2 comments about Going Hungry: Writers on Desire, Self-Denial, and Overcoming Anorexia.

1. This was an excellent book overall, and a number of the essays (including the editor's own contribution) are genuinely outstanding. My own perspective is that of someone who has not experienced this herself, but is close to those who have--if this is yours as well, and/or if you are perplexed and bewildered by anorexia as a medical phenomenon, this would be the ideal book to read. It includes a number of perspectives, with all the essays well-written, direct, and unsentimental, and yet from this variety some essence of understanding does emerge with regard to what the disease may actually be "about." Very highly recommended.



2. Anorexia requires withholding--from the self, from others. This book opens up this world of secrets and deceptions. It is ranging and searching--touching on history, ecstasy, motherhood, illness, creativity, and a host of other subjects. The writers have a multitude of experiences and perspectives, and their reasons for denying themselves food are manifold. But each essayist manages to write directly and to illuminate a new aspect of an elusive and epidemic disease. An important, generous, fascinating book.

5 comments about Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting!.

1. The author is VERY funny and right on target when taking apart LAUSD and the LA scene which is extremely plastic and power focussed. Sandra not only thinks she has to solve her family's problems but lies awake at night trying to solve the whole world's problems while her husband, who grew up in So. Dakota peacefully sleeps. That is the angst one can have after growing up in Malibu and then living in Van Nuys. It is a laugh out loud book that needs to be savored in small doses because Sandra has so much to say that is thought provoking, especially about her generation's overly involved "parenting." That is my opinion as a person who brought up her children in the 70's when we stressed independence and self-reliance with lots of love. Actually, I was doing that while living across the street from Sandra and her family in Malibu. Buy the book, you will love reading it!



2. I gave this book only 2 stars because I didn't think it was worth the price. That said, even for a lower price, I wouldn't have give it a better rating. There are a few good laughs (not THAT many), and although I can relate to many of the author's experiences, she is so long-winded that I found myself skimming to get past the endless retelling of every word of every conversation. Each vignette just went on too long! Her perspectives on parenting remind me a bit of Anne Lamott, especially as she describes some of the challenges of parenting. The book was enjoyable if you don't mind following each tangent all the way down the rabbit hole.



3. This is a wonderful book.
   I own what has become one of the largest private school advisory firms in the country and this is a must read for parents from every walk of life. I'm buying a ton of this book to hand out as holiday gifts. It's a NANNY DIARIES for real parents.
   
   Amanda Uhry
   Manhattan Private School Advisors
   New York City



4. Sandra- from a public educator of too many years-my review for this book is that it's the best one I read this summer! Take that, clive james!



5. Very, very funny and well-written. Ms. Tsing-Loh does satire, irony and self-deprecation much better than she does anger. The book is hilarious up to the last two chapters which fall flat and should have been omitted and one does sense in them more than a faint whiff of sour grapes. The NPR ending is in retrospect inevitable, but buy the book and enjoy it!

5 comments about The Year of Magical Thinking.

1. This whole book describes events and stories throughout the lives of Joan Didion and her family, and it serves as a way for her to express her grief and try to come to terms with the death of her husband of 40 years, all during a year of what she calls "magical thinking."
   
   It's not an entertaining read. It offers some insight on marriage and family, but overall I felt like I was reading something far too personal, a diary of sorts, something that anyone else might write but never publish. Obviously, since it is Joan Didion, the language, the prose, the style, everything about it flows and stops, flies by and slows down in a pleasing rhythm of words, but nothing about the topic is easy to read.
   
   She studies her grief like a med student studies biology, analyzing the various processes that are happening in her mind, causing the sometimes strange and often random thoughts and ideas with which she is constantly struck.
   
   The immediate comparison that comes to mind is with C.S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed," a comparison that Didion points out herself. The difference, though, is that with Lewis' work, I felt like I suffered through much of the grief with him and finished the book feeling a sense of catharsis and ability to move on. Didion's I felt neither of those things; it simply felt like reading her diary. And perhaps that was the point, but in the end I felt that I should not have read the book, and that's never something I like to feel after finishing a book.



2. This memoir chronicles the year after the death of Didion's husband. It is an interesting treatise on grief and mourning, if a bit too cerebral at times.
   
   Didion's husband, John, dies from a cardiac event right before Christmas. Shortly before his death, the couple's daughter, Quintana, suffered an embolism which led to her hospitalization. So basically, Didion has to deal with the death of her husband of 40 years while caring for her hospitalized daughter, who is still clinging to life.
   
   Didion had, I thought, many interesting things to say about the death of a loved one - how we never expect life to change so drastically, so quickly. How we can never really know what to expect, how we will feel, until it happens to us. How most of us may think of our reactions to death in immediate terms - the funeral, etc. - but we never adequately consider the long years of absence thereafter, and how we will deal with those. How, despite what our rational mind knows (this person is gone forever, etc.), part of us still hopes/thinks they will return to us, miraculously.
   
   My criticism of the book is Didion's tendency to over-intellectualize everything. By turns this habit was both interesting and tiresome. Having read the book, though, my guess is that this is the kind of person she is. I would bet that, were I to read one of her novels, I would find the same penchant for the slightly pretentious.
   
   At any rate, I enjoyed the book. Not a must-read, but worth picking up if you have some time.



3. Didion repeats unnecessary details. That might be fine when reading the book, but I listened to it on CD, so it was maddening.
   
   I thought the book was overrated and the insights were minimal.



4. In "The Year of Magical Thinking," Joan Didion chronicles the death of her husband, author and screenwriter John Gregory Dunne. One evening, Dunne died of a severe heart attack while the couple ate dinner. The day had seemed like any other, aside from the fact that they had just returned from a hospital visit with their grown daughter, Quintana, who was in a coma from an unidentified illness. Didion found herself lost, coping with the trauma of her husband's death at the same time that she faced the uncertainty of her daughter's recovery. This stress manifested itself in numerous ways, including the "magical thinking" from the title. Specifically, Didion talks about wanting her husband back so badly that she tries to trick herself into thinking it possible, such as convincing herself that if she kept his clothes, then he would come back for them. Or vice versa - if she gave away his clothes, this meant that he couldn't come back in the future.
   
   Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one will likely find something in this superb book that hits them - something that describes their grief perfectly. As is typical, Didion goes through various stages of grief and finds herself wanting answers. She wants to know how her husband died, and she goes about it like an author would - researching the topic. Didion also recounts bits and pieces of their life together as she attempts to piece together a new life. At times, she is a bit of a name-dropper, chronicling her fabulous Hollywood life and her friendships with famous authors. However, in the end, she was a widow grieving a loss, just the same as anyone else; death affects us all, is universal. Didion's beautiful writing and the way she discusses her grief is universal as well.
   
   Overall, "The Year of Magical Thinking" is a sublime work of non-fiction that deservedly won the National Book Award. However, I was slightly annoyed by one aspect of the book - the lack of details about Dunne's age. At the beginning of the book, I assumed, based on how Didion writes about her husband, that Dunne was in his 50s. I haven't read anything else by Didion, so I didn't know much about her life. In actuality, Dunne was 70 years old when he died. Gradually, Didion acknowledges that his death was somewhat expected - Dunne had had heart problems for years. Perhaps her neglecting to tell us that earlier about his heart problems and his advanced age is part of her "magical thinking." If one doesn't acknowledge the heart problem, even when writing about it after his death, then said heart problem does not exist. Of course, the age of a loved one is fairly irrelevant to the person left behind; one is still alone. It's a minor point, perhaps, but one that affected my reaction to this otherwise amazing book.
   
   This review is of the audiobook version, which consists of 4 CDs. The reader is Barbara Caruso, who does an amazing job of embodying the "voice" of Didion. The reading is simple and straight-forward, with very little accompanying music, which really suits the tone of the book.



5. I am not of Ms. Didion's generation. I am not a member of her moneyed "jet set." I have never written a book. However, I have to say that her "Year of Magical Thinking" resonates with the way I reacted to the sudden death of my daughter. I recognize the tricks that the mind plays to protect you from the pain. I probably would not call these mental processes "magical." I see them as protective and necessary.
   
   As a result of my appreciation for Ms. Didion's memoir, I would like to address a couple points that stand out among the other reviews here. First, denial does not happen because you will it or because you are too weak to face reality. Despite emotional strength and intelligence, you cannot process all aspects of a significant loss at one time. This causes unusual thoughts at unusual times that do not always jive with everyone else's reality.
   
   Additionally, many dissatisfied reviewers, point to the way Ms. Didion did or did not experience, express, write about her emotions as a result of her grief. I have to admit that I also reacted very intellectually to my loss. My mind was continually trying to process the situation, to go down every path to help myself come to grips. While most people believed that my emotions were in check, I was in shock and drowning in "what-ifs." I can relate to Ms. Didion's racing mind and flat countenance.
   
   Finally, several reviewers claim that people in the Western Hemisphere(and pointedly Ms. Didion) do not handle loss well because our culture has taught us to dread, not embrace, death. This probably has validity. However, I cannot believe that anyone in any culture can unexpectedly lose a beloved spouse or child without pronounced shock, grief, and mourning.
   
   Because of my own life experience and personality, I found this book to be very comforting. It validates many of the thoughts and feelings that I have faced.
   
   I thoroughly appreciate the way she ends the book, by pointing out that no one "has an eye on the sparrow." My daughter's death reinforced my belief that random, horrible things happen with no reason, purpose, or plan. We each must face these things in our own way and time.
   
   My one criticism of this book centers around something that Ms. Didion admits within the text. She says that she does not want to stop writing the book because it will mean that she is letting go of one more attachment to her husband. As a result, this book has about 4 or 5 chapters too many.
   
   I highly recommend this book for readers who have experienced loss or are interested in how other people experience loss. I found it to be a very realistic, intimate portrayal of one person's experience.

5 comments about Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation.

1. What a fantastic book! And talk about a trip down memory lane. These are the women that I came of age with and I was so glad that I was able to re-live those times again because of Sheila's book.
   
   Thanks so much for allowing me to return to my youth and experience its joys through your words and their music - I hope Carole, Carly & Joni realize what a wonderful gift they brought to us.
   
   Wonderful....now, go buy their music....
   
   Cheers
   
   DAN



2. I sent this as a gift to a young woman of the appropriate generation who always adored the very girls like them. She was extremely disappointed and felt that the author was not at all a girl like them and didn't begin to understand either the music or the entire generation.



3. Girls like us told me about the personal lives that fueled the music of my generation's youth. I was fascinated with every page and thought how these women turned their romances and disappointments into the greatest hits of several decades. It was lively, timely and even caused me to go back and buy some cd's so I could listen to the songs that Weller wrote about. It proved the old feminist maxim of the '70's that The Personal Is Political. I would recommend this book to anyone who has loved and lost and listened to it all through music. JW



4. The most wonderful part of this book was the opportunity I had to relive some of my youth. As I turned each page, memories of days gone by would come back to me. Perhaps because of the written word, the reference to a particular song, place or event. It was a joy but alas, I have no desire to relive again.



5. wELL DOCUMENTED, WELL WRITTEN, COLORFUL, AND GROUND BREAKING LOOK AT FEMININE INFLUENCE ON rOCK AND roll. rEAD IT NOW!

5 comments about An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir.

1. I first discovered this book in Oprah magazine, excerpted as an essay and what struck me besides the absolute beauty and starkness of the language was the understanding, the grace, the simplicity of the words and the complexity of the words all at the same time.
   
   I will just quote Elizabeth here at the beginning of her memoir:
   
   "A child dies in this book: a baby. A baby is stillborn. You don't have to tell me how sad that is: it happened to me and my husband, our baby, a son."
   
   And that, my friends, is the beginning of a book that takes your breath away with sadness, with laughter, with hope, and with the ultimate faith in life.
   
   Is it a book for parents whose children have died? I don't know. I am reading it. I put it down several times a day. I will read it. My husband may not. He doesn't like sad books anymore. He doesn't like books or stories where babies die. He doesn't find comfort in that. I somehow still do.
   
   And because I first discovered Elizabeth in The Giant's House, a novel that sings, I know that I cannot be disappointed in her writing. And because Ann Patchett and Alice Sebold love McCracken's writing, well then, that also says a great deal. And because I think, Elizabeth's first love is of the literary genre, it too is evidenced here.
   
   But of course there is a paradox because the book, however lovely, is here because her son is not. And that will always be the real tragedy.
   
   Do I have any disappointments about the book? Only one. When I picked it up, it was lighter than I expected, and I realized in that moment, that I wanted it to weigh a healthy eight pounds. I wanted to hold it in my arms and rock it. And that perhaps is all that is left to be said except for this:
   
   Go and buy the book!



2. It's easy to write a book about a baby's death; the minute we hear or read "a baby's death," the subject matter alone will evoke the stock emotions we know that come from something so traumatic - heartache, despair, tears, senselessness, depression...the list goes on infinitely.
   
   What's not easy is writing that story in a way that gets at the heart of the true emotions beneath the ones we so easily rely on. What Elizabeth McCracken does so wonderfully in her memoir "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination" is unflinchingly real and will break your heart and make you hope all in one breath. It's not just the painful story of her baby's death; it's also the true, minute details of thought, of feeling, of reaction that most people don't talk about. It's not just the painful story of her baby's death; it's also the story of moving on yet holding on, of loving but learning to let go, of learning to accept the new beautiful things in your life (like the birth of a beautiful baby boy) while learning the ongoing process of forgiveness. It is the epitome of how LIFE GOES ON and how we should never forget what we've lost but embrace it, accept it, and take pockets of it for good memories to help us when the sadness and heartache invades.



3. Elizabeth McCracken is an award winning, happily single author in her late thirties. But when she meets Edward Carey, they fall in love and get married. Both have wanderlust and it is in France where she disover she is expecting their first child. They spend an idyllic nine months waiting for the birth of "Pudding", the pet name given to the unborn baby boy.
   
   However, tragedy strikes at the eleventh hour. McCracken's son is stillborn.
   
   How does one deal with such sorrow? How do you go forward?
   
   An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination is the story of that pregnancy and loss, written after birth of her second child, a little more than a year later.
   
   "This is the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending."
   
   I felt like I was privy to McCracken's journal, reading of the joy, anticipation, hurt, anger and grief that she and her husband went through. She is unwavering in her honesty, sharing her most intimate thoughts and emotions.
   
   I haven't (yet) read any of her novels, but was captured by the way she uses words to paint vivid descriptions.
   
   " Just then another would-be renter showed up, a yellow-clad lawyer from Boston, with wooden skin and leaden hair and the official dreary insinuating underfed brittle aura of a number 2 pencil".
   
   Whether you are a parent or not, this is a personal and moving memoir that will touch you.



4. I've never had a baby. That may be in the cards one day, but it's not something my husband and I have planned for anytime soon. So you might ask: how can this book, about a woman who loses her unborn child, speak to me?
   
   The answer? I don't know. But what I can tell you is that this book is amazing. It is simple and beautiful; a tribute to a child that didn't quite make it into the world. It is a work of enduring and unconditional love from a mother to a child. Though I haven't been a mother, I have been a child and I have seen the quality of that love firsthand. It pours from each page, love and grief mixed into one.
   
   However, somehow the book is still joyful and full of hope. On every page, as the reader takes in McCracken's unfathomable sense of loss, there is also hope. Don't get me wrong - it is sometimes difficult to read. I found myself tearing up more than once. But the book is so unflinchingly honest, so real, that it feels like real life. There are all the emotions present, mixed in with the grief.
   
   I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is beautifully written, honest, emotional, and full of the wonder of life. It is McCracken's tribute to her unborn child, so that she, and everyone else, will always remember what she had and what she lost.



5. I wonder if when Elizabeth McCracken writes on page 112 that she "flipped through stacks of magazines until I found a copy of O, with a cheerful, childless Oprah Winfrey on the front" if she knew that Oprah gave birth to a stillborn boy when she was just fourteen years old?

5 comments about In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom.

1. Few Americans know much about Saudi Arabia. I know a lot more after reading this book. Dr. Ahmed has written a personal memoir about her two years working in the critical care unit of a hospital in Riyadh. Upon her arrival at the airport, she is lost in a society that has unfamiliar rules. Women can't drive. Women can't be out alone or with unrelated men. The men dress the same. The women dress the same--at least, in public. She assumes that, as a Muslim, she will have no problems fitting in. But she discovers that Saudi Arabia is a highly structured society and in the land of Wahabism, she barely qualifies as Muslim. Dr. Ahmed appears to be quite sociable and much of the book describes her attempts to befriend and understand people. Ultimately, she makes friends and tries to find their motivations and understand how they survive and adapt in a male-dominated society. Several chapters of the book are devoted to her participation in the Hajj--a pilgrimmage most Americans will never undertake. Dr. Ahmed writes crisply while sharing her feelings and vulnerabilities. Her descriptions of many Saudis' reactions to 9/11 are bound to anger many readers. Among some people she most admires, she finds a fault line of intolerance that disappoints her. This book contained numerous insights that kept me turning pages to the end.



2. I've always felt that I am a citizen of the world, knowledgeable about many major cultural, religious and ethnic groups. I've read much about the Middle East and the Muslim faith and thought I had a relatively decent understanding of Saudi society compared to most Americans. Was I ever wrong. Some things you cannot learn but by experience. Qanta Ahmed, in such lush detail, juxtaposes surprising parallels and heartbreaking divergencies between the Saudi Kingdom and the West. Through her eyes (and from under her veil), we glimpse a world many of us will never be afforded the chance to see first hand.
   
   My lesson learned, again and again it seems, is that we all have much to learn about (and from) one another. After finishing the book, I'm left with the overwhelming thought, "What happens next?" My thought: it's up to us.



3. I purchased this book because I am very interested in the topic; in this regard the book delivered. It is interesting and indeed has a unique perspective.
   
   I found myself very frustrated, however, with some of the more technical aspects of the book. Many of the footnotes were entirely missing (that is, superscript numbers appeared in the text with no corresponding footnotes). There were also quite a few grammatical and spelling errors, and even some incomplete sentences. In other cases, words were simply mis-used (and a few of these were really bothersome things that a physician shouldn't mess up, such as using the word "prostate" when she meant "prostrate" on page 12).
   
   Other parts of the book simply felt careless; portions were very repetitive, others were contradictory. For example, the patient that is introduced on page 2 as "comatose" is described on page 4 as follows: "Thin arms lay flaccid at the side of her supine body, palms upwards..." and then just three paragraphs later we see: "Small brown hands were clenched in a sleeping fist." Which is it? Little things like this really got to me throughout the book.
   
   Despite all this, the book did have some very good insights and is probably a worthwhile read. However, if you are a person who cares about grammar, usage, spelling, or storyline continuity then prepare to be frustrated throughout this book.



4. I enjoyed her story very much and made me think again about our nations friendship with the Saudi Kingdom. I saw some advantages for the women in how they are required to live, but mostly felt that their lives are a form of bondage. And it interested me greatly that she had waht seemed to be equal friendships with many men. I titled this "hyperbole" because her descriptions of the beauty of the women and men was truly excessive, as I read along , I knew after a bit what each description would be. I never have known, myself, so many gorgeous people, but that is my only criticism of a fine description of life very foreign to we fortunate American women.



5. This book is a fascinating account of the experiences of a Muslim female physician, educated in the U.K. and America. What is amazing is that Saudi Arabia has been our 'ally' and formidable trading partner, but that 99.9% of have us have no clue as to the ideological and spiritual compass of the people of this country. We just know they are our 'friends' and that our 'friends' spawned a terrorist named Osama Bin Laden (then again, Tim McVeigh used to work at WalMart). This book gives great insight into the value system and machinations of this culture and its religion, and presents some historical perspective on how its modern day presence evolved. The book is not the first but one of the best narratives of the shocking disparity between men and women in Saudi society. Dr. Ahmed described her experiences with colour, insight, and perspective. Yet she refrains from coarse judgment, appropriately so, as the modern Saudi people are proud and principled society. Hopefully our next President (and Vice president) will bring it to the White House Book Club!

5 comments about Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs.

1. I listened to this books on audio cd. The readers little girl whispery voice was intensely annoying. I did finish it and I would never presume to critize her choices and acts. What I find difficult to understand (spoiler ahead) are her choices outside the "church". She speaks of her mother and father as victims of a "religion" and of their inability to help or protect her as "because of their religous beliefs". The religious belief that one man and one man only talks to God and runs their life. Isn't this a cult? Doesn't she see it as a cult now that she's on the ouside. As a mother, she should have a clearer picture of what her parents did not do. Her constant use of the "love" of her mother is self-deluding. But I cannot question her big heart and forgiveness. Warren Jeffs may be gone, but her sisters are still there. Cults and their victims are very sad things. Editors should have trimmed this book by half. And definitely gotten a different reader.



2. Stolen Innocence was a unique story written about how one woman was able to escape the clutches of the FLDS after a 4 year forced marriage at age 14 to her first cousin who had been known to be abusive towards her as children. When she would not obey him, he repeatedly raped and physically abused her.
   
   The marriage was arranged, in part, as punishment to her and her mother because they had spoken out on several ocassions and were thought to be a "troubled" family. Despite her begging and pleading not to marry a cousin "I hated," she was told she either went through with the marriage or her family would be excommunicated and set out on the highway. She had seen this happen to her brother and others, so out of fear went through with the "marriage."
   
   Although I don't in any way condone her husband's actions, it appears from the book that he, too, was a victim of this order. There was NEVER any sex education: in fact, the word sex was never used, and was a subject not even married women were allowed to discuss. Children were taught to think of the other sex as "snakes," and even casual touching was forbid. Then, suddenly you are married, and all the girls have ever been told is "Your husband will explain your wifely duties to you." Sex is only supposed to happen to pro-create and NEVER for pleasure. In this case, the young man didn't seem to have any more knowledge of what he was supposed to do than she did. A man will have his "pristhood" taken away from him if he cannot control his family. This means he will not be allowed to enter the Celestrial kimdom, so it is a big deal. Fearing he was loosing control of his 14 year old wife, he began to rape her to insure she provided him with children. Unfortunately, she suffered 3 miscarriages and 1 stillbirth with NO medical care.
   
   This religious group believes that Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was correct when he stated Pologamy was a revelation from God. The purpose was to create a family on earth that would be transferred to the Celestrail Kingdom for those who "stay sweet," and take advice from the Prophet, whom they believe are receiving messages directly from God. The men will then be set up as God's of their own "Kindoms." BUT ONLY IF THEY ARE OBEDIENT,and have duitiful wives.
   
   The biggest problem in this story was that a sociapathic man who studied Hittler, manipulated his way into becoming the professed prophet. Because this group had been brought up to believe that anything the Prophet says is coming directly from God, no one questioned his actions. Those who did were x-communicated, had their wives and children taken away, their homes taken, and were left penniless. Under Warren Jeffs rule, the governing body of 12 was done away with, all property individually owned was taken and given to the "church," who then gave out land and houses to the "most worthy" of followers.
   
   Because the people are carefully removed from society and taught that outsiders are evil and will only cause extreme harm, they are afraid to come forward. All the local Police, Judges, etc are FLDS members, so going to the authorities is fruitless.
   
   This women came forward with the truth of what was happening in this isolated town despite death threats to her and her family. She risked her very life to come forward, and as a result has brought knowledge to authorities, who then were able to act on reports by many who had fled.
   
   The book is well written, flows well, and explains why and how this has happened.
   
   .
   What the Kindle version lacks is nice pictures. The pictures are displayed, but black and white and faded.



3. I thought this was an excellent book, very thought-provoking. It was a look into a very strange life compared to how most women live in this day and age. It seems hard to understand how these women and men go along with a "prophet" who makes every decision for them, including who they marry and at what age. Then you look back at history and there were many people who were able to control others like this, eg. Jim Jones, whose followers committed mass suicide. It is hard to believe that this kind of mind control is still in existence. It was a definite eye-opener for me.



4. Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs
   
   A disturbing look at the cult commonly called the FLDS, a polygamy espousing sect with enclaves in British Columbia, Utah, Arizona, Texas and Mexico and ruthlessly run by jailed "prophet" Warren Steed Jeffs. This is the story of Elissa Wall whom Jeffs forced to marry at age fourteen her abusive first cousin, and from whom she later escaped.
   
   Stolen Innocence recounts the ordeal Wall's life was in a cult where women must be subservient to their husbands, and most importantly, to the prophet, or face consequences. Wall describes her ordeal in prose, while not literary, is at least compelling and aptly states her case.
   
   During her horiffic marriage she suffers rape, miscarriages, extreme mental cruelty and takes to sleeping in her truck to avoid the bedroom and her abusive husband. She watches her 18-year-old brother banished from the enclave with her parents doing nothing to stop the action. She witnesses her mother removed from her blood father and reassigned to another man as his fifteenth wife.
   
   She recounts how a former FLDS man befriends her and how that friendship turns to love. And most importantly, you'll read how she got the courage to tell her story and give the testimony to convict Warren Jeffs.
   
   Difficult to read without feeling pity and anger, but an important book in learning about this sect.



5. There is no doubt that Elissa Wall suffered at the hands of the FLDS cult and Warren Jeffs in particular. Her story would have been more engaging had it been more succinct in it's writing. Read: it went on and on and on........While the tone and style are that of a young girl, (and perhaps the author(s) wanted to maintain that), the book simply grew tiresome from redundancy, lack of intrigue, and sheer wordiness. While Wall definitely has a story to tell, she could have told it better.

5 comments about The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

1. If you are a fan of Philippa Gregory, like myself, and you relish in the scandals and dramatics of King Henry VIII's Court, this may not be the book for you. This reads a lot more like a history textbook. Not exactly salacious or trashy. Just provides a lot of background and facts about this period of time. I just couldn't stay engrossed. I guess I need the fictionalized version, no matter how accurate it may be. Not exactly a short casual read by any means.



2. A must read if you have been enticed by the interesting tale of the period... Perhaps you have read some of the fluffier books with more romance and fictional license. This is book fills in many of the holes. This book is a nice enjoyable read with great details that touch on the people in a Titan's wake.
   
   The women come to life.
   The politics and decisions that baffle us, centuries later, come into focus as you understand the rival nations and religious reform of the era. GREAT NOVEL.
   
   This author did research and portrayed the characters factually and clearly.
   
   Her Eleanor of Aquitaine novel is excellent as well.



3. I got through this book much quicker than average. I could hardly put it down. Very well written and extremely interesting.



4. To be a wife of Henry VIII would be great if you were content to not to be an individual with any rights.You would want for nothing.On the other hand if you wanted to express your self and be seen as an equal you would be treading on thin ice.



5. Alison Weir provides a fascinating, richly detailed and penetrating human history of the life of King Henry VIII and his six wives. The work is meticulously researched and provides a deep and intelligent understanding of these six fascinating ladies and of King Henry himself.
   
   While Henry VIII was responsible for some great achievements for England, he developed into a cruel tyrant; anyone who aroused his suspicion or displeasure was likely to be be executed and those who died included nobles, ministers, prelates and 2 of his six wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
   
   Catherine of Aragon was a proud Spanish princess, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and a deeply pious Roman Catholic. She was betrothed at three years of age to the first son of King Henry VII, Arthur Prince of Wales and became Prince Arthur's wife at 16. Arthur died six months after their marriage and Catherine spent 7 years in poverty and insecurity, abandoned by Spain and despised by Henry VII, robbed of her dowry and never sure of what her fate would be. Catherine bore these years with great faith, strength and dignity.
   After Henry VII's death, in 1509, the newly crowned Henry VIII made her his wife, and they lived together for eighteen years.
   Of the five children born to Catherine, only Mary lived. She became Queen Mary I ("Bloody Mary"). Henry desperate for a male heir and enchanted by Anne Boleyn, decided to annul his marriage to Catherine.
   Catherine resisted the annulment as long as she could, while always declaring her loyalty and love to the king.
   After Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church to divorce her, Catherine lived in retirement.
   
   Anne Boleyn was a chamber maid to Catherine of Aragon when the king became interested in her.
   Henry secretly married Anne in January, 1533. Henry's Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer pronounced Henry's first marriage null and void.
   Anne Boleyn was crowned queen in June and because of circumstances beyond her control was unpopular with the English people and had many enemies.
   Anne gave birth to Elizabeth in June.
   But Henry a cruel and selfish man had wanted a boy and soon tired of Anne.
   After she repeatedly failed to produce a male heir, Henry and his chief minister Thomas Cromwell had Anne framed for adultery and executed.
   Anne was an intelligent and courageous women, as well as ambitious and capable at times of ruthlessness.
   She was a strong adherent to the Protestant cause and well read in Protestant theology at a time when it was dangerous to do so.
   The author reveals that Anne was not however the scheming wanton that some historians have painted her as.
   
   Jane Seymour by contrast was not the good hearted innocent some have seen her as. she copied Anne Boleyn's methods of witholding her sexual favours to the king until she was Queen. She was favoured by the Catholic camp.
   She seemed to have remained on the King's good side and bore him his long wanted male heir to be Edward VI.
   She died of illness soon after Edward's birth.
   
   Henry was then maneuvered into a marriage by his chief minister Thomas Cromwell, to the Protestant German princess, Anne of Cleves, to bolster the Protestant cause.
   Henry had only soon seen Anne of Cleves in a portrait but when he met her he found her unattractive exclaiming "I like her not".
   He soon divorced her but because Anne of Cleves did not resists the divorce and was amenable she avoided a tragic fate and lived out a comfortable retirement with a large inheritance, the longest living of Henry's wives.
   Ironically the Protestant princess Anne of Cleves was converted to a devout Catholic, by Princess Mary, who became her close friend.
   
   After that the powerful Howard family manipulated one of their young daughters, the 15 year old Catherine Howard to marry the king, and was supported by the Catholic faction. The aging Henry's large ego was thrilled to betroth an attractive girl over thirty years his junior. When he married her, Henry described Catherine Howard as his "rose without a thorn"
   Catherine was good hearted, but simple and sexually promiscuous. Described as giddy girl."
   
   The machinations of the court destroyed her and she was not shrewd enough to survive.
   She was accused of adultery, whether she was guilty is not known, but she never stood a chance and was executed on the orders of the cruel and vengeful Henry,a truly tragic tale.
   Catherine Howard was a powerless pawn used by powerful and unscrupulous forces.
   
   Henry's last wife was the level headed and highly intelligent Catherine Parr. She managed to outlive the king, and befriended the young Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward, showing a kindly character. She was a strong Protestant and believed in church reform (she had secret Lutheran sympathies) and the author believes she would have made a mark as a great thinker in times when women were encouraged to think independentally and make an intellectual contribution.
   Her strong religious convictions led her to argue with King Henry about religion, and the author writes that she may have been lucky the King died when he did.
   
   Catherine Parr, later married Sir. Thomas Seymour and was a great friend to the Lady Jane Grey.
   she also foretold that the young Princess Elizabeth was destined by Heaven to be a great Queen of England, when she had told Elizabeth to leave her house after Elizabeth had been seduced by Thomas Seymour, showing her powers of vision and her non vengeful nature,
   She was a visionary and a good woman.
   
   An interesting historical anecdote. Friar Peto predicted in 1532 that if King Henry cast off Katherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn he would be as Ahab and the dogs would lick his blood.
   After Henry's death his lead coffin weakened by the motion of the carriage burst open, and liquid matter from the body seeped out onto the church pavement. A dog was with the plumbers who came the next morning to repair the coffin, and it was seen to lick up the blood from the floor just as Friar Peto had predicted.
   
   Like all of Alison Weir's works this volume combines detailed history with a thrilling and smooth read. Everything you could want in a factual history volume.
   It is social and personal history at it's best and captures the essence of the time of Henry VIII's reign and the wider events involving England at the time.

5 comments about Epilogue: A Memoir.

1. So sad, but beautifully written. If you have ever lost someone important, critically important, in your life, reading this book will help you know you are not alone in your suffering. It is life.



2. Epilogue (HarperCollins, 2008) is a gripping memoir by National Book Award finalist Anne Roiphe, who was forced to recompose her life after the sudden loss of her husband of 39 years. With compelling candor, Ms. Roiphe shares the intimate memories of her happy marriage and the uncertainties of her life as a new widow. In Booklist, critic Carol Haggas writes, "No one can really prepare a woman for this passage in life, but Roiphe's luminous memoir is a beacon of help, and ultimately hope."
   
   
   After reading this provocative book, I mulled over its lessons, some of which touch on female friendships, and was thrilled when Ms. Roiphe graciously agreed to expand on some of her thoughts on that topic in an email interview. See her thoughts on female friendships on my blog: www.fracturedfriendships.com



3. In the aftermath of her husband's death, this still-attractive and accomplished 69-year old writer and mother sought male companionship through an online matching service and a classified ad. Her subsequent experiences and the men she meets are humorously and candidly recounted in a frank and engaging fashion. Sort of like Joan Didion's memoir, but with less emphasis on the grieving process and more on the search for renewal and romance.



4. While Joan Didion's THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING is likely to remain the touchstone for contemporary books about a widow's grief, Anne Roiphe's new memoir is a painfully honest and deeply affecting companion to Didion's work.
   
   In December 2005, Herman Roiphe ("H.," as she refers to him throughout the memoir), a well-known New York psychoanalyst, her husband of 39 years and 12 years her senior, died suddenly. Now Anne must begin her life again as a widow at the age of 69. "Grief is in two parts," she writes. "The first is loss. The second is the remaking of life. This book is about the second. Although the division between the two parts is not a line, a wall or a chasm." With that candid insight, Roiphe launches her account of the 18 months or so that followed her husband's death.
   
   What's striking about Roiphe's situation, especially for such a highly educated, sophisticated woman, is how ill-equipped she seems to be to deal with some of the daily reality of it. Like many widows, she's mystified when it comes to financial matters ("This is his job. But he is not here and now I will do it, badly, but I will do it. Resentfully I will do it."). But she's equally at sea trying to perform even the most mundane of tasks, like fitting her key into the door of her apartment, which she always had left to her husband, or deciding which subway to take in a city where she's lived all her life. It's as if the loss of H. has rendered her disabled in some mysterious fashion.
   
   Granted, some of the challenges Roiphe must confront are hardly the ordinary stuff of widowhood. Claiming that she's forbidden to provide details, she's left to clean up a lawsuit "for a considerable amount of money stemming from something in my husband's past." And she must deal with the blackly comic demand of her husband's ex-wife for an entire month's alimony ("the last drop of honey from the pot") for the month in which he died.
   
   Thanks to a personal ad placed by her daughters in The New York Review of Books, and her own foray unto Match.com, Roiphe doesn't lack for male companionship (the way that e-mail has transformed dating rituals, even for senior citizens, is one of the subtexts of Roiphe's story). From the self-absorbed to the desperate, she chronicles her experiences with these men, even describing with refreshing honesty her sexual encounter with an attorney named M. The most bizarre of them (and the only one to which she does not attach an initial, a style borrowed from psychoanalytic writings) is a man from Albany, New York, who bombards her with email filled with increasingly virulent, even paranoid, right-wing propaganda. Although the two never meet, she seems oddly tempted by the notion of a relationship with him. It's puzzling that Roiphe, a passionate feminist, would have tolerated this onslaught of messages so at odds with her core beliefs for so long.
   
   As befits an author of 15 books of fiction and nonfiction, Roiphe's voice is rich with nuance. At times she's concise and epigrammatic: "It is not a sign of normal life when the takeout deliverymen become fond of you or your tips." "If only there were a camp for us like the camps for the overweight kids advertised on the back of the New York Times Magazine." And yet she's equally capable of expressions of arresting beauty and poignancy: "Think of grief as a river that finally runs into the ocean where it is absorbed but not dissolved, pebbles, moss, fish, twigs from the smallest upland stream run with it and finally float in the salt sea from which life emerged."
   
   By the end of her journey, Roiphe has emerged a different, stronger person. She has enrolled in a class in ancient history in the land of Israel, drawn closer to her daughters, and reconciled herself to the notion that she may never have another intimate relationship with a man. And while there are moments when she fleetingly contemplates leaping from her apartment, like the characters in John Irving's novel THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE, she leaves no doubt that she'll "keep passing the open windows."
   
   --- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg



5. There are few books that look at life, death, and aging squarely in the face, but this is one of them. Anne Roiphe has written a deeply felt account of her experience of widowhood. While the book is not cheerful, it is unexpectedly life affirming. Particularly engaging (and often funny) are her descriptions of many internet relationships developed on match.com. She doggedly continues to seek a life partner, despite the unsuitability of so many of her cyber suitors. She seems particularly drawn to a right-winger from Albany even though his e mails are filled with hate and venom. She recognizes the wounded soul beneath the anger and carries on the correspondence much longer than she probably should have. She continually grieves the loss of her psychoanalyst husband who she refers to as "H" throughout the book. In fact, all the individuals are identified only by their initials as if to both protect their privacy and reveal everything at the same time. The book shows us how we hold on to grief as we try to release it, how we retain our illusions as we try to shed them, and especially how those of us who continue to brave the storms and arrows of outrageous fortune choose to carry on. Let me offer an altered paraphrase of Whitman: who touches this book touches the heart and soul of a woman.

5 comments about The Complete Persepolis: Now a Major Motion Picture.

1. This book provides an interesting way to read and learn about an interesting point in history. I highly recommend it or anyone to read because it's comic book style makes it an easy and enjoyable read.



2. I highly, highly recommend this book. I could hardly put it down, and I never wanted it to end. A truely great story.



3. This book was one of the most interesting and unique books that I have ever read. It was given to me as a gift and I honestly didn't think that I'd like it. I was a bit put off by the comic book style, but it read just like a regular book. The comic strip part only enhanced it. LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!



4. saw the movie, had to buy the book. thank you for making such a great film! It inspires on so many levels. dont miss this film, it speaks for all cultures and all people



5. I got this book as a gift. Honestly, I wasn't so sure at first. It is written like a comic book. But as I read it, I realized that it reads just like any book and that the comic pictures make it that much more interesting and unique. I learned a lot from this book, too. I would recommend it to anyone.