NDT

Boring

Revisado: 01-20-23

Can’t believe this story won any award, much less the Pulitzer Prize. The story was boring, the narration was boring, the book was a complete snooze. I had to make myself listen to 30 minutes a day to get through it. The base of the story is about a politician trying to take land from an Indian tribe and relocate the people to the city. There were several backstories going on - a girl being used as a sex slave, her sister’s journey trying to find the lost girl, the coming of age of the main character who is the sister of the lost girl. Maybe if I had read the book and not listened to it I would feel differently because the narration was awful!

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Like a radio broadcast

Revisado: 10-26-18

The narration of this book was very distracting. It sounded like a production of the story was performed for a radio show. The story was so slow and most predictable. Not one of Jane Austen's better books.

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Story too disjointed

Revisado: 10-26-18

Book was a story about 4 women - mothers or mother wannabes and their children.

Mia, the mother of Pearl, was a free spirited, artistic, and unrooted Mom. While the book tended to glorify her parenting style, it seems hard to believe that the average child would thrive with her vagabond life and family abandonment decisions.

Mrs. Richardson was the mother of 4 typical upper middle class children. She is shown to be a self-centered, small minded and manipulative mother. She used her skill as a reporter in an unethical and self-serving manner. The upper-middle class life style does not come across well in this book as all of her children suffer from some form of neurosis.

Bebe is the mother of a newborn whom she leaves on the steps of a fire station when raising the infant daughter becomes too overwhelming. Once she regains her footing she attempts to get the child back.

Mrs. McCullough is the woman whom adopts Bebe’s baby girl. Although it is clear that she desperately wants a child, she comes across as selfishly doing what she needs instead of considering the baby’s needs first.

The book explores issues of wealth vs poverty, race, teenage angst & romance, abortion, abandonment, infertility & adoption challenges and the list could go on and on. Therefore, the book has little depth as their are too many points the author seems to be trying to tackle leaving no one theme developed very thoroughly.

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Parallels - yesterday and today

Revisado: 10-05-18

Reading this fictional love story between Alexander and Eliza Hamilton you are given a great history lesson. It will make you recognize that change come slowly through the years as many attitudes remain the same. Human behavior is shown to be admirable and disappointing at once - then as now.

The book takes a look at the life of a politician from the point-of-view of his wife. Eliza Hamilton was a smart and very capable woman. She and Alexander shared a deep love and true admiration for one another. He constantly discussed his political views with her. She would review and edit his articles. He clearly loved and respected Eliza, however, Alexander often made decisions without corroborating with her. He chose to duel, buy property, and make career decisions without consulting her.

We see that the rules of society at this time allowed women little control over in their lives. In the mid-1800’s women were not given any rights or power to make decisions. They could not vote, own property or make decisions about their children. These were decisions for men to make during this time without any input from their spouse. Women have come a long way, but it is striking to read the attitudes of the “woman’s place” in the 1800’s and realize that many contemporary men and women still accept this point of view.

This book can be discussed from the “political” point of view, the “relationship’ point of view or the ‘women’s place in society” point of view. Politics remains an ugly business. It appears little has changed over the years in this arena with the exception of dueling which is no longer the accepted way to confront your enemy. Today politicians just use Twitter as the means for assassination. Men and women continue to struggle with marriage, family issues and faithfulness. Women are still fighting for a “voice” at home and in the outside world. Progress has been made even as many of the stereotypes and outdated beliefs continue to make change difficult.

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Blueprint for political success

Revisado: 09-29-18

If you ever doubted that politics is a dirty business this book will confirm your worst suspicion. The author details Lyndon B. Johnson’s duplicity, lying, underhanded “means to an end” of his aspiration - becoming President of the US - from his early days. In college he began honing the horrific skills which would later reward him the post for which he dreamed. Many times Johnson is referred to as a political genius. This book will make you wonder if that is a compliment or insult. If however, you are looking for the blueprint to a successful life in politics this book is a must read. Be prepared to learn how you must sacrifice all principles, friendships and the very soul you possess. It is very disheartening to read that this was, and most likely still is, the route to such a high and powerful honor in our American society. This book is very well researched and of interest from a historical narrative as well as the chronicle of Johnson’s beginnings. The narrator is excellent. There are more books in this series which continue to cover LBJ’s political career as the book covers Lyndon’s early life and ends in the 1940’s.

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Book Club Material

Revisado: 09-29-18

This is a tragic story of a black man, happily married and successful, who is wrongly accused and convicted of rape. The real drama, however, takes place after he is released from prison after the conviction gets overturned.

Roy and Celestial have been married for about a year and are thinking of finding a bigger house and starting a family. Roy has a good job and Celestial is doing well creating her artistic dolls. Their love for each other is strong. All of that falls to pieces when Roy is convicted of a crime of which he’s innocent. Separated by this unjust verdict, Celestial is finding it hard to hold on to a marriage that hadn’t yet had time to “take”. She compares their marriage to a tree that has had a limb of another tree grafted on to it but the graft hasn’t taken yet. In her loneliness, she turns more and more to Andre, her childhood friend. Will this separation between husband and wife completely sever their ties? How much is lost? What is the quality of that loss and how can a man be made whole again?

The author uses only letters between the characters once Roy is sentenced to prison. It underscores the separation and distance that has been imposed between these two. They’re each fighting their individual battles – Roy with the injustice of what has been done to him and all that he’s lost when he has tried so hard to do everything right and Celestial is dealing with a battle between responsibility and desire. The love story is heart wrenching. I tried to empathize with Celestial but she is an example of what I feel is wrong with marriage. Death do us part is a vow that is holy and before God but she was too weak to understand or commit to the vow.

This book is also about family, what makes a family, how do these ties bind you to the past and the present. The relationship of Roy Jr. and his stepfather, Roy, was such a warm example of loving. Then Roy Jr. was blessed with the love of his discovered, “biological” as he referred to Walter, his real father. I felt this meeting seemed very contrived but was useful in showing how love is expressed in very different ways by the author. More examples of family - strong and weak were all demonstrated by Olive (Roy’s mother), Carlos (Andre’s dad) and all of Celestial’s relatives who played a role in her life.

This book would make a good one for a book club discussion.

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Beach read

Revisado: 09-21-18

The story relates how Deacon Thorpe, a celebrity chef, owns a Nantucket beach house called American Paradise where he brings each wife and the child he has with each for summer vacations. The wives and children gather at the house after his death to hear Buck, his friend and attorney, tell about the will which turns out to leave each wife a 1/3 interest in the house which is about the be repossessed. This weekend gathering is much the “Big Chill’ scene with all the dirty laundry, animosity, and accusations one would expect from a gathering of women all married at some point to the same man. This was a 3-star beach read at best.

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Alert: new narrator!

Revisado: 07-28-18

So disappointed the Dewey narrator was changed from all the previous books. This is not a bad narrator, just not Dewey!! Why did they do it?? The book was also a very predictable one with no surprise factor. A bummer all around.

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Not my favorite narrator

Revisado: 06-22-17

The narrator made this book very tedious to listen to. The voices of younger people sounded like characters from a Scooby Doo cartoon. I thought the story was very convoluted and difficult to follow at times as well.

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Wine is a must with this whine

Revisado: 03-07-17

I hate whiny women. Although Jessi does her whine with humor it was still painful to hear. She also failed to mention the possibility of paralysis complication from epidural, something 2 of my friends have experienced. One still using a walker 5 years after the birth of her child.

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