1 comments about The Pages In Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home.

1. A Jewish baby is born in a Polish ghetto in 1942. In an attempt to save her life, her father asks a Polish gentile woman to look after his young daughter, telling her that he'll be back after the war. Indeed he does return and these two are some of the only members of their family who survive the holocaust. The frightened little girl and her father, a stranger to her, go to Sweden for a few years and then on to the United States where this little girl grows up, marries, and becomes a mother.
   
   Erin Einhorn, a reporter, must have known she had quite a story on her hands, or at the very least a fascinating family history, because the little girl in the story was her mother, Irene Rozenblum Einhorn. Despite her mother's long reluctance and disinterest in speaking of her past, Einhorn is determined to find out who this family is who saved her mother and made her own life possible. This story has become The Pages in Between, an honest and revealing memoir which winds up going in a direction that most holocaust writing does not. Einhorn moves to Poland and is surprised to find that in this country that was ten percent Jewish before WW2, Judaism has now become trendy. There are Jewish restaurants and trinket shops and tours one can go on.
   
   Einhorn visits Bedzin, the previous home of her family, and quite easily finds the house they used to live in, and in it, the family that saved her mother's life, the Skowronskis. The woman who cared for her has died, but her son lives there with his family. He remembers the little girl he thought of as his sister whom they had always hoped would return for a visit. Einhorn visits the family multiple times, taking a translator with her, and over time some frustration on the part of the Skowronskis is revealed. Einhorn learns there is a problem with ownership of the house, and the Skowronskis want to collect on a promise made by Einhorn's grandfather during the war.
   
   Einhorn tries to do what she can to help them, and it turns out to be a terribly complicated and potentially expensive legal matter. At the same time, Einhorn is struggling with the somewhat turbulent relationship she has always had with her mother as well as some life-altering news.
   
   I found this to be a quite compelling story and I enjoyed Einhorn's personal tone throughout the book. I was very impressed with the degree to which she tried to assist the Skowronskis. I felt as though they were giving her a pretty hard time and it would have been easy for her just to walk away. It's an interesting question, really. After what happened in the Holocaust, do people really owe each other for saving a life, or was it just the right (and obviously brave) thing to do? Who should property belong to? The people it was stolen from over 60 years ago, or the people who have since made it their own?
   
   I found this to be a fascinating and unique story and recommend it.

3 comments about The Book of Mychal: The Surprising Life and Heroic Death of Father Mychal Judge.

1. This book brought tears to my eyes. We know that Mychal Judge's life was tragically ended on September 11, 2001 but this book told his life's story in a very real and touching way. The lessons of Mychal Judge's life will stay with you for a lifetime.



2. That's what this book clearly is - a labor of love, a probing biography by a Daily News columnist. The author delves deeply into Judge's Irish upbringing, the Catholic church, the Fire Dept, and New York City politics. A Pulitzer-worthy book.



3. Daly, Michael. "The Book of Mychal: The Surprising Life and Heroic Death of Father Mychal Judge", Thomas Dunne Books, 2008.
   
   A National Hero
   
   Amos Lassen
   
   Father Mychal Judge became a hero after his death. He died while he was helping victims at the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the chaplain for the New York City Fire Department and he soon became the supreme symbol of those who put their lives at risk so they could help others and he paid the highest price. He was loved by his fireman and was always ready to listen to anyone who needed to talk. He not only was minister to firemen but to gay New Yorkers as well even though many of his firemen had no idea that he was gay and did not learn that until he was dead. Father Judge had problems with reconciling his private life with his public life and this was discovered in a journal he began keeping in 1999. We read that he yearned to speak out but he felt that coming out would cost him his ministry, his friends and his standing in the Catholic Church.
   Michael Daly, who was Judge's friend and who wrote this book, had access to the journals and gives us the thoughts of Judge.
   Judge's life was gripping from being a youth in Depression Brooklyn to his Catholic upbringing. The last section of the book hits hard as it deals with September 11 and the days following. I love the way we get to see Father Judge as he tries to balance his work with the fire department and his life as a gay man especially during the 1990's when New York City was engaged in a war between the church and the gay community. Daly gives us a peek into Judge's private life as well and with great sensitivity. We read of his involvement with the AIDS crisis, when he bucked his church's official policy on homosexuality. We also learn of the priest's ten year love affair with a much younger man but Daly says that it was never consummated because of the Church.
   What makes the book so special is reading about Judge's inner thoughts and turmoils as well as the love his fireman felt for him. He was quite a man and Michael Daly has done both the man and his memory justice.

5 comments about Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time.

1. I wanted to read this book to discover some new songs and reminisce about making tapes in the 80's and 90's but the extremely gloomy story quickly killed that buzz. Yes, I realize the story about anyone's wife dying young will be sad but the author really went to great lengths to detail just how depressed he had become. So much so that the songs and mix tapes really didn't seem to matter much anymore.
   
   A good read but the story seemed to be more about closure for the author. Someday I'll go back and lookup the song lists again but for now I'm just too dispressed.



2. Rob Sheffield's small but mighty book is about love and loss, but also weaves music in the story seamlessly. He writes for Rolling Stone now, but back when he met his future wife, he was just a self-proclaimed geek who loved music. Their relationship progressed to the tunes of Sonic Youth, REM, and everything in between.
   
   Sheffield gives readers a full list of songs that influenced his life, so you can read while listening. This book made me laugh and cry, and gave me new tunes to add to my ipod. I highly recommend if you want a book that you can't put down from beginning to end.



3. What a unique and touching book. The concept of telling his story via music, which played such a key role in his life, was genius. As a music lover who grew up in the 80s and 90s myself, each time he mentioned a song that I remembered, I would start to sing it. This book reminded me how much the music you like reveals so much about you and is so ingrained in our lives. How many times have I listened to a song and it's taken me back to a certain time in my life? Countless. For Rob Sheffield, as for many of us, the memories might be happy or sad (although maybe not as sad as some are for him). This book reminded me how precious life is and how to enjoy everyday. Not to mention, it made me mad at myself for throwing away last month all of the mixed tapes I made for myself or my friends throughout my life. What a great book!



4. This book is honest and bittersweet. He goes on just enough tangents to satiate curiosity without straying too far from the story. The story is about his love for Renee, but also about how music kept them together, changed who they were and helped him recover after she dies. About half the music mentioned I haven't heard, but in a way you don't have to. The language is friendly and simple. A quick read if you can dry the tears fast enough.
   
   What I mainly took away from this book? It's a cliche, but it's how you really should appreciate the people in your life while you have them. There's a difference in hearing that phrase and actually feeling it. This book makes you feel it without ever saying it.



5. This book reads like an awesome mix tape that forces you to stay in your car after arriving at your destination, leaving you without a care about getting out of your car and wanting to just listen to it over and over again.
   
   At points its laugh-out-loud funny and at other times its eye-watering sad. But its so well written that you won't put it down. This is easily a one day read.
   
   If you like chuck klosterman, you will like this book.
   If you grew up in the 80s and 90s and made mix tapes for your friends (and still make mix CDs and playlist on itunes) than this book is for you.
   If you are looking for an easy quick read that will bring you back to a younger you, this book is it.
   
   awesome awesome awesome

5 comments about Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A..

1. As a teacher I used this book in a Continuation High School to get students to read and write and draw out their experiences. In a classroom where students wanted only to "kick it" until the bell rang vignettes from this book made for a powerful draw for learning. Originally I bought 20 hardback copies. At the end of teaching there I had lost count of how many copies I had purchased. It was one of my most stolen books. I always wanted to meet him at Martinez' Bookstore In Santa Ana, California, but I never knew he was coming until he'd left. Many of us are grateful to him .



2. It is a very interesting book. It makes me feel I don't want to stop reading it.



3. This book is a great book, very eye opening and wonderfully written.
   
   I have to wondering though, throughout the book, what is going through the author's mind...
   
   He complains that the police treated them poorly. They were CRIMINALS. If they weren't up to no good at that SPECIFIC point in time, they were ABOUT to do something terrible or definitely had already DONE something terrible.
   
   I don't understand how the author calls the police... "rioting police... in a murderous frenzy..." HELLO, you were doing illegal drugs in a public place, your friends stole something from a liquor store, then a mob started banging on the doors of the liquor store to let them in - am I missing something? Can you really blame the police for acting as they did? You just committed several crimes! The police were doing there job and acting defensively when KNOWN gang members committed crimes...
   
   Then the author complains that he was thrown into an adult jail cell, with murderers and rapists, despite being a juvenile and too young to be in that specific jail. OK, fine, but earlier in the book, he was talking about hanging OUT with FRIENDS of his while they were RAPING UNCONSCIOUS WOMEN. He had SHOT people before, held guns to innocent peoples' heads during robberies. WHY IS BEING SURROUNDED BY MURDERERS AND RAPISTS *SUDDENLY* SO offensive to him? He wasn't old enough to be in an adult facility, but he was old enough to do drugs, drive illegally, drink illegally, commit robberies at gun point. Who is the author kidding? He acts like the police somehow treated him so badly but he DESERVED it. He was a criminal! The worst kind of criminal.



4. i was intrigued by this book when i saw it in the store so i bought it. it was very educational for me as i never knew how bad things would really get in gang life. i grew up in the burbs and this was all very shocking to me. it was truthful, sad and awakening.



5. I had no choice when it came to reading this book. It was after all, required in my college english class in order to survive the masses of quizzes and essays. But I will say that although I did not want to read this book at first, once I read the first couple pages I was hooked. I no longer wanted to read it just because it was required, now I was reading it for pleasure. Although the book is strongly graphic especially on the sex parts, it is done in a most tasteful manner. As a young latina born and raised in America, I was very touched by what my people had gone through in the past, and it is knowledge I had ignored taking the liberty I have now for granted. I really recommend this book if you're up to take a good dose of eye opener.

1 comments about Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!.

1. 
   
   
   
   The real title of this book is "Portrait of The Artist as A Young...", but I have taken the artistic liberty to rename it, my reasons shall become clear.
   
   
   
   
   Art Spiegelman is an amazing artist. He is also a tortured artist, ravaged by guilt, and yet, through his work (some of which is self therapy), his genius shines through. As is very clear in 'Breakdowns', this book celebrates the major themes and movements in his life. The suicide of his mother in 1968, the Auschwitz stories his father told, his exposure to Robert Crumb and the underground movement can all be found and traced through the art/text. Primarily a book designed to reprint 'Breakdowns', his 1978 poorly received collection, it is the addition of the pre-and post breakdown material that provides more solid glimpses into his psyche.
   
   
   If you were to sit Mr Spiegelman down and ask him the question, what is art to him, this book would be your answer. If you were to ask him to plot the major influences in his life, the answer is this book. Ask him about his career as artist for Topps, and he just might not say anything, but everyone remembers those marvelous stickers. As him where Maus came from, he would direct you to the section of Breakdown after the Introduction, and then discuss his father and Uncle. If you were to ask him to lend you $50, the answer would probably be no.... However, as a piece of autobiographical illustrato, it is remarkable for its' passion and poignancy.
   
   
   
   Considered a failure in 1978, 'Breakdown' led him to Maus. Today, this book is perfectly timed and a good companion piece to his Pulitzer prize winning tome, and should be considered a successful (if not odd), glimpse into the 'art' of Art.
   
   
   
   
   Viewed as a collection of short stories we find delightful touches like 'Auto Destruction', Introduction, Maus, As the Mind Reels, A Little Passion, Prisioner on the Hell Planet (drawn in a woodcut style), and Ace Hole. Sure, they are for Adults Only as the book cover says, and now 'underground' is 'mainstream', and the 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young...' is a success.
   
   
   Congratulations Mr Spiegelman. You were ahead of your time.
   
   
   Tim Lasiuta

5 comments about Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.

1. Vicki Myron's memoir of her life with Dewey is a nice blend of sentiment, honesty, and belief in how the littlest of things can have a major impact upon the lives of people. At first I thought I was simply going to read a book about a cat, after seeing a CBS Sunday News Morning special. It seemed like the type of fluffy read that I would be interested in, especially since I was able to acquire it that day.
   
   However, Myron was able to mingle in her personal familial tragedies, the history of Spencer, along with Dewey's significance to her and the rest of Spencer. The beginning is a bit shaky and the shifts from Dewey anecdotes to the specific historical landmarks in Spencer is a bit jarring. It felt as if there was a struggle for Myron to find her own voice with the help of Bret Witter, who co-authored the book.
   
   Eventually, Myron's voice is discovered and what a reader most appreciates about Myron is her candor about Dewey. Though it is obvious that she is infatuated with Dewey, she did present a balanced portrayal of Dewey, acknowledging that not everyone was taken over by this library cat.
   
   It's that type of refreshing honesty that allows the reader to take the claims of Dewey's impact more seriously. Had she just written a book praising Dewey swearing that everyone wanted him from beginning to end, the book would have rung as false.
   
   More telling is the personal information she reveals and how she shares it with the reader. She's guarded about one topic in particular, but you get the sense that had it not been for Dewey's companionship, she would have not survived her personal ordeals.
   
   This book, though an easy read, is perfect for the person who wants to read a poignant and sweet tale about the bond between human and animal. Though the transitions between Dewey and other information is not as smooth as I would have preferred, the overall theme and message made up for the lack of finesse.
   
   3.5 out of 5 stars
   
   However, the cat lover in me gives this a 4.5. (Blame the 4.5 on Oreo. I don't think my cat would appreciate me loving another cat more than him.)



2. What a SWEET kitty! What a wonderful story, or should I say, stories. The Mommy-cat (owner), the library, the town, they all come together thanks to this little CAT. Some of the posters did not care for the personal stories, but I think it gives a complete picture of the life of this cat and the goodwill he passed along.
   
   Spencer, Iowa. Never been there, possibly never will. It is not Paris, not Disneyland, just Spencer, Iowa, home of this sweet little kitty. Great gift for a cat or animal lover. If you are a cat person yourself, this is a good gift for you, too.
   
   Long live the story of Dewey!



3. you'll have to read about Dewey, who personifies all the wonderful kitty traits (and then some) that we cat lovers know. You will be able to understand how this exceptional kitty came to make the library his home, and all the people there, his family. Those of us who have lived with a Dewey cousin are constantly saying, "Oh, yes..", "Uh, huh.." and shaking our heads affirmatively as we read about Dewey's habits and shenanigans. I would have loved more captioned pictures - lots and lots of pictures! There were a number, but they were in black and white and small - and I found myself longing to see more of him in living color! People who don't like cats are really missing something, as we cat people probably all have a story to tell about how a cat became part of our lives, and changed things for the better. Well, here's a chance to hear someone's story, and, for a little while, to imagine how much fun one cat was having with a whole library to roam, bookshelves to climb, drawers to sleep in and hundreds of laps and arms to choose from every day! For a little while, I was able to smile about my special orange kitty, Boomer, and to remember his personality and how he lit up our lives. And, if I am ever in Spencer, Iowa, you can be sure I will stop by and see Dewey's plaque. Dewey's story is a reminder to us that sometimes life-changing love and joy come in the smallest, furriest packages!



4. After reading,"The Library Diaries" by Ann Miketa, which depressed the heck out of me.Dewey:The Small-Town Cat rallied my spirits again.I do work part time in a library and enjoy reading about libraries.I also intend to watch,Puss in Books the VHS so I can see a little more of Dewey.I just hope when I check the drop box again,no little kitten is looking up at me.This book is true to life and so charming,especially the part of Dewey waving good morning to his owner entering the library to start the day!



5. As a cat owner and sucker for sentimental stories about pets, I wanted to like this book -- but "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" just never lands on its feet. This self-proclaimed "heartland story" about a stray cat who finds a home in an Iowa library and ends up "changing lives ... one lap at a time" is by turns charming and grating. Part of the problem is that writer and primary Dewey caretaker Vicki Myron, with an assist from co-writer Bret Witter, doesn't bother laying down the narrative carpentry. As a result, the book rushes through scenes without setting them up and working them through to a satisfying emotional payoff. (For an example of how to do this right, read the "All Creatures Great and Small" series.) Another problem is that much of the story isn't about Dewey, the eccentric and loveable cat, but about Myron and Iowa in the 1980s and '90s. Many of these episodes seem intended to set the record straight about Myron. For instance, she threw up that one night decades ago because of a painful tooth and not because, as rumor had it, of a drinking binge, "but there was no beating a bad reputation in a small town." The connection between these interludes and the story proper is forced at best and reiterates the same point that Dewey got Myron through those tough times. (For small-town mood and detail, check out "Lake Woebegone.") And where are the photos of Dewey? The ones included at the top of each chapter are grainy, black-and-white shots that are so tiny all you can see is a ball of fur. For the kind of book "Dewey" is trying to be, I would have forgiven and even welcomed more sentimental fluff.

5 comments about Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith.

1. I'm one of those "great generation" representatives who fell away from the organized Christian church in my young adulthood after an excellent religious and theological grounding in my youth. I never found a way or reason to return, although I remained very spiritual. This book, which I have read twice now, was very much like being with a fellow traveler although our needs and experiences were different. I strongly recommend that anyone on the religious spectrum read it for an honest spiritual path that is not quite the norm but still on the path.



2. This gracefully written narrative tells the story of Taylor's journey toward ordained ministry, her years as an Episcopal priest, and her departure from that life into a new vocation as a college professor. She decides that the most important calling is not to be ordained or to be religious, but to be fully human and to live a life of love. This is a touching autobiography, an eloquent memoir of faith.



3. I read a lot of memoirs these days. In fact they are probably my favorite literary genre. Maybe I should have been warned by Taylor's subtitle - not simply "a memoir," but "a memoir of faith." Because this is not a memoir in the usual sense. There is precious little of Taylor's childhood, youth or young adulthood - no real concrete stories and examples from her life. Too much of this book remains caught in the abstraction of ideas and beliefs, with not nearly enough examples. The people who show up in the book remain undeveloped vague outlines. And I have a hard time identifying with Brown's spiritual "quest," if that is what it is. I don't think it's because she's a woman either. What few facts that do emerge about her life outside this "quest" do not really serve to make her a sympathetic character. Daughter of a psychotherapist, sister of a lawyer, wife of an engineer - all these tidbits add up to what appears to have been a life of privilege and ease, and continued to be even after her ordination, as she speaks of her Saab and Audi and how they didn't fit into her rural community, and goes on at some length about everything she "wanted" in her custom-built home outside of town (in lieu of a parsonage near her church). What comes through in Barbara Brown Taylor's book is a story of a driven overachiever, who in fact drives herself into a near nervous breakdown, which finally causes her to leave her church and the active priesthood. While I do not doubt the sincerity of her quest for her true vocation and place in God's world, I do wonder about her motives. She became more likeable - more human - in the final section of the book, after she had left the priesthood, when she talks about her crisis of faith and things like her fears of inadequacy and the death of her father. Having said all of this, I still have to say that I'm glad I read the book, which has left me with much to think about in regard to my own role in the Church (Catholic in my case)and my relationship with God and my place in His world. I also think that Taylor is a person I'd like to know, but these 200-plus pages have not given me that opportunity. A memoir of faith? Perhaps. A "memoir"? No. - Tim Bazzett, author of Reed City Boy



4. This book would have been more accurately described in the subtitle as a "Memoir of Personal Experience".
   
   She dismisses orthodox Christian Theology and doctrine as something that the Apostles and Early Church had to "come up with" to explain this or that.
   
   Ultimately it is a story of how the narrow Christian path and Church "didn't work" for her, and many of her thoughts and experiences confirm the fact that women were never meant to be "priests" in the first place (though this fact enrages those who hold to the political language of "equal rights" versus sound apostolic theology).
   
   I found the book pleasant and very readable, but at the same time it was a sad story of how Christ just "wasn't enough". While most in our culture will find it "affirming" or down right "spiritual", it is a disappointment for the orthodox Christian who may wish to read a story about how Christ and the scriptures contain "all things necessary for salvation".
   
   Barbara's approach in later life is gnostic and universalist. In the words of her Presiding Bishopess, "saying Christ is the only way is to put God in too small of a box". Emotions, feelings, and cravings rule the day in the final analysis of her relationship to Christ, and it seems that "leaving" orthodoxy is freeing to her, though I question she was ever there in the first place. Ultimately, God is the final judge of what she has done and what she now teaches.
   
   Her elevation of Native American theology and her fondness of "other paths" leads the committed Christian looking elsewhere for a story of knowing Christ and Him crucified, and following Him in a culture that values personal choice and heterodoxy over all other things.
   
   In the end it is a volume that will find great company with the writings of Spong, Borg, Ehrman, and others who deny the reality of John 14:6 and the authority of Holy Sripture in the name of being on "an authentic journey".
   
   If I have to "put my eggs in one basket" I am going to have to stick with the Apostles and the Church Fathers and leave "other ways" up to Barbara, fine preacher though she is.



5. Over the course of my life I have learned certain things about salad; it has good, nourishing things in it, like spinach, almonds, feta cheese, and olive oil. Sometimes you can add strawberries. With a splash of balsamic vinegar, it sings. Other times it is dressed with slightly less healthy things like mayonnaise or sour cream, but generally its ingredients have a clear line of succession back to something alive; apples, raisins, eggs, potatoes.
   
   Then I moved to South Dakota, where I was introduced to "salad". Unlike what I have just described, this concoction is made of things like Cool Whip and crushed up Oreos. It tastes good in the moment, but by the end of it I am always left slightly nauseous and wondering where it came from.
   
   There's a lot of spiritual "salad" out there. Thankfully, this offering is not in that group. From the moment you crack open the cover, it sings. Her story of earthy, fragrant devotion to God is refreshing and very alive. It breathes the living life of Christ and speaks from the still beating but wounded heart of the church. Thankfully, Taylor veers only briefly into the sordid realm of political hot button issues, and for good reason.
   
   With fifteen years in the pastoral crucible under her belt, and an evident love for all of us, Taylor comes across as someone you can trust. Her words in this precious memoir are nourishing, full of flavor and, like the vegetables in her Georgia garden, entirely organic.

5 comments about My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla.

1. Even though this is a very short book and only deals with the first half of Tesla's life, it still provides some fantastic insights into the life of a genius. Written by Tesla after some very traumatic experiences in his life, he still comes through as a very generous and forgiving man. When you read his version of the troubles with J.P.Morgan, you realise the myths that have accumulated around Tesla. Great read!!!



2. I'm really a fan of Tesla and this book was a good view into him as a person. Although the exact same pages of this book can be found in the end portion of the book "The Nikola Tesla Treasury" and I highly suggest that book over this one.



3. Not what I expected. His childhood years were interesting. But I didn't finish it - and I really like books about inventors. Not enough info. His writing style is a bit hard to follow. Better to buy a bio written by somebody else. I rate it "One Induction Motor".



4. You really get a feel for the way he thinks, and his eccentricities from this book. If you want to know what it would feel like to talk to him then read this book. If you want an in depth biography I recommend Tesla: Man Out of Time



5. Good book, it seems like its written funny,not sure how to explain it though. Alot of uncapitalized i's, was it even proofread?

5 comments about Girl, Interrupted.

1. It's actually one of the better memoirs of recent vintage (it came out in 1993 and became a bestseller in 2000, with the film's release). Not that SK is very insightful about her `borderline personality' disorder, nor capable of extended moments of insight nor poetry, but she compensates for her lack of great craftsmanship in wordplay and sentence/paragraph construction with a daring approach to the memoir.
   
   The book, with larger than normal print, is not even 170 pages in the Vintage edition I read, and there's plenty of white space, as well as transcripts of SK's mental diagnoses within. In a sense, this sets up the piece to be quite poetic. In fact, this is where the poesy of the prose comes from, not the ability to craft gorgeous prose. Most of the few dozen `chapters' are brief- 3-4 pages is usual, and they are often dreamy or hazy recollections that sometimes briefly, violently come into focus, in describing a fellow patient's ill or death. In other chapters SK goes off rambling about mental ills, philosophy, her sexual precocity, and other things. While many of these individual reminiscences and airies fall flat, the way they are woven together and contrast with each other allow make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
   
   This synergy got me to thinking of a poetic equivalent, and the manifest answer was the long Maximus poem series by Charles Olson- another Massachusetts resident. In that poem series, one of the few `experimental' works of poetry that actually coheres and is good, CO strings together many poems about his hometown, yet each poem/stanza is, in a sense, lacking- it fails as an individual work because it is incomplete. Yet, read one after the other the incomplete figurines each `poem' makes connect up. It's like looking at a single Matissean line on a piece of tissue paper. The individual curves and twists seem random until you lay each tissue paper over the next. Then, the full, intricate, and interesting picture emerges. Such it was in CO's poem sequence, and such it is in SK's memoir- each `chapter' a single line, sometimes non-chronological, that gives a better representation of her mindset than any straightforward prose could. Interestingly, in looking up reviews of the book, I was struck by how not a single published review (at least those online) ever mentioned this, even though the form of the book jumped out at me. This is evidence of piss poor criticism. It's akin to reviewing the first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass, dismissing it as smutty, and not even commenting on the breakthrough structure of the free verse.
   
   There is little bitching, and poseur pity.... In short, Girl, Interrupted is a very good work, and what any memoirist should strive to achieve. The very fact that many critics criticized it for, when boiled down, not filling their conventional needs as a reader, and chose to review it against what what they wanted (expected) it to be, argues for its specialness, and I'd bet that it will be read long after Prozac Nation or A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius have gone out of print. Smile at that, Susanna.



2. This was...senseless jibberjaw..Truly that is the only word that comes to mind. The movie was wonderful, but I can see now that it was very loosely based on this book.. It took a few characters and added on to their personalities.. the book was mostly just rambling and opinions. Half of the interesting things that occured in the movie were not in this book. Those that love the movie will be greatly disapointed in this. I would also like to add, you will have in completely read in one or two sittings.



3. On the first page of her novel(?), Susanna Kaysen says she had to live for two years in a "parallel universe" when she became a patient in a psychiatric hospital. In the chapter "Elementary Topography," she poses a question, how did I get to be in here?
   The answer she gives, other than her being delusional, is that she was in a "state of contrariety." She goes on, "All of my integrity seemed to lie in saying No."
   Two other chapters bear witness to the adversarial character of her illness, "Velocity vs. Viscosity," which deals with her obsessive thought patterns, and "Mind vs. Brain:"
   "Whatever we call it--mind, character, soul--we like to think it possesses something that is greater than the sum of its neurons, and that 'animates' us."
   In yet another chapter, Kaysen derides her former therapist, who was named "Melvin," and who was to become her analyst. She acts like she tolerated him as someone imposed on her, and says that she "felt sorry for him" on account of his funny name. In an internal memo, however, a nurse reported that she experienced extreme anxiety over her therapist being absent.
   Part of Kaysen's "state of contrariety," then, must be seen in the light of an abject, back-against-the-wall helplessness caused by the mental illness. I pity Kaysen for her interrupted life. Her novel makes a compelling case for mental-illness research.
   In the Charleston County Library, >Girl, Interrupted< is located in the "Young Adult Fiction" section, which is inappropriate for such a rough, lurid story.



4. Susanna Kaysen shares an episodic account of her two-year stay in a mental institution during her late teens. She recounts the ailments and behavior which led her to the hospital, while also questioning her diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, as well as the manner in which mental illnesses are treated. In order to portray her experience and the experiences of the other young women she encountered within the institution accurately, Kaysen recounts a variety of occurrences, ranging from the grim to the lighthearted. Among Kaysen's recollections are one girl's experience with shock therapy, her own attempt to bite into her hand to ensure that she is "real," and the girls' humorous outing to an ice cream shop.
   
   Copies of Kaysen's medical records are juxtaposed against her personal accounts, often making the tone of the former documents unsettlingly cold and detached. Her personal account is often moving, and even the logic Kaysen uses to explain some of her most unusual behavior can make sense. At the same time, she strives for a relatively objective account of her interaction with mental health professionals. Kaysen presents a strong case to support her belief that the line between "normalcy" and mental illness is often muddied,--a thought she summarizes beautifully at the beginning of the book, writing that "Every window in Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco"-- without becoming overly critical of those who diagnosed and treated her.



5. Having PTSD myself from Wars and other things, I thought this was a great movie! I didn't read the book first however and normally I do but from what I gather the movie in this instance was much better than the book...
   
   I have read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and in many ways this reminded me of that, only in the setting of a female dominated one vice a male one....
   
   Maybe in the future if time permits I will read the book itself to see if the movie which I have already seen and truly thought was great stacks up...
   
   If not...
   
   It was that book which inspired the movie and it's a great movie...
   
   And mental illness isn't just something that people are born with, some times they receive it through traumatic experiences such as tragedies or war or the like...
   
   In my opinion it is something that really needs to be given far more attention than it is receiving and this movie sheds light on it like few have...
   
   Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

5 comments about Truth & Beauty: A Friendship.

1. wonderfully written. if you put a gun to my head and ask who was a better writer, patchett or her friend lucy grealy, the friend that makes completes this companionship, i'd say grealy. much more forceful, passionate and wild writer, hence grealy is not alive now, but patchett is. good book however. check out grealy's writings too.



2. I don't like memoirs, but I read this one in one day. The two writers Anne Patchett and Lucy Grealy meet at Sarah Lawrence and later are roommates while pursuing Master's Degrees at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Fate deals them both great success as writers, yet their personal paths take completely divergent courses. The bond of friendship spans two decades and countless heartbreaks. Anne Patchett does portray herself to be the 'saint' in this friendship but you would almost have to be to endure the suffering that being friend to Lucy Grealy demanded. The themes of friendship, art, loneliness and love are rendered with realism and depth. Patchett's obvious love for writing and her poet friend is shared in this gift of a book.



3. I'm giving this book 3 stars because I like Ann Patchett's writing very much, but the story isn't as interesting to me as a woman in my mid-40s as it would have been had I read this in my 20s. In my 20s, this would have been a grand sweeping tragedy - a life changing book, a standard by which to judge loyalty and friendship. In my 40s, I went "eh." I read this as the story of two highly dysfunctional people in a suffocating relationship. It feels like Patchett wrote it as a way to exorcise her grief; and also perhaps examine her own less than healthy behavior. It did make me want to read more of Patchett's fiction. I picked up a copy of Patron Saint of Liars and am going to give that a try next. Part of me wants to say, Ann just forgive yourself already. We've all been there and done that. Maybe not in such an extreme way or for so many years... but we've all been sucked in by a charming selfish user. Learn a lesson and move on.



4. Readers will likely recognize the author's name from her previous novels, including Bel Canto, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, and The Patron Saint of Liars, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Readers also may recognize Ann Patchett from her articles that appear in such publications as Gourmet, the New York Times Magazine, and the Paris Review. No doubt, some readers will recognize Patchett's friend, Lucy Grealy, as the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face.
   
   Truth & Beauty is the story of the friendship shared by Lucy Grealy and Ann Patchett. It is at once tender, heartwarming, heartbreaking and complex. Truth & Beauty is neither the story of Lucy nor the story of Ann, but of the parts of each life that were shared. What one lacked, the other offered for the relationship. What one shared, the other reached out to receive.
   
   Ann and Lucy met in the early 1980s while attending college. At the Iowa Writers' Workshop, they began a friendship that would become a lifelong process. This is no ordinary friendship. It is one riddled with emotional upheaval, creative successes and disappointments, health crises, and ultimately the lecherous hold of drug abuse.
   
   This is a phenomenal look at the way in which two exceptionally creative people lived, loved, wrote, and grappled with the realities of life. It is also an extremely sensitive description of the way a woman wrought with illness, despair and depression can one minute create beauty and the next minute search for ways to destroy herself.
   
   Truth & Beauty is the story of two friends who loved one another through the best and worst of times. It is a portrayal of loyalty and devotion over more than twenty years of friendship, and a haunting, heartbreaking portrait of the belief in the invincibility of one who lives so largely despite their diminuitive size. Only to find that no one is invincible...no one.
   
   by Lee Ambrose
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



5. The reason I even looked at reviews for this book is so that I could gage how trustworthy other book reviews on here are and how seriously I should take them. Now that I look at the negative, totally ridiculous critiques of Truth and Beauty, I'm never trusting another sour review on here again! When somebody asks me, "What's your favorite book?" I used to say something by T. Capote or M. Angelo, but now I reply, without hesitation, "TRUTH & BEAUTY by Ann Patchett!" Seriously. This book is awesome and I'm annoyed even reading other bad reviews on here about it. Patchett writes in a way that makes me stop, re-read the page, and then say to myself, "Damn, this is great stuff! Why didn't I think of something like that?" I think if you are an aspiring writer, or just somebody who appreciates intelligent, well-written prose, then you should read this one. Do not trust the other reviewers on this page - they're probably the kind of people who'd give a Harlequin novel 5 stars.