Reviews (30)

I didn't enjoy the book at all!
It wasnt at all what I thought. I really didn't like the writing- the ending wasnt great and I thought it could've had more details on foster care. As a FC worke I've seen things 1000x worse then the book. It really didn't capture how horrible the system can be.

Excellent
This book is not to be missed, a must read for everyone.It transends all races, ages and gendersIt is the true story of hope and finding one's way through a hard unforgiving life.

Beautiful and Tragic
Regina's memoir revisits memories through the eyes a ten year-old girl.She recounts her journey through foster homes and her quest to find a family that will love her.Regina's story is beautiful and tragic - a unique glimpse into the life of child determined to find her place in a confusing and indifferent world. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abandoned children    2. Abused children    3. African American children    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Childhood Memoir    9. Ethnic Sociology    10. Louise, Regina    11. People of Color    12. Social Welfare Services For Special Classes    13. Texas    14. Women    15. Biography & Autobiography / Women    16. Regina Louise   

Editorial Review

When she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796, Rose de Beauharnais was a 32-year-old widow who had narrowly escaped the French Revolution's guillotine. She was six years older than he, notorious for her lovers, and unlikely to give him children, but possessed of the social connections and skills the ambitious young general thought would help him rise in the revolutionary army. He gave "his living reverie, his dream of perfect passion" a new name, Josephine--perhaps hoping it would blot out her unsavory past. Instead, she continued to be promiscuous as well as extravagant, and the marriage soured as Napoleon ascended to first consul and then emperor of the French. Yet he divorced her only in 1810, when political events made it clear he must have an heir. This highly colored biography practically wallows in Josephine's lurid personal life, colored in by luscious descriptions of the period's clothes, food, and amusements. The author, whose many previous books mostly deal with English royalty, does not burden readers with excessive doses of French history; the focus is always on Josephine, whose psychology is discussed at length. Erickson succeeds in making her subject an attractive figure, if hardly an exemplar of moral rectitude. Her book should appeal to those who like their historical biographies titillating and not too taxing. Read more

Reviews (21)

Josephine:From Martinique to Malmaison: The Life of Napoleon's first wife
Josephine (1763-1814) was born Rose Tascher on the French colonial island of Dominique. Her father raised her on a failing sugar plantation she wed a disssolute French aristocrat (who wa
A good introduction to Josephine
This is a very well written book, and the author keeps the reader captivated as she tells the life story of Josephine, better known as Napoleon's first wife.
An Unlikely Empress
This was my first read of Carolly Erickson, and I was enthralled by her writing style.Yes, the book reads like a novel, but I don't find this detrimental.One of the biggest problems with historical biographies are they are often heavy and dull, and I don't think this should be the case when describing extraordinary times and events.I felt like I was transplanted "into the period;" and while Josephine had qualities pro and con, I found her to be accessible and human.A lot of times with biographies, I ended hating the subject by the time I am done, because the author relishes revealing the subject's tarnished persona in such an unflattering light.Ms. Erickson's Josephine I liked, despite her evident flaws.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. Historical - General    6. Royalty    7. Biography & Autobiography / Historical   

Reviews (1)

Tremendous!
Ednah New Rider Weber has what so many authors dream of: an authentic and original voice, and it's put to good use here, sharing a recollection of childhood that is hilarious and chilling in turn, and always honest.This book puts into first person perspective a dark chapter of American history in a way that both chilren and adults can appreciate.I savored her beautiful language, realistic and lively dialogue and knack for pulling together her chapters like the last threads of a perfectly woven cloth.I look forward to reading this book aloud to children in grades 4 and up, and I recommend it as a must-read for anyone interested in Native American history or memoir-writing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Arizona    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography - General    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Children: Grades 4-6    7. Education    8. Ethnic Cultures - Native Americans    9. Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies - Tribes    10. General    11. Juvenile Nonfiction    12. Pawnee girls    13. People & Places - United States - Native American    14. Phoenix    15. Relocation    16. Weber, EdNah New Rider   

Reviews (5)

What a mother, what a son!
Clancy Sigal's seeringly honest portrait of his lefty mother, Jennie, and himself brings alive a time now lost forever to Ipods, computers, and cell phones.
Do yourself a favor and discover this provocative author
Clancy Sigal made me fall in love with his mother Jennie in his unsentimental memoir of a sometimes violent and crazy life.She's the mother I wish I had: passionate, irreverent, protective and smart.The pain and love Sigal feels for his mom hits you like a punch in the gut.
Sigal's Best
This is Clancy Sigal's best book. His work has always been autobiographical from his novel Going Away (the ultimate 'road' book for my generation of politically aware readers who shunned Kerouac 's egowanderings), to Weekend In Dinlock, his account of Yorkshire miners.In his latest, a memoir,Sigal gives us a funny, moving memory of his relationship with his mother - a fantastic character - set in Depression era America. It's an account of an education that isunsentimental andand profoundly moral.There isn't anything like it around. This is a real book of virtues.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Jewish radicals    7. Jewish women    8. Jews    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Regional Subjects - Midwest    11. United States    12. United States - State & Local - Midwest    13. United States History (General)    14. Women - 19th Century History    15. American history    16. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    17. Biography: general    18. Illinois   

Reviews (20)

A riveting story by an extraordinary writer
In my long reading life I have rarely come across a book written in such compelling and poetic language.I have just read Nicole Lea Helget's memoir in one sitting and can scarcely catch my breath. And to those who might question the authenticity of the book, please remember that a child's interpretation of happenings may not always agree with that of an adult who was there, too, but that does not make the child's recollection any less true. Just think about the mysteries and taboos in your own childhood!

Harsh and dry--the story and the weather.
This feels less like a memoir and more like a collection of short writings that just happens to work together to give a view into a less than bucolic Minnesota childhood. It paints with savage strokes the couple at the heart of this girl's life. An obvious comparison would be [...] out of Carolina, but this book is not as carefully constructed or developed. It's slim in several ways. Pages aside, it lacks context, and the landscape is almost missing, which is odd for a farm story. The writer's gift with words is considerable, and the final chapter left me gasping (what a tour de force). Still, I have to ask, as a child, was there no laughter? Was her entire childhood taut and poetic, all smashed grasshoppers and bleeding animals? It seems in a family like this, there might have been at least some laughter. Was it all sacrificed for the sake of tone, or was it truly this grim? I guess that is another area where the book is slim--I didn't sense the fullness of a life when reading it. Perhaps she will write a longer exploration of her life, or a novel. If she does, I'll read it, as she is quite a writer.

Stories of Animal Cruelty
I agree with the earlier reviewer, as far as mean people and animal cruelty go.I could hardly finish the book myself, not only because of the animal cruelty and abuse but also the author's total indifference to it.I don't particularly care to read about people abusing and killing animals (killing a mother cow because she wants to keep her calf, and shooting 13 puppies because "they are ugly"), and basically that is what a lot of this book is about.Not a very good or interesting read, author is whiney and self-absorbed - don't waste your time with this garbage. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Children of alcoholics    8. Farm life    9. Minnesota    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Regional Subjects - Midwest    12. Summer    13. Biography: general   

Reviews (23)

Childhood and early career memoirs of life in the 1950s and 60s.
The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue is Robert Klein's memoirs of growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s. Born in 1942, Klein writes affectionately of the basic influences of his youth during the years 1951 to 1966. Each chapter begins with a picture of Klein during the period discussed.
not so hot
I just finished reading this from my local library.As much as I love Mind over Matter and Robert Klein, this really isn't a funny book.Maybe he didn't intend it to be, but with a title like that I thought it would be a lot more entertaining instead of blandly anecdotal.It's really just one tale after another about women he slept with, in too much detail, or girls he fantasized about- again, too much information.And the book ends abruptly before covering any of his success in the 70's, his political comedy, etc.

Primarily for Klein fans and the Bronx-curious
Although leavened by Klein's breezy humor, this account of his first 25 years is marred by too many overly detailed stories of too few essentially banal events that will interest only hard-core fans of the author.There is, for example, a 4000-or-so word anecdote about an instance in which Klein resists his 4th grade teacher's attempt to intimidate him and an episode running to about 6000 words in which Klein -- then 14 or 15 --escapes a menacing confrontation with three slightly older schoolmates who accost him in a park in his Bronx neighborhood. Neither these two or many of the other extended accounts of the rather mundate rites of passage contain enough dramatic weight to justify even half their lenghth.For those who grew up in the Bronx or were Jewish contemporaries of Klein's at Catskill summer camps and small rural colleges, the familiar terrain that Klein traverses will trigger nostalgic memories, but others will be disappointed by too little focus on career-making moments. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1942-    2. Actors    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography And Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Childhood Memoir    9. Comedians    10. Comedy (Performing Arts)    11. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    12. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Comedians    13. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    14. Klein, Robert,    15. United States    16. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (10)

Horrible
An advertisement for an abusive facility that breaks kids and then puts them back together as brainwashed robots... as told by one of their so-called 'successes'. Shocking only in the way that the author seems to truly believe that being isolated from human contact, allowed no friends and no conversation, and spending most of the day sitting on her bed (not being allowed to talk or even look at things), truly helped her 'recover'.

Dingy Peninsula
Abigail Vona considers herself a normal teen with rebellion issues, including breaking curfew; joyriding and getting involved just shy of sex with boys.The book opens with Abigail relating a heavy petting session with a boy named Keno and her balancing relationship with another boy named Matt.
Pretty Good, But...
"Bad Girl" by Abigail Vona is a good look into the life of a teen out of control and placed in a facility to help change her wild ways.Although she wasn't all that wild, the facility helps her cope with her dysfunctional family life, and the way she views her actions.She meets other girls with problems even worse than hers, but learns to listen to them, whether their life stories or advice to her."Bad Girl" is a truue story of what happens when a teen "delinquent" is sent away to confront her life and problems.Although this book isn't as good as, say, "A Million Little Pieces," it still speeds along quickly and is very intriguing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adolescence - General    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Case studies    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Connecticut    7. Family & Relationships    8. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    9. Female juvenile delinquents    10. Juvenile corrections    11. Juvenile delinquency    12. Life Stages - Teenagers    13. Louisville    14. Social Science    15. Sociology    16. Tennessee    17. West Hartford    18. West Hartford (Conn.)    19. Women    20. Women's Studies - General    21. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    22. Family & Relationships / Adolescence   

Reviews (9)

Could NOT put it down
This is an extraordinary story of an ordinary life.From comic books, to the Hardy Boys to Faust to the French classics, we go on a ride through books with Mike Dirda.I also grew up in the Midwest at about the same time and I can identify with just about every page of the book.Extraordinary.

Dirda's unique book on reading
As a frequent reader what struck me most about Mr. Dirda's book is that it is not quite like anything else out there.In this day and age, uniqueness is rare and that alone makes the book a standout
Memories
Everything Michael wrote in his book brought back so many boyhood memories for for my friend.It wasn't just the big things, it was the little things Dirda wrote about that brought smiles and tugged at the heart. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Journalism    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Critics    8. Dirda, Michael    9. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    10. Journalists    11. Literary    12. Literary Criticism    13. United States    14. American history: from c 1900 -    15. Biography: general    16. Ohio    17. Places & peoples: general interest   

Reviews (23)

eye opening
Beginning in 2001 I worked with two refugee families from Liberia.I wish I had read this book first, because it would have helped me to understand better the sorts of things these families might have experienced before they arrived in our country. While experiences of war, persecution and homelessness vary among people arriving in the USA, the feeling of confusion (even when you speak English, like 'my' families did) and dependence mixed with utter relief of finally getting here seem to be common among all. "My" families knew basic things, but our housing, food and school systems were totally overwhelming even for these educated people. And the police, which we're taught to depend upon, strike fear into every refugee I've ever met. Most of them have had bad experiences with police.
Of Beetles and Angels
Mawi Asgedom is a young man who went from the deserts of Sudan to a full scholarship to Harvard. Of Beetles and Angels by Mawi himself depicts the life of his childhood and the struggles he had to go through to succeed. This book tells about his young childhood in Sudan, moving to America, and then finally succeeding and graduating from Harvard. The story starts out with Mawi as a young child born in Adi Wahla, Ethiopia. He grew up in a refugee camp in Umsagata. Before his family immigrated to America he had two other brothers named Tewolde and Mawi. Tewolde and Mehret were extremely close and were best friends. Conditions in Sudan were devastating. The family was living on was UN rations and had the fear that any day that their village could be invaded, so Haileab (Mawi's father) decided that they were going to move to America. They found a sponsor to help them when they got to the States. They left Africa in 1982. They left behind a village of family and friends which was heartbreaking for Mawi and the rest of his family.
An Inspiring Memoir of the American Dream
Of Beetles and Angles is the remarkable non-fiction account of Mawi Asgedom's jouney as an African war refugee to America and the obstacles that he and his family had to overcome. In his own words he describes his inspiring transformation into a man with traditional values and principles mixed in with the demands of everyday life in a new society. Influenced by his older brother andfather, Mawi sets out to experience the American dream and more importantly, look upon each and every person as angels sent to test the will of our hearts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography & Autobiography / People of Color    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Ethiopian Americans    8. Ethnic Cultures - General    9. General    10. Immigrants    11. Juvenile literature    12. Refugee children    13. Sudan    14. United States    15. Africa, Eastern    16. Asgedom, Mawi    17. Eritreans    18. Ethiopians    19. Harvard University    20. Juvenile materials    21. Mawi Asgedom    22. Optimism    23. People of Color    24. Political refugees    25. Success   

Reviews (17)

Sheila!
What a suvivor. Wayne Theodore I appreciate this book. There are so many adults suffering today because of childhood abuse.People don't even know about most of the cases. Some parents and family have truely been meanto chidren and ruined lives. And do you know what, the abusers are crazy enough to wonder why those that they have abused have problems in life. Those who abuse children have a direct connection with the devil. Otherwise they could not be so evil. Wayne's mother had no right having as many children as she had. Carl Thoedore could have given his family a better life. His son mentioned him having money in his pockets.But he chose not to be a good provider. What would make a person want to inflict pain on his own children? What and why? I hope Wayne's brothers and sisters come to realize how wonderful Wayne is. I hope they have grown closer and supportive of each other. Can you just imagine how many sick people are taking advantage of children? There are a lot of sick parents in this world. Their children are sometimes the product of their wickness.

truly inspiring
It takes a lot of courage to face your fear, and in this book Wayne faces and confronts his hideous past.Bringing to light his repressed memories of his upbringing.I think the way he rises above everything to be the person he is today, is a lesson to us all.This book is a good read, i could not put it down.I read the whole book all in one sitting.

great book
i just read this book it was really good, i could'nt put it down,it told really good stories about what he had went throgh as a child. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1958-    2. Abuse - General    3. Abused children    4. Adult Child Abuse Victims    5. Biography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Child Abuse    8. Childhood Memoir    9. Clinical Psychology    10. Criminology    11. Social Science    12. Sociology    13. Theodore, Wayne,    14. United States    15. Psychology & Psychiatry / Child Development    16. Wayne Theodore   

Editorial Review

"Thanks for a wonderful childhood!" Stephen Digges tells his mother as he hugs her goodbye in front of his New York City college dorm, and it's a measure of just how persuasive and potent her account of his difficult adolescence is that we know exactly what he means. At 13, Stephen was running away, stealing his mother's car, carrying guns, doing drugs, and getting into trouble with the law and in school. Already divorced from Stephen's father, Digges saw her son's problems break up her second marriage and heard society, her family, and her neighbors tell her she was too easy on her son, that fatherless boys needed "tough love" and discipline. But Digges had the courage to listen to a highly unconventional therapist who urged her, "Join him in his anger at life.... Don't educate him about what he should have done. Let him figure it out." Together with Digges's foster son (an African American teen thrown out of his home after a stint in juvenile detention), they create a bohemian household. Three dogs (one of them epileptic) "sleep on the beds no questions asked"; Stephen does his homework with a pet mouse named Frederick in his pocket; there are swarms of kittens "leaping in and out of the windows"; and the pizza delivery for dinner may be interrupted by "phone calls from teachers, more often the cops." Go figure: creative, anti-authoritarian Stephen acquires a sense of responsibility and ambition in this offbeat atmosphere. His mother's surprisingly funny, unsentimentally tender memoir reminds us that there are no rules about raising children, just countless perils and boundless possibilities. Read more

Reviews (16)

this book blew me away
i'm a psychiatrist and a mother of an adolescent boy and can tell you that this book is one of the most beautifully honest books i've ever read on ANY subject.i'm going to recommend it to all my patients who are parents.it's a wonderfully inspiring story that helps one move beyond fear into a state of grace.i just loved it.

Highly recommended story about raising an unconventional son
This book offers so much wisdom from a mother who learned the hard way how to raise an artistic son through a difficult adolescence. It's a very personal story that the author was brave enough to share. I suffered with her as I read her struggles, but in the end cheered both her and her son for their courage and intelligence. I loved that she included essays her son wrote for school and his photography as well. This is an important book for parents to read. Animal lovers may appreciate the book also because animals are central to the healing of this family. I wish all the best to the author, her son, and her foster son.

Stunning, moving book
I first heard about this book on the Dianne Reemes show. Lots of controversy-- so I HAD to buy it. I'm glad I did. This book is so intelligently written. I loved the lists, letters, even the police reports Digges uses to further the narrative. The story itself is stunning.The ending is a knock-out! I just had to say how beautifully crafted this book is, as well as moving, and memorable. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Childhood Memoir    3. Childhood and youth    4. Digges, Stephen    5. Family & Relationships    6. Family/Marriage    7. Life Stages - Adolescence    8. Mother-son relationship    9. Mothers and sons    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    12. Reading Group Guide   

Editorial Review

What could be more romantic than living in an ancient fortress, dining in its rooftop garden, and sleeping under the stars? English artists and intellectuals like the author's parents (painter Aubrey Waterfield and journalist Lina Duff Gordon) have traditionally adored the Italian countryside, and their daughter's enchanting memoir describes the happy haven they found near the Tuscan town of Aulla. Kinta was only 5 in 1916 when she made her first trip by pony trap up the steep road to their hilltop abode, and neither exile to English boarding school nor the Second World War could keep her away for long. Famous friends like Bernard Berenson and D.H. Lawrence make cameo appearances, but the real stars are the earthy, dignified Tuscan peasants who worked for her family. Through them, the author immersed herself in the timeless rhythms of rural existence. The text's highlights include a vivid account of Read more

Reviews (12)

Tuscany, between the world wars
This book really takes you to Tuscany, as it was for British ex-patriates between World War I and World War II. Everything is here - the people, the landscape, the food. Highly recommended!

Wonderful book
Kinta Beevor, author of only this book, comes from a family of writers, including her son, the reknown author, Antony Beevor. It must be a genetic feature that families produce wonderful writers. Charming story of one woman's love for all things Italian
The only book Kinta Beevor ever wrote, it was perhaps the only book she could have written. Her obvious love for her magical childhood in Tuscany (esp the years before she was shipped off to England for school) shines forth from every paragraph as she recounts her life as one of the benignly-neglected children of a pair of English aristocrats who owned a 15th century castle, the Fortezza della Brunella, as well as a villa above Florence.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Childhood Memoir    3. Europe - Italy    4. General    5. Travel    6. Travelers    7. Travel / Europe / Italy   

Reviews (14)

A winner.A tender, gritty, moving story of real life.
The Color of LoveGene CheekThe Lyons Press (2006) ISBN 9781592288984 Reviewed by Marcelline `Marcy' Burns for Reader Views (10/06) This is the story of a boy's experience of wondrous love and awful pain.It is written with honesty, and it will be a rare reader who does not cringe in face of the terrible things that adults did to an innocent young boy. As the boy's father fell into a life of alcoholism, he was not simply absent as a husband and father. He abused and terrorized and ultimately provoked the years- long separation of mother and son. Those of us who lived in the South when Jim Crow ruled are shamed, as we should be, by this account of ugly racism. Mr. Cheek is a father and grandfather writing from his memory of the people and events of his childhood and youth. Occasionally, the reader may wonder if a boy could have been so perceptive and articulate as he recalls.Perhaps.It is possible, although it seems likely that the account has been colored to some extent by his adult eyes. In the preface, he himself acknowledges that the exact content of long ago conversations cannot be remembered, and as it turns out, it doesn't matter. He says, and the reader will believe, that he has remained true to the people about whom he writes. The boy, Gene, was deeply devoted to his Mother Sallie and to his Grandmother Anderson. He accepted, respected and, I believe, loved Mr. Tucker (Tuck) who is portrayed as a good man. Sadly, being a good man was not enough in that place and in that time. Many Southerners then labeled all Negroes with an intentionally pejorative "nigger", and some acted out their hatreds as members of the Ku Klux Klan. Neighbors, as well as the Cheek family, self-righteously persecuted Sallie and Tuck because they dared to love each other. In a custody hearing, hate-inspired courtroom testimony led to Gene's being exiled from his family. This author writes well. Without reservation I recommend his book to any reader. In particular, I recommend it to those readers who are committed to social justice and who care about the welfare of children. If you are so young that you know about Selma, Martin Luther King, and the Civil Rights Movement only as history, read "The Color of Love."And, for those who may still harbor some vestige of racism within their hearts, please read this book.

A compelling story,beautifully written
I also was introduced to this wonderful book when I heard the author on NPR's This American Life.I sat in my car in aparking lot, hanging on to every word. When the soft, gentle voice of Gene Cheek had finished telling part of his amazing story, I sat there and wept. I ordered the book the minute I got home.
Brutality and Bravery
I bought this book to learn a little North Carolina history. It gave me so much more. By the time I finished reading the book the first time through, I felt like something deep in my own heart had gone through a profound healing. Gene Cheek writes eloquently and honestly about growing up in an alcoholic's home, losing his home life to racism, and living to tell the story. The book shows one young man transforming injured innocence into his own kind of wisdom.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. Discrimination & Racism    6. Ethnic Cultures - General    7. People of Color    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

"Chea, how come good doesn't win over evil?" young Chanrithy Him asks her sister, after the brutal Khmer Rouge have seized power in Cambodia, but before hunger makes them too weak for philosophy. Chea answers only with a proverb: When good and evil are thrown together into the river of life, first the Read more

Reviews (37)

Should be required reading
I met Ms. Him at a book signing and have a hardcover signed by her.She is a beautiful, gentle woman with one of the most musical voices I have ever heard.To listen to the stories of unspeakable horror that issued from her lips as she read a passage chilled me.She is my age; while I was struggling with Algebra, she was sturuggling with pure evil.I promised her that I would do my best to never let her story be forgotten.My children will be required to read this when they reach the age she was in the book.
A Must Read
This is a great biography of a Child's perspective of the Khamer Rougue take over in Cambodia in the 1970's. Chanrithy's story will stir up every emotion in you. This is a real story about survival during a very dark time in history. Her escapes from labor death camps, while nearly dying from starvation and sickness. The constant fear of military attack, or excecution by the Khamer Rouge soldiers. The loss of innocence, freedom, family, Friends, a life she once knew and culture she once cherished.
Vivid, shocking account of destruction of Cambodia
This is a great story illustrating the strength of the human spirit and the will to live and thrive against all odds.Chanrithy Him effectively loses her childhood when her home is bombed as a small child by the Khumer Rouge and her family is thrown into the middle of war-torn Cambodia, struggling to stay together and to survive.Hers is an amazing firsthand account of the horrors of slavery, execution, starvation and disease her family went through in a relatively modern era of the 70s.The clippings from the US newspapers of the time detailing the events overseas bring to mind the huge differences between a country of freedom and prosperity vs. a country being torn apart by bombs and ruthless individuals. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - General    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Ethnic Cultures - General    7. General    8. Women    9. Asian history: Vietnam War    10. Biography: general    11. Cambodia    12. Vietnam   

Reviews (30)

One of the greatest books
This has been one of the few excellent books i have ever read. It is actually real, it really happened, so it makes you feel as if this was happining before your eyes. It was sad, and well written. i actually heard David Faber, the author of this book, speak. He was an incredibly powerful speaker, and his book places you in his position, just as his speech does.

Recommend
David faber visited our high school last week, and had told us about his horrific ordeal during the holocaust. And I was utmost touched and embraced him. I could see those fear he told us in his eyes. And some of us left the auditorium in tears. I recommend this to anyone, because there is a dark side of humanity we taken for granted, and people had suffered more than anyone who had to go through.

Incredibly unimagionable boy's triumph against odds
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Faber as he spoke at the middle school I attended when I was in 7th grade. He spoke to us about his experiences and encounters during the Holocaust that took part in Europe during WWII. Our history teacher read us "Because of Romek" as it was part of our curriculm. I have not been the same since. This is an incredible account of what he went through in keeping of his promise to his mother to stay alive. I would recommend this to a more mature audience being that it does have some parts that are somewhat rough to handle...or so were for myself but overall is an incredible read...as he takes you through his experiences. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. Faber, David    6. Historical - Holocaust    7. Holocaust    8. Jewish children in the Holocau    9. Jewish children in the Holocaust    10. Juvenile literature    11. Poland   

Editorial Review

Snow White's stepmother looks like a pussycat compared to the monster under which Adeline Yen Mah suffered. The author's memoir of life in mainland China and--after the 1949 revolution--Hong Kong is a gruesome chronicle of nonstop emotional abuse from her wealthy father and his beautiful, cruel second wife. Chinese proverbs scattered throughout the text pithily covey the traditional world view that prompted Adeline's subservience. Had she not escaped to America, where she experienced a fulfilling medical career and a happy marriage, her story would be unbearable; instead, it's grimly fascinating: Read more

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Reviews (320)

Falling leaves return to their roots.
Adeline Yen Mah was born in a well-placed, moneyed Chinese family prominent in the elite of Shanghai and later on in booming Hong Kong. Her mother died shortly after her birth, and she was always blamed for her death. Her father then married Niang, a beautiful Eurasian who is evil (particularly to Adeline), but nonetheless a formidable force in the Yen household.
Do some people just like abuse?
It is difficult to feel sorry for this woman.
Falling Leaves
This book was very interesting and a easy read. I love the fact that the author conveyed historic events. I would say that she could have went into to more details about her life with her second husband. How did the latter events affect her marriage and family? I would love to read about what has happened since the death of the stepmother. Good Book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. California    6. Childhood Memoir    7. Chinese Americans    8. Ethnic Cultures    9. Women    10. Women physicians    11. China    12. True stories of endurance & survival   

Subjects:  1. American Journalism    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood Memoir    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Literary    8. Literary Criticism    9. American history: from c 1900 -    10. Biography: general    11. Ohio    12. Places & peoples: general interest   

Reviews (7)

Vanity Published but Masquerading as Decent Literature
Wow.I don't even know what to sa