5 comments about On Pilgrimage.

1. Just finished the book and found it very poetic in some parts and kind of confusing in others. There were two errors that I found, and maybe it is nit-picking, but it made me wonder about other information that was given. First, Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine in the cathedral at Poitiers, not in Lisieux, and Abelard is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetary in Paris with Heloise, not in Cluny. Well worth reading, tho, especially if you've been to some of the places mentioned, or plan to visit others. I found it fascinating that she most always found a room wherever she stopped whatever the time. Obviously she spoke French well.



2. Jennifer Lash, who appears to be the mother of the actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, made a solo trip of pilgrimage through France in l993 after winning a battle with cancer (for awhile). As a non-practising Catholic in late middle age, she knew her theological territory when traveling from convent to monastery to basilica to pilgrimage camp; but she approached her visits in a determined spirit of not-knowing. I found that intellectually or maybe morally refreshing; it served as a Carlos-Castaneda-like bridge role which helped me, the reader, someone else who does "not know". Her experience of moving on repeatedly reminded her that travel brings us back up against our selves. She feels strongly and works transparently to understand her feelings; the sorting-out process which the pilgrimage crystallizes for this writer can illuminate whatever journey her reader is on.
   
   Her writing is both erudite and humble. She was a sophisticated Briton who had spent much of her life raising her very large family. From miracle site to miracle site on the French trains, carrying her baggage on an injured back, she tells us the stories of the saints whose cults have given rise to these sites, and describes the religious communities which maintain them. In between, she tells us about the people she meets and re-meets. She is often wry, but never sarcastic; describes ridiculousness sharply but never cruelly. She learns as she goes, and as she learns she teaches, in the kindest way. She is a LADY - decent and sincere, and also funny and engaged.
   Her descriptions make the feel of each place most vivid - the baroque, fully alive Santiago de Compostela, the gloomy, cold Rocamadour, the wild emotional Gypsy pilgrimage in the Camargue are all made quite visible, audible, smellable, each entirely different from the others - and there are about fifteen of these places in the book.
   The book is horribly proofread - the commas are in the wrong places, so that Ms. Lash reads like a rather bizarre speaker - a peculiar pauser for breath in funny places. There are outright mistakes that no one caught - the word "paramount" is confused with "tantamount", for example, and a priest is described as wearing a "scapula", the shoulder blade, when she meant "scapular", a liturgical garment. We know what she means, but we have to wade along doing our own corrections.
   This strange aberration makes reading the book feel like chatting with a deeply imaginative, thoughtful, unselfconsciously wacky human being, rather than "a writer". But what a writer, and what a significant story this journey is when told in her voice.



3. It was too wordy and because I don't know much about the Catholic Saints it was very confusing. This was not fun or enjoyable to read. It was more like an assignment than for pleasure, which is why I didn't bother finishing it. There are too many other good books out there to read than to waste my time finishing this one. My book club read this and all of us found it very blah. If you do decide to read it I hope you find it as interesting as the other reviewers did -- but notice that they even found a lot of problems with the prose and editing.



4. My motivation for reading this book was to gain insight into the astounding acting talent and integrity of one of Jennifer Lash's sons, Joseph Fiennes.She was the formative influence in his life and I was curious as to what is was about her that could produce such results.
   She took her pilgrimage as a result of having survived cancer and now questioned some of the beliefs on which she had heretofore based her life, namely her Catholic faith. Non catholics may have a difficult time understanding the significance of the holy sites that she visits on her pilgrimage. However, this is not a syrupy, God is Love kind of tome. She does not necessarily believe in God and is objective about the arcane practises that have grown up around these "holy" places. Women, particularly, will identify with her need to go off on a solo journey at midlife. They also will understand that as she attempts to find answers she only comes up with more questions.



5. ...so comforting. Her tone is so easy to relate with, her writing is prosaic and full of feeling, totally uncontrived. She goes to all these Catholic shrines seeking something she's not quite sure of and in the end we're fairly sure she has found an elusive truce with her God. The characters we meet on the journey range from heartwarming to simply disgusting (like [...]priest and the freak on the train to Spain (just read the book). This book made me very glad to be a Jew. We don't have to traipse all over the globe seeking out Marian apparitions or mythical magical global Christian Hot Spots, all we need is Israel. Anyway, my favorite piece is where she's feeling disconsolate and alone in a café and suddenly she sees an apparition of her husband walk in and she's flooded with peace.
   Here's hoping we get a re-release of Jini's older work an perhaps a new edition of On Pilgrimage with proper copyediting.

5 comments about A Single Step.

1. This book has been out for at least three years, but its price is what drew me to it! I like biographies and will give almost anyone's a chance. The beginning chapters, describing her childhood, were written in a very amateurish style, but I found them interesting reading nonetheless. Oddly, the writing style improved quite a bit in the middle of the book and I could not put it down. Toward the end of the book, my interest waned, but I kept at it. I do not regret it.
   
   I know the rags to riches story has been told a million times, but I never get sick of it. Like the song by Paul McCartney says people seem to be sick of those silly love songs, but it just isn't so. I also don't think many of us will tire of stories like Heather's story. The person she became was amazing after being raised in a home with a violent, narcissistic father and a mother who left her three children with that father so she herself could escape her bad marriage. Heather Mills has guts and determination and was painfully honest about her failings too.
   
   I am not sure where a previous rater found her criticizing Paul McCarney for being uncompromising. I must have missed that part. She spoke of Paul, Linda and their children with great respect. It changed the opinion I had of her from what I read in the media. Surprisingly, I would recommend this book.



2. Living in the USA, we were not regaled with the blow by blow, tabloid fevered, paparrazzi driven accounts of Paul McCartney's new love interest. Consequently, I knew very little about her background and her life prior to picking up this book. I found that her early life story bordered on "soap opera", though that is not to diminish in any way the obvious struggles that she and her siblings undoubtably faced. She is obviously a survivor and managed by strength of will and ingenuity to rise above her circumstances and fashion (pardon the pun) a life for herself.
   The most intriguing facet of her life as far as I'm concerned is how someone so self driven and somewhat selfish in terms of her love-life, could at the same time be so devoted to causes that certainly put her outside of her comfort zone. There are echoes of Princess Diana in this story. THe other point that struck me was how little reference there is to faith or religion in a story that seems to be permeated with an unseen grace and blessing.
   It is a good fast read...I found it hard to put down and enjoyed the reading journey.



3. Revised: 11-06.
   
   Actually forget almost everything I wrote down there. We now know Heather Mills probably made her entire life story up. Might her autobiography be more honest if it began with a preface that said, "Why I am a gold digger..."?
   
   
   For posterity, here is what I said in 2005 about "A Single Step" back before I found out what Heather truly is:
   
   Heather Mills McCartney comes through these pages as a delightfully tough, caring woman, who has endured more in her still-young lifetime than any human should have to bear. I read along glued to each page as she took me from her difficult childhood in a working class home, through an adolescence that included homelessness and brushes with the law, up through the horrific motorcycle accident in which she lost her leg. After following her through of all of that, I was delighted when her story took its upswing and she met and later married the great love of her life, Paul McCartney. I felt like cheering for Heather! Good karma had come home to roost at last!
   
   Something I also admire about this remarkable woman is that she does not use the space of this (auto)biography as an exercise in vanity, she makes full use of her newfound place in the public eye to campaign for such worthy causes as a global ban on land mines, and also to inform about the evils of international child labor, which forces Third World children as young as three into cruel employment in sweat shops and agicultural concerns. I see in Heather Mills McCartney not just a fine woman I now admire very much, but the makings of one of the great humanitarians of our time.
   
   (11-06: Wow, was I ever wrong!)



4. Given the current media interest in the breakup of her marriage to Paul McCartney, I picked this up to learn more about the woman the tabloids all call a golddigger.
   
   As an autobiography, it's not the best I've ever read. So many incidents are vague in terms of time frame, and especially names of people involved that it gives credence to those accusations that Ms. Mills has embellished her life story. There are two separate stories of her being threatened by people (a lesbian roommate, a french magazine employee) in such a similar and bizarre way that I was left wondering what really happened. The latter incident is used to explain her sudden flight from France and back to her on-again off-again boyfriend Alfie Karmal. Apparently, a former prostitute to rich Arabs is claiming that Ms. Mills was enjoying the same lifestyle during this period when her book says she had a high-paying contract with a French cosmetics company. She never mentions the company's name. I found it a strange thing to leave out.
   
   It's not my intention to point another finger at Ms. Mills and scream "liar". I'm judging the book solely on its merits and as it's an autobiography she's entitled to write whatever she likes. It's just not very effective.
   
   I would have enjoyed learning more about her charity work between the time of her accident and meeting Paul McCartney. It seems like this is the period when she re-invented herself, and I mean that in a totally positive way. She could very easily have hit the bottle after her accident, but she found a purpose her prior years of life had been missing.
   
   Overall, I give the book 2.5 stars. It's an easy read, but the omission of basic facts is distracting.



5. Not quite what I expected, but interesting. HM wrote this book just before her marriage to Sir Paul, so there is very little in it about their relationship. Pity. But she tells a compelling story in her own right, from her childhood with an abusive father and bolter mother up through having her leg torn off in a traffic accident, then on again to her being a crusader to distribute prosthetic limbs and ban land mines. (Oh, and she was also a model.) Perhaps a bit of "St. Heather" going on? But her childhood was Dickensian and she lost a pregnancy and she had horrible relationships with all the primary men in her life, including father and stepfather and even perhaps brother plus lovers, and she was for a time homeless and living under bridges. She comes right out at one point and says that she craves money for security. She portrays Paul as a romantic suitor, not at all pushing the status symbols he was entitled to. Had he read her book and fathomed its implications (men, $, and pregnancy), I doubt he would have married her.

5 comments about Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter.

1. A few things I learned from Bill Porter are the power of persistence and that there really are no obstacles. Actually, Porter seems to take persistence to the extreme, and as for obstacles, it is not that they do not exist, but that for Porter, they have never been allowed to become the reasons for his failure. In fact, he refuses to let his cerebral palsy define who he is. Rather he insists on being defined for what he has contributed - the service he has given to others through his career as a salesman.
   
   I had to reconsider that too. What is a salesman? A bothersome person who is intruding on your personal space to convince you to buy something that you didn't really want? Or can a salesman be a person who really does add value to your life by looking after your interests as a consumer and making sure you get the best deal. Well, I think everyone knows both kinds. And because of the former, most people have made the latter's ability to penetrate our defenses all the more challenging.
   
   The last thing I ever wanted to be was a salesperson. But I am learning now how much this attitude has crippled me in my own profession, which happens to be education. The fact is that the ability to approach others and expand your personal network of friends and associates is critical to bringing your unique contributions to others, and even more importantly, partnering with others so that they may offer their contributions in return. When you consider it on a grander scale, where would the world be without those luminaries in history who had to intrude upon the mental space of others and sell revolutionary ideas to the people, especially when they did not want to hear? From God's Prophets to sages and scientists, it always took courage and persistence to come out of one's own secure personal space and carry a message to people who are usually not open at first to receiving it. I do not mean to stretch the purpose of the book too far, but this is what it meant to me, as an educator seeking to improve myself in the realm of networking so that I can bring my services to more people.
   
   Shelly Brady taught me something too: the importance of friendship. While a cynical voice did nag me from time to time while reading this book, I reflected on how people with different strengths can form partnerships that allow both to go much farther than they ever could have gone alone. Without Brady, Porter would be no less courageous and inspiring, but he certainly did not have the vision Brady had to bring his story to so many other people through public speaking, books, and film. And what I think really comes through more so than any notion of self-interest is Brady's true love and concern for Porter, and her desire to share his profound impact on her life with others. Perhaps most importantly, her attitude toward Porter is characterized by awe rather than pity. Contrast that with how most of us would meet a Bill Porter and automatically assume our advantages while secretly allowing some fear or challenging circumstance to hold us back. Brady demonstrates here, that she admires Porter for never feeding his excuses for failure, and that she has drawn on his inspiration to overcome her own.
   
   A telling example is how she contrasts her memories of childhood with his. His memories were not of growing up with cerebral palsy, but rather of sunbaths, his loving mother, and other simple joys. Too many of us have buried our memories of childhood joys under Freudian self-analytical blame of our parents or other happenstance. What we learn from Bill Porter is that it matters far less why these obstacles are there than how they can be surmounted.
   
   I did not read this book in a single afternoon, although it certainly could be read that way. I took in its inspirational lessons in short spurts and experienced a small portion at a time. It is light reading, but worth the investment of enough time to allow "Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter" to sink in.



2. This is in my top three inspirational books. The real-life work ethic and example of Bill Porter (as told by his assistant Shelly Brady) is TRUE inspiration. The old saying "you can't keep a good man down" rings true here. I picked up this little book at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport a few years back when my flight was delayed. I read it in the terminal and finished it on the plane. THIS BOOK IS WORTH MORE THAN ALL OF THE STEPHEN COVEYS, DALE CARNEGIES and JOEL BARKERS combined (these guys wrote "Snake Oil for the Soul"). Should you need inspiration FIND IT HERE! Bill Porter is the real deal...not a thinker, but a doer. Thank you Shelley for sharing your and Bill's story.



3. I laughed and I cried. I first heard of this book because it was on the New York Times Bestseller list. Also I watched clips of the movie "Door to Door" when my kids checked the video out from the library. I've become fascinated with Bill who has physical limitations and knew no limit. Despite physical challenges, he is such an inspiration to all of us who take daily tasks for granted, like putting on a tying our shoes, putting on a tie, or simply typing. Bill could only type one finger at a time. His assistant, Shelly Brady weaves her personal connection with Bill throughout. The book is a welcome addition to all middle school and high school libraries.



4. This book arrived quickly. I ordered others the same day from another company and I am still waiting for them.
   Book was new as stated in description.
   The story of Bill Porter is a Great One! It shows if you are Patient and Persistant you can accomplish whatever you want.



5. I watched the "Door to Door" movie and ran to buy this book, anxious to read more about this remarkable man.
   
   Ha! I was disillusioned very quickly, when I realized that not only is the book very poorly written (it feels like nobody even bothered to edit it before sending it to print), but it features the life of Ms. Brady. At times, it seems that all she had in mind was how to get more of the limelight, and if Mr. Porter was feeling unwell, well - she'll just go on her own, and get the spotlight to herself. All that while whining how tough it was for her to have it all.
   
   Is this book yet another way to get attention on account of Bill Porter?

5 comments about I Hope You Have a Good Life: A True Story of Love, Loss and Redemption.

1. I thank the author. As we all know, there are, at times, difficult decisions to be made in life. When our choices seem both right and wrong simultaneously, the measure of our worth can possibly be revealed. This is a true story, a memoir, of deep human connections. Make a point of reading this one. Then you, too, will be thanking Campbell Armstrong, also for his wonderfully emotionally uplifting writings.



2. I want to thank the author for following his ambitions, listening to his heart and sharing his writings with us. As we all know, there are, at times, difficult decisions to be made in life. When our choices seem both right and wrong simultaneously, the measure of our worth can possibly be revealed. This is a true story, a memoir, of deep human connections. Make a point of reading this one. You will be thanking Campbell Armstrong, also.



3. I just read All That Really Matters the UK version of I Hope You Have A Good Life. What a wonderful book! I would definately give more than 5 stars if I could. The book is a true story of a woman who gave up her baby girl years ago. Well she gets married, to who else, Campbell Armstrong an aspiring writer, and has kids, 3 boys, of her own. After they move to Phoenix, they end up getting divorced and Campbell moves back to Ireland where they are originally from, while Eileen stays with the boys in Phoenix. Years later Eileen finds out she has cancer. Across the world, a woman named Barbara also finds out she has cancer. She has been looking for her real mother for a long time. When she finally finds her mother and they both discover they both have cancer, the illness doesn't matter anymore because they have found each other. This is a story of loves lost and found along with lifes ups and downs. What a magnificent story. I have also read Concert of Ghosts by Campbell Armstrong. Also a descriptive book!!!



4. This is simply one of the finest memoirs I've read in years; and an important book on serious topics - marriage, divorce, adoption, alcohol, and illness. Armstrong has a lot of wisdom to impart, and does so in a simple yet affecting style that will often break your heart.
   Do not miss this book...it's a work of art.



5. When I first picked up this book, I was a little unsure about it. I am here to tell you that this book is worth reading. It shows a family dealing not only with cancer, but living with past lapses in judgment that sometimes come back in the middle of the night to haunt them.
   It made me realize how short life is, and that we should all take a little more time and enjoy the people who are in our lives. We never know when something could happen to them.

2 comments about Cracked: Recovering After Traumatic Brain Injury.

1. Why is this book important? Many reasons - but one is that it's by and about disability, and it proves beyond doubt that people generally considered 'crackers' have much to say, and much to offer.

   More than that, it's a cracking story - full of pain, courage sadness, and hilarious moments of comedy.

   The author tells her story in broken bits of narrative, fragments of memory, and simple heartfelt poems (that get more complex and sophisticated as time passes) Like Humpty Dumpty she has to pick up the broken pieces of her mind as the kings' horses - psychiatry, education and state 'care' - try to trample her into the ground.

   It's an internal and an external journey that should shatter all our beliefs, if we have them, that there's anyone out there to help if the same thing happened to us.

   Not just an interesting autobiography, but the first work by a major new author, Cracked will have your brain reeling.




2. This book was difficult to read because it is so disjointed and un-clear. It has some good experience information, but is more like her personal discombobulated diary than a clear story.

1 comments about Against the Pollution of the I.

1. Jacques Lusseyran, who was blinded at age 7, speaks in this fascinating book about how blind people can "see" by using their other senses and tuning into spiritual realities. He also talks about the gifts that accompany his blindness. This is an amazing exposition of phenomena not usually discussed (or perhaps even acknowledged) by blind people. It is certainly a message of optimism for them. But it is also inspiring for sighted people who realize how much they may be missing by relying so heavily on the sense of sight. Extremely interesting and insightful.
   The book would be best read after And There was Light, Lusseyran's autobiography, which describes his adjustment to blindness, his involvement in the French resistance during World War II, and his survival in a German concentration camp.

5 comments about The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss (and Learning to Tell the Truth about It).

1. this is a wonderful book which I enjoyed reading. The chapters were very short and the book was so easy to read.
   You forget the book is true and sometimes you laugh and sometimes you cry.



2. When I purchased this book I assumed it would be more telling about how her husband's disease affected their lives, how he handled things, along with doctors diagnosis, thoughts and suggestions. This book was more about the wife and her past memories of her life. I didn't care for it.



3. Excellent read. Couldn't put it down. Subject close to my heart. In reading this book, at times you felt what the author was feeling. Again, it was an excellent book. I may even read it again to see if I missed anything.



4. In a support group for families dealing with a terminally ill member, a woman reveals that she had to flush her son's goldfish, but couldn't bear to tell him the truth about it, so her story because that "the goldfish went on vacation."
   
   For author Patty Dann and her preschool son Jake, as dad Willem dies of a brain tumor, "now, we are two."
   
   It's only natural that prolific essayist and writing workshop instructor Patty Dann would publish a book on the topic of loss when she was widowed after less than a decade of marriage. The author observes that with a 3-year-old just out of a stroller, and a husband with a degenerative brain tumor, she may soon be pushing two children around. The short, delicate chapters are peppered with poignant insights and frank discussions about death, but the worth as a whole strives too hard to be "that perfect pocket book for giving to a friend coping with loss."
   
   I personally looked for just such a book when my best friend gave birth to a baby girl doctors predicted would live less than three years. I might have been tempted by this title had it been out, but with four years of maturity (and a still relatively stable, growing four-year-old child for my best friend), I would never select such an unremarkable, silly book to attempt to comfort a friend.
   
   Dann does deal with a unique aspect of loss--she has a year to adjust to becoming a widow and a single parent, as she watches her husband lose his mental and physical faculties. Her ideas, like having family members write letters to her son to be opened in a decade, on his thirteenth birthday, help remind the reader how much we need to celebrate and cherish those around us every day. As a whole, though, the essays add up to little more than a cute book with a fish on the cover. For hard-hitting personal soul-searching about the death of a spouse and father, I would recommend Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking.



5. This book isn't very long at all..but I found myself taking my time reading it. The books author gives you (the reader) a lot of things to think about. I hope the author will write a second memoir to continue the conversation where she left off with this one.
   
   A memoir about the way children grieve AND the way adults grieve, a very insightful book.

No comments about Maína (Serie Gongoli).

5 comments about Beautiful Child.

1. Beautiful Child is a true story about Torey Hayden and her experiences with her severely handicapped class of 6 children ranging in age from 6-9. This story deals particularly with her experiences with an elective mute little girl named Venus Fox. Venus never talks, never cries, and never shows any emotion. She however does have dramatic violent outbursts when another student gets too close to her, or touches her either by accident or to provoke her. Venus is deprived of clothes, food, and is being forced to sleep naked in the bath tub in the middle of winter. Her older sister Wanda brings her to school, when she remembers. Eventually Torey starts putting together little pieces of information that both Venus and Wanda begin to share with her. When Venus is admitted to the hospital, it all comes together. This was a good book, but not the best one I have read by Hayden.



2. For those who have already read One Child, it may be more appropriate to rate Beautiful Child as a 4 star book, given that in many ways the two books are very similar. However once again it is a compelling read and very difficult to put down - like One Child, I was through this book in a couple of days. And again, this is the story of the development of a class of children with major behavioural difficulties over a period of one school year (4 boys and 1 girl, with others joining part-time) and the story is particularly focused on one of those children (a 7 year old girl named Venus). Because Venus herself hadn't committed any "crimes", I didn't take as strong a message as I took from One Child, which really brought it home to me that those we call the worst sinners are generally more sinned against than sinners. However the same lessons regarding the unfairness of the hands dealt to so many people, how extremely lucky most of us are without in any way deserving or earning it, and how we should think twice before jumping to conclusions about some of our least "attractive" fellow human beings, came through strongly.



3. This was a great book, very easy read. It will tear at your heart strings.



4. Awsome book. Torey Hayden is a marvelous teacher and writer. I have all her books and have thoroly enjoyed them. The marvelous patience she has with these children and the love she has for them is wonderful.



5. This is about a special ed class and how the teacher struggled throughout the year and turned it around. Some was so funny I laughed out loud and other parts were very sad.
   
   Venus was the most challenging of all the children because she had very serious abuse in the home and was mostly unresponsive except when attacking other kids when they accidentally bumped her. She finally got the help she needed after the hospital treated her for hypothermia, had to amputate her toes, and found 22 broken bones that had healed or were in various stages of healing.
   
   It also dealt with the struggle Torey had with her aide who was totally on a different page philosophically and really undermined what she was trying to do.
   
   Some of the things teacher did that worked were:
   * behavior modification with traffic lights;
   * singing between activities or to refocus kids when they started fighting;
   * closed eye journey;
   * special one-on-one time at recess with Venus--held her on her lap.
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in special needs kids or who teaches children.
   
   Karen Arlettaz Zemek, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

5 comments about The Cry of the Gull.

1. This book caught my eye, because I really only read non-fiction. My interest in human development has been encouraged by my rather stilted childhood. This book is written with such candidness, that you are literally enveloped. I have laughed out loud, shed some tears, and loved every moment.



2. Author recounts troubles of a person born deaf in france,compounded by the fact that sign language was outlawed there as "too sensual" until 1979. It's also a beautifully written book which captures the softness and gentle love of words often found in many english-as-a-second-language authors {except,for her,english is a third language!}.

   I lost all my hearing suddenly in 1999. The whole world runs like a silent movie. I am excluded and don't understand what is going on around me anymore. This book offers insight,direction,hope. Maybe it will make people more sensitive to the cruel isolation of deafness.




3. Author recounts troubles of a person born deaf in france,compounded by the fact that sign language was outlawed there as "too sensual" until 1979. It's also a beautifully written book which captures the softness and gentle love of words often found in many english-as-a-second-language authors {except,for her,english is a third language!}.

   I lost all my hearing suddenly in 1999. The whole world runs like a silent movie. I am excluded and don't understand what is going on around me anymore. This book offers insight,direction,hope. Maybe it will make people more sensitive to the cruel isolation of deafness.




4. Emmanuelle Laborit writes her autobiography with such expressive detail. Some parts were hard to believe what the deaf have to go through to let themselves be heard for others. I recommend this book for any parent of a deaf child. What choices they have to make in the education of their child. There are so many different choices. Emmanuelle expains how her education was, she did nearly everything. When she started to learn sign language the world became more understanding to her.



5. This is an exquisite book, both heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. Emmanuelle Laborit was born deaf into a hearing family, at a time when using sign language in public was a crime in France: it was considered obscene, and the law wasn't changed until 1976, well into the author's childhood. This created a tragic set of circumstances for those born deaf in France.
   
   The author was blessed to have college educated parents who were willing and able to look outside of their own culture to find what their child needed, and when her father decided they should learn sign language, he brought the family to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC for a month, where mother, father and child took part in an intensive sign-language immersion program.
   
   Laborit writes eloquently about the first seven years of her life, a time in which she had no formal language to express herself with. Until her parents made the decision to learn formal sign language, Laborit and her mother made up their own signs, but the problem with home signs is that they are understood only within the environment where they were created.
   
   I highly recommend this book to hearing parents of deaf children, as well as anyone working with deaf children and young adults. The insight provided here is invaluable.