Reviews (1)

"It woke me nights, the bump of his chest upon the floor."

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Subjects:  1. Alcohol Abuse    2. Alcoholics    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Doberman pinscher    8. Dog owners    9. General    10. Literary    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Pets    13. Scotland    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (95)

Pick Fick
I'm not a Marine, but I feel like one.Fick's account is a compelling look into the training and deployment of the Corps.Extremely well written to the point where the book is a real world page-turner.
A Leader and A Writer
This is a very good read - a good story by a good writer(a Marine officer with a B.A. in classics). Based on his story and writing I'd follow this man, this officer into battle. This book should be considered a companion read of GENERATION KILL by Evan Wright. Mr. Wright was an embedded reporter with Captain Fick's Marines. Read both books, not just one or the other. BOTH.

A story every American man and woman should read.
Nathanial Fick's "One Bullet Away" is a book that everyone should read.I was very intrigued by the book and found myself feeling like I was right there with the platoon and Lt. Fick in Iraq.The book really helped me to understand the emotional conflicts that these warriors face when they are in battle and how difficult and terrifying their decisions can be....these Marines are so human!!Nathanial Fick does a phenomenal job of describing his experiences and really touches the reader by expressing the Marine Corps. values with his close platoon mates; honor, courage, and committment. The strength and beauty of their brotherhood and the loyalty in the platoon spoke loudly and was so impressionable. As I neard the end of the book, I did not want it to end because I felt like I had become a part of the platoon.I felt as if I was sharing all of these emotions with these men I have never even met.
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Subjects:  1. Afghan War, 2001-    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Iraq War, 2003-    6. Marine Corps    7. Military    8. Military - General    9. Military - Persian Gulf War    10. Military - United States    11. Military - Veterans    12. Military History (General)    13. Military Training    14. Officers    15. Personal Memoirs    16. Personal narratives, American    17. Training of    18. United States.    19. Biography & Autobiography / Military   

Editorial Review

In 1995 Gopnik was offered the plush assignment of writing the "Paris Journals" for the Read more

Reviews (132)

Love this book!
I wanted this book to go on forever.I found it to be a very comforting, curl up in front of the fire, listening to jazz kind of book.Maybe I relate to it because I have to boys and adore Paris, I don't know... but I really enjoyed it.
4.5 stars is a good read, as long as you are not expecting something it's not.
It's not an atmospheric travel memoir; it's not a memoir of youth (except in so far as a father relates to his young son); it's not "Almost French".
Beautiful writing, warm, personal narrative, intimate story telling
Contrary to many of the reviews provided for this book, I have cherished this book as one of my favorite books on France.I lived in Tokyo, Japan as an expat for five years and felt an immediate kindred spirit with the author.I found my own personal experiences to be not that different from his own and related to many of his experiences on a deep, personal level.His gift of prosaic writing is a rare and wonderful treat within the travel essay genre, and I was delighted to be invited in to such an intimate and personal account of life in Paris.While most travel essay books are written by amateur writers, offering shallow accounts of brief stays in foreign lands, this book combines the rare writing talents of Adam Gopnik along with a fascinating, intimate portrait of Paris, a city that offers so much but which reveals so little for most of us who don't have the time to absorb and observe and experience what he was able to enjoy and write about for the rest of us. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Customs & Traditions    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Europe - France    8. France    9. Gopnik, Adam    10. Homes and haunts    11. Paris    12. Paris (France)    13. Personal Memoirs    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (21)

Deeply moving and inspiring
I devoured this book. It had story after story that opened my eyes to possibility and brought me peace. Twist is wonderfully human as she writes about her journey that would humble the best of us. The book is very well written. It develops it's points skillfully. And it is a great read full of stories that lighten my spirit.

A beautiful, soulful, and unique book
This book causes one to think and look deeply into money as a true reflection of our state of being. So much more than a shallow "make a lot of money" book, or even a slightly shallow "manifest a lot of money" book, if you allow yourself to really reflect on Lynne Twist's words, they will bring you to reflect deeply on the mentaility of scarcity (that we can inhabit in any moment, no matter how much money we have), and the mentality of sufficiency (which, too, we can have no matter how much money is in our pockets).
The Soul of Money
Excellent book that talks about the model of sufficiency and not scarcity. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Conduct of life    5. Money    6. Motivational & Inspirational    7. Personal Finance - General    8. Personal Finance - Money Management    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Psychological aspects    11. Social Scientists & Psychologists    12. Mind, Body, Spirit    13. Personal finance   

Reviews (13)

More revelations
I just finished reading this book and it was a wakeup call for more than jsut the 911 families.After reading this and the roadblocks put in their paths to get this commission formed...then to read subsequently some fo the highlights from Bob Woodwards new book "In Denial", and the same Condaleeza Rice staffer who stonewalled and hid information about some briefings prior to 911 that he was involved in...really makes clearer the misinformation and coverup of this commission. Thank you Kristen for telling us your struggles and accomplishments in the wake of so much tragedy. Now if the rest of America will wake up and vote....and if we can ever get accountability back to answer all those 'unanswered' questions they would not even dignify with a response.
Her firsthand account of what she experienced is eye-opening.
I can feel her agony and frustration with the group on Capitol Hill.I am so glad that I took the time to read this book because Kristen Breitweiser gave a voice to so many of my feeling about our current political situations

Complacent Housewife. Activist Widow.
I believe Kristen Breitweiser's account of her life following 9/11 is very aptly named, "Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow." In this straightforward and easy-to-read book, she reveals not only who she is and where she came from, but also her focused and driven reasons for maintaining a position in the public eye. It hasn't been for fame, money or glory. It has been to get to the bottom of how and why the terrorist attacks on 9/11 happened and how to prevent them from happening again. Through raw pain and unspeakable grief caused by the murder of her husband, she shares her love story and her motives. One can't help but admire her for her courage, strength, intelligence, endurance, and most importantly, her honesty.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. New Jersey    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Personal narratives    8. Political    9. Political Terrorism    10. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001    11. Terrorism victims' families    12. Widows    13. Women    14. Women In The U.S.    15. 21st century    16. American history: postwar, from c 1945 -    17. Biography & Autobiography / General    18. Biography: historical    19. Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle    20. USA   

Reviews (12)

A delightful memoir
This was a book I hated to see end.The descriptions of Corfu, family members and residents of the island, and wildlife were lyrical and loving.The author was a keen observer of his environment and was able to share his observations vividly with the reader.His humorous anecdotes were of laugh-aloud variety.
A pleasant summer read!
My Family and Other Animals is about a ten-year-old boy named Gerald who moves to the sun-soaked island Corfu, Greece with his family to escape the dreary and gloomy climate in London. There, he encounters many different animals and people. I absolutely loved this book because it was really funny. There was a lot of action in this book. Durrell lovingly described each and every animal that he owned. He also told every detail of the settings, so I felt like I was really in Corfu!
My Family and Other Animals
Charming and delightful. A true story which made me want to pack and return to Corfu again. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Corfu Island    3. Corfu Island (Greece)    4. Description And Travel    5. Europe - Greece    6. General    7. Greece    8. Natural History    9. Nature    10. Nature/Ecology    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Travel - Foreign    13. Travel - General    14. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (15)

I Can't Do it Justice
This is a wonderful book, easy to read and will appeal to you no matter what your gender, age, race, color, creed...
Great family tale
Since I barely watch TV, I had no idea who Mike Leonard was.He works for NBC, and contributes to the Today show.I was really impressed with this first book.It has the main aspects I love in a good memoir, humor, self-effacing honesty, wit and history.Mike takes his eccentric parents, 80'ish, and three of his grown children on a motorhome trip across America.Oh, the stories you'll love in this one.
Pleasant reading, but a little pointless.
I think this book was a little too personal to be widely interesting to a large readership.The writing style was pretty good, and there are a lot of pretty funny incidents.But, in a way, it was easy to put it down and forget to pick it up again.I had to read it for my book club (and paid for the book!) or I probably would have set it aside and picked up something more compelling.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. Essays & Travelogues    8. Irish American families    9. Irish Americans    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Recreational vehicles    12. Travelers    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (104)

Confusing
Ann, an aspiring writer, knew of Lucy, an aspiring poet, when the two of them were students at the same college.Actually, everyone knew of Lucy.She was the one who'd had cancer as a child and whose chemotherapy treatments had left her with a severely disfigured face that continued to need surgery after surgery until the end of her life.
How to read this novel...
Reading through previous reviews, many people have pointed out: (a) Lucy was a selfish person (b)Ann must have had some problems to put up with it. What these people are missing is that in a true friendship, you have to accept the totality of the other person's character because your love for them necessitates it. This is one of my favorite books because it reminds me of my relationship with my best friend. We both have Lucy and Ann characteristics, and we both lend each other the splendor of our lives when the other needs it. Don't read the book as a moral/ethical novel, but as a window into a beautiful and fruitful friendship. Lucy and Ann may have respectively had a few problems, but who doesn't? It is the way that they connect the moments of life together in their writing that is important here.

Where are the Critical Details?
I read and reread this book.To be frank, it gave me the creeps.Ann and Lucy have a weird, co-dependent relationship.Ann is clearly obsessed with Lucy, an obsession that began when they lived together in graduate school. Even after they moved apart, the obsession continued.Ann and Lucy dated men, but the two women enjoyed a deep bond--a bond so deep that that Ann seemed "depressed" when they were apart--and Lucy fell into a series of promiscuous relationships with men.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Cancer (Psychosocial Aspects)    6. Disfigured persons    7. Ewing's sarcoma    8. Female friendship    9. Friendship    10. General    11. Patients    12. Personal Memoirs    13. United States    14. Women    15. Women In The U.S.    16. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

Cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during theGerman-Soviet partition of Poland and was sent to the Siberian Gulag along with other captivePoles, Finns, Ukranians, Czechs, Greeks, and even a few English, French, and Americanunfortunates who had been caught up in the fighting. A year later, he and six comrades fromvarious countries escaped from a labor camp in Yakutsk and made their way, on foot, thousands ofmiles south to British India, where Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army and fought against theGermans. Read more

Reviews (249)

never heard of the book
i read this based on a suggestion from a friend and just loved it. i cant believe i have never heard of it before. i think i put this book down once since i started reading it. this is a great survival story and you feel like you are with slavomir during his party's trek.

Against all odds...
There are many verifiable facts that seem too incredible to be true.Just one- a huricane striking Washington, D.C. shortly after the invasion of British forces during the War of 1812.The performance of American Forces was (excepting the Battle of Baltimore and the Battle of New Orleans) absolutely abismal.Had it not been for that huricane...who knows?
Alas!
I purchased this book in a National Park bookstore.Given its glowing reviews I plunged in and read it in just a few days.It's a stunning
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - General    5. Personal Memoirs    6. Rawicz, Slavomir    7. Biography & Autobiography / Historical    8. Biography: historical    9. European history: Second World War    10. Russia   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (143)

Great Idea, Poor Execution
In a nutshell, this book stinks.It's more about the trials and tribs of a 30-year-old in a dead-end job in New York than it is about Julia Child or cooking or food in general.And the whole book is larded with profanity which serves no purpose, except perhaps to bolster the author's hipster creds.But at the end of the read, where are we?Roughly the same place we started, except in need of a shower.Because of the book's great potential, I think it's fair to call the book a huge failure

Maybe it's a generational thing
Firstly, yes, if you're bound and determined to ride the Republican train into the ground, or if you're afraid of potty words, don't read this book.It could say stuff you don't like.Most the folks I know are real tired of that sort of holier-than-thou posturing.
Know what you're getting
Like many other readers, I thought this book was going to be about food. I don't do Julia Child-style gourmet cooking; it frustrates me more often than not, but I do like a good bit of food writing and this is not it. It's a memoir of sorts and a vent for the writer's self-absorbed angst. Not that most people don't have similar moments, but most people don't write about them either. The pettish slaps at Republicans(otherwise kind, intelligent people who still vote Republican? please) get old after about three such intervals and the frank discussion of friends' sex lives as well as her own-well, it's just not what I was looking for. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Cookery    7. Cookery, French    8. Cooking    9. Essays    10. General    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Powell, Julie    13. Women cooks   

Reviews (110)

Heartfelt
In reading "Life and Death in Shanghai," I gained great insight into life during Mao and the Cultural Revolution. This knowledge was coupled with emotional understanding for the people. Be careful when you read this book, you will want to read more about the life and times of the people of China, present and past.

Makes you realise how lucky you are
I lived in Shanghai for six years recently, and reading Nien Cheng's book after my return to Australia made several things clearer to me.It gave me some background as to the reticence of Chinese to speak directly about things, it made clear the way many older people love to talk in "n step solution" terms of "1, 2, 3" whenever addressing a problem, and it shed light on the "trust your family but not your neighbour" situation that is apparent over there.
honestly the best book i have ever read
This book I can honestly say is the best book I have ever read. It is so beautifully written you never want to stop reading it. The raw emotions it inspired in me shocked me. I was driven to tears at the descriptions of certain events and shouted with glee when hapinness came her way. This is definitely a must read for anyone. It was easier to follow having known and already understood the politics of the time, but anyone should read it. It is a life changing story and everyone should definitely read it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1915-    2. 1949-1976    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Cheng, Nien,    7. China    8. Cultural revolution, 1966-1976    9. General    10. History    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Personal narratives    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / Women    15. Cheng, Nien   

Reviews (22)

Irresistible
There may be something to the idea that interesting geography creates interesting lives.Young Catherine Gildiner certainly "hit the ground running" in her nascent life.A photograph preceding one of the chapters shows a precocious, Shirley Temple-ish girl in a cowboy outfit, a girl who was consuming life voraciously from the start.
Slow to start
It took a few chapters for me to fall in love with this book, but I finally did. I grew up in an area south of Lewiston closer to Buffalo during the same era, went to Catholic schools encountering the same types of nuns and priests, and today wonder how Ms. Gildiner managed to capture at all so well. She revealed to me whole parts of the sleepy, unsophisticated town of Lewiston that I never knew existed. My only question is however did the young Cathy manage to remember so much of a childhood that many of us had in those days? Her artistry leaves me bewildered by the fact that my similar experiences were lost through by faulty memory. I loved this book.

Too :Close to the Falls
One of the most charming books I've read.Thestory of innocence in an unconventional childhoodto to an awareness of the reality of life.Delightful memoir, but it's much more than just a memoir. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Childhood Memoir    3. General    4. History    5. History: American    6. United States - 20th Century    7. Women    8. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (54)

Loving Tribute
This book was exactly what I was looking for.A mixture of obscure RENT facts mixed with the personal life of Anthony Rapp.He is just as much an amazing writer as he is a gifted singer!I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know Anthony better.Also, this is a great book for anyone who has ever gone through the loss of a relative.Very, very highly recommended!

Please- may I have some more sir?Rent... that is.
I'm a fan of the show... not really a "renthead" but have seen it a few times (3 I think to be exact) over the past 10 years.I did see Anthony in the orignal cast (SRO) and the original west coast cast.. then again in NYC about 4 years ago. So.. I thinkI can say I like it... a lot.Anyone reading this review probably has a history with the show.. and a favorable one at that.I read Anthony's book and found him to be a credible author (I wonder if he received any assistance from his brother with the manuscript.. I don't see any acknolwedgement of such in the book). I didn't find the narrative to be smooth and enjoyed the interweaving of his past into this present but he never lost focus on the crux of his story - his relationship with a mother who was dieing way too soon.Added to that were snippets of his growing up, coming out, and Rent story. I wanted more of each of those... how he came to be this child actor... that seems to come out of nowhere but is somewhat extraordinary for a kid from Joliet don't you think.And.. I really wanted more about the evolution of Rent. He was there from the beginning.Where was the story of the evolution of the show?That said.. it's a good read for fans of the genre - musical theater, theater, coming of age and coming out stories and love and loss of a loved one.

Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent
What a fantastically written book ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Actors    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    8. Larson, Jonathan.    9. Literary    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Rapp, Anthony    12. Rent    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Reviews (2)

Hollywood's most famous vocal "Ghost" appears in the shimmering flesh!
Marni Nixon's was one of those famous people who fascinated me from the moment I heard her story of being the vocal "ghost" in three of Hollywood's most remarkable musicals.Her's is a story I was waiting to hear, and with this great book, it was worth the wait.
My Fair and Wonderful Lady
"I Could Have Sung All Night" by Marni Nixon is a wonderful, enjoyable autobiography of her life.Marni Nixon has dubbed singers Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady), Deborah Kerr (The King and I), and to my surprise Natalie Wood (West Side Story).Growing up with these movie musicals I knew about Marni Nixon's dubbing in "My Fair Lady", but when reading the chapter on "West Side Story" regarding the dubbing for Natalie Wood, I was surprised. When watching West Side Story, I really thought it was Natalie Wood doing her own singing!
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Composers & Musicians - General    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    6. Instruction & Study - Voice    7. Performing Arts (General)    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Vocal Music    10. Women    11. Biography: film, television & music   

Subjects:  1. 1965-    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - Rock    6. Diaries    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    8. Love, Courtney,    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Rock musicians    11. United States    12. Women    13. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Editorial Review

The language and form of this searing book are as powerful as the life experience that inspired them. In a series of essays that cohere into a spiritual autobiography, the author writes prose that's deceptively simple yet rich in metaphor. An wild horse living in the parking lot of a Navajo school becomes a symbol for living creatures' intrinsic wildness, tamed only at a terrible cost. "We are all runaway horses" is one constant refrain, as is the reminder "you are your history." The author's history is painful: born in 1950 the son of an alcoholic Native American woman and a white cowboy father who "would sell my mom to other migrant men for five dollars," Nasdijj grew up a "mongrel" and an outcast, contending with his violent father's demons while his mother beguiled them with Indian stories. Living on a reservation, never fully accepted because of his white skin, he adopted a baby boy with fetal alcohol syndrome who died at age 6. The book's most beautiful passages meditate on Tommy Nothing Fancy's short life and express his father's love. Nasdijj has been homeless, he has taught Indian children on a reservation, he has retraced with a historian friend the dreadful forced march to Bosque Redondo, where the Navajo and their culture were nearly exterminated. These and many other ordeals are related in the agonizingly lucid words of someone who has turned to writing as a lifeline. This remarkable memoir has its share of bitterness and anger, but Nasdijj transcends both in his acceptance of the world that made him and in the knowledge that "the reservation runs like blood through a river of my dreams." Read more

Reviews (30)

I give this book three stars knowing it is a fraud
This book has to be the worst and most sickening case of cultural apropriation in the history of the US.The fact that it was writen by a white man is further proof of the emperialist and colonialist mentality that still exists in this nation twords the Native American Community.However when I forst read this book Nasdijj was still a navajo within the eyes of the public.At the time the book mooved me deaply.Nasdijj's use if diction and the storytelling nature of his narative was beutifle.It made me want to learn more about the status and problems facing the Plains Indian community and work bring about change.That meens somthing to me and despite what I know now that initial responce when I first read this book stays with me to this day.I urge those who are going to critisize this book to read it first if you have not, and when you read it, do so with eyes un clouded by the trouth.

One Fraud Too Many
It's a shame that because of works like this, not to mention the Forrest Carter (Education of Little Tree) scandal a few years back, many unknown and undiscovered--but authentic--Native American writers will probably have to struggle that much harder to become published. Well-established American Indian authors are already naturally suspect of any newcomers on the scene; the sad fact is that for some reason Native American culture and identity is misappropriated by more misguided white writers--whatever their individual agendas might be--than any other race or ethnic group. The sad truth is that, for every Forrest Carter and Timothy Barris who manage to secure a publishing contract, there are dozens of truly deserving Native voices that are going unheard.And thanks to these imposters making the buying public- as well as agents and editors- increasingly suspicious of anyone claiming to be Native American-their chances to be read and heard are only going to diminish.

The Joke
To hold the power to move people with words regardless of the validity of those words is a very impressive art. With the exception of one specific actor, no one in history has made a powerful film about his or her own life. There is no reason to believe that written works shoud be treated differently from movies in this respect. Obviously this writer has realized that human deception is an important method of eliciting an emotional response from an audience. By reading the responses from readers prior to the false exposure of the true writer, it is clear that this man or woman is light years ahead of current authors when it comes to manipulating the human brain into believing a story, factual or not. With the increasing pace of desensitization of the mind in recent years, obviously new techniques must be made available to entertain an insatiable public. To say that this author's amazing work is only confined within the pages of the book is downwright ludicrous. Everything, including the monikor and real identity of "Timothy Barris" is part of a larger piece of fiction that may be even further exposed as time passes. After this "identity" was unearthed, opposite and even stronger emotional responses were elicited from readers, demonstrated in print on these very pages of Amazon.com. Is it not true that disgust and outrage are also emotions that sub-par authors struggle to touch in their works? "The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams" is such an example of a work of writing and deception that is capable of plucking each string of human emotion in such a way that has never been attempted before. There is a larger picture.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Ethnic Cultures - Native Americans    5. General    6. Parental Memoirs    7. Specific Groups - Special Needs    8. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (2)

A Moving Story of Obediance to God
Written with well-known author, Cecil Murphy, "Touchdown Alexander" is a moving story about trusting God and living in true obedience. No one can argue that Shaun Alexander is a great football player. But in the telling of his story, Shaun shows us that life doesn't need to revolve around career. He is a child of God first, a husband and father second, and the MVP for the Seattle Seahawks third. If your young men are looking for a God-honoring role model in NFL football, this would be a good place to start.
Obediance to God Isn't Just for the Little Guys
Written with well-known author, Cecil Murphy, "Touchdown Alexander" is a moving story about trusting God and living in true obedience.
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Subjects:  1. Alexander, Shaun    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Religious    8. Running backs (Football)    9. Sports - Football    10. Sports - General    11. United States    12. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (7)

Moving
This is a story of ultimate forgiveness told firsthand by Ernest Gordon.The things he and his fellow prisoners of war experienced are near incomprehensible....and out of such despair comes the forever life-changing love they experience through Christ, Who is the example they start to follow in showing similar self-sacrificing love and kindness to their neighbors - even to their enemies.
Not your typical POW story
While Earnest Gordon's story contains enough description of the atrocities inflicted on him and his fellow POW's by the hands of the Japanese in Southeast Asia during WW2, this does not read like your typical POW story. By typical, I mean a blow-by-blow account (literally at times) of the grueling, horrific experience of Allied soldiers during the war. Though there are passages of such description that aptly set the stage for the story, this book is more about the way in which Gordon and his fellow prisoners of war created the Kingdom of God in the hell of mankind.
fantastic story
Ernest Gordon's first-hand account of being a POW in WWII.Gordon, a Scottish soldier and later Presbyterian minister and Chaplain of Princeton University, was captured by a Japanese warship and placed on the crew that built the bridge over the river Kwai.The account is well written and interesting from a historical perspective, but also engaging from a spiritual one as Gordon tells about his own transformation while imprisoned, as well as that of his fellow prisoners.If you are interested in history and biography told through the eyes of faith, then this makes an excellent read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Burma-Siam Railroad    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Gordon, Ernest    6. Japan    7. Military    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Personal narratives, British    10. Prisoners and prisons, Japanes    11. Prisoners and prisons, Japanese    12. Prisoners of war    13. World War, 1939-1945    14. Christian Interest    15. English    16. Inspiration / Motivation / Biography & Autobiography    17. Religion / Christian Life    18. Transportation / Railroads / History    19. True stories: Second World War    20. WORLD WAR, 1939-1945_PERSONAL NARRATIVES, BRITISH    21. WORLD WAR, 1939-1945_PRISONERS AND PRISONS, JAPANESE    22. World history: Second World War   

Editorial Review

The condition of exile is an exaggeration of the process of change and loss that many people experience as they grow and mature, leaving behind the innocence of childhood. Eva Hoffman spent her early years in Cracow, among family friends who, like her parents, had escaped the Holocaust and were skeptical of the newly imposed Communist state. Hoffman's parents managed to immigrate to Canada in the 1950s, where Eva was old enough to feel like a stranger--bland food, a quieter life, and schoolmates who hardly knew where Poland was. Still, there were neighbors who knew something of Old World ways, and a piano teacher who was classically Middle European in his neurotic enthusiasm for music. Her true exile came in college in Texas, where she found herself among people who were frightened by and hostile to her foreignness. Later, at Harvard, Hoffman found herself initially alienated by her burgeoning intellectualism; her parents found it difficult to comprehend. Her sense of perpetual otherness was extended by encounters with childhood friends who had escaped Cracow to grow up in Israel, rather than Canada or the United States, and were preoccupied with soldiers, not scholars. Read more

Reviews (20)

a classic
I loved this book when it came out and I love it still many rereadings later. Thisportrait of the Wandering Jew as ayoung girl begins with Hoffman's childhood in Cracow, Poland just after the second world war; moves to Vancouver, British Columbia when she is thirteen; continues on to Texas and Massachusetts for her university years; and ends in New York, where she becomes a writer and an editor at the New York Times Book Review. It encompasses many themes: the defining power of language; the cost of changing cultures, the construction of personal identity, and the consequences, for many Jews, of the Nazi and Communist regimes. Hoffman was born in the summer of 1945. Like many Jews in post-war, Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe, the Hoffmans observed Passover and had home-baked challah, on shabbat but Eva was culturally Polish, reading Sienkiewicz's nationalistic novels, playing Chopin etudes, attending church with her friends, receiving gifts on St. Nicholas's Day. After emigration, she adapts to North American culture, first Canadian, then Texan, then New York. This is a memoir squarely in the Jewish immigrant tradition but one in which the immigrant is a graduate student at Harvard, and relates her situation not only to Mary Antin but to contexts laid out by Sartre and Nabokov, Jung and Freud. Lost in Translation contains stories and essays, phrases to ruminate on, ideas to consider. It is a demanding read that challenges its reader to consider her own autobiography, her own childhood, her own assumptions. Having compiled an internationalbibliography of Jewish women's non-fiction books with poet Irena Klepfisz (available on my website) , I can say this is one of my favorites.

Intriguing, brilliant read
As a senior Literature major, there are many things I am required to read that make my college experience rather painful. This book, however, was not only relevant to the class I was taking but was also the most intriguing book I have read in years, maybe ever. Eva Hoffman's memoir is beautifully written and constructed, and is a must-read for anyone who appreciates great literat