instance running off to San Francisco. The true nature of the cohesion in their relationship was not in the things Mapplethorpe did, per se, but in the transparency of the processes behind Mapplethorpe's art and life. Isn't it the processes of an artist that other artists are most drawn to?

In some key ways, the two were very different. He was supremely ambitious and she was content at creating her art in obscurity, at least in the beginning. In a way, she was the grounding figure, ultimately benefiting him with some stability, whereas he was the ambitious figure ultimately benefiting her with some will to achieve. What a perfect match! They were each other's greatest champions! and it's this element that is the most important narrative thread throughout the book. Could they have done it without each other?

Smith's perspective on this fascinating period in New York's art-bohemian scene is insightful. Having an avid interest in this cultural phenomenon, I especially enjoyed it. I am familiar with many of the people who fill these pages and the intimacy with which Smith tells the story brings me closer to their cultural milieu.

In the end, the two (as happens so often in life) drifted apart: not out of transgression, betrayal, loss of interest, but because they were maturing and finding their own ways to carry on the art and life they dreamed of together, that they promised one another they would never abandon. She eventually moved to Detroit to marry Fred Sonic Smith of MC5 and he stayed in NYC.

The last chapter describing Mapplethorpe's death and Smith's presence during it is nothing less than heart wrenching. I knew it was coming, but was not prepared for the impact his death would have on me that afternoon. This is where Smith really shines! Her tender ruminations on the dying and death of her lover and friend, her soul mate, is perfect. She adroitly straddles the line between sentimentality and description masterfully, never letting you stray too far into the sadness of it (as she did not let herself get lost in the despair of his death) while also avoiding mere description, leaving you to perhaps, say to yourself: "Ah, drag," close the book and go on about your business. This book sticks with you.

As a side note: God! how I would have loved being there in New York City at this time! I grew up in North Jersey in the seventies. I was too young to have had access to NYC during most of the period discussed in this book. But, even if I did, I was unlucky to have been a philistine Jersey redneck (which is different than any other redneck, but not necessarily in a good way). I did actually go to NYC often in the late-late 70s and early 80s, but thought it was bohemian enough to walk around the West Village and hang out in Washington Square Park doing whippets until one in the morning. How sad. What a squandered opportunity! Oh well, I guess there's a reason why I went to diesel school, instead. Reading Patti Smith's book, at least, allowed me to live vicariously for awhile.

I also recommend seeing Patti Smith live. She drew blood for us, literally. I will never forget her.

Just kids --- but what a life!
Patti Smith was broke and hungry when she met Robert Mapplethorpe, high on LSD, at a park in the summer of 1967. Smith would become the "Godmother of Punk" and the rebel poet and rocker. Mapplethorpe would become a world-famous, often hated, photographer of sadomasochistic images and self-portraits with bull-whips.

Almost immediately the two became lovers and the closest of friends. Smith writes, "we had mutually surrendered our loneliness and replaced it with trust." They went through poverty, obscurity, drugs, fame and the AIDS that would kill Mapplethorpe.

When Smith was a young girl, the sight of a swan produced a transcendent moment of being: "The swan became one with the sky . . . and I felt a twinge, a curious yearning, imperceptible to passersby, my mother, the trees, or the clouds." This is the way Smith would think and why she was so good at what she did.

This is a real human love story and certainly worth reading -- especially for those of us who were young and eager to change the world in those days.

Highly recommended.

- Susanna K. Hutcheson

A glorious read
A glorious read. I cannot express how much I've enjoyed this very moving story of unconditional love, fierce loyalty and boundless spirituality.
I initially caught an excerpt in the January 21st issue of Rolling Stone which gives a great preview of what to expect.

Tender "tough-girl"
This is a tender memoir by Patti Smith of her early years, as she searches for an identity as an artist/writer/poet/performer in 1970's new York City. Her loving relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, her life at the famed Chelsea Hotel, her meetings with the artists, the junkies, the crazies, and the blessed who wandered through the Village during the era of change in the 1970's is revealed to us. Patti lived amidst a swirl of creative primordial ooze - meeting Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Sam Sheppard, Lenny Kaye, and so many others.

She reveals herself as an innocent kid, coming from a simple, middle-class and loving home who braved the Big Apple for better or worse. It is a wonderful inside glimpse into Patti's metamorphosis, told with acceptance and love. Those who may have only heard Patti Smith perform as an outspoken tough-girl will marvel at the tender heart that beats inside that slender body. Those who know her better, recognize parts of ourselves. I loved this book! ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Superficial!
I've seen endless amounts of episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and thought this book might be an interesting extension of the Kardashian brand. Although I like the fact that the book has colorful photographs and many pages of text, I am unimpressed with the content. For instance I don't think it's beneficial to include a section on how to do an at-home bikini wax. I also was disgusted by one section in which one of the sisters talks about how she overdrew her bank account one time. She refereed to having lost a few thousand dollars as if it meant nothing to her.
I would not recommend teenagers reading this book. It seems to only show the superficial, fame-hungry side of the Kardashian sisters. Not to mention it seems to be written at a fifth grade reading level.
I prefer the TV show since it has actual heart to it.

Dash Dolls Tell All, Bible!
This triple mini autobiography is in fact better than I expected. We see so much of these women on television and in magazines that I thought there wasn't much else to tell, but this book instantly blew that theory out of the water. Starting out "famous for being famous" and turning that into family and individual brands takes hard work, and creativity, which whether we like to admit it or not, is something these women have a lot of. Sexy, quirky, fun, flawed, and ultimately human, these women prove tirelessly, purposely and not, that although in the lime light and living lavishly, they are just us like everyone else.

Kourtney, Kim, and Khloďż˝ made sure there isn't a boring page in this book. The colorful pages are jam packed with photos from childhood and beyond, some brand new and some we might have already seen. For those of you that think Kim is always the center of attention, she does have a few more pages of photos but besides that, the photo layouts are remarkable fair. This collaboration is also filled with family stories, advice, beauty secrets, and keepsakes all with very modern page set ups and designs. This book reads much like a magazine, and in some spots like an actual interview. Fun and freely assembled the aesthetics are very pleasing to the eye, just like these women! This entire project seems honest, light hearted yet sometimes emotional, positive, and definitely not your standard black and white plain font filled text.

If you are intrigued by the Kardashian women and want to know more then definitely pick up this page turner for the inside scoop. (Don't expect dirty details) These three are easily relatable in so many ways, even more so now that they are aunts, a mother, and a wife. Kourtney speaks of Mason and how he has changed her life, Khloďż˝ talks about her whirlwind romance with Lamar and of best friend/assistant Malika (<-- she should write a book!), and Kimmy cakes briefly brings up her divorce, and how she ultimately loves to be in love. They each talk about their family, each other, and of course lot about themselves. We gain insight on the dynamics of their sisterhood, and how unbreakable their bond is although they feud as most siblings do. They should be proud of themselves because at this point, whether we like them or not, it is irrefutable they are legit, respectable, businesswomen. Hollywood careers don't last forever in which they clearly comprehend, so it is understandable why these sisters are taking on so much, and work hard as more and more opportunities are thrown their way. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

A foodie friendship, one letter at a time, November 15, 2010

Julia, Unplugged, October 28, 2010

A Fascinating Peek Into the Life of a Great Woman, November 2, 2010
I love to cook and have been cooking for over 40 years. Surprisingly enough, I was never a fan of Jullia Child until much later in her life. I never saw her show on PBS, but recently I've been more interested in finding out more about her.

As Always, Julia was a fascinating look into Ms. Chilld's personality and politics, as well as her views on cookery. I found the progression of her friendship with Avis to be a great read. I was afraid that I'd be bored just reading letters between two women, but what women they were!

I also had no idea that Mastering the Art took so many years to right and edit and that a major publisher made the really dumb mistake of turning it down, wow!

I found Julia to not only be a pioneer in the modern American kitchen, but a truly lovely and extremely bright woman. She was an avid reader, writer and very involved in the politics of the time.

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like to know more about the fascinating person who was Jullia Child. I rate the book a solid 4.5 stars. The editing was excellent as well.

Please note that I received an E-ARC copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review. I'm a little disappointed to see it's not available for Kindle yet, but online it says that the book is due out 12/10/10, so that may be the Kindle release date.

Two extraordinary women, one inspiring friendship, November 8, 2010

A PERFECT GIFT FOR THOSE WHO LOVE COOKING, STRONG WOMEN AND WITTY CONVERSATION, November 5, 2010

Intelligent Correspondence, November 21, 2010

A Story of Friendship and Gastronomy! A must for every Julia Child fan!, November 5, 2010

Witty, moving, consuming--a feast of fifties' culture, friendship, food, and love, November 4, 2010

More Julia, December 14, 2010
I have loved and admired Julia Child since my Mother and I would sit mesmerized in front of the television in the 60's and watch her cook. What a difference from what we knew then!

I'm midway through this almost fascinating book - the fascinating part is Julia. I didn't realize how long it took to bring this book to the public or how intelligent she was or how much effort she brought to the book - almost obsessive but what a success.

What's starting to bother me is the conversations about knives, beurre blanc and McCarthy, none of which I care about. Also I don't like Avis at all. She's racist, spoiled and exaggerates"how busy she is" all the time. How busy can you be when you have live in help and two sons 8 years apart and one not home? The frantic pace she keeps is unbelievable and I can't imagine anyone living like that. With all that ruckus, she still seems to get to the market and even would like to invite her butcher for lunch - this after what seemed like endless dinner parties. It must have taken an hour at least to type all those letters to Julia.

Two things that makde an impression on me that I had not thought about recently is the enormity of what is offered today in American supermakets and specialty stores compared to the 50's. The second is what a hunk Paul Child was and what an odd couple they made visually. The fact that they were so in love is reassuring.

I doubt I will finish this as I find myself skipping around but it is an interesting endeavor to plumb the personality of this fascinating woman who lived such an extraordiary life.

A gold mine for Julia-philes, December 3, 2010

Editorial Review

In this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story. 

Born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She vividly evokes Midland's brash, rugged culture, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that sustain her to this day. For the first time, in heart-wrenching detail, she writes about the devastating high school car accident that left her friend Mike Douglas dead and about her decades of unspoken grief.

When Laura Welch first left West Texas in 1964, she never imagined that her journey would lead her to the world stage and the White House. After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 1968, in the thick of student rebellions across the country and at the dawn of the women's movement, she became an elementary school teacher, working in inner-city schools, then trained to be a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, "the old maid of Midland married Midland's most eligible bachelor." With rare intimacy and candor, Laura Bush writes about her early married life as she was thrust into one of America's most prominent political families, as well as her deep longing for children and her husband's decision to give up drinking. By 1993, she found herself in the full glare of the political spotlight. But just as her husband won the Texas governorship in a stunning upset victory, her father, Harold Welch, was dying in Midland.

In 2001, after one of the closest elections in American history, Laura Bush moved into the White House. Here she captures presidential life in the harrowing days and weeks after 9/11, when fighter-jet cover echoed through the walls and security scares sent the family to an underground shelter. She writes openly about the White House during wartime, the withering and relentless media spotlight, and the transformation of her role as she began to understand the power of the first lady. One of the first U.S. officials to visit war-torn Afghanistan, she also reached out to disease-stricken African nations and tirelessly advocated for women in the Middle East and dissidents in Burma. She championed programs to get kids out of gangs and to stop urban violence. And she was a major force in rebuilding Gulf Coast schools and libraries post-Katrina. Movingly, she writes of her visits with U.S. troops and their loved ones, and of her empathy for and immense gratitude to military families.

With deft humor and a sharp eye, Laura Bush lifts the curtain on what really happens inside the White House, from presidential finances to the 175-year-old tradition of separate bedrooms for presidents and their wives to the antics of some White House guests and even a few members of Congress. She writes with honesty and eloquence about her family, her public triumphs, and her personal tribulations. Laura Bush's compassion, her sense of humor, her grace, and her uncommon willingness to bare her heart make this story revelatory, beautifully rendered, and unlike any other first lady's memoir ever written. ... Read more

Reviews

Two different books.....
This book starts out with what a number of professional reviewers called, rightly, "lyrical descriptions" of Mrs. Bush's small-town childhood. I enjoyed that portion and found her recall of specific childhood incidents to be impressive and meaningful. She also did a beautiful job of telling the reader in a very straightforward way of the events of the night when, as an inexperienced driver, she accidentally killed a friend.

Where the book changed tone was in the many descriptions of White House events and the people who attended various state dinners. While these lists were complete, Mrs. Bush almost never provides any personal comments about the famous people she has met, whether celebrities or heads of state. Having gotten to know her in the preceding sections of the book as a thoughtful, loyal and gracious person, it would have been nice to get her "take" on people; instead, she maintains a gracious, somewhat distant tone. Perhaps this is consistent with the sensitive and graceful aspects of her personality but it does make for dry reading.

Overall, a well-written book with many details of a fascinating life but certainly no Kitty Kelly-like tell-all. Recommended for those who want to know both the story behind the news and to appreciate the complexity of the role of First Lady.

By the way, since so many reviewers here took pains to say they are Democrats or Independents, I am proud to say that I am a Republican, like almost half the country. We, too, read books and have opinions.

Bravo
I have long respected and admired Laura Bush. After reading Spoken From The Heart my respect and admiration for her greatly increased. To read about the scheduled events and obligations; the meetings, dinners, and trips as First Lady, is to realize how little personal time she had left for family and friends and introspection. During her years as First Lady, she worked tirelessly to highlight and to make aware of the many basic unmet human needs in health in Africa and Haiti and elsewhere, literacy and women's rights in Afghanistan, and the many freedoms that are so lacking in many countries around the world. Through her efforts avenues were opened to begin to bring solutions to some of these serious problems. Through the many shattering events of the Bush Presidency she helped illuminate and honor the resiliency of the human spirit of people everywhere. This book was an eye opener for me into the lives of President Bush and Mrs. Bush, and all the people who served with them and the utter complexity of solving world problems. She met many people; the rich and the poor, the powerful and famous and the unknown, the well and the sick, the kind and the rude, and treated them all with the civility and grace that are her hallmarks. She is truly a remarkable person.

Grace Is Hard To Come By These Days
I am an independent who read this book not for the politics, but to learn more about the former First Lady. Mrs. Bush has had an interesting and surreal life. I enjoyed reading about her childhood and her roots. Her rise from small town girl to the First Lady of the United States is fascinating. She endured an unbelievable amount of unfair attacks and criticism. But, she showed grace and grit by rising above it all. Mrs. Bush brought dignity to her position...a trait that is sorely lacking in recent years. This book gives an intimate glimpse into the life of an extraordinary woman. Bravo Mrs. Bush.

Literary, Reading, Women's Rights --- A Lasting Legacy
Laura Bush, married to the first U.S. president with an earned M.B.A., found herself stereotyped by large portions of the media. Her high intelligence and useful contributions to social welfare --- especially literacy and women's rights --- were often largely ignored and seriously (perhaps intentionally?) under-reported.

Meanwhile, her husband's useful and wise policies were ignored also as opposing politicians called him "a liar" and "stupid" among other epithets. Disagree with George W. Bush if you choose --- but the man is definitely not stupid and certainly not a liar. Why does political disagreement have to take us to such desperate places? Where is the congeniality one finds in the Texas legislature and why is the U.S. Congress so devoid of grace and courtesy?

Now in her own words, given an opportunity to "strike back" against frequent injustices --- Mrs. Bush graciously declines. She does manage to call out a few transgressors, notably Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, but she does so without calling them any names. She simply quotes them and asks "Why did these people speak in this way?" It's a question voters should ask, especially in Nevada and California.

This is an honest, soul-searching book by a public figure whose personal life tends more toward the introvert. Anyone hoping for deeper glimpses into Mrs. Bush's persona will be rewarded here: The real Laura Bush can, and does, stand up.

Well-written and definitely a good read ---- the kind of volume you'd expect from someone with an interest in books and literature.

Five stars for being informative, refreshing, insightful and --- despite the temptations to get even --- quite civilized.

Dr. David Frisbie
The Center for Marriage & Family Studies
Author of "The Soul Mate Marriage" and 9 other books

Very well written and fascinating
I am a Ph.D. in literature and I say that because I feel qualified to evaluate the literary quality of the writing. Excellent, graceful, intelligent, moving.
The class of this lady comes through all the writing. The best part is the first half, her growing up in Midland and her early years with George. The latter part is more of a travelogue and descriptions of her projects. However , all of it is interesting. The book is honest, restrained (in her criticsm of Bush enemies),
and full of her loving actions after 9-11. I think history will record that George Bush was one of our presidents with the most integrity, and the softest heart,and part of that comes from the elegant lady he chose when they were both 30 years old. What an enviable marriage! I highly recommend this book.

A classy and intelligent woman in her own right...
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The book is engaging and flows well. The recollections of her childhood were whimsical and carefree, which starkly ended with the terrible accident resulting in the death of her friend. After the accident, which she describes in heartbreaking detail, it's very clear - even from the writing style - that her whole world changed.

The recollections of her years at President Bush's side, as the First Lady of Texas, and later as the First Lady of the US were a bit more mechanical, but she relayed with great emotion those events and causes that were near and dear to her. She recalled adversities that she and her family faced, including the time one of her daughters was threatened by a university teaching assistant (something along the lines of, "You won't get an A in this class unless you ask your father not to go to war,"). Despite this, she handled these issues with great restraint and class.

Overall, some may approach this book (or not approach it at all) with the attitude that Mrs. Bush is some "Stand By Your Man" Stepford Wife with no real contributions of her own. They could not be more wrong.

Laura Bush: One Classy Lady

Laura Bush has always conducted herself with dignity. She is an example of a real
lady who is respectful even to those who do not deserve respect.

When reading this book, at least the reader knows what is contained within its pages
is true. Not so, with others who have been caught in lies and exaggerations that
are laughable. I will continue to select things to read that teach me something.
Laura has a lot to teach me.....even with 4 "earned" diplomas on my wall.

Amazing Book!
As a Democrat, I did not vote for George Bush twice. I bought this book because I admires Laura Bush. She is a wonderful author. She deserves a bestselling award because I like her writing style, due to history, events at the White House, her marriage to George Bush, her daughters, etc. I am giving her A plus. ... Read more

Editorial Review

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls "Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga-practicing, footloose younger sister") is poised to garner yet more adoring fans. ... Read more

Reviews

Great, for what it is., March 31, 2008
I find it so surprising--reading the angry, negative reviews--that the people who hated the book hated it for exactly the reasons why some steer clear away from the the spiritual-journey-memoir genre. Yes, the author is self-absorbed, yes, she seems to think of only trite stuff, yes, she seems self-indulgent with her problems. And yes, she's allowed. It is after all a book that is positioned to address these things in the author's self; who otherwise would not be searching for something more: more meaning and more appreciation in/of her life.
Here is a woman who shows all the possibly-perceived-as-lacking-substance thoughts of hers and we are throwing tomatoes at her. One thing, she obviously wasn't afraid of that. She wasn't aiming to be coming off as some deeply wise woman but a fumbling girl-woman trying to break out of what she felt was imminent disaster (had she had the baby and delayed her need to find out what she truly wants from her life she might have left not only her husband, but their child, or most probably ending up not leaving out of guilt and becoming crazy instead: exposing her family to that for years; not an uncommon reality). She is not one for anti-depressants, remember.
This memoir falls in the same category as the TV show Sex and the City (of which it was compared to in a review here). Both get trampled for being supposedly superficial, covering the silly plights of city girls who don't know what they want and yet have everything. But this book--as the TV show--actually are part of a wider story that is illiciting reactions from the public because it reflects the transition in which women in the modern world are experiencing: now that we have equality with men professionally, now that we are liberated from all the limitations being a woman dictated two generations ago, how does that affect us? From a distance, in a glance, it seems that women have all the cards to play with now. But this book and many other works by women and/or about women of this generation show that having all those cards does not mean Happiness.
There are still things in society--in regards to a woman's role--that grates. And then there are things within our Modernised, Westernized, Individualized, Ambitious selves, that are lacking.
This is what Miss Gilbert's search is about, and what she represents.
On a collective level, much of the modern world is in search of God, Spirituality (one just needs to walk through bookstores in the US and see the plethora of soul searching self help books on the shelves). This is what needs to be observed and understood as a phenomena in the West; the small voices, small cries, here and there by those who come up with the balls to share their journeys and thoughts with us--no matter how trite-sounding, how shallow-seeming--are part of a collective howl for the meaning of life.
Elizabeth Gilbert's voice is just one of many that calls for recognition as part of a chorus for something that firstly, many women are hollering about, and secondly, humanity in general--humanity in the first world--are crying for: some kind of guidance, indication, that the collective paths we fought for and chose (the best education, career ambitions realised, a certain amount of money needed to live that certain kind of magazine-lifestyle life--which is what Liz Gilbert's life is a reflection of, remember--love in the form of marriage and what society dictates) are truly the things that give us peace and happiness in the infinite sense.
Eat, Pray, Love might not be that deep, wise voice representing the deep, wise journey into the deep, wise self. But this book's packaging and tone, hell, its WORDS, never did say it was. It is a fumbling--almost child-like in its guilelessness--show of the ego's awareness and needs, and its attempt at searching for what many people from all walks of life only wish they could go out and find: THEMSELVES. SELF, being the keyword here. And in this memoir, ultimately, God, being in each of our selves.
To the people who were disappointed that the author didn't seem to give a hoot about India's poverty, they must have not read the book through: Miss Gilbert never ventured out of her ashram and the little village it is located in, after making a decision to further develop her meditation skills and thus skipping the rest of India. She also ignored Italy's corruption with her indulging in good food and focus on learning and enjoying the Italian language. Again, the critics missed the point of this memoir. It's a book about a writer, a New Yorker, a recently-divorced-woman-in-her-early-thirties' journey to heal and find spiritual strength through various means: pleasure first to recover (Italy), spiritual examination and purging (India), combining the two for balance (Bali), which would result hopefully in the kind of substance and depth and balance that so many critics mentioned she lacks.
One doesn't pick this book up to: 1. Be exposed to India's poverty and expect the author to discuss that in depth. 2. Be exposed to Italy's corruption and expect the author to discuss that in depth. 3. Be exposed to Balinese wiles and expect the author to discuss that in depth. (which she actually did in the account of the Balinese woman she raised money for to buy the land the woman needed to build a home).

Next time you pick a book up at the bookstore, call up your powers of perception before purchasing it. A book IS pretty much its cover. Did everyone really expect a book titled "Eat, Pray, Love" A Woman's Search for Everything, to be an experience of religious fervor, one that would reveal the secrets of the universe? It's a story about a girl who thought everything she thought she wanted, would bring her happiness. It didn't. It didn't for her, and possibly not for many other women. If it took this one woman to go to Italy, India, and Indonesia, to get away after a difficult and painful divorce to heal and get perspective--instead of festering and turning into a pile of flesh in depression--then by all means. Yes, she financed her travels through her book advance--after giving away the suburban home and NYC apartment to her ex-husband. And if she wrote this book for us, it's really for us to appreciate and enjoy the ride with her. Anybody else who got so upset needed only to put the book down and pick another one to their taste. If anything, that's this book's lesson: Do what makes you smile and thankful for life.

A ME-moir, not a memoir, April 25, 2009
I'm a big fan of Gilbert's earlier work (specifically 2003's The Last American Man) and I was deeply disappointed by this book. In fact, I sent it sailing across the room twice within the first hour. Gilbert's a fine writer, let there be no doubt. Her structure is great. She writes scrumptious sentences. She's an eminently likable narrator. But my complaint is more psychological rather than literary. As we learn over the course of the book, Ms. Gilbert is an enormously privileged woman, lives the glamorous writing life in NYC, owns two homes and yet is so sad and depressed about life. Get over yourself, lady! This book is the literary equivalent of like How Stella Got Her Grove Back. Only with yoga and white people.

Gilbert claims to be quite the globe-trotter but seems to have never learned the basic tenet of travel: learning about the larger world. Confronted with the rich, confounding, complicated world, she turns away and gets lost in her own navel.

What I hate even more about this book is what its incredible popularity says about us as Americans: just like Gilbert, we are giant narcissists and we never, ever stop thinking about ourselves and our own needs and cannot, even for a second, think about the lives of the less fortunate around the world. Gilbert thus becomes the American Every-Woman: 9-11 happens in her own backyard and she's so distraught over her failed marriage that it barely registers. If you think I'm being too hard on us Americans, think of it this way: her previous book The Last American Man was much, much better than Eat, Pray, Love but since it evinced none of the yoga-loving-upper-middle-class-woman-who-spouts-cheap-wisdom-like-Oprah-on-a-global-quest-for-self-actualization story elements, it barely sold 1% of what Eat, Pray, Love did. This is a sadly-revealing book about the state of our culture. And it's not just about Elizabeth Gilbert. It's all about us.

And, of course, don't miss the upcoming film adaptation, starring-you guessed it- Julia Roberts. If I have one other person recommend this book to me I'm going to to kill them.

Eat Pray Shove (It), February 16, 2008
Here is a book that either changed people's lives or irritated the bejesus out of them. Count me among the latter.

Eat Pray Love - One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert was supposed to enlighten me. It didn't.

OK -- First the positive: Overall, it is a well-written book. The author takes many complicated metaphysical concepts and makes them readable. The book is divided into sections: Eat, which is the author's journey to Italy; Pray, her pilgrimage to India and Love, where she takes a lover in Bali.

This is about a thirty-something woman looking for spirituality and happiness. She is married, but desperately unhappy for no single reason that she cannot or will not divulge. So, she leaves her husband (and, by the way, gives him all marital property out of supposed "guilt" for leaving him, making me wonder what exactly she did to warrant this)and falls right into another relationship (a-ha! adultery, perhaps?). When the rebound relationship that broke up her marriage falls apart, she now wants to find God. Of course. She claims God spoke to her on the bathroom floor, thus beginning her journey.

But not before she goes to her publisher and secures a $200,000 advance for this book. Makes you wonder, as one reviewer on Amazon pointed out, was the journey retrofitted to the book proposal?

What better way to go find God than in Italy. For four months she eats gelato, practices her Italian with a young man named Luca Spaghetti (If you are going to make up names of allegedly real people, could you find a more sterotypical name? Why not Carmine OrganGrinder?) and gains 23 pounds -- quick to point out to the readers that she was way underweight to beign with.

She learns to enjoy life and be selfish from the Italians - who by the way still find her immensely attractive, although they don't hoot and holler at her like they did 10 years previously. But she is still so damned cute. Just ask her.

On to India. At the Ashram, she learns to meditate and still broods over her lost marriage and subsequent realtionship. Probably the most boring part of the book, except for her conversations with "Richard from Texas" -- a down home, larger than life character who speaks in folksy platitudes that would make Andy Griffith proud. He also bestows our author with her nickname "Groceries" because she was emaciated from grief from crying for the millionth time over her beloved David. As one reviewer from Amazon said, "What kind of nickname is Groceries?"

I honestly believe she made these people up. Reminds me of "Go Ask Alice" -- supposedly the real story of the drug-addicted Anonymous -- until it was revealed that the protagonist was a fictitious composite of the author's psychiatric patients. Boo.

Then Bali. She ends her self-imposed celibacy with an older Brazilian man. High on orgasmic ecstasy, out of the supposed goodness of her heart, she asks her friends to send $18K in donations to help a single mother, an alleged friend of Ms. Gilbert's, who is portrayed as a con artist because she didn't buy a house in the timeframe coinciding with the termination of Ms. Gilbert's visa. I always thought that a gift should be a gift without strings attached -- especially coming from someone who supposedly found God. I wanted to ask Ms. Gilbert "What Would Jesus Do?"

My biggest problem with this tome is that this 30-something woman basically is looking for applause for running off for a year, obstensibly supported by a $200K book advance, to "find God." I'm sure millions of women would love to leave their everyday lives and travel the world to do nothing but self analyze. If she had done volunteer work, I may have felt differently. If she went through some real hardship, I could sympathize. But she was in an incompatible marriage, then dumped by the guy she left her husband for. She should perhaps speak to those battling life-threatening diseases, or raising children alone, or taking care of an elderly parent, or worried about where their next meal is coming from.

And for all of her self-realization and navel-gazing to end her dependence on men, Ms Gilbert has, as pointed out by anotherAmazon reviewer, married her Brazilian and moved to new Jersey. She could have saved Penguin Books a whole lot of money by getting in her car and going through the Lincoln Tunnel. I wonder how long before she ends up back on the bathroom floor.

Blah, blah, blah, blah...., October 24, 2007
I could not finish this book. When the author burst into sobs yet again in the middle of prayer, or a conversation, or walking down the street, or (more likely) on the floor of yet another bathroom, I gave up. This is the type of person you meet at a cocktail party and RUN in the other direction after a few minutes when she starts spewing out all her problems at you with no end in sight. Note to the author: I am your reader, not your psychotherapist. I really tried to enjoy the book and even like the author, but after slogging through a couple hundred pages of endlessly self-absorbed chatter, I was worn out and put the book in the Goodwill pile. When she writes, "I discovered my mind was not a very interesting place to be," I have to say, "Amen, sister!"

dishonest and poorly written, April 14, 2007
I've read several of the reviews posted here and though I couldn't finish this book, it seems to me that what's wrong with it is not so much the author's hollow-souled narcissism but her lack of intellectual seriousness. Someone gave me this book as a birthday present. That it has received a lot of attention is no surprise. Look at the drivel America reads. Light, shallow laughs, sex, food, not much real thought. That's the sum of this book. Feel-good rubbish that inspires not one iota of serious thought. Gilbert's slapphappy universe is one in which everything can be solved with pizza and fresh mozarella. Every paragraph contains at least one stock one-liner. This isn't literature. It's stand-up comedy of the worst kind. We've read it all before. She claims she can make friends with anyone. It's precisely that lack of discernment and depth that makes this story forgettable. The prose is laced with one cliche, one trite and cutesy obvservation after another. Some reviewer here said this book is not a book but a magazine article. Exactly right. I finally closed the book when I read that while in India she wanted to "valet park" a destitue family into a new life. It isn't just that the phrase is a silly toss-off modernism but that there's no true emotion in it. You'll never know how this woman really feels. Don't waste your money on it.

Expected more. MUCH more., March 19, 2007
This book reminded me of a quote that's served me well in life: "It's a sign of maturity when you begin to fall out of love with your own drama." The author clearly hasn't reached this stage on her path to "enlightenment"!

don't waste your time on this one, July 12, 2007
Not one interesting character. Not even the author. A horrible divorce... big deal. A love of food ... not really worth 116 pages. I had to get to page 156 to finally understand. She is in an Ashram in India having trouble silencing her mind and meditating.

"What I am alarmed to find in meditation is that my mind is actually not that interesting a place after all."

That sentence sums up the book

Glib, narcissistic and lightweight, May 14, 2007
I picked up this book on the strength of good reviews and found myself wanting to throw it at the wall. The author is a fine writer with a good sense of humor who seemed to want to write about her journey to self fullfilment, spiritual awakening and happiness. Instead she came off as a priviledged, slightly spoiled writer who needed an excuse for a writers advance so she could travel for free. She reveals herself to be a spiritual narcissist who obsessively navel gazes. While many passages are light hearted and funny and she is oh, so very clever and witty!! there was no real depth, no real meaningful questions asked or answered except for how she could get more breaks and be FULFILLED. It seemed like an extended article for SELF magazine. Instead order books by Kathleen Norris or even Anne LaMott for God's sake!

Symptomatic Of The Downfall Of Western Civilization..., October 28, 2009
Elizabeth Gilbert was a self-absorbed, married, thirty-something living the privileged existence of an affluent writer in the most powerful nation on Earth, when, suddenly - shock-horror - she realized that she wasn't happy. As a consequence, she cast aside her husband, took up with another man - with whom she still wasn't happy - and, after this relationship fell into inevitable dissolution, decided to run off around the world in order to "find herself" (one must assume that she'd already looked down the back of the sofa) after receiving a handsome advance from a publishing company to chronicle her subsequent exploits.

"Eat, Pray, Love" is pseudo-intellectual, altruistic, mother-my-dog pap of the worst kind masquerading as spiritual insight. Read between the lines and it expounds selfishness as a virtue and mindless hedonism as both philosophy and legitimate path to spiritual insight. Unsurprisingly, that great doyen of the gullible, Oprah Winfrey, loved it and made it one of her book club choices, thus unleashing it to a wider audience than Gilbert's talents as a writer would normally have ever allowed. Apparently, God help us, a big-screen version with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts is currently in the offing.

As a literary construct, Gilbert herself seems to be the contemporary living embodiment of Tom and Daisy Buchanan from "The Great Gatsby", of whom F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "They were careless people...they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness...and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

"Self-absorbed" does not begin to cover it; "self-centred" is not nearly an adequate description. One hopes that she can't really have been so completely inured to the poverty of India and Indonesia by her solipsism. If so, then she seems to be genuinely emblematic of a subset of the "sex and the city" generation of women who put their own self-gratification above all other things. Worryingly, this attitude seems to be becoming increasingly more prevalent in western society.

I will be honest, I first happened upon this book after briefly seeing some of Winfrey's interview with Gilbert on television and consequently read three quarters of the book in my local library - and was so completely incensed that I felt it my civic duty to warn you off of this book.

If you want a genuinely enjoyable book to provoke introspection, this isn't it, but may I politely suggest Tom Hodgkinson's How to Be Idle: A Loafer's Manifesto and The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, Work, and Waste or Lin Yutang's The Importance Of Living in it's stead; If you want a decent travelogue, may I politely suggest any Bruce Chatwin's books, and if you really want to read a writer with talent give the exponents of the Gilbertian philosophy of self-aggrandisement both barrels, then I strongly recommend Michael Bywater's Big Babies: or: Why Can't We Just Grow Up?

She teaches you how to discipline yourself not to judge someone, November 20, 2007
I hated this book but I forced myself to finish it. Putting the authors irritating voice aside, it epitomizes everything wrong with American culture today: worship of the mediocre, travel without seeing anything, polarizing of the Other and fake spirituality. That said, I learned something important about spirituality as well but I'll get to that in a minute. It has to do with learning not to judge (see above, I've become quite judgmental).

When I was dragging myself through this book, I experienced strong waves of hatred for this woman. She missed all of the poverty in those places and all complexities of the cultures she "learned about". She acted like hers was the only travel experience any of her readers have ever had with her "Let me explain what being Balinese means..." demeanor. She couldn't even accurately transcribe the Italian words in the passage of curses ("Molto migliore"???). She spoke about Italy like an annoying travel companion who has been there for five minutes, has read two things about the place and knows five words and acts like the expert and when you visit her there and after 2 days there yourself you can see that she still hasn't seen or learned a thing. She takes what she wants to see from the world and tells readers what she thinks they want to hear about it. She doesn't even give an original spin to these common travel destinations, or even any insight into the expats she does meet. Did she ever mention not liking someone? Did she ever mention any negative emotions about anyone other than "David" or her ex-husband? Did she ever mention any locals being any less than thrilled that she graced them with her presence? Did any other readers feel her jealousy seething when the sexy Brazilian Armenia walked in Wayan's shop? Of course we all did but the author, miss Spiritually Enlightened at Greeting Her Emotions must still not be able to face that one. Or maybe she can't dare mention it because that might make her readers not like her and this woman spends all her energy spinning a version of herself that everyone can like. I guess her spiritual enlightenment only works for exploring and sharing insights about her weight. Or making money off the bored, privileged American public.

Now, how about how offensive she is? Besides her condescending assumption that we are all married 35 year olds stuck in our houses who have never traveled and are relying on her to tell us how it is, she made two references where she tried to make the suffering of her love life out to be comparable that of a refugee ("we had the eyes of refugees" and counseling with the boat people revealed that their suffering too "was all" love story sagas (personally offensive to anyone touched by the world's refugee story).

Okay, I said that I learned something. Yes, I learned something. Important. I looked deeply into my hatred I felt towards this woman throughout the book. I learned that the reason I hated her so much was because I was expecting her to have something insightful to say and I was expecting to learn about the people from an anthropological, non-biased, realistic perspective. Each faux pas she made infuriated me. I wasn't seeing her for her. I was trying to project what I thought was her view of herself onto her. Basically, I was expecting her to live up to how great she tells us she is and when she didn't deliver, time after time, sentence after sentence, I felt some justified sense of triumph and anger at "catching" her, and then feeling immense frustration at not being able to expose her to the world so everyone else would see through her too. Instead, I should learn to accept the book for what it is (horrible) and accept the author as she is (whoever that is) and accept that to her it was suffering, to her it was enlightenment and it does no good to judge her for it (even though I am not spiritually enlightened enough to stop myself). Instead of hating her, I should have shut the book, written this review, and laughed about it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard

Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story ofGreg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit. ... Read more

Reviews

A blueprint for making a difference
After four trips over the past three years to Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, and after founding Kashmir Family Aid (www.kashmirfamily.org) to aid victims of the Oct 8, 2005 earthquake, I whole-heartedly endorse Greg Mortenson and his work. This book adds new life to the over-wraught dictum that "one CAN make a difference." Beyond that, if one wants to truly get inside the rural Pakistani's heart and soul, this is mandatory reading.

My personal experience has been that once I met these people (and yes, had tea with them in their tiny homes, or in the quake region, in their tents), it was difficult to want to leave to return to the West. It's a hard thing to explain but Mortenson's book will absolutely do the job. A powerful thread within his story: It would be impossible not to love these people after getting to know them one-on one.

These remote village people are simple, strong and proud. Their lives are spent nurturing their families and working hard in a politically and environmentally tortured region. BUY THE BOOK, get inside the people of this place and then send Greg Mortenson your donation.

One man's remarkable vision
"Three Cups of Tea" is a compelling account of the difference one fiercely determined person can make in the world. I won't use this space to repeat the descriptions already covered in the editorial reviews, but Greg Mortenson's passion for educating children, especially girls, in the rugged mountain regions of northern Pakistan is truly remarkable. The relationships he has patiently built with local people and moderate Muslim leaders in the area over many years are key to his success.

In addition to education, Mortenson's Central Asia Institute funds projects that provide health care and clean water. He is also building schools in northern Afghanistan, again with the support of local people.

One alarming chapter of the book includes a discussion of the spread of fundamentalist madrassas in the mountain regions of Pakistan, which should deeply concern Americans, including the government. It is essential for Americans to support Mortenson's Central Asia Institute initiatives to provide children with educational alternatives.

"Three Cups of Tea" is very well written, with heartfelt portraits of courageous people. It is a superb and moving story of an exceptional man.

So Much More Than Just a Book
It's a book but then so are the latest bestsellers yet they offer nothing beyond a mindless distraction. To say Three Cups of Tea is about peace is to say that Mortensen goes hiking in the mountains. To say it's about building schools in the most desolate, remote, obscure part of the planet is to say an idealistic young man had a wild idea.

Mortenson and co-author David Oliver Relin bring the reader to the foot of K2, into a village so isolated from everything that there doesn't even exist a bridge to connect them to the world beyond the raging river that flows from the glacier fields. There Mortenson introduces us to children so eager to learn they work multiplication tables in the dirt without benefit of a teacher or books.

How does this man, so grateful to the people who saved his life, repay them? One school at a time. It's a truely inspirational story of what any of us, including a kid born in Minnesota, can do to change the world. The fact that the book is also a true page-turner and is so "can't put it down, don't interrupt me, I gotta know what happens next" good makes this must reading for every high school senior, every empty-nester, every one of us wondering what to do with the rest of our lives. Although I likely won't venture to the high mountains of Pakistan or Tibet, Mortenson has inspired me to find a way to make a difference. Go read it and find your inspiration!!!

STOP what you are doing...
you.. yes YOU behind the terminal, surfing the web, maybe finding that cheap chotcky to buy or something. Stop what you are doing if you have come across this book and this review. You need to read this more than you think!

Within the confines of 350 pages you can be transported to a world that for most Westerner's and specifically Americans, is probably very unknown, and more than likely, highly misunderstood. In this world you will be introduced to a man named Greg Mortenson, or as you soon to know him, as Greg Sahib..

The story that is told by David Oliver Revin, will not just be inspiring, will not be just teeth clenching, it will make you re-evaluate what you do in your life. While most of us may talk about the incapacity of the administration, or some (unfortunatly) the hatred of the middle East, or maybe some of you are even lying down in the streets, but there is ONE person who is TRULY doing something about the problems of foreign policy by litteraly getting his hands dirty touching the earth to build a school foundation, and risking his life ten times over.

When you have read this journey, you will be saying to yourself, did he really do that? That guy is CRAZY! Did that really happen?, the Taliban? , How is that possible? In the journey that is fortold of a change of fate through a failed mountain expedition, you can see what the spirit of the individual can do and how it can be transformed. As the events of 9/11 soon come to fruition, Greg couldn't be in a better place at the right time, and with David's narration, you are litteraly put in the drivers seat.

After reading Mortensen's journey, you will want to litteraly book a plane ticket to somewhere you have never been before. In reading the accomplishments of a somewhat flawed (hey what person is perfect) individual, you will feel small and insignifigant. David Relin will not just explain what Greg did, he will make you live it, with some enjoyable side narrations that will make you grin.

In Three Cups of Tea, David has managed more than anything to explain the heart of a problem (Islamic hatred of the West) of a very complicated nature (through numerous foreign policy debacles and politics spanning decades), and how one man knows of an easy solution (Go to poor regions of the Middle East and give education and extend the olive branch. Build schools for the poorest of the poor, ecspecially for girls. And more importantly, let them know that it was done.. by an American).

As if it was so difficult to understand.

I encourage you to take this journey and figure out that sometimes the biggest problems in life require some of the most common sense solutions. I also echo the other comments on here that you should buy this book from the actually CAI institute and consider a donation as well.

Greg Mortensen is doing what he is doing best, and his passion comes through the pages. For myself my passion is to write. Like Gregg I feel it is what I can do best (when I put my effort my passion, and my soul into it).

now if you'll excuse me...

I have to go write a check.

What an incredible story...
My goodness. I just finished the book, and I am in tears. I am a world traveller (32 countries in just about every region on the globe), and consider myself compassionate to a fault; but even I, after September 11th, possessed a fair degree of anger at Muslims. I had spent some time in the Middle East and North Africa, and although I tried to respect the traditions as much as possible (covering my arms, wore long skirts, not looking at men in the eye), I was still assaulted in broad daylight in a street bazaar in Cairo, Egypt, surrounded by at least a dozen of my classmates (an old man came up and grabbed my [...]). The anger that started then had totally blown up after September 11th and consumed me, the point where I had actually said that I will never believe Islam is a religion of peace, especially after the reaction to the Mohammed cartoons.

Well.

I was wrong.

This book has reminded me why I loved the regions in the Himalayas and beyond; the simplicity of life, the fierceness and protectiveness towards family and friends; and their incredible desire to do the best for themselves with whatever they have on hand, even if it means going to school on a bare field covered with morning frost. Greg and David describe these people in Baltistan and beyond so well that you cannot help admiring or even falling in love with these proud, strong people.

I've always told people if you encourage positive change for just one person, you'll change the whole world for them. Greg and his CAI cohorts have done that for literally hundreds of thousands of children. It was so gratifying for me to read, despite the selfishness of our people today, that there are still some who passionately believe in changing the world for others.

For me, it was the speech by Syed Abbas (on page 257, hardcover) that broke the last of my hard-core attitude towards Muslims and Islam.

I am off to make my contribution - meager but still a contribution - to CAI so they can continue their incredible work.

A MUST read
Greg Mortenson's three cups of tea is an account of his unsuccessful attempt on mighty K2, world's second highest peak in Himalayas. Though unsuccessful, his failure embarked him on a mission to educate people of an area inhabitants of breath taking hills and valleys and virgin plains. Whats mind boggling about his adventure is his spirit of self sacrifice for a people of a land much misunderstood by the west. His story proves that with love, compassion and sincerity, you can melt the hearts, even those of mountains. Rightly regarded a hero in Northern Pakistan, his book would go a long way in bridging the divide between the inhabitants of East and West. If you haven't read the book, you are Missing on something. Highly recommended.

Promote peace on Earth. Read this book.
This is the most amazing and inspiring book I have read in a very long time. I am a high school teacher and the mother of a U.S. Army Seargent who has completed a tour in Afghanistan and is currently serving in Iraq. I bought the book to send to him, but thought I would read it first. I'm very glad I did. The book is as exciting as an adventure novel, but it's true. Anyone who cares about the education and welfare of children and who desires to understand the problems faced in fighting terrorism should read this book. There is hope for peace in this world and Greg Mortenson is doing wonderful things to make it happen. He is a true American hero. Everyone needs to read this book and everyone who does will want to share it with others.

A lesson in altruism
This book is absolutely wonderful. Mortenson shows us how one dedicated person can make a difference. He also poignantly shows the world that education and non-violent assistance does a profoundly better job of winning support and "attacking" terrorism than warfare! (Duh!) I think there are very few Americans who would be willing to make the kind of sacrifice Greg Mortenson has but he has certainly inspired me to support his and similar efforts in the best way I can. In my opinion, he deserves a Nobel Peace prize. I would like to see this book in every high school library in America. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Michael Korda's Hero is the story of an epic life on a grand scale: a revealing, in-depth, and gripping biography of the extraordinary, mysterious, and dynamic Englishman whose daring exploits and romantic profile—including his blond, sun-burnished good looks and flowing white robes—made him an object of intense fascination, still famous the world over as "Lawrence of Arabia."

An Oxford scholar and archaeologist, one of five illegitimate sons of a British aristocrat who ran away with his daughters' governess, Lawrence was sent to Cairo as a young intelligence officer in 1916. He vanished into the desert in 1917 only to emerge later as one of the greatest—and certainly most colorful—figures of World War One. Though a foreigner, he played a leading and courageous part in uniting the Arab tribes to defeat the Turks, and eventually capture Damascus, transforming himself into a world-famous hero, hailed as "the Uncrowned King of Arabia."

In illuminating Lawrence's achievements, Korda digs further than anyone before him to expose the flesh-and-blood man and his contradictory nature. Here was a born leader who was utterly fearless and seemingly impervious to pain, thirst, fatigue, and danger, yet who remained shy, sensitive, mod-est, and retiring; a hero who turned down every honor and decoration offered to him, and was racked by moral guilt and doubt; a scholar and an aesthete who was also a bold and ruthless warrior; a writer of genius—the author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, one of the greatest books ever written about war—who was the virtual inventor of modern insurgency and guerrilla warfare; a man who at the same time sought and fled the limelight, and who found in friendships, with everyone from Winston Churchill to George Bernard and Charlotte Shaw, from Nancy Astor to NoËl Coward, a substitute for sexual feelings that he rigorously—even brutally and systematically—repressed in himself.

As Korda shows in his brilliantly readable and formidably authoritative biography, Lawrence was not only a man of his times; he was a visionary whose accomplishments—farsighted diplomat and kingmaker, military strategist of genius, perhaps the first modern "media celebrity" (and one of the first victims of it), and an acclaimed writer—transcended his era.

Korda examines Lawrence's vision for the modern Middle East—plans that, had they been carried through, might have prevented the hatred and bloodshed that have become ubiquitous in the region. Ultimately, as this magisterial work demonstrates, Lawrence remains one of the most unique and fascinating figures of modern times, the arch-hero whose life is at once a triumph and a sacrifice and whose capacity to astonish still remains undimmed.

Reviews

This is Now The Definitive Biography of Lawrence of Arabia - A Page Turner - Read It !!!!


We live in an age of celebrity as created by an immense media industry. Lawrence of Arabia embodied the word celebrity; in fact he may have been the 20th century's first real celebrity as Lindberg came after him. This book cries out to be read by a readership that understands that heroes do in fact exist. This word hero has been much misused in modern day America to apply to people that the word was never intended for.


Lawrence was very much a hero, as well as many other things. He was a military genius on a level with Napoleon. He also possessed a genius for guerilla warfare and his techniques are taught at West Point as we speak. Possessing a talent for writing, his Seven Pillars of Wisdom is considered a literary masterpiece. His direct actions changed the entire map of the Middle East, and the inability of politicians to adjust to the realities of this region that Lawrence saw so vividly have led to the chaos that we see in the Middle East today.



Sheikh Hamoud had it right when he wrote so many years ago of Lawrence:


My heart was iron, but his was steel



If you love great, gifted, writing on an immense topic describing a man that truly impacted and changed the world that he saw, than Michael Korda's biography of Lawrence of Arabia is for you. This is a 700 page narrative before footnotes and biography. The quality of the paper used in the book is fabulous, and this is due to Korda's lifetime in the publishing industry. The selection of the font and the feel of the book left nothing to chance. Korda thought through every aspect of this project and brought it off with flair, and panache.


He is a master storyteller and he has demonstrated considerable scholarship in creating this page turner which is so sweeping in scope covering one of the giants of the 20th century. Here are just a few of the things you will learn about Lawrence of Arabia:


* In his early 30's he translated Homer's The Odyssey which then became accepted as the classic account of Homer's work.


* Why King George on Lawrence's untimely death in 1935 said his name will live in history?


* He possessed a dazzling display of knowledge, almost Einstein like in the topics he could converse in. Lawrence never did anything halfway. If he was in, he was in all the way.


* As a young man, an illegitimate son, along with 4 other brothers, he managed to do amazing things at Oxford. He studied and more importantly absorbed the works of every great military tactician including Admiral Mahan, and Creasy's 15 Decisive Battles of the World. Lawrence's own thesis, The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture was recognized as an act of genius when he presented it.


* Liddell Hart considered to be one of the truly eminent military writers of the 20th century compared Lawrence to Napoleon, and used the term Napoleon coined "le coup doeil de genie" which means quick glance of genius. What this describes is that Lawrence had the scarce ability to look at a map (remember he was also a master mapmaker) and immediately know where to attack based on a unique ability in a glance to know intuitively how to attack. This is still studied at West Point, and is very rare in generals throughout history.


* If you want to know the depth of his influence on all who came after him, than consider this. Mao Zedong led a revolution in China based on his writings and theories. Ho Chi Minh forced the United States out of Viet Nam based on Lawrence's theories of guerilla war. I haven't even mentioned Castro and Che in Cuba using Lawrence as a blueprint for winning in Cuba. Lawrence is the original creator of the road side bomb we now see in Iraq and Afghanistan. He knew how to strike light, and disappear into the night. The term turn weakness into strength is his.


* The story of the making of the David Lean movie, Lawrence of Arabia which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won 7 is told here in a beautiful fashion. Only Sam Spiegel, the producer at Columbia Pictures could have gotten this movie done. You will learn how the part was first offered to Leslie Howard, Lawrence Olivier, and then Albert Finney, until settling on newcomer Peter O'Toole.


In conclusion, if you love history and the grand expanse of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things then you are going to love this book. Lawrence was Hollywood handsome with a magnetic personality and charisma to match. His influence directly led to the creation of the modern Jordan, and the UAR (United Arab Republic). Iraq and Syria now owe their modern boundaries to Lawrence. Since the 1960's England has opened up its secret historical files on Lawrence. We now know that all the wild stories about Lawrence are true. It actually comes down to this. Lawrence did what he said he did, and even downplayed his own role in the affairs of which we know about.


I promise you that if you begin reading this book, you will not put it down, and you will be transfixed by what a gifted writer like Korda can do with a legendary impactful figure like Lawrence of Arabia. Thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

Ninety years have gone by and Lawrence remains bigger than life.
What a beautifully written biography of Lawrence of Arabia. Michael Korda brings back Lawrence of Arabia to our present time in such a masterful way that the reader feels himself becoming part of the story; a true story that encompasses one of the most important events of the 20th century, the first world war and the partition of the Ottoman Empire, contrary to Lawrence's idea on how the partition should be executed, into the Middle East that we now know. Korda's gift to us is not only his comprehension of events past, which are right on target, but the even flow of his writing that translates his knowledge and comprehension into scenes that are fascinating.

America's "particular combination of idealism and commerce"
By necessity consisting in large part of countless lengthy quotations from Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the author nevertheless fills in with a wealth of information and insight which I have never before seen, despite having read and re-read the work of Lawrence and many of his biographers almost religiously for many years now.

The Preface is remarkable in that it points precisely to Lawrence's unique appeal, that he was "a hero not by accident, or even by singular act of heroism, but ... made himself a hero by design ... [and] became the victim of his own fame."

The closing pages of Chapter 12 provide a touching account of Lawrence's funeral and the gifted description of his friend Robert Storrs of the moment the casket was closed.

The collection of photographs is, to me at least, by far the best I have yet seen and is well-placed in the text.

The clue to the full name of "S.A.", to whom Seven Pillars was dedicated, always and still assumed to be Dahoum, is something I have not previously noticed.

One of Lawrence's many deadpan remarks which I have seen in passing before, but which struck me as particularly stinging and even more true today, was his cynical observation that America had a "particular combination of idealism and commerce." That style is so very like many statements made by Feisal and directed at France. Of course anyone who has ever had the misfortune of working with a Frenchman is automatically an admirer of all things for which T.E. Lawrence fought.

On Iraq, Lawrence, 90 years ago, "saw very clearly that the object should never be to invade or occupy territory with troops -- a waste of time, manpower, and money -- ... but to threaten punishment from the air, and only when necessary, carry it out." What a shame our recent leaders
seem not to have been well read-in on the history of the region in that regard, while it seems they certainly did grasp the Arab concept of blood feud and avenging family honor only too well.

No matter how many times I read words written by Lawrence, I never fail to find something new.

Korda's long sentences are fine.
Hero is well organized, meticulously researched and beautifully written. The rest of this review is a response to the review titled "Unexpected" which criticizes Korda's long sentences. First, Korda doesn't write only long sentences: the last sentence of the preface is only three words long. Second, there's nothing wrong with long sentences per se. Maybe you're just not used to them. Some of the most skilled writers wrote/write in long sentences. Sentence length is a matter of taste. Some thoughts are so closely tied to, or dependent upon, others that some writers like to include them in the same sentence, even if this makes the sentence long. Korda's expert use of colons, dashes, and semi-colons (think of the colons--and in some instances the dashes and semi-colons--as periods) should help you get through them. Strunk & White's Elements of Style will help you learn what marks of punctuation mean. Korda respects his craft. In an age in which many writers spoon feed the reader, it's refreshing to find one who simply provides a knife and fork.

It brings Lawrence to life on the page
The title HERO references Michael Korda's contention that T. E. Lawrence (T. E. Shaw, Lawrence of Arabia) wanted to become a hero and had the opportunity to become one and succeeded beyond his expectations. Thus he became one of the 20th Centuries first "celebrities" mostly due to the promotion of Lowell Thomas's highly successful lectures, films and book. Korda maintains that Lawrence was the Princes Diana of his time. (This comparison being a good way to provide today's reader with an idea of the impact Lawrence had on the media culture of his own time.)
Despite the book being a bit uneven I found HERO a wonderful read. The first part through page 114 is a rather dry telling of Lawrence's major accomplishment in World War One. It covers Lawrence's meeting with Prince Feisal the background of the Arab revolt against the Turks and the Arab taking the port city of Aqaba. (The actual events are significantly different than shown in the great David Lean film.) This early flashback section contains important information and sets the tone for what follows but I doubt many will find it to be page turning reading. But keep going and don't give up.
Because then the book takes off and is quite an enjoyable ride as Korda goes back in time to Lawrence's childhood, family, education (at Oxford), and his interest in archeology, the middle east, and crusader castles. Korda frames all this so we can see how Lawrence swept himself along with heroic self images (and many self doubts). As if Lawrence knew he was preparing himself for something big for he became one of a few who understood the Middle East. (In fact after the war Lawrence had Middle East solutions that if implemented may have minimized many of the events we see today.)
Korda narrative provides an interesting analysis as he often presents the conflicting views about controversial observations of Lawrence by prior biographers and Lawrence's contemporaries. Lawrence was not a loner as many think, but a people person (and to a certain degree a people user) who had many friends and developed vital relationships. This he did through an uncanny ability to change his own personality and stories to suite that of his listener thus providing different views of his personality thus providing history with the fuel that formed the enigma that is the Lawrence legend.
I especially liked the fact the Korda spent a lot of time covering the creative side of Lawrence's character. How he wrote and rewrote SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM and went about publishing it. This and many post war events are most interestingly told by Korda.
For the most part Korda explains away the controversial questions about Lawrence as being nothing more than media hype. Taking things out of context and making more of normal human reactions than they deserve. Yet we see the influences on what may have created the real, human and complex person Lawrence was. His short stature although he did not appear to have the stereotypical short man complex. At 5 foot 5 inches Lawrence was very thin mostly around 130 pounds, but at one point in the war he was down to 88 pounds. He was illegitimate (a big negative in the class structure of the country in the early 1900s). His mother was extremely religious and his father walked away from title, property, and a family (a wife and four daughters) to run away with Lawrence's mother. Korda provides the reader more with emphasis and credence on Lawrence's relationship and feelings about his father than other biographers do.
I could go on and on about many interesting things Korda does in bringing Lawrence to life on the page but I suggest you discover the book on your own.
As an FYI, I have had an almost life long interest (hobby) in Lawrence and have collected may books and articles about him. This started when father took my brother and me to see the film a week after he had seen in 1962 as he had been intrigued by Lawrence as a boy. If you're interesting in reading or learning more you might consider exploring the following.
In several places Korda references Jeremy Wilson's book, LAWERENCE OF ARABIA: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPY OF T. E. LAWRENCE (1990). This is an exceptionally fine and very detailed and well documented work which may contain more military details than many readers want to know. (Unfortunately I don't believe it is currently in print.) Mr. Wilson and his wife Nichole now own Castle Hill Press where they have edited and published very limited, fine copies of Lawrence's works and letters. I own several of these volumes and they are wonderfully produced. Their most recent publication is Lawrence's THE MINT. (Castle Hill Press can be found on the internet.)
I also greatly admired John E. Mack's A PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER, THE LIFE OF T. E. LAWRENCE (1976) which won the Pulitzer Prize. It is a psychological study with emphasis on how ones world view impacts relationships. (Mack went on later to do very controversial studies with people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens.)
I recommend a reading of many of Lawrence's letter. The volume I am most enjoyed is THE LETTERS OF T. E. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1938, my Spring Books volume is 1964), edited by David Garnett with a forward by Captain B. H. Liddell Hart.

Magisterial. One of the best non-fiction books of 2010
Michael Korda's Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia is a stunningly good biography of one of the most famous, yet least understood heroes of the 20th Century.

Lawrence is probably best known as the inspirational, irreverent and often half-mad desert warrior who was immortalized in what many consider to be the finest epic film ever made: David Lean's 1962 seven Oscar-winning (including Best Film and Best Director) Lawrence of Arabia, starring the then-unknown actors Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif.

Korda is uniquely positioned to write this book, and does so with verve, humor, and profound insight, possibly because the author shares numerous traits with his subject.

Both men had a British knight in their family; both attended Oxford; both experienced life in the lower rungs of the Royal Air Force; both were engaged in espionage during military service; both were avid motorcyclists; both are highly respected authors; both interacted closely with the leading political, literary and cultural giants of their respective eras; both undertook impulsive, idealistic and high-risk quests into war zones as young men, (Korda in Hungary during the 1956 Revolution and Lawrence in the desert during the Arab Revolt in 1917.)


Korda's book benefits from the unique perspective he has from having heard first hand accounts about Lawrence from his legendary uncle, British film impresario Sir Alexander Korda, who optioned the film rights to Lawrence's best selling World War I memoir, Revolt in the Desert and consequently knew Lawrence in the1930's.

Hero, with its carefully chosen title, is a huge, adrenalin-pumping military thriller; a perceptive history of numerous origins of the West's troubled relationship with Islam; and a sensitive portrait of Lawrence, a small, tough, tousled, and troubled man of many gifts.

It is a riveting action tale written about the man who Korda observes is "perhaps the only one whose name is still remembered in the English-speaking world," from World War I.

As a media sensation who abhorred, yet invariably attracted publicity, Lawrence was terrified that Revolt would be made into a film, which is exactly what Sir Alexander Korda wanted to do but after a personal plea from Lawrence, and sympathetic to Lawrence's concerns, intense privacy and mental fragility, Korda kindly agreed not to make the film during Lawrence's lifetime.


Some twenty plus years after Lawrence's 1935 death in a motorcycle crash, Sir Alexander Korda sold the film rights and script to Hollywood producer Sam Spiegel, and the rest is cinematic history.

Michael Korda, ever the editor, points out how Revolt in the Desert's first line conveys Lawrence's formidable literary skill: "When at last we anchored in Jeddah's outer harbour...then the heat of Arabia came out like a drawn sword and struck us speechless."

Korda's three decades as editor in chief of Simon & Schuster also brings a unique perspective to the maddening dilemmas facing anyone involved in Lawrence's literary career.

On one hand, Lawrence wanted to tell his story and did so brilliantly; on the other he did not want just anyone to be able to read it.

Lawrence therefore sold the publishing rights to Revolt in the Desert, an abridged edition of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but withheld widespread publication of the latter during his life. Despite both books' huge success (Revolt sold over 200,000 copies in a matter of weeks), and his frequent financial problems, Lawrence was determined not to profit from the book and founded an anonymous charity fund benefiting children of disabled or deceased RAF officers.

Korda also details how Lawrence, in yet another of a long series of trademark self denials, also personally refused offers of high office and of military decorations, including a knighthood and a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath from King George V in person, explaining how in his judgment, his service in the Arab Revolt was "dishonorable to himself and to his country and his government."

Seven Pillars finally appeared in print in 1923 as a private subscription-only edition of fewer than 200 hand signed copies, no two of which were the same owing to individualized flourishes, cover materials, colors and layouts. Subscribers included King George V of England, H.G. Wells and Thomas Hardy. Twenty two copies without plates and with certain textual omissions were sent to New York, some to secure U.S. copyright, and others to be sold for a staggering $200,000 a copy or about $3.2 million in today's money.


Korda use of the word "hero" is carefully chosen. He posits that the word "hero" has been devalued in modern, common usage. Heroism, by Korda's lights, is not something that simply happens; it's an art formed by one's very life, decisions and character and only becomes widely-visible when fate provides a rare historical opportunity when certain prepared mortals can ascend to mythical, even immortal status.

Lawrence becomes a hero not by happenstance but by design, in a "much older classical sense." He "was ready to assume that role when fate presented him with the opportunity," during the British-funded and guided Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, a German ally, in the Middle East during World War I, and "seized it eagerly with both hands in 1917, and like Ajax, Achilles, Ulysses, he could never let go of it."

After graduating from Oxford in 1910 with a first class degree in archaeology, Lawrence was spotted as a natural scholar and secured a coveted position on an Oxford- and British Museum-funded dig at Carchemish, then in the Ottoman Empire and now almost exactly on the Turkish and Syrian frontier on the West bank of Euphrates River.


Lawrence, who had walked through remote parts of the Middle East, trailing the Crusaders, on a previous summer holiday, quickly mastered Arabic and for the next three years lived an Indiana Jones adventure while excavating what proved to be a major Hittite site.

During this period, Lawrence undertook grueling, mostly solo, armed excursions, on foot, to the Holy Land, often in 100 plus degree temperatures and traveled throughout the surrounding dangerous Arab wastelands that very few white men and infidels dared venture into.

He became intimately familiar with the tribes, dialects, blood-feuds and geography of the harsh lands that constitute modern Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq. As he travelled, the scholarly polymath observed and mapped everything and wrote voluminous highly detailed and erudite letters to his dons, friends, sponsors and family in England.

While Korda clearly is highly sympathetic to Lawrence, he never forgets that Lawrence, despite his charm, bravery and brilliance, he was ultimately a well intentioned but duplicitous agent of empire.

After World War I erupted in 1914, he was swiftly chosen, by his Oxford dons-turned spymasters, to become a uniformed intelligence agent based in Cairo.

From his low and lowly position as a disheveled, small-statured (Lawrence only stood 5 feet, 5 inches) second Lieutenant in the Arab Bureau, Lawrence quickly made himself an indispensible irritant to military and diplomatic policy makers in Cairo and London at a time when the British anxiously waited to see which side of the war the Turks would join.

With a classic quip that Korda uses as his opening chapter title, he captures the highly opinionated, well informed and maddeningly articulate young very junior officer who continually dazzles and confounds general staff officers and senior colonial officials: "Who is this extraordinary pip-squeak?"

Once it became clear that the Turks had sided with the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, Britain feared for the Suez Canal's security since it was the lifeline to India, the crown jewel in the empire and the route through which men, arms, food and mat�riel flowed into the British Isles and the Western Front from the Indian sub-continent, Australia and New Zealand.

For Lawrence, the answer was clear: support the Bedouins, the nomadic Arab tribes, in a guerrilla war against the brutal Turkish occupiers of their desert homelands.

In 1917, fate beckoned when Lawrence was assigned as military advisor, and gold coin bagman, to the family of Sharif Hussein of the Hejaz, and in particular, to his sons Ali, Feisal and Abdullah. Eventually, Lawrence's influence helped put Feisal onto the throne of Iraq and Abdullah onto the throne of Jordan, where his grandson Abdullah II reigns as king today.

In a series of spectacular desert guerrilla raids against Turkish garrisons and the single track railway that supported them, Lawrence "had already begun to write his page, brilliant as a Persian miniature, in the History of England," quotes Korda from one of Lawrence's Oxford don-spymasters.

Korda deftly chronicles the youthful classical scholar's transformation into a hard-hearted leader of brutal, ever-bickering and often treacherous Bedouins; and one who personally killed scores of men and oversaw butchery committed by his own
uncontrollable Arab irregulars as revenge for Turkish atrocities.

Lawrence planted explosive charges that derailed scores of trains in which the Arabs then slaughtered and looted the dead or dying passengers of both sexes.

Despite the widespread assumption that Lawrence was a homosexual, Korda makes a convincing case that Lawrence, who abhorred physical contact, and emotional displays, of almost any kind, was in fact committed to the denial of his flesh, as well as of his ambition, which makes his fate all the more traumatic.

Lawrence, essentially an asexual aesthete, once bravely but unwisely ventured into a Turkish garrison town and was captured, tortured and raped by Turkish soldiers, who mistakenly took him for a Circassian, a member of a light skinned North Caucasian ethnic group that had migrated southward into Arab lands ages ago.


After the war, Lawrence had to face his demons and his lies to his Arab friends and brothers in arms, as well as the geo-political realties of the virtual colonization imposed by the great powers at the 1919 Treaty of Versailles -- which Lawrence attended -- upon the various Arab tribes he had militarized and incentivized with gold, explosives, guns and false promises of true statehood during the war.

After a period of ironic government service in the Colonial Office, of all places, working for Winston Churchill, the by then-world famous Colonel Lawrence suddenly retired from public life, changed his name and enlisted as a private in the RAF.

During this unsuccessful vanishing Lawrence polished his monumental memoirs Seven Pillars of Wisdom and Revolt in the Desert, both of which became best sellers and classics of literature and war non-fiction.

Hero is a book every soldier, diplomat and spy from top to bottom will want, and should be required, to read.

Certainly anyone seeking insight into today's Islamic tensions with the West will find stunningly topical issues in Hero.

Prophetically, in 1928, while stationed with the RAF on the lawless tribal regions of the Indian- (now Pakistani-) Afghan border, Lawrence "agreed that a policy of bombing tribal villages to enforce peace was more likely to do harm than good, by stirring up fierce resentment about civilian causalities."

Throughout Hero, Korda displays how the academic genius Lawrence, whose story has been told in dozens of books and biographies, still has urgent and relevant personal and geo-political lessons to teach, even three-quarters of a century after his death.

Copyright Herald-Tribune Media Group






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Editorial Review

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor. ... Read more

Reviews

True to Life Account
I grew up in Welch, WV and was acquainted with Jeanette and Brian(Lori was older and Maureen was younger). I can attest that her harrowing account of growing up with an alcoholic father and mentally ill mother in the coalfields of WV was as she says. This was a compelling read, all the more so, because it was about people and places I knew so well. As I read, I was filled with sorrow and shame because I was one of those people who didn't want to have close association with them because they were so different from me. I try to asuage my guilt by telling myself I saw things from a child's maturity level. I wish I could apologize and find myself wondering what would have happened if I had befriended Jeanette. She could have enriched my like tremendously. For those of you who doubt things could not have happened like it was written, don't. I knew it and I saw it, and to a degree, lived it. And as tragic as it was, it was true.

WHAT A COURAGEOUS MEMOIR - - BRAVO!
First, "The Glass Castle" is a real page turner - - I couldn't put it down and finished it in about four hours - - a record for me!

It's probably the most thoughtful and sensitive memoir I can ever remember reading - - told with such grace, kindness and fabulous sense of humor.

It's probably the best account ever written of a dysfunctional family -- and it must have taken Walls so much courage to put pen to paper and recount the details of her rather bizarre childhood - - which although it's like none other and is so dramatic - - any reader will relate to it. Readers will find bits and pieces of their own parents in Rex and Rose Mary Walls.

Her journey across the country, ending up in a poor mining town in West Virginia and then finally in New York City, is a fascinating tale of survival.

Her zest for life, even when eating margarine and sugar and bundled in a cardboard box with sweaters, coats and huddling with her pets, is unbelievably beautiful - - and motivating.

If I could give a book ten stars, it would be "The Glass Castle."

Inferno to Paradiso (or close enough)
Jeannette Wall's trek, as depicted in "Glass Castle", recalls Dante's
journey through Hell and eventual ascenscion to Paradise. The comparison may seem risibly over-dramatic, but just as Dante had to go through the experience of the Netherworlds before he could be led to Heaven, so, too, is Jeannette's eventual triumph the FRUIT of a childhood filled with poverty and, what some would call, parental neglect or even abuse.

In the opening section about Jeannette's early childhood, sort of the outer rungs of hell, we are introduced to the author's quirky family. Her father, Rex, is a brainy underachiever who cannot keep a job and has a bit of a "drinking situation".
The mother is an eccentric artist who cannot be bothered too much
by mundane tasks- you know, like cooking or cleaning the house. The children, all extremely bright, are often underfed and left to fend for themselves. However, if the parents have failings, they also have redeeming qualities. The children are immersed in an environment that values art, music, intellectual pursuits, freedom and self-sufficiency and spurns racism and all forms of bourgeois superficiality. Above all, the reader never doubts that Rex and his wife truly love the children. One gets the feeling throughout that Jeanette never doubts that either.
In any case, the early years are bittersweet. If there is squalor and hunger there is also humor and magic. Most of all, there is hope. The family frequently moves and, although that is frustrating, it also provided the background for a myth: that the next town would provide prosperity.

But then to Welch they did go! And, it is in this West Virginia town where her father grew up,the "Nation's Coal Bin", that Jeannette and the rest of the family descend into the lower regions of hell. All the problems are exacerbated. The father, having returned to the place he said he never would, drinks with abandon and applies more and more of the family's slim resources toward his habit. Jeanette resorts to scaveging trash barrels for sustenance and is humiliated for her tattered clothing. There is not water in the house for bathing and no heat in Winter. Swallowed by the appalachian mountains with only the two-lane US 52 out, you feel stuck. Even the pilgrim parents are unable to muster the strength to break the gravity of this place. With this immobility came the final destruction of the myth (that the family would move somewhere else and find prosperity) and, as a consequence, the destruction of hope. However, it is in this darkness that Jeannette finds her calling. She becomes a reporter for the "Maroon Wave", the Welch High School student newspaper. The rest of the book details how her dream to become a "high falutin" journalist led her to New York City and her current incarnation. Maybe not Paradiso, but close enough considering her formative years.

A number of components conflate to push Jeannette towards a succeful resolution. Certainly the positive legacy of her parents: culture, books, self-sufficiency, etc. But also the dire situation gave her a sense of urgency and the focus that comes with it: She had nothing to lose. She was lucky enough to have discovered early on a career path and did not have the leisure to ruminate ENDLESSLY on it.. This latter often brings self-doubts that paralyze youth. Unlike so many memoirs about unhappy childhoods, the author never plays the John Bradshaw card by irately denouncing her parents, nor does she try to facilely excuse them. Life is more complex than that and she understand that syzygys cannot be tampered with, lest you destroy the whole. You cant take eggs out of the cake.

On a personal note, I grew up in Welch, went to Welch High School and knew Jeannette (though not very well) who was two grades behind me. I have not seen her since High School. For those reviewers who expressed doubts about the authenticity of her story, I can tell you that at least the Welch part of the story rings true to my memory.

One for Your Reading List.
I was grateful that the chapters are short in this disturbing memoir, because I could only take in a little at a time. It's difficult to imagine a more dysfunctional household than the one in which Walls grew up. What sets her book apart is the distinctive voice in which she narrates that dysfunction, and her growing awareness that she's entitled to a decent life.

We meet the fiesty Jeannette as a toddler, badly burned while cooking hot dogs on a stove for herself. No, she wasn't defying her mother's orders. She was simply taking care of herself in a household where both parents thumbed their noses at such simple conventions as regular meals, sound shelter, decent clothing, running hot water and protection from sexual predators. On one thing, though, they didn't scrimp: the children were taught to read at an early age. I'm convinced that held the key to their survival. Thanks to public libraries, Jeannette read the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder prairie series before she entered school. It must have helped normalize the survivalist lifestyle that her parents adopted.

The difference is that it wasn't necessary. Rex, her father, was when sober an accomplished electrician and science maven. Her mother, Rose Mary, had a college degree but found teaching, like motherhood, an imposition on her life as an artist. The three older children--Lori, Jeannette and Bryan--functioned as a family within the family. The youngest, Maureen, grew dependent on the kindess of strangers and eventually set out on her own.

This is a uniquely American story that wanders all over the landscape from California and Arizona to West Virginia and New York. Although we see the cruelty with which these neglected chilidren are treated, we also see the people who help them and their own protection of their family. As Jeannette views it, the worst possible thing would be separation from her siblings, and I'm inclined to agree with her. Certainly, this book tests my assumption that children get their values from their parents. The Walls children formed theirs in opposition to their parents' in many ways, but they also managed to hang onto the dogged independence and sense of wonder that they admired in Mom and Dad.

I hope this book will enter the list of child survival stories that in my mind includes Tobias Wolfe's "Duke of Deception" and Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes." Certainly I would recommend it for readers everywhere who are convinced they were deprived.

Venus Belongs to Walls
"My parents, Rose Mary and Rex Walls, and their wedding day - 1956".

There it is. A photo of a young couple, in love, flush with promise. The bride looking shy at the camera. The groom, square jawed and filled with good humor. It's stunning to think that this handsome, newly married couple, would live their lives in squalor, alcoholism and dreams. This picture is very much part of the story of Jeannette Walls and her family, as it sets the tone on the very first page of this wonderful, heartbreaking memoir.

Jeannette's sisters Lori, Maureen and brother Brian, endured a childhood that could have been torn out of the history pages citing the Great Depression. It's hard to believe that these were the 1960's and 1970's in America. Starvation, bad hygiene, and lack of personal safety was an everyday habit in the Walls home - or homes - since they moved from town to town. The kid's upbringing was almost literally, either sink or swim. Much like the wind blown Joshua Tree they saw by the side of the road during one of their family "skadaddles", the kids grew against the force, became tough, and learned survivial despite the adversities.

Both parents were incredibly bright and talented beings. Sadly, they had big schemes on which they could never follow through. Rex Walls was a mathematician who came from a squalor home in West Virginia, and Rose Mary was a prolific artist and teacher who was raised in an upper middle class family out west. What seemed to bond them was an adamant need to spurn the norms of society. This resulted in an inability to stay at the same job for long. They'd lose their homes, and inevitably shack up in their car or any broken down house they could find. This meant the children suffered. They'd constantly be uprooted, and taken out of school. With no money for everyday items, they'd find food and clothes in dumpsters. School children or other family members would abuse them, physically or sexually. Father, a raging drunk, drank up all the money they made. In one period of time, while living in a small home that could be described as a shack, the parents refused to lock their doors, which invited wanderers to come in and out during the night making the children open targets for various perversions.

All long range plans they devined would either die out or be scratched, such as the building of a glass castle in which Rex had drawn up meticulous architectual plans. The aforementioned ramshackled home they lived in came with a backyard where Rex and his kids began to dig a hole for the foundation of this little palace. Sadly, the job was left abandoned. More of a ditch than a foundation, it was ultimately turned into their own landfill when they didn't have tax money for municiple garbage removal. It's quite a metaphor for their lives - dreams left abandoned for garbage. Yet, despite all the trouble and strife, one theme remains consistant: their love for each other was strong. The family, kids especially, stood by each other through all the bad times.

The parents remained stubborn in clinging to poverty, deeming it poetic and noble, turning down any means of charity, even from their own children. For instance, when the kids had grown and found their way to Manhattan to start anew, the parents followed them, finding shelter in their cramped apartments. Despite the incessant pleas of their children to stay with them, they declined, opting to go it alone, ultimately setting up house in an abandoned building, embracing what we would call utter despair, as a one great big wonderful adventure.

The stories unfold with a pure voice, no judgement or bitterness clouds Walls' telling of her family. Each horrible, enraging moment is given a morsel of wonder, such as Rex gazing up at the stars one Christmas, and giving Jeanette the planet Venus as a present since monetary gifts were impossible. In such a remembrance, and many others told between the frighening scenes, Walls makes it clear that her folks were free souls who shared their love in strange ways.

This book will give you chills, and it will also make you think about homelessness and the unique stories these souls carry. Much praise should be given to Walls and her siblings, for having walked through fire, and coming out alive.

Courage to move forward....
Jeannette Walls is familiar as a face and voice for MSNBC.com. Her husband is writer John Taylor. Her parents were non conventional and non-conforming, and she was often left to take care for herself.

Through the book I kept looking for bitterness or residual shame just as the author often had to rummage for food in a dumpster but she is so contented and the book is her memoir of thriving and letting go of negative feelings. Her parents, Rex and Rose Mary Walls and their four children had a bizarre existence, but Jeanette is testament to survival and functional achievement regardless of what type of spoon you're born with in your mouth. The spoon in her mouth may have been plastic but she turned her life into gold.

Great memoir
The author describes her fascinating childhood in which her family moves around the country, following her father's dreams, staying ahead of law enforcement and bill collectors, and living the family's carefree attitude. While her father's dreams are what sustains the family for many years, slowly the four children become disillusioned as their father continually fails to provide all of the things he promises them. The father's inability to hold down a job and stay sober forces the family to live in destitution, and while the mother is continually writing and painting, this does not put food on the table. The four children learn to fend for themselves, take care of each other, and determine what is really important in their lives.

Quote: "As Brian and I watched, the hole for the Glass Castle's foundation slowly filled with garbage."

This was a really excellent memoir, which raised excellent questions about family, prioritization, dreams, reality, and the power of perseverance to overcome whatever challenges a person faces. The author relates her inner struggle when she wants desperately to believe in her father's big dreams, while having to scrounge in trash cans to find enough food. Although it was a bit slow in the beginning, things picked up rapidly. The book moved quickly, particularly because it is organized into short chapters. I thought the most significant portions related to the siblings holding together while they were growing up and making the most of difficult circumstances.

Wonderful Memoir
When your children complain about how they suffered, don't rely: just give them a copy of this book and tell them to come and see you when they're finished. Jeannette Walls tells her story of a childhood spent being dragged around the country as her father does the "skedaddle" to avoid creditors and while her mother refuses to face his contining slide into alcoholism and the family's ever descending circumstances. The children understand that they are living at the bottom of the food chain, often living with no heat or indoor plumbing, but are powerless to change things until one by one they graduate from high school and simply leave. This book is an absolute must read. One of my top ten of 2005. Beautifully written and compelling.

Overcoming Skedaddle
Perhaps it was a fierce intelligence that lifted Jeannette Walls out of the well of despair into which her "parents" were forever dipping her (an apt metaphor considering her first swimming lesson). I put quotes around the word parents in the last sentence because, in this riveting memoir, it is the children who do the actual parenting. Young Jeannette, eager to get to school in the morning, would frst have to drag her mother out of bed and send her off to school as well. Mom, you see, was a teacher -- a teacher who didn't care to go to work, even if it meant that her children would not eat for days on end. She was, she said, an artist. When confronted, Mom would whine, suggesting her young children find work themselves. Almost immediately, they do. Jeannette, especially, displays an unerring ambition, and the reader wants to applaud as we see her turning toward a full belief in her abilities as both parent to her parents and then as a writer, which she understands immediately will be her ticket to respectability and, possibly, riches.

During the book (I couldn't put it down for a minute), there were several times I wanted to slap both parents, intensely feeling the pure disgust the children had to hide. I imagine fear of the unknown, of being taken away and put into foster homes, made hiding that disgust imperative. Coming clean here, however, Ms. Walls brilliantly succeeds in illuminating that which makes her father and mother quite special, apart from the normal loyalty blindly afforded one's family. Both parents are obviously bright, though lacking even a glimmer of responsibility. It is clear that the children have inherited this intelligence but . . . will they survive on this alone? Can they? Every setback becomes an invitation for Dad to climb back into the bottle and for Mom, obssessed with observing and recording the world around her, to be guilted into returning to teaching, a job she hates . . . Because it's a job. The most heart-wrenching part of this book for me was, oddly enough, a scene where a young Jeannette, possessing only two pair of threadbare pants, colors her skin with matching magic markers to simulate the "patches" the family could not afford. We are talking bone-crushing poverty here. A passage where her father takes her to a bar and uses his young daughter as bait for a man he intends to beat at pool -- allowing the man to take the young girl upstairs after he's fleeced him out of $80, placed Dad beyond the pale of redemption for me. And I kept waiting for Jeannette to feel the same way. Being a streetsmart survivor who can handle anyting isn't enough. This is a child we're talking about. It's one horror after another. Yet, through the tenacity of the children and the creativity of their parents, we know they will somehow be all right. In fact, we already know at the beginning that Jeannette will do well for herself in life. This fact, however, does not stop us from rooting for these kids the whole way, binding the reader to them as they slowly break from those who would betray them, while still loving them, and find their own adult lives elsewhere (New York City), where we know they can do nothing but improve their lives.

One after another, Jeannette and her siblings move to Manhattan and, through hard work, immediately attain a measure of the domestic security that was denied them from the time they were born. Jeannette, in a section that reads almost as if she is embarrassed to be recognized for her talent and intelligence, receives an Ivy League scholarship and advances quickly in Manhattan, eventually chronicling the social lives of the rich and famous from her Park Avenue apartment. Park Avenue! What a transition from the damp, moldy confines of a broken down up-hollow shack in West Virginia.

However, Mom and Dad miss the comfort of child labor. Having only themselves to rely upon has apparently caused them to realize their limitations and dependence upon their own children. They do not intend to let their little breadwinners get fully away from them.

These characters are indelible. I did not want the book to end. In fact, I found the ending rather abrupt with several unanswered questions. What becomes of the fragile Maureen? What becomes of the land in Texas? Overall, though, this memoir is a rich, satisfying read and a testament to the spirit people like Jeannette Walls and her siblings use to somehow elevate themselves above the dark side of their heritage. Going along for the ride, we find ourselves elevated as well.
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Editorial Review

Reviews

A perfect trashy review
This is a classic memoir of some ridiculously funny random sexual experiences, coupled with rampant alcohol and drug overindulgence. Chelsea's is a rare breed; a talented comic and contagious writer. Each chapter is an outlandish collection of the painful things that go wrong in her sexual conquests and latent promiscuity. The midget sex story was my favorite. Oh my!

Some great one-liners and insults in every other sentence.

Very embarrassing and hilarious stories, right from the first chapter. Chelsea is the ultimate tomboy, and can be outrageously funny. What makes this book so great is the shock value. Not just the content. Heavy drinking, drugs, and numerous sex partners are just not what you expect to read from an accomplished woman. It's just so very rare a girl is so open about her excess indulgence and spontaneous sex life like this.
She has a real talent at storytelling as well, which comes from her stand up comic days.

For fans of this genre, I'd also highly recommend the male version of this book for out of control laughs. Ripping comedy - outrageous penthouse letter stories.

High Heels and Dirty Deals - Globetrotting Tales of Debauchery from a Binge-drinking Nymphomaniac
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Editorial Review

The bestselling author of Saving Graces shares her inspirational message on the challenges and blessings of coping with adversity.

She’s one of the most beloved political figures in the country, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways, she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship. Loving marriage. But she’s no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in a freak car accident when he was only sixteen years old. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line. Days before the 2004 presidential election—when her husband John was running for vice president—she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away—only to reoccur in 2007.

While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in Resilience, she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life’s biggest challenges. This short, powerful, pocket-sized inspirational book makes an ideal gift for anyone dealing with difficulties in their life, who can find peace in knowing they are not alone, and promise that things can get better.

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Reviews

Incredible Insight and Honesty
I have so much respect for Elizabeth Edwards. She has written a beautiful and heartbreakingly honest book - I have read all her books and have found all of them to be inspiring. This most recent book however, is the best. She is brutally honest about her cancer, the loss of her son and especially about the infidelity of her husband. I don't know why her husband chose to be unfaithful, but I hope he can live with himself. Elizabeth is a tremendous lady. I am grateful she has chosen to share her experiences with us - I draw strength from her wisdom.

The Power of Adversity...
... is something that Elizabeth Edwards knows a lot about. Grieving mother, cancer patient and a wife scorned could all fit her very well, but the label she wears most proudly is survivor, to the nth degree. Edwards new book, which she muses about the nature of resiliency, is a powerhouse of endurance, self-help, and perseverance.

I can imagine that many people who are going to pick up this book are looking for the lurid details of the latest news in Elizabeth Edwards' life, mainly, the affair her husband Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards had with a videographer on his campaign. As Edwards says herself, those details will not be found in the book. What is there, which she talks about in her second to last chapter, is her reactions to the affair, and her thought process she went through as she dealt with the betrayal of vows.

But oh, the book is so much more than that. Sometimes, "celebrity" writers are choppy and rambling in their books, even if "ghost written" by someone else. Not so Edwards. Her writing is evocative, personal, and incredibly engaging. Much of the book she wanders through the myraid of feelings she had as her sixteen year old son Wade died in a freak of nature car accident. Edwards as a grieving mother is beautiful and heartbreaking. The chapter she devotes exclusively to Wade cannot be read with a dry eye. Her writing evokes her personal journey in a way that has to be experienced.

But this is not a book of sadness; no, this is a book of continuing on. In the first chapter, she talks about her father's massive stroke and how, after she was told he was brain dead, he continued to live on, almost eighteen years. That lesson gave Edwards the stamina and courage to face whatever obstacles she would encounter in her own life. As she so beautifully put it, you have to "adjust the sails".

I am planning on keeping this book for my lifetime. When time offers trials to me, and I feel like I cannot endure, Edwards' words will give me a renewed sense of comfort. This book would also be an excellent gift to anyone grieving the loss of a relationship, a child, a parent; while each of our journeys is personal, the wisdom shared from that path, as Edwards remarkably does in this slim yet powerful book, can enlighten the road for all of us.

Enlightening and empowering
I found Elizabeth Edwards' opening chapter on her Dad compelling, empowering, and inspiring. Two weeks ago, I flew home to care for Mom. She wanted to get better, but her digestive system had inexplicably shut down. She was recovering from surgery and unable to eat more than a few bites per meal. The food at the 24-hour nursing facility was terrible. I cleaned by night and cooked by day...brought in alternate lunches and dinners...waterboarded her with food. Sometimes she would eat just once bite out of a whole entree. But Mom did not give up on herself, and I did not give up on Mom. "Do NOT go gentle unto that good night."

The breakthrough was my finding a drug side-effect that had been stanching her appetite among her dozen drugs. Now she's eating full meals and slowly regaining strength. Don't trust the "experts" to know what they are doing.

Mom says I had won her trust. Priceless.

The one thing that made me wrinkle my brow was that Elizabeth felt diminished by what her husband did. I don't think she should. Women often try to be all things to all people, and that is humanly impossible.

Regarding the chapter on Toshiko...who put on a resolute face despite her physical and emotional scars from the first atomic bomb. Geishas are trained to not show negative or strong emotion because that leads to wrinkles, which limits one's career. Emotional botox.

It is a pleasure reading Edwards for her wisdom and thought processes. My lessons from this book...keep a steady hand on the tiller and don't give up...do the hard work of working through adversity.

Misrepresented In Media
My spouse of 45 years died very suddenly 20 months ago, - 8 weeks after a terminal diagnosis of "unidentifiable Cancer". If I had listened to the press surrounding the release of this book, I may not have purchased it. Anyone who inferred that this was a juicy story about a politician husband having an affair DID NOT READ THIS BOOK. This book is Elizabeth's journey - and it's REAL! I went back thru the book and underlined thoughts that jumped off the page related to moving forward after ANY STORM that life presents. How do I embrace my new reality?? How do I create a new normal? ....one moment at a time... I'm doing that now after losing my husband. Elizabeth Edwards is an Incredible Inspiration to me - she affirmed MY journey without ever knowing me. I'm a breast cancer survivor - Elizabeth isn't so fortunate, but her RESILIENCE will live on far beyond the day that she leaves us.
Sharon Sprunger, Las Vegas, NV

I wish I was as reslient as Edwards
I am a great admirer of Elizabeth Edwards. It takes enormous courage to write about such personal and painful subjects as your own cancer, the death of your father, the death of your son and your husband's affair. She is certainly resilient, a quality one needs when faced with the kind of betrayal she has faced--both from her own body, and from her husband.

As the author of a book about older women and divorce, He's History, You're Not: Surviving Divorce After 40I am nowhere near as resilient as Edwards--I became clinically depressed when my husband left me for another woman. Eventually I moved on but it took a long time and a lot of therapy. It was touch and go for a while which was scary. However, I did run across many divorcees who went through worse experiences than mine, who were remarkably resilient and bounced back from incredible adversity.

Resilience is both our genes and our upbringing. If we're lucky enough to have a sunny disposition to begin with, and the kind of parenting which sets us up to feel secure and capable in the world, we can rescue ourselves when we need to. If we didn't have that kind of parenting, we can still overcome obstacles, but it's a hell of a lot harder. Edwards is a role model for women who face tragedy and who need inspiration and the reassurance that it is possible to survive just about anything.

Erica Manfred
author
He's History, You're Not: Surviving Divorce After 40 ... Read more

Editorial Review

“I didn’t decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier . . .”

Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work—first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn’t enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.

Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.

In this remarkable and beautifully written work, Portia shines a bright light on a dark subject. A crucial book for all those who might sometimes feel at war with themselves or their bodies, Unbearable Lightness is a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit. ... Read more

Reviews

honest and moving
As the previous reviewer has pretty much summarised the entire book (!) I'll just say that this is an honest, moving and well written account of a dark time in Portia's life. It was hard to read how she brought herself close to death, keeping herself on a tiny allowance of calories and strenuous exercise (in high heels at times). I know Hollywood expects women to be thin, but I was saddened to read her accounts of costume fittings - where she was humiliated for being anything other than 'stick thin'.

I loved the story about meeting Ellen in 2001 at a concert, when Ellen invited her over to her house along with other guests. Portia thought she was just being polite, but it turned out that Ellen had only invited the other people over so she would have the excuse of a party to invite Portia. So Ellen was stuck with having to entertain all those people that night!

I think coming out as a lesbian in Hollywood is still a risky move (how many others are there? not many) and Portia is an inspiration to other women who are coming to terms with their sexuality and trying to live their life honestly. Well done Portia, from a fellow Aussie :)

What Did You Eat Last Night?
Portia DeGeneres has had several names in her lifetime. Born as Amanda Rogers in Australia, she changed her name when she moved to Hollywood. Portia de Rossi, a lovely sophisticated name that fit the woman she was to become. 'Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain' is a spectacular title for her book, and it encompasses more than a story of anorexia and a life of acceptance of self.

Portia grew up in Melbourne in a middle class family. Her father died when she was young, and Portia never really got over his death. She lived with her mother and her brother, Michael. At an early age, Portia decided she wanted to be a model, and at the age of twelve she entered a contest and won. This set the stage for a lifetime of dieting, gorging and vomiting, laxatives and 300 calories a day. You can never be too thin, is what is said, and our culture has taken that to an all time extreme. When Portia landed the role of Nelle Porter on 'Ally McBeal', she realized she was not thin enough to compete with the other stars. She had always had a voice in her head, 'the drill sergeant', who told her she was too fat, she was no good and she would never measure up. Her life revolved around her food, the 300 calories a day. She would exercise for hours on a treadmill or do Pilate's in between the days at 'Ally McBeal'. The daily pressures of a successful Hollywood career, on top of hiding her sexuality became too much. It was not until Portia moved on to a new role in 'Arrested Development' that she came out to the directors and producers of the show. She was in a relationship at the time and she just felt the time was right. Her weight kept plummeting, and she went home to Melbourne for Christmas at a weight of 82 pounds. At one point her brother broke down and started crying. He told her his fear was that she would die.

During much of this time, she was under the care of a nutritionist who taught her what a healthy diet would encompass. It is important to understand that an anorexic does not see themselves as we do. They see fat, when we see skin and bones. During a film that Portia was making, she blacked out. Her physician did a battery of tests, and what he found was frightening. Portia realized her life must change. It was very difficult, but in one month she gained twenty pounds, and at that time she started therapy for the anorexia and bulimia. As Portia states in her book, she "ballooned" up to 168 pounds before she finally understood how she should eat. At this point in her life, Portia met Ellen, and they fell in love. Within a few years they moved in together and in 2008, they were married. Her family and friends were present. Portia tells us that Ellen saves her life everyday, she loves her for what is inside not just for her physical looks.

Portia has given us a remarkably well written book with an intelligent look at the life of someone with anorexia and bulimia, plus someone with the struggle with sexuality in a town where looks are all that matters. We see a lonely girl, the child of a single mother, the cumulative effects of her doubts about her appearance, and her struggle with being Gay. Her inner voice, "the drill sergeant," would constantly snarl at her over everything she ate. A constant voice that would say, "What did you eat last night?" The voice is no longer there, and Portia may have exorcised her demons. But there are many young women and men out there who are facing this struggle, and this book is one of the best. It is about a woman who has lived the life and felt the emotions, and has given us the true story of her struggle. Portia DeGeneres knows who she is, and understands her worth.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 11-01-10

Beautiful Insanity
This brutally honest account of Portia de Rossi's life is shocking, emotional, and completely spellbinding. Portia bravely takes us to her darkest hour of insecurity and self hate as this memoir impetuously weaves in and out of her childhood, her days on the set of Ally McBeal, and falling in love with her wife, Ellen DeGeneres.

Born Amanda Rogers, this over achieving preteen strives to be anything but ordinary. Mediocre is clearly not her thing and she proves that early on by not only beginning a modeling career at twelve, but also by changing her name to Portia de Rossi by the time she reached age fifteen. Shortly following being criticized about her adolescent body does her long and unhealthy journey with crash dieting, binging, purging, excessive exercising, and starving herself begin. Through years of modeling Portia picked up weight loss strategies such as eating only three hundred calories a day and taking laxatives. She routinely dropped weight rapidly this way before a modeling gig, but was thrust into a whole new realm of unexpected self perception when she joined the cast of hit show, Ally McBeal. She instantly felt pressure to be more stylish, prettier, and of course, thinner. Her level is self discipline skyrocketed as she would fallaciously feel unworthy and unprofessional when she would show up to a fitting and be bigger than a size four.

Being controlled by food wasn't Portia's only dilemma, hiding her sexuality ranked pretty highly as well. Portia was constantly worried about her secret being revealed and even had anxiety over the possibility of the paparazzi and tabloids getting wind of the information she was desperately trying to keep under wraps. Only after her ex-husband leaves her and runs off with her brother's wife, does Portia come out to her mother and brother. Her mother seems very supportive and expresses that she loves her daughter no matter what; however, in the same breath, her mother goes on to suggest that she keep her sexual preference a secret. Not only a secret from their extended family, but Hollywood as well claiming that is simply isn't their business. Surely that felt like a slap in the face. Voyeuristically we witness bits and pieces of Portia's female love interests, whether the women feel the same way or not. We spectate her path to self-discovery and more importantly, self-acceptance.

For years no matter how well Portia did she never believed she is good enough. No matter how beautiful she looked, she still felt self-conscious. If simple words like "normal", or "womanly" were used to describe her, it would set off an episode of harmful ways to be thinner, eventually landing her at only eighty two pounds. This memoir does not shy away from graphic or intimate moments. It is straight forward, rough, and in your face, but in the best and most descriptive ways possible. These pages come directly from the brain of an eating disorder survivor, and shed light on issues from a completely new perspective. Refreshingly, Portia is clearly not afraid to show us exactly how, self proclaimed "insane" and "crazy" she was at certain points in her life. For example, she comprehensibly explains how she would eat Cheetos so the orange color would be a marker of where she was in the process when she proceeded to throw up after binge eating. She vividly describes how she would secretly stuff her face in her car, jab her fingers down her throat, accidentally cutting her gag reflect with her nails, and throw up in the street. She would then take off the shirt under her sweater to wipe her face and hands and head in the house where her brother is like nothing happened. I definitely commend her for this vulnerable writing. I cannot imagine the strength it took to reveal this information, including her flaws, her sick repetitious behavior, and also the way she would belittle herself aloud. I'm sure it felt great airing some of these things and getting them off her chest for good and if this memoir helps but one person then I'm sure it will all be worth it. This tale is a bit disturbing at times but it turns out to be extremely uplifting, and inspiring as well as intellectually written without being pretentious. Portia was absolutely correct when saying this book is for anyone who has ever been on a diet, that alone will make this chronicle relatable.

Fascinating Journey
I have to admit that I don't read a lot of books. And, I have no particular interest in the topic of eating disorders. But after stumbling across the Portia/Oprah interview while web-surfing, I decided to give this book a try. Good decision! It was such a page-turner that I read it in 2 days.

Unbearable Lightness takes you on a fascinating journey into one woman's battle with a severe eating disorder, delving into both the mechanical and emotional aspects of the experience. It is a riveting, distressing trek from which it is impossible to look away once you get started.

Portia wisely avoids a strictly sequential telling of events. Instead, she holds to a fairly ordered time line about the physical progression of her illness, while interlacing that with the emotional challenges from her early life that ultimately shaped her destiny.

One reviewer stated that they found it a bit tedious reading a litany of various encounters with tight-fitting clothes, portion-size anxiety, and exercise routines gone wild. However, I had a completely different reaction to the telling of those events. In fact, the true brilliance of the book was recounting (what sometimes amounted to) the same event, but enveloping it in a new emotional context. So, for example, Portia describes several instances when she becomes distressed after blowing her diet at a restaurant. However, each time this happens, you realize that the depth of her distress -- and ensuing reaction -- has mutated from the last encounter. You realize you are witnessing a slow descent into eating disorder hell, knowing that the next, inevitable trigger point will lure Portia down another step.

Ultimately, this cause/effect dynamic is typical of many emotional disorders: the trigger stays somewhat the same, but the reaction to the trigger changes. The book succeeds precisely because of this nuanced emotional context, particularly around the issues of low self-esteem. Anyone who has ever struggled with self esteem -- regardless of the cause or how that struggle ultimately manifested itself -- will likely relate to Portia's journey.

Portia's self esteem, of course, was tested on two fronts: 1) fitting into the Hollywood body-image ideal and 2)accepting her Lesbian identity while feeling she had to hide it. She addresses both without making the book a Hollywood tell-all or a treatise about the (very real) toll of gay oppression. That Portia has succeeded in conquering both of these challenges - retaining her career and living very openly as a Lesbian -- makes her victory over anorexia and bulimia that much more inspiring.

Accept me
I was vaguely familiar with actress Portia De Rossi from her roles on Ally McBeal and Arrested Development as well as her marriage to Ellen DeGeneres. I didn't pay her much attention until I watched her recent interview with Oprah. I was so moved by her story that I made an ugly cry that would make even Oprah herself give me the side eye. I went out and bought Unbearable Lightness the next day.

The thing I liked the most about the book is how honest Portia is. Heartwrenchingly honest to the point that I almost felt like I was eavesdropping on something too personal to be shared. However, Portia did so in order to heal. It was tough at times to read how much this woman hated herself. For being gay and terrified of being outed. For being in a business that focuses squarely on what you're not. For never being good enough or thin enough even when she'd starved herself on a 300 calaries a day diet. You want to reach through the pages and tell her to stop the insanity and the self-torture.

It's wonderful that Ellen came into her life and helped her to learn to like herself. They seem great for each other. Now that I've read her story, I really admire Portia and I wish her the best. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist.  Her achievements run the gamut from helping to oversee the collapse of communism in Europe and the decline of the Soviet Union, to working to protect the country in the aftermath of 9-11, to becoming only the second woman - and the first black woman ever -- to serve as Secretary of State.
 
But until she was 25 she never learned to swim.
 
Not because she wouldn't have loved to, but because when she was a little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor decided he'd rather shut down the city's pools than give black citizens access.
 
Throughout the 1950's, Birmingham's black middle class largely succeeded in insulating their children from the most corrosive effects of racism, providing multiple support systems to ensure the next generation would live better than the last.  But by 1963, when Rice was applying herself to her fourth grader's lessons, the situation had grown intolerable.  Birmingham was an environment where blacks were expected to keep their head down and do what they were told -- or face violent consequences. That spring two bombs exploded in Rice’s neighborhood amid a series of chilling Klu Klux Klan attacks.  Months later, four young girls lost their lives in a particularly vicious bombing.
 
So how was Rice able to achieve what she ultimately did?
 
Her father, John, a minister and educator, instilled a love of sports and politics.  Her mother, a teacher, developed Condoleezza’s passion for piano and exposed her to the fine arts.  From both, Rice learned the value of faith in the face of hardship and the importance of giving back to the community.  Her parents’ fierce unwillingness to set limits propelled her to the venerable halls of Stanford University, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become the university’s second-in-command.  An expert in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs, she played a leading role in U.S. policy as the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union disintegrated.  Less than a decade later, at the apex of the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, she received the exciting news – just shortly before her father’s death – that she would go on to the White House as the first female National Security Advisor. 
 
As comfortable describing lighthearted family moments as she is recalling the poignancy of her mother’s cancer battle and the heady challenge of going toe-to-toe with Soviet leaders, Rice holds nothing back in this remarkably candid telling. This is the story of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl – and a young woman -- trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world and of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community, that made all the difference.

Reviews

An Inspiring Story, Beautifully Told, October 13, 2010
How do you raise someone to not only succeed against daunting odds, but to do so with grace and poise? How do you raise a person of character, someone who combines authority and confidence with a winsome personal humility?

Condoleezza Rice has penned a candid, revealing look at the origins of her personal journey. Here is a woman of great accomplishment who is also relaxed and open about her frailties, her struggles and her doubts. The story itself is remarkable, yet what shines in these pages is the author's ease and capacity in telling it. This is a well-crafted work, written by someone who clearly loves to read.

One need not be Republican, or female, or a Stanford alum in order to value this impressive new book. One need only be a citizen of the world in this 21st century --- a world illuminated by policies and strategies shaped in part by this remarkable Secretary of State (among her other high-ranking offices).

An inspiring story, beautifully told!

Dr. David Frisbie
The Center for Marriage & Family Studies
Del Mar, California

My parents too!, October 12, 2010
Very well written, insightful and deeply personal. She has the megaphone to tell the story that I wish I could tell about my parents and family. Core attributes that today's society desperately needs... parenting, support, and unconditional love. Thank you Secretary Rice for sharing with us the moving story of your life and your extraordinary, ordinary parents!

Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family

a truly inspirational life, October 12, 2010
Condoleezza Rice's memoir is warm and open and full of her love for her remarkable parents. What a beautifully told life, and what an inspiration to follow your passion.

The Real Condi Rice, October 27, 2010
I've read three biographies on Dr. Rice, and for the first time, I feel like the real Condi has broken out. Dr. Rice's autobiography is warm, heartfelt, and genuine. I can say this because I knew her well during her senior year at the University of Denver.

It is clear from the first to final chapter that Condi is speaking from the heart. Her style makes the reader feel as though she is sitting in the room and chatting from a rocking chair by the fire. There are no pretentions, no name-dropping, no false humility. The story is laid out skillfully, incorporating the climate and social injustices of the era she grew up in. Birmingham comes alive through her bittersweet memories, her struggles and successes, her social and personal life.

This is a story of community and family told in Condi's voice, and it is full of beauty, grace, and dignity. It's a story of hope, hard work, tears, and laughter. The book is a tribute to her parents, the sacrifices they made,the example they set, not only for their daughter, but for numerous others.

It is ultimately about the unwavering love between parent and child, a love so strong it catapulted a bright, young, black woman to the top of the mountain.

Nancy Crenshaw
Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Truly Extraordinary, November 27, 2010
I started reading this book with a negative political and personal bias, but soon became absorbed with this extraordinary family story written by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Dr. Rice sheds a great deal of personal information about herself,her family and her experiences with race in the Deep South during the height of segregation and the Civil Rights movement. She consistently maintains her focus on family and her own self actualization, and does not get too caught up with President Bush and Republican politics.

Rice's autobiography is dramatically compelling and helps the reader understand her as an individual as well as providing insight about her political beliefs. Her story will be insightful to all readers regardless their of race or ethnicity. Nonetheless, as an African American female of her generation, I personally related to her Black middle class upbringing by extraordinary parents in the Deep South whose sacrifices developed many of us into the successful women that we have become today.

While my political biases did not change as a result of this reading, I am left with a deeper understanding and appreciation for Dr. Rice and her very extraordinary, ordinary family.

Excellent, Illuminating, November 1, 2010
I'm not a Republican and was surprised by how interested I was in this book. The author lets us see the inner workings of a high-achieving black family that suffered in the deep south but rose above. It's an amazing life! It's moving to see the deep love she has for her parents.

Beautiful Story, October 12, 2010
I was moved by the candor, passion and love that resonated from this story. Am proud that a fellow Alabaman with such a wonderful story (and family) has represented us on the World's stage. Highly recommend!

Simply Great, December 11, 2010
I recently finished this awesome memoir by Condoleezza Rice. And if there is one word I would used to describe this entire book - it would be amazing. Condi takes us on a journey -- and every good and bad bump along the way -- of mere greatness. To come from the turbulent, racist South to the the most high ranking woman in the word, is a feat in itself. But Condi shows us what it was that brought her to that place - God-fearing, "no-victim" approach parents who were DETERMINED to instill in their daughter that although she may not be able to eat a hamburger at Woolsworth, she could certainly become President of the United States.

Candid, humorous and beatiful. Please, no matter your views on her political stance, I urge you to buy this book. It is, simply, amazing.

Thank you Condi for inspiring the younger generation.

God Bless You,

Armond

E.A.H.N., November 22, 2010
Although I enjoy reading about 18th and 19th Century people and events, this book by Condoleezza Rice and her parents is definitely one I would recomment to all book readers.
Being caucasian and from New York, I find it hard to totally comprehend the crap blacks in the South had to endure.
The strength of John Wesley and Angelena and their independence from the strifling racist situtation in Birmingham, Alabama can only be a model to everyone.
A truly remarkable family, who instilled in a child that anything is possible.

A great American story, December 15, 2010
I loved the audio version on CDs, unabridged and read by the author. It was a joy to drive around and listen to her tell about the lives of her and her parents as they lived and made decisions in turbulent times. Her parents made incredible sacrifices for her, an only child. And she lived up to it by growing up to be a great human being and a wonderful daughter.

There are many parallels to the Laura Ingalls stories of growing up on the frontier after the Civil War. Laura's books can be read as the story of her parents trying to make a life outside of civilization, and then surviving the brutal North Dakota winters as civilization creeps toward them and over them. Condoleezza's book can be read on one level as the story of her parents in Birmingham, Denver and Palo Alto after the Civil Rights Act changed their world. In Laura's book it is heartbreaking when Pa gives his "little half pint" in marriage, knowing he will seldom see her again. In Condoleezza's book it is sad when her mother died -- but I blubbered like a baby when "Daddy" died, possibly releasing his then-tenuous grip on life to make it more convenient for her to move to DC to become National Security Advisor.

Her writing is disarmingly conversational. Listening to the book feels like you have the three members of the Rice family as house guests, and you can't wait to get back home after work, to hang out with them some more. Count me charmed.

It's pretty clear that this is intended solely as a book about her early life and her wonderful parents. Just enough details of her political life are included to allow us to see her career through their proud eyes. She talks about being single and her feelings about elective office. But she clearly reserves to another day a book about her professional life as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.

Condoleezza Rice is a very special person and this is a wonderful book, whatever your race or political persuasion.

... Read more

Editorial Review

Born in a log cabin in the Ozarks, Alvin "Titanic" Thompson (1892-1974) traveled with his golf clubs, a .45 revolver, and a suitcase full of cash. He won and lost millions playing cards, dice, golf, pool, and dangerous games of his own invention. He killed five men and married five women, each one a teenager on her wedding day. He ruled New York's underground craps games in the 1920s and was Damon Runyon's model for slick-talking Sky Masterson. Dominating the links in the pre-PGA Tour years, Thompson may have been the greatest golfer of his time, teeing up with Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Lee Trevino, and Ray Floyd. He also traded card tricks with Houdini, conned Al Capone, lost a million to Minnesota Fats and then teamed up with Fats and won it all back. A terrific read for anyone who has ever laid a bet, Titanic Thompson recaptures the colorful times of a singular figure: America's original road gambler. ... Read more

Reviews

This Titanic stays afloat! A great Christmas Present
Having just finished Kevin Cook's, Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything, it's my pleasure to highly recommend this thoroughly enjoyable book. Unlike some reviewers, I had no previous knowledge of the subject and I thank Mr Cook for introducing me to a man who was without question one of the most colorful real life characters of the 20th century. From humble origins in Arkansas to Al Capone's Chicago, Damon Runyon's New York and Howard Hughes' Hollywood, the man was like "Zelig" with a bankroll: traveling through America's cultural landscape in pursuit of his own version of the American Dream. If you've ever swung a golf club, bowled a bowling ball, pitched a horseshoe, played poker or have done any of the myriad things Titanic excelled at and bet on, this book is for you. Titanic Thompson was the king of road gamblers and Kevin Cook has written a sure thing.

The definitive biography of this legendary gambler
Having just finished this book, my first thought is that there will probably never be another biography of Titanic. I say this because no one would want their effort to be compared to this one. I knew Titanic back in the 1960s, but I understand him better now after reading the book than I did when I was around him on a daily basis. Rich in detail, literate, and always with a "ring of truth," the book was one of the best reading experiences I've had in quite a while.

More than just a re-telling of the many stories about Titanic and the bets he won, Cook's book brings in a variety of other interesting and colorful characters and gives us a look at what was going in America during the first half of the last century.

By the way, I can remember running into Titanic's son Tommy about 45 years ago when he and a top pool player (Richie Ambrose) came into a pool hall in Dallas, Texas (Time Square Cue Club). As I recall, Richie ran over me playing 9-ball and the two of them drove off in Tommy's fancy car. As Tommy said in his review, there was no one else who came close to accomplishing Titanic's gambling feats and he did it for over 50 years.

My dad's story brought to life.
This review is from: Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything (Hardcover)
My wife, Latrice Thomas, and I both think this is the best book ever written about my dad, Titanic Thompson, [Alvin Clarance Thomas]....True insight into the life of a professional gambler. The interviews bring to life the amazing feats of my dad that in the natural would seem impossible. I was with him when he made three hole in ones on par three golf courses while in his early seventies. Being a professional gambler and card shark for 32 years I can tell you that in the world of gambling there has never been anyone like him. When you read about his life and the amazing things he did you will escape into a time in America that was made to order for the life of Titanic Thompson.

Tommy Thomas
howtobeattheodds.com

Titanic Thompson
Titanic Thompson by Kevin Cook is a fascinating, extremely well-written, true account of an awe-inspiring scoundrel. This is one of those books that you will be sorry when you have finished it because you want to hear even more of the Titanic stories. The scams and cons that Titanic created are almost too outrageous to believe, but, as truth is always stranger than fiction, this larger-than-life athlete/grifter really existed and actually conceived and executed these feats and tricks. Not to be overlooked in the book is how the reader gains a better grasp and understanding of the times and era as the author deftly weaves historical highlights into the Titanic tales. This is a well-researched, invitingly-written book that should be read by anyone who ever bet or thought of betting on anything. This would make a great movie.
---Dr. Nancy E. O'Dell--

Titanic Thompson
America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 1: Feeling Lucky

You want to know about a real gambler, read this book. Good read. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny is a book that only Marlo Thomas could write--a smart and gracious, witty and confident autobiographical journey.

For as long as Marlo Thomas can remember, she's lived with laughter. Born to comedy royalty--TV and nightclub star Danny Thomas--she grew up among legendary funny men, carved much of her career in comedy and, to this day, surrounds herself with people who love and live to make others laugh. In this long-awaited memoir, Thomas takes us on a funny and heartwarming adventure, from her Beverly Hills childhood, to her groundbreaking creation of That Girl and Free to Be . . . You and Me, to her rise as one of America's most beloved actress-comediennes, to her marriage to talk-show king Phil Donahue.

Her youth was star-studded--Milton Berle performed magic tricks (badly) at her backyard birthday parties. George Burns, Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Bob Newhart and other great comics passed countless hours gathered around her family's dinner table. And behind it all was the rich laughter nurtured by a close and loving family.

Growing Up Laughing is not just the story of an iconic entertainer, but also the story of comedy. In a voice that is curious, generous and often gleeful, Thomas not only opens the doors on the funny in her own life, but also explores the comic roots of today's most celebrated comedians, in personal interviews with: Alan Alda, Joy Behar, Stephen Colbert, Billy Crystal, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Griffin, Jay Leno, George Lopez, Elaine May, Conan O'Brien, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Ben and Jerry Stiller, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams and Steven Wright.

Reviews

So Much More than "That Girl!", October 11, 2010
Almost all of us have a set of traits that attract us to others, and that we value in others: honesty, intelligence, attractiveness, and, to many, the most important--a sense of humor. Marlo Thomas' sixth book is a paean to humor. Ms. Thomas is the daughter of comedian/actor/St. Jude Children's Hospital founder Danny Thomas. Her book is unusual in its approach and in its style, and extremely enjoyable.

First, it is a memoir, a love story, a thank-you letter to her family, and a personal glimpse into her childhood as one of Danny Thomas' three children. But interspersed with the marvelous, intimate stories (about her drum-playing grandmother, her Catholic family, her acting successes and failures) are interviews with current comics and deeply moving homages to the comics of the past. So, a few chapters about her early life, Thomas segues into an interview with Jerry Seinfeld. A discussion about the years her father spent "On the Road" is followed by a wonderful conversation with Robin Williams. Newer comics are referenced and interviewed as well: Tina Fey, Chris Rock ,and Steven Wright all have one-on-one time with Thomas.

She makes us laugh, cry, and trip happily down memory lane with the great comedic geniuses of the past--Milton, Sid, Jan, George, Phil, Red, and the Bobs (Hope and Newhart). She remembers at-home dinners with these stellar humorists and discusses Hollywood from the point of view of someone raised there. As she does the storytelling, she also shows us behind the scenes of her own coming of age: That Girl, Free to Be...You and Me, her feminist roots and friendship with Gloria Steinem (and the founding of the Ms. Foundation,) her 30-year marriage to Phil Donahue, and her constant willingness and drive to be on the cutting edge of helping children be all they can be.

Moreover, the jokes are fabulous, some given by the comics she interviews and some just sprinkled hither and yon between chapters and within the delightful, distinctive stories of a life well-lived. So even as you feel a bit tearful about her father's death, the joke about the clown's funeral, in the interview with Steven Wright, will have you laughing in amusement (or bemusement!) She talks a lot about her father, their close relationship, and her ongoing work with her father's dream-child--St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN.

Thomas' book gives us the chance to feel touched, reminiscent, entertained, enlightened, charmed and very involved with the narrative itself. At 72 (her 73rd birthday is in November), she remains the vibrant, peppy girl we remember from "That Girl"--and yet her personal growth and feminism was and is a beacon to baby-boomer women who watched her life avidly for strength and encouragement.

"I was a lucky kid," Marlo writes, "to have a seat at the table...with those comic warriors who had the audacity to stand up in a room full of strangers with the conviction that they could bring them all together in laughter. Those stories of those times have been humming in my head all of my life, and I decided at last to write them down." I am so glad she did!

by Laura Strathman Hulka
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Light on Personal Information, October 4, 2010
Like most, I find Marlo Thomas to be charming, witty and a stunning beauty. This memoir is not an autobiography so if you are looking for the story of her life, all you get are several very short chapters of personal history, mostly involving her father, St. Jude's with a few non-revealing stories about her own life. Guys, there ain't no dirt in this one - damn! The rest of the book is comprised of interviews with present-day comedians, interspersed with some hysterical (and ribald) jokes. One short chapter is dedicated to Ted Bessell and one to Lew Parker. The rest of the story of "That Girl" was either never written, or omitted.

If you want to read this (and it is enjoyable), wait for it to come out in paperback.

A lot of jokes....but also tender and sweet.., October 11, 2010
A delightful book, and while not entirely a memoir, it has a very loving quality to it. We all know Danny Thomas was not just a funny and talented guy. He had a successful career and was honorably philanthropic. After reading Marlo's lovely stories about her childhood, he was quite a wonderful father too. Marlo does a great job of intermingling her memories of all the iconic comedians from the early Hollywood and TV days, to today's funny people, and some really funny jokes and stories. This kind of mixed bag of stuff could come across as hokey handled by someone else who didn't have Marlo's pedigree, talent and smarts. But it all works. It is funny, charming, touching and sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will pick it up again in a few years and enjoy it all over again. Danny Thomas left quite a legacy, and you know what.....Marlo will too.

Growing up laughing, October 26, 2010
I Was very disappointed wanted more of her growing up although she did shed light on some parts, I wanted more. I really didn't care for some of the comics that were featured. Thought this book would have been more "family" not about others.

Pleasant read about Marlo, Danny, and Comedy., October 11, 2010
I selected this book for a few reasons. When I was a little girl I really wanted to be That Girl. When I skipped school, I'd watch Donahue. I loved reruns of Make Room For Daddy. I know I just aged myself, but I did say reruns of MRFD. :) I admire and appreciate the old school comedians and the people from the golden age of television, as well as some newer people on the scene.

The book is part autobiography and part interviews with some very funny people. For the most part, it's a very light read and ideal if you don't want anything too heavy, although Marlo's account of losing her father is quite sad, of course. It's a book that's hard not to enjoy if you have any interest in the people it covers, but nothing that's going to provide any "dirt" or have you contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Actually, as much as I love gossip, I think it's plenty nice to read a book that's about a love of a daughter for her dad and a love for the craft of comedy.

I will mention one thing that made me a little bonkers. During the interviews, she kept saying variations of "that's funny" or "you're funny" which could have easily been excised and reduced what became a little grating. Marlo Thomas also has a reputation for being difficult on occasion, and I tend to believe it, but it clearly seems to be for the best reasons -- a self-confidence and professionalism, as well as strong goals.

She also doesn't pick sides, talking to both Leno and Conan as well as current (but established) people, as well as legends. It makes me wish she would have started this project even years earlier when more of these guys were still around.

I thought it was wonderful that she saved the St. Jude's work for last. It's of course her father's legacy, his most lasting achievement. And, it's a beautiful place to end the book.

4 stars.

MARLO THOMAS, GROWING UP LAUGHING, November 1, 2010
I have only read about 1/3 of this book so far, it is very hard to get into. I was disappointed, I thought this book would be more about her life growing up, but it is not. There is some stories she throws in from time to time of her life as Danny Thomas' daughter but "so far" not a lot. Most of the book is about her interviewing other comedians about what makes them laugh and their thoughts, etc, etc. I grew up loving her father and her, wanted to know more about them and their household, family and life. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Have you noticed that things aren't as civil as they once were? Or that rudeness is no longer an exception but a lifestyle? Sure you have. All you need to do is set foot outside your door to see that bad manners are taking over everywhere. People are yakking on cell phones in restaurants, even at church. Folks in carpools wear enough cologne to make our eyes bleed. Complete strangers think it's OK to rub a pregnant lady's belly. Passengers abuse flight attendants, family outings to the ball park are ruined by rowdy drunks . . . a congressman heckled the President of the United States.

Well, Whoopi Goldberg has noticed all this and more and asked herself, "Is it just me?" Unleashing her trademark irreverence and humor, her new book of observations takes a funny and excruciatingly honest look at how a loss of civility is messing with the quality of life for all of us.

So if your pet peeve is folks who talk in movie theaters like it was their living room, or if you get bugged by people clipping their nails and performing other personal hygiene next to you on the bus, or if you cringe when "please" and "thank you" get replaced by "gimme" and "huh?" . . . you have found a kindred spirit. Because Whoopi has witnessed the growing disrespect and rudeness in our lives and realized she is not alone. And, as you'll discover in these pages, neither are you.

Reviews

With All Due Respect...., October 23, 2010
This is the name of the last chapter of this book. This chapter consists of three lines. I'm going to quote them. You can read them without ruining the rest of the book for you if you haven't read the chapters that come before. They say:

"These were just things on my mind and some ideas of ways I could be better. Maybe it helps you too. If not, pass this book on!"

This book is Whoopi's opinion on a whole range of what she perceives to be irritations. She knows that she isn't alone in her irritation. She doesn't say that you're wrong if you disagree. She does use humor, she is irreverent, and she is also serious in ALL of it. She doesn't come across as perfect in her own conduct, in fact, she states more than once that she most definitely isn't. She finds those things irritating in other people and in herself. She does not deny that she is guilty of the same things that she is complaining about.

I am a big Whoopi fan, and I could hear her saying these things in my head while I was reading them. The language that she writes is the language that you hear coming out of her mouth every day on TV etc. Whoopi addresses issues that happen and that we don't seem to notice anymore because they have become so commonplace, they've become a habit. She talks about things like cutting your toenails or picking your nose on the bus or train on the way to work. She doesn't like the word 'stupid' and yet doesn't have a problem with people using certain swear words, and why. How you can swear at someone without actually using the words aloud, just thinking them can have an effect. Things you could consider saying when you've been put on the spot and don't want to hurt someone other people's feelings.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I did find myself chuckling at what she says, how she phrases things, and the irony in some of her statements. This book uses events in her life as examples, and it is not her memoirs. If you are buying this book expecting to read only her comedy, expecting to laugh aloud, you'll be disappointed. If you asked me to describe this book in two words, I would say "humorous" and "thoughtful".

I thought it would be funnier, October 23, 2010
I like Whoopi so I was looking forward to reading about the things we all can't stand (i.e. sharing cell phone conversations) with a dose of Whoopi humor. As one other reviewer wrote "I wanted to laugh". This book could have been so much better with some humor. In my opinion, she's preaching to the choir here. The people that read this book are those who probably have noticed the same things and the people who don't read it are the ones we are talking about so they'll never get it nor read her suggestions. It just could have been so much better.

Very Dry, October 11, 2010
I bought this book thinking I was going to enjoy the witt and funny style of Whoopie--Sadly I was disappointed. This book is just ramblings and no spark.

Disappointing..., October 21, 2010
I am very disappointed with this book. Whoopie addresses many issues we all readily
identify with and most likely have ranted about ourselves, but she failed to apply her skills as a profesional comic. Instead she came across as a professional ranter/lecturer with no wit or levity at all. Humor can come in handy duirng times of dealing with those
irksome issues. Where'rd your humor go Whoopie?

PS: Good idea to read reviews as well as readinga sample, before buying a book.
PS: I LOVE my Kindle 3 :)

Is it supposed to be ironic or something?, November 16, 2010
I couldn't get through this and I read cereal boxes if that's what's in front of me. It's either self parody gone wrong or a really creepy case of TMI. If you've been dying to know why MS. Goldberg has never run for public office (I'm not making this up), you'll love the book. If not, you'll find that it's impossible to read and politely avert your eyes at the same time.

maybe it's me - but this sucks -- sorry Whoopi, October 11, 2010
First I love Whoopi, so I was looking forward to reading this book. I could not finish it...I found myself annoted from the first page...it is just page after page of ramblig thought -- opinions rather. Maybe it gets better but I could not make past the first 3 chapters....Sorry Whoopi try again!

A Little Venting, A Little Advice, November 8, 2010
I downloaded this book onto my Kindle after seeing it on display at the airport. It's a quick read, as the chapters are short. It's not a great book, but also not a disaster.

In her book, Goldberg vents her frustration about many things that happen in the world; the serious, as well as the mundane. She zeros in on the lack of civility in society, be it from politicians who disrespect the President, to rude drivers on the road. She also shares the stress and frustration of being someone in the limelight, though she clearly acknowledges that we're all potential victims to public exploitation.

Though not blatant, Goldberg is trying to insert a little advice into her book, while simultaneously reflecting on the 'good old days.' As such, this is almost a book you would want to give a high school or college graduate, as they now have to go forth and make sense of the world. For the rest of us, we know all this stuff. None of us would disagree with what Goldberg has to share, but a 'misery loves company' book isn't what I was looking for.

Even so, it's a decent book, though not as humorous as we might expect from Goldberg, or as 'juicy' as we might hope from a daily talk show host.

Unreadable, October 22, 2010
Though I am admittedly not a "fan" of Whoopie Goldberg (never found her that funny), I was looking forward to reading this book, regardless of who wrote it. I happen to love talking about pet peeves (in a usually-humorous and light-hearted way), so I was excited to see a book full of them. The excitement ended after word one.

The book is horrid. It's terribly written in a conversational style that I assume is supposed to mimic Goldberg's live personality and spoken demeanor. I felt as if her editor (was there one?) might have said "hey, Whoopi, why don't we change this paragraph to read..." and was shut down ("don't *touch* the way I wrote it, the people want to hear ME.") It comes off as narcissistic, rambling and repetitive, and without flow or organization. As some others have said, it's also ironically very rude and curmudgeonly.

But most importantly, it's not funny. I mean not even so much as a giggle. And I *wanted* to giggle... I was receptive to giggling. But I couldn't even force a quiet chuckle. It just got worse and worse, almost to the point of being incoherent. It also is full of factual errors, outdated socio/cultural/technological references and gross exaggerations used just to make a peeve sound more valid (people don't talk on cell phones during flights... they don't work at 35,000 feet). Overall tone is that of a grumpy person who is just "not with it."

Many of the premises are good and true and could have been used to great effect, but everything just falls on its face, chapter after chapter (and yes, I still read all of it, just hoping it would get better). With the right author, tone of voice and good editing, it could have been hilarious and relatable. Instead this book is now one of my pet peeves. Save your money.

Is It Just Me? Or is it nuts out there?, December 7, 2010
Very pleased with this book, nothing that Whoopi Goldberg discusses is not something that we deal with on an everyday basis...very funny, but very real...especially with the added on portions of things that we should say and are actually excellent...lol, I even find myself reading the book in Whoopi's voice...another great job, Ms. Goldberg!!(its a southern thang)

It isn't just you!, November 30, 2010
I don't agree with Whoopi on everything and I'm fairly sure she would not agree with everything that I have to say...having gotten that disclaimer out of the way...

I admire her ability to spot something, distill it, and then whack it over the fence for a satisfying home run. Her humor may be irreverent but is never irrelevant. She has a marvelous talent with the ability to get you where you live. Very rarely, while reading this book, I would think, "oops, I do that." Most of the time I was just nodding my head and saying yup, yup, yup (I felt a little like Goofy).
I would love to see copies of this book being read everywhere I go (except by people operating dangerous machinery) because I agree with Whoopi's view that it is nuts out there and that common courtesy seems to have left the building.

So, keep it up Whoopi!!! ... Read more

Editorial Review

"Breaking Night reads more like an adventure story than an addiction-morality tale. It's a white-knuckle account of survival. . . . By age 6, Murray knew how to mainline drugs (though she never took them) and how to care for her strung-out parents. She showed uncanny maturity, even as a child, and later managed to avoid that malady of teenagers and memoir writers, self-pity. . . . Murray's stoicism has been hard-earned; it serves her well as a writer. Breaking Night itself is full of heart, without a sliver of ice, and deeply moving." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Liz Murray shows us that the human spirit has infinite ability to grow andcan never be limited by circumstance. Breaking Night is a beautifullywritten, heartfelt memoir that will change the way you look your community, theobstacles in your own life and the American Dream. An inspiration, a must read."(Robert Redford)

"[Liz Murray] reminds us that the greatest acts of love and failure canoccur side by side; that isolation and loss can give way to accomplishment andpromise. She offers the awesome hope that, regardless of its past, a life can gobeyond endurance and reach for triumph. She leave us with the memory of a child whoclung to and refused to surrender the dignity of her soul." (Andrew Bridge, authorof the New York Times bestseller Hope's Boy)

"As much as it is a memoir, Breaking Night is a primer on how poverty and drug abuse create a heartbreaking underclass of children, one that goes largely unnoticed. By the truly uplifting ending, Liz Murray has shown us the worst, and the very best, of America." (Haven Kimmel, author of A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch)

In the vein of The Glass Castle, Breaking Night is the stunning memoir of a young woman who at age fifteen was living on the streets, and who eventually made it into Harvard.

Liz Murray was born to loving but drug-addicted parents in the Bronx. In school she was taunted for her dirty clothing and lice-infested hair, eventually skipping so many classes that she was put into a girls' home. At age fifteen, Liz found herself on the streets when her family finally unraveled. She learned to scrape by, foraging for food and riding subways all night to have a warm place to sleep.

When Liz's mother died of AIDS, she decided to take control of her own destiny and go back to high school, often completing her assignments in the hallways and subway stations where she slept. Liz squeezed four years of high school into two, while homeless; won a New York Times scholarship; and made it into the Ivy League. Breaking Night is an unforgettable and beautifully written story of one young woman's indomitable spirit to survive and prevail, against all odds. ... Read more

Reviews

The Sins Of The Parents and Their Parents
In an unusual transition, this true story went from a made-for-TV in 2004 to an enthralling memoir in 2010. "Homeless to Harvard" was the descriptive title of the movie and it is incorporated into the book title. Liz Murray's grandfathers were abusive alcohols who made the streets seem safer than home. The parents of Liz Murray were baby-boomers who grew up in the '60's and were drug addicts in the '70's. It was Liz Murray who has broken the generational pattern of violence, of substance abuse and of homelessness. She is all of thirty now.

This autobiography is a can't-put-down page turner describing the crazy life of having indiscriminating drug addicts for parents (all drugs were good, but cocaine was always better). Having worked for many years with children and teenagers with lives similiar to the author, her story rings true with its harrowing details of survival (which seemed normal to her, having nothing else to compare it to). Her prose is simple and straight forward as she describes her journey from darkness to light (hence the title).

Great book Liz ~
I have been waiting for this book to come out for a while.
Really enjoyed the movie, but the book has so much more detail about what Liz had to endure on her journey.
It is an amazing story and one that I will never forget.
The book is very well written - you kind of get swept up into her daily life growing up ..
Anything I'm up against in life, it will most likely pale in comparison to what Liz had to deal with on a daily basis as a child - and reading about the hard road she travelled is an inspiration. Thanks Liz ~ !!

Hair-raising, tense and ultimately inspiring

You are witness to, certainly, A MIRACLE, in Liz Murray's moving memoir

An amazing storyteller!
This book is absolutely one of the most enthralling and interesting books I have read in a very long time. The amazing story aside, the language is just so beautiful and moving.
Reading this book was a journey and I didn't want it to end. I'm on my second read now. In a world of inauthentic, pretentious novels and memoirs, this one stands out as being a through and through genuine heartfelt story that just carries you.
Highly recommended

The story that changed my life!
When someone asks me if a book has ever changed my life, I now have my answer. After reading Breaking Night by Liz Murray, I will never be the same. I will never look at life the way I looked at it before I read her story. Having a lot in common with Murray, I truly felt like I was in her shoes, we even share the same name. I started crying when her mother passes away from AIDS (I lost my mother also), and I did not stop crying until the very last page (because I read it straight through without putting it down). She is an amazing young woman, an inspiration, a hero. I will always think of her when I start feeling sorry for myself, when the voices in my head tell me i can't do something, when I want to give up.

Love and Neglect
Liz Murray had loving parents but they were addicts who spent their welfare checks on drugs, sometimes leaving Liz and her sister with nothing but ice cubes and toothpaste to eat. When she had a home its filthy backed-up shower meant she couldn't bathe, so classmates made fun of her rancid smell, grimy appearance and tattered clothes. In first grade she was cutting school to look out for her parents. By 15 she was homeless and on her own. It's a childhood you would not wish on anybody, but like Jeannette Walls in THE GLASS CASTLE being neglected made her resourceful, and it's transfixing to read how she coped with a life that's hard to imagine. It was not a straight path to success, but she ultimately managed to be accepted by Harvard even though she was squeezing four years of high school into two while living on the streets.

Beyond the sheer impressiveness of Liz's accomplishments is the honesty and humility she shows when writing about her experience
"For years, maybe for my whole life, it felt as thought there was a brick wall down the middle of everything... On one side of the wall there was society, and on the other side there was me, us, the people in the place I came from. Separate... The feeling in my heart was of the world being divided into an `us' versus `them,' and everyone on the other side of the wall felt like `those people.' The everyday working people on the train, the smart students who raised their hands in class and got everything right, the functional families, the people who went away to college --- they all felt like `those people' to me. And then there were people like us: the dropouts, welfare cases, truants, and discipline problems. Different."

Sure, "tortured souls" memoirs are a dime a dozen these days. The more harrowing the author's story, the more accolades the author gets from the press and the longer the book stays on bestseller lists. Are all of these sagas worth reading? Not by a long shot. It's not to say these writers with unfortunate backgrounds are milking their situations (except, of course, when they are), or that their stories don't deserve to be told (except when the book's purpose seems to be a self-pity party or a PR stunt). But there needs to be some sort of distinction between a run-of-the-mill woe-is-me story and a book that is well-thought out, well-crafted, and well-deserving of respect and praise. Liz Murray's memoir BREAKING NIGHT is an example of the latter.

The now-29-year-old author's story is certainly shocking. As a child growing up in the Bronx, Liz and her older sister, Lisa, ran the household while their drug-addicted parents mainlined cocaine in plain view, breezed through the family's paltry welfare check each month leaving nothing left over for food, and trashed the roach-infested apartment. The fact that the family wasn't evicted is a miracle.

If that doesn't pull at your heartstrings (or at least make you shift uncomfortably in your seat), there's more. Before Liz had even reached puberty, she was molested by one of her mother's "companions." Her mother, Jean, had six schizophrenic bouts in four years, was in and out of mental institutions, and contracted AIDS. Her father continued using and moved into a shelter. And Liz was sent to live in a group home for a short stint while her sister and mother shacked up with a man Jean met at a neighborhood bar.

By the time she was 15, Liz was basically homeless --- crashing at friends' houses after their parents had gone to work, or sleeping under bridges, on the subway, or in stairwells of random apartment buildings. Everything she owned, she carried with her on her back. She barely showered, and stole food wherever and whenever she could.

But despite all of this hardship, Liz rarely shows resentment toward her parents, and this is partly the reason why the book is so powerful. Or maybe it's just the way Liz coped. The descriptions of her mother's illness or the times Jean would come home drunk from the bar ("I'd take my mother and clean her up; help her, naked and vulnerable, into a warm bath; shampoo her hair as clumps of it came out in my hands. Sometimes she'd vomit in the tub and we had to start all over again") are straightforward and factual. But there's a hint of compassion there as well --- and self-awareness. In a letter to Jean after her death, she writes: "People had done that to you all your life, hadn't they? Treated you like something they needed to back away from. Me too." It's clear Liz is working out her demons, but her words are heartfelt and true.

After Jean's death, Liz's life --- and her memoir --- takes a turn for the better. Well, sort of. Her circumstances haven't changed --- she's still homeless, broke and basically parentless --- but she makes a crucial decision: to apply to high school following years of truancy. After aiming to graduate in two years with a straight-A average --- and doing so --- she sets her mind to accomplishing other previously unimaginable goals. She applies for a New York Times college scholarship and gets it. She submits an application to Harvard and is accepted. She rents an apartment with her sister and has a home for the first time in years.

Beyond the sheer impressiveness of Liz's accomplishments is the honesty and humility she shows when writing about her experiences. Nowhere does she gloat or preach. In fact, you get the sense that she's still in shock that any of her successes happened at all: "Had I known how difficult it was supposed to be to interview with Harvard or the New York Times, had anyone told me that these were hard, nearly impossible things to do, then I may have never done them. I didn't know enough about the world to analyze the likelihood of my success." She never fails to give credit where credit is due: to her friends who supported her, to the teachers who gave her a chance, to her parents who loved her despite their faults, and most of all, to herself, for believing that she could beat the odds.

BREAKING NIGHT is, of course, the ultimate story of an underdog --- a have-not --- who triumphs over adversity, thanks to the people who love her and her own will to do what it takes to survive. But it's also full of lessons to be learned, spoken not from the perspective of a Harvard professor, a social worker, or a sociologist, but from a person who has been there. Real questions ("How was it that anyone ended up possessing oddities such as a savings account, a car, or a house they actually owned? Getting and maintaining a job?"), frank observations ("On our side of the wall, priority was given to whatever thing might solve the most immediate problem."), and funny but candid class distinctions ("After all, in the ghetto, by no means do we talk about things like different types of cheese...in the ghetto, we buy one kind of cheese, and that is American.") offer up countless opportunities to think beyond the scope of one person's story, to a broader, more accurate picture of society, its pervasive problems, and hopefully a way forward.

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling
... Read more

Editorial Review

“It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that, too.”
 
So begins this gorgeous memoir by Pulitzer Prize winner Gail Caldwell, a testament to the power of friendship, a story of how an extraordinary bond between two women can illuminate the loneliest, funniest, hardest moments in life, including the final and ultimate challenge.

They met over their dogs. Both writers, Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp, author of Drinking: A Love Story, became best friends, talking about everything from their shared history of a struggle with alcohol, to their relationships with men and colleagues, to their love of books. They walked the woods of New England and rowed on the Charles River, and the miles they logged on land and water became a measure of the interior ground they covered. From disparate backgrounds but with striking emotional similarities, these two private, fiercely self-reliant women created an attachment more profound than either of them could ever have foreseen. 

The friendship helped them define the ordinary moments of life as the ones worth cherishing. Then, several years into this remarkable connection, Knapp was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

With her signature exquisite prose, Caldwell mines the deepest levels of devotion and grief in this moving memoir about treasuring and losing a best friend. Let’s Take the Long Way Home is a celebration of life and of the transformations that come from intimate connection—and it affirms, once again, why Gail Caldwell is recognized as one of our bravest and most honest literary voices. ... Read more

Reviews

An Intimate Look at Deep Friendship

A Loving Tribute to Friendship

unforgettable, heart-breaking, but never sentimental: I'm in awe of this book
If you have tears, prepare to shed them.

Caroline Knapp was the author of Drinking: A Love Story. I've wriiten about it on [...] because some of you surely have issues with alcohol, and I thought it might be of use. And because it's acutely observed and beautifully written. And because there's a painful irony here: Caroline got sober, only to die in June of 2002, when she was forty-two, seven weeks after she was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer.

Caroline Knapp had a best friend. Gail Caldwell. Also a writer. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2001. She too had alcohol issues.

Two women writers. Both dog lovers. Both recovering alcoholics. Both living alone, and liking it. Both athletes. Near-neighbors in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Friends. Best friends. One died. The other wrote a book: "Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship." [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]

There are men and women I love, and I think they know it, and I hope they know how incredibly lucky I feel that I'm in their lives, but we're talking about something else here, something deeper and more precious and, certainly, scarier.

"It's an old story," Caldwell begins. "I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that.''

Define everything. Well, rowing on the Charles River. Writing. Alcoholism. And, most of all, afternoon-long walk with their dogs:

"'Let's take the long way home,' she would say once we had gotten to the car, and then we would wend our way through the day traffic of Somerville or Medford, in no hurry to separate. At the end of the drive, with Clementine [Caldwell's dog] snoring softly in the back seat, we would sit outside the house of whoever was being dropped off, and keep talking. Then we would go inside our respective houses and call each other on the phone."

This is a grief memoir, but that descent into deepest sadness is also, by definition, an exploration of peak experiences. Everything's heightened, brighter, sharper in lives lived this acutely. This is a 190-page book --- we don't get to Caroline's illness until page 125. What comes before? This great friendship, detailed. But also a condensed biography of Caroline Knapp. And a lacerating autobiography of Gail Caldwell:

"I've always remembered one thing Rich [Caldwell's AA adviser] said one day, when I was buried in fear and shame at the idea that I had drunk my way into alcoholism. He asked me why I was so frightened, and I told him, weeping, the first thing that came into my mind: "I'm afraid that no one will ever love me again." He leaned toward me with a smile of great kindness on his face, his hands clasped in front of him. "Don't you know?" he asked gently. "The flaw is the thing we love."

Eventually --- you dread it --- Caldwell gets to Caroline's fatal illness. The disbelief. The stoicism. And then, as Caroline begins her final descent, the combination of love and pride and hurt --- the recognition moment of what there was and what will be lost.

"Near the end, I asked him [Caroline's former therapist] what he thought was happening, and he said, "Tell her everything you haven't said," and I smiled with relief. "There's nothing," I said. "I've already told her everything."

Can you imagine that? I can't.

I've always had a weakness for damaged women --- they're so much more beautiful than the perfect ones. From her own book, I found Caroline Knapp to be ravishing. Now, here, I add Gail Caldwell.

What an astonishing friendship. What great women. What a stellar, unforgettable book.

A Life Worth Living
Let's Take The Long Way Home is, at its core, a love story. It's a story of how a close connection with a friend can ground us and provide us with a life worth living. And it's a story that any woman who has ever had a friend who is like a sister - I count myself among those fortunate women - will understand in a heartbeat.

Gail Caldwell, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, met Caroline Knapp, also a writer, over their mutual love of their dogs. Ms. Caldwell writes, "Finding Caroline was like placing a personal ad for an imaginary friend, then having her show up at your door funnier and better than you had conceived."

Both women - about a decade apart in age - are passionate about writing and their dogs and have successfully dealt with alcohol addiction that knocked them to their knees. "We had a lot of dreams, some of them silly, all part of the private code shared by people who plan to be around for the luxuries of time," Ms. Caldwell shares.

Quickly, Gail and Caroline and their two dogs become a "pack of four". They are both self-described moody introverts who prefer the company of dogs. Yet, "...we gave each other wide berth - it was far easier, we learned over the years, to be kind to the other than to ourselves." As they grow closer, Gail and Caroline learn that nurturance and strength "were each the lesser without the other."

It is almost inconceivable that this close friendship would ever end, but Caroline is a smoker and at 42, she learns she has stage 4 lung cancer. Her death comes quickly, in a matter of weeks. Gail Caldwell reflects, "Death is a divorce nobody asked for; to live through it is to find a way to disengage from what you thought you couldn't stand to lose." And later: "Caroline's death had left me with a great and terrible gift: how to live in a world where loss, some of it unbearable, is as common as dust or moonlight." Eventually, she comes to realize "...we never get over great losses; we absorb them, and they carve us into different, often kinder, creatures."

This memoir is poignant, authentic, unflinching, and genuine - never manipulative or sudsy. In addition to the profound look at an extraordinary friendship, it also focuses on "inter-species" love - between two fiercely self-reliant woman and their dogs. The rich and moving portrayal of Gail Caldwell's Samoy, Clementine, will be entirely familiar to those of us who have shared our lives with four-legged "fur babies"; love in any guise is still love.

This eloquent book ends up being a celebration of life in all its complexities - including love, friendship, devotion, and grief. As Gail Caldwell writes, "The real trick is to let life, with all its ordinary missteps and regrets, be consistently more mysterious and alluring than its end."

Remembering Caroline Knapp

Gracefully paying homage to an inspired friendship
Reviewed by Claudia Kawczynska, Editor-in-chief, The Bark

Intensely moving, without a hint of sentimentality, Let's Take the Long Way Home--part memoir and part biography of a friendship--should be read and cherished by dog lovers and readers of my magazine, The Bark. Gail Caldwell is a fiercely private, independent, talented writer (with a Pulitzer Prize for criticism) and a dog enthusiast. So, when a dog trainer commented that she reminded her of another Cambridge writer who also had a new puppy, and added that she should try to get together with her, Caldwell wisely heeded the advice. What followed was the making of a remarkable relationship with Caroline Knapp (author of Pack of Two), one based not only on personality similarities but on the trust each of them--both reserved women--placed in the other, allowing them to open up and choose to take the "long way home" together.

Be prepared for tears from the book's opening, which starts with Knapp's death and the observation that "grief is what tells you who you are alone," to its end, which closes with the knowledge that "the universe insists that what is fixed is also finite." But this isn't a maudlin tale, nor is it overtly expository like many memoirs can be; rather, it is revelatory, joyous and inspiring. Caldwell expertly draws the reader into her story as a hard-driving feminist from Amarillo, Texas, who saw "drinking as an anesthetic for high-strung sensitivity and a lubricant for creativity," then realized that surrendering her addiction was a "way to get back all your power."

When Knapp enters her circle, Caldwell notes (reflecting on the first of their many long dog walks), "Even on that first afternoon we spent together--a four-hour walk through late-summer woods--I remember being moved by Caroline: It was a different response from simple affection or camaraderie. ... I found it a weightless liberation to be with someone whose intensity seemed to match and sometimes surpass my own." Both shared deep bonds with their dogs--Caldwell with Clementine, a Samoyed, Knapp with Lucille, a Shepherd mix--both had stopped drinking at age 33, and both had early health problems. They also traded sports passions--Caldwell's for swimming and Knapp's for rowing.

But, "everything really started with the dogs." The two women reveled in unlocking the mysteries of canine behavior and in the triumphs earned through polishing their training skills. Theirs was a tight, close friendship, the kind that calls to mind Polonius's counsel to "grapple them [friends] to thy soul with hoops of steel." Caldwell generously allows the reader into their most intimate moments, including when Knapp learned of the cancer diagnosis, her last months in the hospital, and the brief reprieve when Knapp married her long-time companion, Mark Morelli, with Lucille as their ring bearer and Caldwell as her "humble handler."

On a personal note, I must share with you the jolt I felt when I read about Caroline in the hospital, telling Gail that the only assignment she hadn't been able to finish was one I'd given her ("a dog lover's magazine" in the book). Caroline was slated to contribute to Bark's first anthology, "Dog Is My Co-Pilot". I was thrilled when she offered to write an essay and eagerly awaited it; news of her death (which I learned of through a New York Times obituary) came the day her essay was due. As Caroline asks Gail, "What am I supposed to write about ... the only thing worse than losing your dog is knowing that you won't outlive her?"

As it is, with Caroline Knapp's Pack of Two, and now with her best friend's enthralling "pack of four" memoir, both their stories will endure, classics that outlive us all.

A Beautiful Story of Friendship
If you are lucky, you may experience at least once in your life a soul-mate friendship, the kind where you find this magical version of yourself in the guise of another. Such was the case with Gail Caldwell and her late friend, Caroline Knapp.

These single women writers (although Knapp did marry her boyfriend a few weeks before her untimely death at age 43 from lung cancer) came from quite different backgrounds but bonded through work, dogs, rowing, and recovery from alcoholism. Knapp herself wrote a 1996 bestselling memoir, "Drinking: A Love Story."

The account of their growing friendship in Cambridge, MA through their mutual interests is engaging. The section where Caldwell describes her background and recovery from alcoholism deepens the story. Even richer is the period following Knapp's death where Caldwell so convincingly describes the exile of grief. In a devastating turn, loss echoes loss when Caldwell must put down her beloved Samoyed, Clementine, in an account that will break your heart. Read this memoir only if you want to feel deeply.

The beauty of this book is how it well it captures the serendipitous spark of friendship, its growth and deepening, and its loss. It shows that although a life may end, the relationship continues.

wasnt sure what to expect, and was highly pleased

Editorial Review

In April 2009, a modest middle-aged woman from a village in Scotland was catapulted to global fame when the YouTube video of her audition for Britain’s Got Talent touched the hearts of millions all over the world. From singing karaoke in local pubs to a live performance with an eighty-piece orchestra in Japan’s legendary Budokan Arena and a record-breaking debut album, Susan Boyle has become an international superstar. This astonishing transformation has not always been easy for her, faced with all the trappings of celebrity, but in the whirlwind of attention and expectation, she has always found calm and clarity in music. Susan was born to sing. Now, for the first time, she tells the story of her life and the challenges she has struggled to overcome with faith, fortitude, and an unfailing sense of humor. ... Read more

Reviews

An Inspiring Journey, October 12, 2010
If this book does not inspire you, you simply cannot be inspired! A poignant, but often hilarious journey with Susan Boyle from her humble beginnings to her dizzying heights of success. This is a book for people of all faiths. One of struggle,courage,and determination. It should be in the hands of anyone who has ever struggled with being considered "different", of those who work with young people, or people with any kind of disability, and anyone who simply enjoys a good story well told.

Wow!! A "must read"!!!, October 12, 2010
I just finished reading Susan's book through laughter and tears! Her story is such an inspiring one for all of us! Through sheer determination she has fought against the stigma of "disability" to share her God given talent with us. This is a "must read". I felt like she was sitting with me, telling me her personal story. Well done!!!

A wonderful read!, October 13, 2010
I couldn't put this book down. For those who have not kept up with Susan she is revealed as very intelligent, warm & witty and a very strong person. I admire her so much and hope others will gain a new understanding of this wonderful woman.

Susan Boyle the Scottish Wonderwoman, October 14, 2010
I received the Kindle version of Susan Boyle's new book at approximately 3:00 am on Oct. 12 and, since I happened to be awake, naturally started reading it! I read the book straight through and finished it around 6:00am because I simply could not put it down!
In the book Susan is at times both open and funny, honest and determined, humble and reflective, about the extraordinary series of events that brought her--and her voice--to world-wide fame.
From her difficult, late-in-life birth to a courageous and faith-filled mother, through her traumatic school years of being bullied and misunderstood, on to her own amazing, but slow, discovery that she possessed a truly remarkable voice, and of course, on through the spring of 2009 when the world discovered it too.
Faith, determination, courage, humor,honesty; these are the words I would use to describe Susan Boyle both in following her dream to be a "professional singer" and in writing this little gem of a book. I considered it a highly enjoyable and, at times sad, read, and would highly recommend it to any fan, or even non-fan, of Susan Boyle. Now I have to go read it again.

She is Who She Was Born To Be, October 15, 2010
Just as her literal overnight recognition was like being "hit by a demolition ball," Susan Boyle has penned an autobiography recounting her life leading up to that amazing moment in cyber-history and the year since, with amazingly deep, surprisingly astute, and poignantly honest reflections.

Not only was the world captivated by her voice, but her story will leave the reader at times, tearful, amazed, amused and impressed with her courage, her candor and her eloquence.

There is only one Susan Boyle, but there are pieces of Susan Boyle in all of us. How she has dealt with challenges her entire life, including her new-found fame can be an inspiration and guide to us all.

The subtitle "MY Story" needs an addendum...."My Story, So Far" because from all accounts, this wee lassie is going to be adding some incredible chapters to her life from here.

. . .In A Word. . .OUTSTANDING!, October 15, 2010
Susan Boyle's autobiography The Woman I Was Born To Be is, in a word, outstanding! She is amazingly honest, insightful, wise, hysterically funny, supremely intelligent. . .all of this in addition to being brilliantly talented and refreshingly humble. In spite of the rough times in her life, and there have been many, she is a study in resilience and courage, elegance and grace. She is an extraordinary woman, and in our world today where negativity and fear often seem to overwhelm our daily lives, she is inspiring while being completely down to earth and unpretentious. This book made me cry and laugh out loud, and it was impossible to put down. Moreover, it is an autobiography that is not just for fans. It is a look for everyone at a life well lived in spite of adversity and an articulate, inspiring picture of how to be an exemplary human being. I highly recommend The Woman I Was Born To Be. Thank you, Susan Boyle, for sharing your life with us. You may be a wee woman from Blackburn, but your heart and soul shine through both your writing and singing and embrace us all.

A Story of Courage, October 15, 2010
On April 1, 2009, Susan Boyle's 48th birthday came and went without notice. Susan had no money, there was no party, no cards, no anything. It was just another day.

On April 1, 2010 Susan Boyle stood in the Famous Nippon Budokan in Tokyo Japan, in front of an 80 piece orchestra with which she had just sung several songs. She was wearing a diamond and gold bracelet, a gift from Simon Cowell and a beautiful gown designed especially for her. Susan stood there and listened as the 10,000 strong audience sang Happy Birthday while the orchestra played. In the audience were members from her fan site that had travelled from all over the globe just to hear her sing.

The difference a year makes! With humor, humility, wit and great honesty, Susan Boyle shares her incredible journey. The tears and the fears are there - but so too are the joys and the triumphs.

Reading Susan's story, one finally understands how her world was turned so upside down in one brief moment. Instant worldwide fame. The reader can't help but suffer with her as the press beseiges her unrelentingly and then turns on her at the most challenging time in her life - the week leading up to the BGT Final.

In the book, perhaps her former singing teacher and now long-time friend, Fred O'Neil says it best: "Susan Boyle is not an 'ordinary woman'. She is an extraordinary person who's got a different kind of voice and a different personality. She is not like any other person in the world."

I laughed out loud. And I wept. Courage is not being without fear. Courage is being afraid but going on anyway.

Susan Boyle's story is a story of courage.

Susan Boyle's World, October 15, 2010
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Susan's world. I laughed with her, I cried with her, I enjoyed being with her. Here is the story of a remarkable Lady who overcame her sorrows and her fears to become the Superstar that she is today. The book is beautifully written and reveals a sweetly candid person who always manages to rise to every occasion and overcome every obstacle to achieve her lifelong dream.

Susan Boyle is a magnificent woman with a glorious talent that she generously shares with the world. I love her and I loved her book. Susan's story is not over, and I hope she writes a book every year and allows us to share her experiences in what is yet to come.

Shine on, Susan, shine on!

Susan Boyle Is Becoming The Woman She Was Born To Be., October 16, 2010
Susan Boyle's book reads like Susan is in your living room talking with you. It is personal, funny, wise, brave and honest. You're taken first into her childhood world, the world of a large Catholic family in a small, poor Scottish village, but you end up on a huge stage with an 80 piece orchestra, in front of 10,000 people in Tokyo, Japan - the journey is heart-warming and heart-breaking - and not to be missed.

The press who fawned over her and then turned on her. The family who struggled to adapt to the changes. The fears Susan faced and still faces today............

Susan's determination to turn 'disability' into 'ability' keeps her going, along with her Faith in God, her family, and the people who help her most along the way. You'll meet them all - but the person you'll never forget - is Susan Boyle.

Highly recommended - a Must Read.

This book's a winner, as is Susan Boyle, October 14, 2010
A remarkable book by a remarkable woman. I realize there's an audio book, as well, but you can hear the voice of Susan Boyle in every word of this hilarious,tragic and everything in between autobiography. Susan Boyle is a mesmerizing singer, but she's more than that, as you'll find out from this great read. If this is any example, I hope there are many more books to come from Susan Boyle, as long as she has time to sing in between. ... Read more

Editorial Review

She charmed America with her smart, likable, down-to-earth personality as she campaigned for her husband, then vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. She inspired millions as she valiantly fought advanced breast cancer after being diagnosed only days before the 2004 election. She touched hundreds of similarly grieving families when her own son, Wade, died tragically at age sixteen in 1996. Now she shares her experiences in Saving Graces, an incandescent memoir of Edwards’ trials, tragedies, and triumphs, and of how various communities celebrated her joys and lent her steady strength and quiet hope in darker times.

Edwards writes about growing up in a military family, where she learned how to make friends easily in dozens of new schools and neighborhoods around the world and came to appreciate the unstinting help and comfort naval families shared. Edwards’ reminiscences of her years as a mother focus on the support she and other parents offered one another, from everyday favors to the ultimate test of her own community’s strength—their compassionate response to the death of the Edwards’ teenage son, Wade, in 1996. Her descriptions of her husband’s campaigns for Senate, president, and vice president offer a fascinating perspective on the groups, great and small, that sustain our democracy. Her fight with breast cancer, which stirred an outpouring of support from women across the country, has once again affirmed Edwards’ belief in the power of community to make our lives better and richer. ... Read more

Reviews

"The World Was Wide Open To Us"
In Elizabeth Edwards' extraordinary memoir she traces the careers of many of her friends and acquaintances, who like her, were children of military families, had lived all over the world and to whom "the world was wide open." Ms. Edwards, as most Americans now know, saw that world shattered when she and her husband John Edwards lost their son in a freak automobile accident when the young man was only 16. Then there was her diagnosis with breast cancer just before the 2004 Presidential election. Ms. Edwards writes with remarkable honesty about those two events as well as the 2004 election. She was once a Ph.D candidate in English at the University of North Carolina before she switched to law. The result is an extremely well-written memoir, parts of which are almost to painful to read. She always refers to her son as "my boy," words that speak multitudes. Her thoughts on grief are every bit as good as what Joan Didion had to say on the subject in her recent THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING.

Some of Ms. Edwards' conclusions: She came to accept a God that does not intervene in "accident, disease, violence." It may not be the God we want but it is the God we have. She also reminds us that as in the case of Cain and Abel, "no one will step in and protect the pure from death." And as much as we love our families, we cannot spare them from pain.

Ms. Edwards' candor about her diagnosis and treatment of cancer is also an inspiration to us all, whether we have had cancer or are friends or family of cancer patients. That inspiration has been returned to her more than the Biblical fourfold as she has received over 65,000 messages of support from people of all walks of life; she prints some of them in the chapter "Washington: The Hospital."

Equally at home reading a Henry James novel or shopping at Target, Ms. Edwards is the good neighbor we all want to have. You have to adore someone who tells you she colors her hair and goes to a "workday" luncheon for Senate wives dressed in overalls and sneakers because she assumed, incorrectly of course, as one Senate wife showed up in a suit with "sequined lapels," that "workday" meant some sort of work.

This memoir is not like anything else you'll read by someone whose family is connected with national politics. It will make your believe all over again in the goodness of people.

Wonderful Story from a kind & caring woman
I knew nothing about Elizabeth Edwards when I first purchased this book but now I have a deep respect for her and her family. This book is not political in nature, it is just the story of her life which at times is wonderful and at others is truly heart-breaking. Mrs. Edwards is an eloquent writer and the stories just flow out of her. You can feel her pain on the pages as she discusses the loss of her son and the uncertainty about finding out she had breast cancer.
Mrs. Edwards has truly had an interesting life starting in Japan as a military kid and up to now as a presidential candidates wife. You will feel like you know her as a personal friend after reading this book and I feel she is one of the most genuine people you will ever find.
This is really a good read and I recommend it to anyone.

Saving Graces
Elizabeth is an amazing woman. This book is an inspiration to anyone who has suffered the loss of a child and the "BIG C" diagnosis. Her story is the story of many women. It is well written. I gave this book to my mother as a gift with the instruction that I wanted to borrow the book as soon as she finished it. She started reading and couldn't put it down. My mother is 85 years "young". She loved the book, as did I. Great read and very inspiring. It doesn't matter who you are, what you have, where you live.....Her loses and how she deals with them make for an awesome read.

A courageous and remarkable woman who is making a difference - An exceptional book!
"Saving Graces," by Elizabeth Edwards is a gift to all women. Elizabeth Edwards was in the midst of her husband's vice-presidential campaign, giving speeches throughout the country when she became concerned about her own health. One day while taking a shower, she noticed a lump in her breast. That morning, Elizabeth Edwards knew she was remiss by neglecting her regular mammogram examinations. Through reading her book, more women have learned the dire consequences of not being tested on a regular basis. "Saving Graces" will inspire many women to get a mammogram to help detect any abnormalities before they become cancerous. As soon as the election was over, she was immediately treated by experts in the field. Elizabeth was diagnosed as being in the later stages of the disease. Her fight for life was to begin. But we are talking about a woman of strength, courage, faith, and tenacity. She is also a witty, intelligent, and a remarkable woman with an optimistic spirit.

After all, she had suffered the worst tragedy a parent can experience. She and her husband, John, had lost their precious teenage son, Wade, in a car accident. Now, she was about to battle another nightmare. This gripping book will inspire, educate, and stir your emotions. Elizabeth Edwards doesn't hold back, but tells her life story with honesty and courage. Men will also enjoy her story as she tells of her life growing up as a military "brat", raising her children, and helping her husband during his political campaigns.

Elizabeth Edwards believes in the power of community coming together to help each other in good times and bad. Through a sisterhood of community with other women throughout the country, she was able to stand up to the adversity that faced her. Through "Saving Graces," she gives hope, strength, support, and friendship to women battling breast cancer and other diseases. She also gains solace and strength from other women.

There aren't many women like Elizabeth Edwards. I was honored to meet her when she was on the campaign trail in 2004 in NH. I shared my story and book of how my elderly mother was transfused with HIV contaminated blood during heart bypass surgery. My 66 year old mother felt like a "leper" and kept her infection a secret for fear she would be rejected due to the stigma of AIDS. Elizabeth Edwards felt my pain, and tears flowed from her eyes as she hugged me. Now, I have the opportunity to read "her" story. Through it, I gain more strength and courage to deal with everyday struggles.

This book will help anyone dealing with any kind of adversity. It will save lives of thousands of women who put off having mammograms due to inexcusable reasons. Mrs. Edwards speaks from her heart and soul. She is a genuine and sincere woman filled with empathy. Thank you, Elizabeth for sharing your heartfelt memoir. You are a courageous woman who has taught us the importance of reaching out to one another in love and understanding. You are a "first-class" lady who shared your trials and triumphs through your heartfelt story. God bless you. I highly recommend this book.
Nancy A. Draper (Author) A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle with AIDS

Excellent Book!
I loved this book so much that I bought copies for several friends. Elizabeth Edwards writes with heartbreaking feeling about the death of her son, Wade, and of her fight with breast cancer. In spite of that (or maybe because of it), the book ends up being one of hope. Ms. Edwards also is an earthy, humor filled author, who writes with such a natural style and honesty that you feel as if you are having a conversation with someone you like very much. Highly recommended.

the true story of a remarkable "ordinary" woman
While her book was a fine read in its own right, especially for those who have experienced the loss of a loved one or faced a battle with cancer, it also gave such insight into the real lives of a politician's wife and family. But from the very first pages the political story plays such a minor role to the story of a loving, damaged family and the peril faced by its narrator. It must have been very therapeutic to write this--it is certainly cathartic to those who read it. Elizabeth Edwards needed to tell her story and she told it with a grace and candor. I hope the pressure of another campaign does not take its toll on her recovering stamina and health. This world needs Elizabeth Edwards.

An incredible book written by an exceptional human being!
After reading this book I am so amazed and inspired by this woman. Not only is her intelligence displayed, but also the purity of her heart and soul. Every sentence that i read brought out an emotion in me of some kind - maybe a tear or deep concern, but many times a laugh or a smile. Repeatedly as I was reading, I would feel almost as if I was in her house with her, sitting at her kitchen table having a cup of coffee, and talking together - listening to her speak the pages of her book. I don't like to include this...but I will. Because of the respect I now have for this woman, I believe with more strength and certainty in her husband as a person of great character, true heart, and strong leadership ability. (After finishing the book, I spent some time reading up on Senator John Edwards. I did not have much knowledge of him prior to this.) Saving Graces shares pieces of a woman, her husband, a marriage and a family that our nation would be blessed to have moving into the white house after our next election.

A Wise Woman with words of compassion
At times Elizabeth Edwards is so raw in her anguish that I want to put the book down and call her..if I only had her number. At other points she is so frank and honest that I feel as if she is sitting at my kitchen table, and I am the only one she is talking to. And then there are those wonderful moments of humor. How not to feel that she is my new best friend? This is a book I have already bought for my mom, who still copes with losing a child and who knows too well what cancer means to a family. I have a copy for a friend who lost her only child in an auto accident and her husband to cancer. And I will continue to buy more copies of this book because it is not about loss. It is about what happens the next minute and the next hour and the next day and the next week. It is about how we all need one another, but Elizabeth Edwards writes it so much wiser than I can. It is about what saves us. As she writes, and as readers will quickly understand, "You know". If you want a wonderful book about what brings us closer together, in a time of so very much that seems to divide us, then buy this book. Even better, buy several copies and give them to those people who are your community, who provide that saving grace to you. And if you have the inclination, this teacher reviewer would love to have more parents imitate Elizabeth Edwards and read the books their kids are being assigned to read in high school. Just think about the wonderful conversations you can have.

10 stars at best!
I watched Elizabeth Edwards on Oprah and went out the very next day to purchase the book. I couldn't read it fast enough. What an amazing woman! I would definitely recommend this book to a mother who's been devestated by the loss of a child. As a woman who has lost an infant, I was deeply touched by her story. The loss almost devestated my marriage, but we stayed strong. I wish I'd had the type of inner circle of friends she had. From reading this book, I learned no matter what obstacles we face in life, it's never too late to pick up the pieces and live your life to the fullest!

Great memoir, charming, and impressive-Read this book
Elizabeth Edward's book is a gripping and endearing journey through the
events, mostly tragic, unfortunately that have toughened and tempered this
fiesty, funny, and interesting woman who has bared her soul and her family's
history for us to read. Ms Edwards is a classic American, a military "brat"
uprooted and relocated into a gregarious, sympathetic and wise woman who
bears the scars, and holds tight to the lessons and prizes that she has gleaned
in a way that should inspire us all.
The book is also a real tear jerker, a lesson in reponsibiliy, and a serious
warning about the joint dangers of putting off a mamogram, and taking our
healthcare, social welfare, and security for granted. This book is also
full of a thousand reasons Elizabeth Edwards should be our first lady.
... Read more