Book Description
Brigitte Gabriel lost her childhood to militant Islam. In 1975 she was ten years old and living in Southern Lebanon when militant Muslims from throughout the Middle East poured into her country and declared jihad against the Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was the only Christian influenced country in the Middle East, and the Lebanese Civil War was the first front in what has become the worldwide jihad of fundamentalist Islam against non-Muslim peoples. For seven years, Brigitte and her parents lived in an underground bomb shelter. They had no running water or electricity and very little food; at times they were reduced to boiling grass to survive.
Because They Hate is a political wake-up call told through a very personal memoir frame. Brigitte warns that the US is threatened by fundamentalist Islamic theology in the same way Lebanon was— radical Islam will stop at nothing short of domination of all non-Muslim countries. Gabriel saw this mission start in Lebanon, and she refuses to stand silently by while it happens here. Gabriel sees in the West a lack of understanding and a blatant ignorance of the ways and thinking of the Middle East. She also points out mistakes the West has made in consistently underestimating the single-mindedness with which fundamentalist Islam has pursued its goals over the past thirty years.
Fiercely articulate and passionately committed, Gabriel tells her own story as well as outlines the history, social movements, and religious divisions that have led to this critical historical conflict.
Customer Reviews:
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America .......2007-10-07
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America
thanks for sending this product so quickly...
Incredibly Riveting and Informative.......2007-10-04
A must read for every American. For the first time, someone is brave enough to stand up and tell it like it is concerning the threat against our nation from Islamic extremists. She puts her very life on the line to get the message out to her adopted country, which she loves with all her heart. Every naturally born American citizen should be ashamed that they don't have the same devotion for this great country in which we live.
A wonderful book that shows how radicals work........2007-10-03
This book is a wonderful account by Brigitte Gabriel, of what happened to her beloved homeland. She shows the way she remembered Lebanon before it became a bed of turmoil and death. She allows the reader to not only understand how radical Muslims and groups like the PLO, Islamic Brotherhood and Hamas operate but why they do so. She explains the tactics used by Muslims groups to use the freedoms of a society to begin a take over. She shows how they used the political system and the horrific tactics used to cause distrust and dislike among the Christians in Lebanon and the Jewish people. This is a wonderful book and a wise word of warning about the deception and lies that some will tell in order to gain control. All to force Islamic laws, and their way of life on a once free people. I think everyone should read this woman's story of courage, and understand why she fears that one day the same thing could happen here in America. This is one book that will teach you, entertain you, and even show you how the Muslims work through lies and murder and even a nations own legal system to gain sole power and control. I wish every American would read this book, there is some very useful knowledge that can be gained from this book.
An important perspective.......2007-10-03
I knew nothing of the destruction of Lebanon before I read Ms. Gabriel's book, after years of seeing news reports that were so "balanced" that they glossed over the widespread Arab (and Palestinian, and perhaps Persian) desire for the eradication of Israel. Call me an ignoramus, but mainstream media was the cause, not the cure, of my ignorance.
The so very human scenes in the hospital I think point to the core of the issue with radical Islam: compassion and cultural evolution, versus centuries-old resentment and inferiority and hate.
An important book, if a bit strident for well-fed suburban Americans (a category in which I include myself). That said, a truly moving and informative read.
Real, clear and without fear analysis of the historical, current and future directions of the effect of the Islamic religion .......2007-09-29
It is a "Must to read" book for everyone (all religions). This books not only tells the story of a young Christian girl that survived Lebanon civil war, but also layout a real, clear and without fear analysis of the historical, current and future directions of the effect of the Islamic religion on the world.
Further more, Brigitte Gabriel (the author) lists preventive and recovery actions that we, the western world can take and start doing to stand against this madness.
I personally share many of the ideas in the book and I see how some western courtiers in Europe, as France, already all into the Islamic spin and I hope that USA will take the right actions to stand against the Islamic evil and tactics and win this war.
Furthermore, it become clear to me that the current foundations of every democracy must be based on one religion (which can be separated from the state), but a democratic state must characterize itself by one religion by law.
It will prevent situations of takeover of France or England by the Muslims and set the expectations of new immigrants that do not share the major fate.
Book Description
As charming performers who skillfully reflect their parents expectations, far too many children grow into adults driven to greater and greater achievements by an underlying sense of worthlessness. Never allowed to express their true feelings, and having lost touch with their true selves, they act out their repressed feelings with episodes of depression and compulsive behavior. They in turn inflict the same legacy of repression on their own children.
This poignant and thought-provoking book shows how narcissistic parents form and deform the lives of their children. The Drama of the Gifted Child is the first step toward helping readers reclaim their lives by discovering their own needs and their own truth.
Customer Reviews:
4 Stars--for earlier version.......2007-10-07
Interesting range of views here. First of all, this version of the book is a significanly revised version of the book originally entitled "Prisoners of Childhood." I, for one, think Alice Miller changed the book for the worse.
The original book describes sensitivity of "gifted" children who resonate with the emotional/psychological energy of their neurotic (or worse) parents and don't have the developmental capibility to cope appropriately. And yes, the book is primarily about narcissism.
The new version, however, became about all "abused" children, which inflated--and devalued--the dynamics of which I felt she had described more effectively in the earlier version. I wonder if the revision was so she could get on the "co-dependence" bandwagon of the 90's--and sell more books!! (but then, that's my cynical side...)
This book profoundly "resonated" with me when I first read it in the earlier version--and I think still has relevance in that version. I do not, like some reviewers here, think that Miller was primarily advocating blame (of mothers, primarily); if anything, she was stressing personal responsibility to cease to be a "prisoner of childhood" but through honest exploration that childhood--which is probably the most difficult and painful process a person can go throug. To continually blame without getting past it, as I think Miller would concurr, never accomplishes anything--one is still a prisoner.
This book is (was) a skillful proponent of psychoanalytic theory and practice--and like another reviewer, changed my life in leading me in a direction that has shown to be remarkably productive.
A Quest to Find Your True Self.......2007-09-11
This book is amazing. It takes a serious look at the damage that can be inflicted as a child by narcissistic parents and how it plays out in adulthood. This book encourages one to be set free from the subconscious effects of childhood neglect. This book has been very helpful for me to grow and change after being raised in an abusive home.
Gifted?.......2007-09-11
I picked up this book expecting it to truly be about children with an incredible gift, who also carry the burden of always having to be excellent at it, because that's what they expect of themselves. The gift, if it becomes public, is an enormous burden. Instead I found another book written in the genre of the 80's, claiming that all of one's current problems are the direct result of the horror inflicted on them by evil or ignorant parenting skills. Maybe we would all be better off as a society, except in the cases of horrible neglect and/or abuse, to realize and understand that our parents were human beings, with good intentions, who also made some mistakes along the way. It's always funny to me that authors forget to look at the siblings in the family. How can a good family raise several healthy happy children, and then be condemned because one of the children is unhappy? Perhaps it is the window that child was born with, that makes them view things differently. That being said, I still would like to find a book about the pain of being born with an incredible gift, so I could understand what my daughter was going through.
Wonderful Book when reseraching the dynamics of Narcissist families.......2007-06-22
Alice Miller's Drama of the Gifted Child is a wonderful book a must read for parents and teachers alike! This book was suggested as an informational work for those interested in the dynamics within Narcissistic families. The book touches on many important aspects of childhood and how our families either encourage or discourage the development of a true inner self. It presents personal accounts and theories about how the experiences of childhood shape our ideas and beliefs about the world. As a parent and teacher this book both concerned and inspired me. I read it in conjunction with the Narcissistic Family by the Pressmans. These two books have a very similar message: the importance of learning from the unhealthy and hurtful experiences of childhood and how to overcome these experiences. In addition creating awareness about not passing on our own negative childhood experiences to our children. A must read for anyone interested in coming to grips with the trauma's suffered by children in our world. Miller's work is a guide book on what can be done to work through repressed emotions and liberate one's true self.
insightful thou i haven't quite made out the title?!.......2007-04-03
i wrote a note on the cover page which reads: "this is a very sad book. and very necessary to read BEFORE one has children. unfortunately too late for me :((".
and this is how i felt (and still feel) after having read it (just finished it at 2 am this morning).
the premise of the book is that what we are not aware of, rules (destroys) our lives.
the trauma of being mistreated, manipulated, ridiculed or just ignored in the first days / years of our lives by adults we depended on for our existence gets stored in our bodies and it conditions us not only to neurosis, but also to taking it out on the first available weaker person -usually our children.
it also claims that thanks to the way we are brought up and "loved" by our (own screwed up and wounded) caretakers conditionally, for what we do and how we behave and not for who we are (for the fact we exist), we tend to deny parts of ourselves that the caretakers wish to expunge. we mould ourselves according to what we think they want, and lose ourselves in the process.
as adults, we keep carrying the feeling of inadeqacy and unworthiness and experience it as depression or grandiosity (in which no achievement really is enough for us to start valuing ourselves so we keep pushing for more, just to keep the depression and worthlessness at bay).
some children, on the other hand, "kill" their own emotions and feelings, in order to keep their caretaker's love.
in all cases children take the "blame and shame" for their "inadequacies" and idealize the parents or caretakers who inflicted the wounds.
at times, reading this book, i would remember the fact that i too remember nothing of my childhood, except that it was "idilic". or was it? repression of memories and feelings can go straight into almost complete amnesia.
i also thought of a few people i know, whose parents are strict and cold, who display very little emotion, but go thru life sucking love out of other people only to discard them when they get it.
i would remember how i sometimes lash out at my son, like his being a child is a crime.. the same way i was loved for my achievements, i sometimes get demanding on him and show discontent when he does not comply.
i thought of my son's difficult birth and 6 days in ER, without me, all alone. and i want to scream :(
this book hit me like a hammer.
i hope i read it on time. everyone should do the same, if not for their own sake, then for sake of their innocent children.
oh, and one more thing: sentences are so damn long and sometimes barely comprehensible. the translation could have been done more in the spirit of english language.
Amazon.com
Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale.
Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs.
The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences. --Gisele Toueg
Book Description
Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone is in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father, Daniel's life -- a straight-A student; a pretty, popular freshman in high school; a girl who's always seen her father as a hero. That is, until her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. Suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. Could the boyfriend who once made Trixie wild with happiness have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make Daniel, a seemingly mild-mannered comic book artist with a secret tumultuous past he has hidden even from his family, venture to hell and back to protect his daughter.
With The Tenth Circle, Jodi Picoult offers her most powerful chronicle yet as she explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime -- or if your mistakes are carried forever.
Download Description
Jodi Picoult, the New York Times bestselling author of Vanishing Acts, offers her most powerful chronicle yet of an American family with a story that probes the unbreakable bond between parent and child -- and the dangerous repercussions of trying to play the hero. Trixie Stone is fourteen years old and in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father's life -- a straight-A student; a freshman in high school who is pretty and popular; a girl who's always looked up to Daniel Stone as a hero. Until, that is, her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence. . . and suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. The Tenth Circle looks at that delicate moment when a child learns that her parents don't know all of the answers and when being a good parent means letting go of your child. It asks whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime or if your mistakes are carried forever -- if life is, as in any good comic book, a struggle to control good and evil, or if good and evil control you.
Customer Reviews:
I'm Glad I Discovered Jodi Picoult.......2007-10-04
So, Jodi has written a ton of books, and I finally got around to reading one... I picked up The Tenth Circle when Amazon recommended it because I liked "We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates. Plus the Dante reference really piqued my curiosity. While it dealt with a violent crime and the enduring repercussions (topics Oates often tackles), it was a completely different story and occurred a generation later than Mulvaneys. It was a rollercoaster of emotions that never stalled. The additional graphic novel illustrations were a great supplement. I look forward to reading more of Jodi's books and enjoying her great narrative style.
Unrealistic Characters.......2007-08-30
I have read two books by Jodi Picoult, The Tenth Circle and Nineteen Minutes, and I don't plan to read any more of them. In both books, the characters seem exaggerated to the point of being caricatures. They're just not believable as real people. Also, in both books, there is a plot twist at the end which I found completely out-of-character and unrealistic, with very little explanation given by the author.
Bit Too Melodramatic For My Tastes.......2007-08-29
This is hard for me because as much as I loathed certain aspects of this book, I couldn't put it down. Despite my best efforts, I got sucked in and had to know what happened next. That says something, doesn't it?
Okay, the premise ... turn on Lifetime or an after school special and you'll get the same kind of story. I won't spoil anything about the book, but Picoult managed to throw in every possible trauma a family could go through in an amazingly short span and then make sure we learned our lessons by practically beating us over the head. But, perhaps such escalation of eccentric plot devices was the point. The mother of her main character is a specialist in Dante's Inferno, and so part of me wonders if this story is supposed to mirror the nine levels of hell, but if so, I think it was done rather melodramatically.
One interesting tool used in this book, however, is actual comic book pages "drawn" by the main character's father who is a renowned comic book artist. Shocker, the comic book is called The Tenth Circle as well. At the end of each chapter are components that make up a larger comic book, which parallel the actual story and play off of Dante's Inferno. I'll admit, Picoult had some impressive concepts going in this book; I simply didn't care for her style of execution.
Listen, I know a lot of people really like this book and love Jodi Picoult, and I can't deny the fact that I could not stop reading. I slapped my forehead the whole way through as the plot got more and more outlandish, but I couldn't stop reading. If an author can keep you going even when you don't want to, they're obviously doing something right.
If you're into Picoult, you'll probably dig this. As for me, as good as she was at hooking me, this'll probably be the last book of hers I read. Just a tad too heavy on the family drama and forced "life lessons" for my tastes.
Not great.......2007-08-27
This novel sounds promising, but there were too many things going on with not enough explanation or reasoning - it was hard to be sympathetic to the 14 year old daughter - or to the mother, both of whom made terrible choices - and neither really faced up to the consequences personally (the mother, clearly, had to pay some dues for her crime) - but I didn't feel the characters grew over the course of the book, with the exception of Daniel, and frankly, I didn't believe in his angst. Overall, disappointing.
Love this author, but not this book.......2007-08-25
I've read most of Jodi Picoult's books, and truly appreciate her mastery of characterization. In this one, however, I feel that there was just too much going on. The premise was promising, and the storyline started out to be very engrossing. I found the whole parallel of Dante's circles of hell with what the father was going through to be very clever and interesting. I thought the concept of using cartoons (since the father was a comic artist) interspersed throughout the book was fresh and new. But overall, there was something missing, a link that would somehow pull it all together. Even though the characters were complex and had intriguing backgrounds, I just couldn't connect with any of them, especially Trixie, who was at the heart of the story. Maybe if I could have felt some sympathy for her, there would have been that emotional attachment to a character to help, but instead I felt nothing. Overall, the story seemed too long and drawn-out and then abruptly came to an unsatisfying end. When I turned the last page, I was left with this empty, unsettled feeling. I realize that I'm not going to love every book by a certain author. I commend Picoult for tackling a very difficult and sensitive subject matter, but this definitely was not one of my favorites.
Average customer rating:
- Entertaining, Quick, Suspenseful Read of the Summer
- Beach House - Not my favorite by a long shot
- Great Book!
- BY James Patterson & Peter De Jonge?
- Hard to believe its a Patterson book!
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The Beach House
James Patterson , and
Peter De Jonge
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ASIN: 0316969680
Release Date: 2002-06-10 |
Amazon.com
James Patterson and Peter de Jonge's The Beach House opens with the death of a handsome townie on Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons, where being a single-digit millionaire is laughable and being poor is unthinkable. Peter Mullen is a high school dropout who parks cars at the private bashes of the superwealthy Barry and Campion Neubauer. When Peter is found dead on the beach, the Neubauers and their friends insist that he drowned, but his brother Jack, a law student who saw Peter's body, knows he was beaten to death. As Jack uncovers evidence of his brother's secret life, he begins to realize that the very rich are indeed different from the rest of us. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and Jack's patiently plotted payback for Peter's death is one that the Hamptons will not soon forget.
There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintage Patterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian, and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Patterson and de Jonge previously coauthored the inspirational golf romance Miracle on the 17th Green, but this new game of money, mayhem, and murder clearly suits them to a tee. --Barrie Trinkle
Book Description
James Patterson and Peter de Jonge's The Beach House opens with the death of a handsome townie on Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons, where being a single-digit millionaire is laughable and being poor is unthinkable.Peter Mullen is a high school dropout who parks cars at the private bashes of the superwealthy Barry and Campion Neubauer. When Peter is found dead on the beach, the Neubauers and their friends insist that he drowned, but his brother Jack, a law student who saw Peter's body, knows he was beaten to death. As Jack uncovers evidence of his brother's secret life, he begins to realize that the very rich are indeed different from the rest of us. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and Jack's patiently plotted payback for Peter's death is one that the Hamptons will not soon forget. There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintagePatterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian,and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Patterson andde Jonge previously coauthored the inspirational golf romance Miracle on the 17th Green, butthis new game of money, mayhem, and murder clearly suits them to a tee.--Barrie Trinkle
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining, Quick, Suspenseful Read of the Summer.......2007-07-27
I could not put this book down. I especially enjoyed Patterson's reference to real life scenarios and applaud his accounts in multicultural writings and versatility from music references to basketball. The book will keep you on your toes. I wish there could have been a better ending as I really liked 'Tom'. Definitely recommend it especially for the not so serious reader, like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it and you will too.
Beach House - Not my favorite by a long shot.......2007-07-19
I just never got into this book. I'm an avid fan of James Patterson's books... I've purchased so many at airports across the country it is almost comical.
But this one never really drew my in like most others. There just wasn't enough depth to any of the characters and their relationships to each other were missing something. And the ending just did not make sense. I didn't feel there were enough clues to lead me to say "aha" at the end.
Short story - I was disappointed. I won't quit reading... just disappointed in this yarn.
Great Book!.......2007-07-11
I loved this book! I read it in a day and a half, couldnt put it down. Loved the plot-people taking the law into their own hands. highly recommend!
BY James Patterson & Peter De Jonge?.......2007-06-14
I think Patterson could have done without the help. I like Patterson's style and move-along plots. This plot however, with the autopsy on Peter's body getting passed off as a drowning-suicide, was a disappointment. The rich buy the courts, but not with the kinds of evidence the coroner presented. The ending really frosts the cake when they have their "Kangaroo Court" in the abandoned Beach house over a two-day span. Since it wasn't terrible, I can only give three stars.
J. P. Landry, author of Hazard 666
Hard to believe its a Patterson book!.......2007-06-10
What a waste of time spending that much time, then to have an ending that doesn't make sense at all!! Feel that I wasted my time and money on this one. After recently readingJudge and Jury , hard to believe its written by same person. If you want a good one, pick up Judge & Jury.
Book Description
The Courage to Heal is an inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and encouragement to every woman who, was sexually abused as a child -- and those who care about her. Although the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and severe, healing is possible. The authors weave personal experience with professional knowledge to show the reader how she can come to terms with her past while moving powerfully into the future. They provide clear explanations, practical suggestions, a map of the healing journey, and many moving first-person examples of the recovery process drawn from their interviews with hundreds of survivors.
Definitive in scope, The Courage to Heal speaks directly to the survivor in a warm and personal way:
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TAKING STOCK -- outlines the effects of child sexual abuse and the ways women cope over time.
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THE HEALING PROCESS -- explores each stage from the decision to heal and remembering through breaking silence, knowing it wasn't your fault, nurturing the inner child, and grief and anger, to resolution and moving on.
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CHANGING PATTERNS -- offers in-depth guidance for shifting self-defeating patterns in specific areas of one's present life, including self-esteem, feelings, intimacy, sexuality, and dealing with families.
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SUPPORTERS OF SURVIVORS -- provides insight and strategies for partners of survivors, family members, and counselors.
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COURAGEOUS WOMEN -- profiles survivors who share the challenges and triumphs of their own healing journeys.
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HONORING THE TRUTH -- a substantial new Afterword that refutes the "false memory" argument and presents a thorough and enlightening response to the backlash.
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RESOURCE GUIDE -- fully updated for this edition -- informs readers about therapy, healing activities, recommended reading, support groups, self-help programs, and services and organizations.
Customer Reviews:
self healing.......2007-10-08
This book has given me the courage to heal. It along with my therapy has help me overcome my past.
Help for the hopeless.......2007-09-16
I used this book in conjunction with a counselor, which I highly suggest. I recently bought this for my sister-in-law. I hope that she gets as much use out of it as I did. I didn't realize that the flashbacks and nightmares could stop, and that when they did, my whole life would improve. What a difference!
If I could give 0 stars, I would.......2007-09-12
Frightening. Don't give others this kind of power over your thoughts or feelings. Don't trust any therapist that recommends this book, especially if he/she claims that even though you don't remember being abused, you must have been because you are depressed, having trouble in a relationship, etc. The authors have no qualifications whatsoever to diagnose you or to give advice on how to heal anything. Their methods discourage healing -- how can you heal a relationship if you cut the person off and refuse to speak with them merely because they have a hard time believing that abuse occurred? It's in human nature and in our system of justice to be skeptical, to demand proof before believing abuse happened that we never witnessed.
These authors and their publisher ought to be sued for the damages they have caused to countless patients, families and falsely accused on the basis of "recovered memories." Recovered memories have been proven unreliable at best, and it has been proven time and time again that memories can be fabricated by means of suggestion, hypnosis, etc. In addition, therapy that results in "recovered memories" has been shown to cause an increase in the suicide rates of those patients, increased duration of treatment, decreased success rates in treatment, increased divorce rates among patients, alienated family and friends. How is any of that healthy?
This book and related "recovered memory" therapy is all about mining for gold among patients' insurance benefits by keeping them messed up as long as possible. Don't be fooled -- there is a serious conflict of interest at play when a therapist suggests that your common problems, often effectively dealt with by discussing healthy thought and behavior modifications in short-term treatment are caused by some sinister event that you can't remember, and that will take 3 sessions a week for 7 years at $120 a visit to uncover them and "cure" you (or whatever your health insurance will pony up for).
Before you buy this book, Google "recovered memory therapy" "false memory syndrome" and read the articles written by scientists and psychiatrists that know that recovered memory therapy is "bad therapy". This book has contributed to countless destroyed lives and families, so you should be aware of the risks of reading it before you do.
A Must-Have for Women Survivors.......2007-07-17
The Courage to Heal is not an easy read. It doesn't sugarcoat, nor does it shy away from the most difficult aspects of being an abuse survivor. However, it's been an invaluable tool in many a woman's recovery, including my own. Later editions are not gender-specific, but I found this one to be particularly helpful to me because it was geared towards women, and that helped me feel "safer" somehow. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
a very good place to start.......2007-07-16
I read this book a very long time ago. is there more written now? yes. Are there more deep and perhaps stronger texts out there for folks really wanting to wretch thru it all. Yes.
Are you just getting started on your journey and need the basics while protecting yourself from completely falling apart? What is a flashback? what is happening to me? the first questions you ask. This book has been the "bible of CSA" for many years and probably will be the "bible" for years to come. It will always have it's place amoung those just beginning to "gently" begin to understand what has happened to them.
Really, the best place to start...then get the "spouses/significant other" version, read it also, maybe underline the parts that really speak to you and have your partner read it when you and they are ready. it can open many doors for understanding without you having to find the words. I really don't believe in re-inventing the healing wheel. It there is something out there that makes any of this easier for you...go for it.
BA
Book Description
In this groundbreaking companion to The Courage to Heal, Laura Davis offers an inspiring, in-depth workbook that speaks to all women and men healing from the effects of child sexual abuse. The combination of checklists, writing and art Projects, open-ended questions and activities expertly guides the survivor through the healing process.
- Survival Skills -- Teaches survivors to create a safe, supportive environment, ask for help, deal with crisis periods, and choose therapy.
- Aspects Of Healing -- Focuses on the healing process: gaining a capacity for hope, breaking silence, letting go of shame, turning anger into action, planning a confrontation, preparing for family contact, and affirming personal progress.
- Guidelines For Healing Sexually -- Redefines the concept of "safe sex" and establishes healthy ground rules for sexual contact.
Customer Reviews:
A Must if you were sexually abused.......2007-07-26
This book is a true gift - to me and to anyone that was abused in any way, not just sexually.
A workbook for a journey.......2007-01-19
This workbook is paperback and has lots of room for notes and comments. Well construsted and felxable for use as a workbook. For any survivor this is a very needful journey. This book and its author has gathered the tools that many have but don't know how to use and helps us understand what to do and how to do it. I have greatly benefitted from this. It is a book well recieved by my therapist. For all survivors and their partners and families this is a book that gives hope, understanding and reassurance. Well worth it.
Workbook is my Guide to Healing.......2006-07-01
Just as The Courage to Heal was my Bible in helping me get through the crisis stage of sexual abuse revisited, helping me to decipher what it was I was feeling, and that it was perfectly normal, probably more normal than anything in my life ever had been, and letting me know what I may be going through next, and how people might react to me, ect.....This Courage to Heal Workbook is my homework in learning to become the person I should have started out as. I do a chapter a day, but you can do it a chapter a week, or at your own pace. Pre-reading The Courage to Heal is not necessary, either. It's all self-explanatory. Encourages one to give lots of deep thought to differing topics and to answer honestly and in depth. I strongly recommend this workbook to anyone struggling to heal the wounds of childhood sexual abuse. It allows you to get to know the real you inside all of the protective layers that have been unconsciencously piled on over the years....not who you want people to know, but who you really are, and who you were really meant to be. A bright shining star!
This book is hard work but good.......2006-06-01
I am not sure why people whose lives are being "ruined" or hurt by "unfounded" repressed memories are being so hard on the authors of this book. Sounds like the psychiatric professionals that their loved one or they themselves are seeing need to be held to task for the "bringing forth the memories" problem - not the authors of this book.
I WAS sexually abused by my father and stepbrother and remember every last memory that was made over a span of 7 years. Courage to Heal HAS helped me with it and has helped me work on the issues that I thought confrontation of my abusers would heal immediately. Yea right.
I don't think anyone should use this book without the consultations of a counselor or therapist and getting help from them while going through it. Self diagnosis is and can be dangerous. I think, however, it is a good book to help a person work through the issues that surround actual abuses.
Be your own therapist.......2006-03-20
It is a great compliment to the textbook 'Courage to Heal'. As much as we trust (or should trust) our therapists, some things will always be left unsaid. Allow this book to fill in the gaps. When I write about what upsets me, I feel somewhat relieved. This is a difficult book to work with, it will change your world forever, and it will change for the better. Once you get to the point of no return, hopefully, like me, you will feel that something inside of you just let go. It is OK to be angry, it is OK to cry, it is OK to fight back. Remember: long after your abuser is out of your life, he or she still controls you through the memories. This book guides you through all the hard work you have to do to control those memories and have a happy life.
Book Description
With the publication of her first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty. Richard Wright praised Carson McCullers for her ability "to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white and black humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness." She writes "with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming," said the NEW YORK TIMES. McCullers became an overnight literary sensation, but her novel has endured, just as timely and powerful today as when it was first published. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, endearing best.
Customer Reviews:
The Quiet Man. .......2007-09-27
An outstanding and realistic examination of the human condition. It's an indirect examination ("thoughts that wound from behind" as the great philosopher/storyteller Soren Kierkegaard put it) and that's what makes it so effective.
Everyone is so caught up in their own problems and acting out their desires that nobody notices the quiet suffering of the saintly central character. When he exits his void is felt yet no one can fathom the reasons for his disappearances. Maybe Jean Calvin was/is right about that thorough-corruption doctrine.
Carson McCullers sounds Kierkegaardian in showing the limits of organized religion and social action. The men of purposeful action (street preacher Simms, vagabond Jake Blount, and house-calling Doctor Copeland end up estranged, embittered, and feeling a lack of accomplishment. Meanwhile, the non-formalists (John Singer, Mick Kelly, and Biff Brannon) are better-adjusted and seem to have done more for the world. McCullers doesn't forget the "middle path" either by giving us Portia Copeland, a decent and generous church-goer who talks a little too much.
Our author echoes the sentiments of fellow Southerner William Faulkner on the civil rights issue. Both McCullers and Faulkner despaired at the suffering of blacks under Jim Crow but were wise enough to know the situation could not be legislated away (after all Jim Crow was a creation of government too.) Racism is a human failing to see The Other as a fellow child of G-d. It's an animalistic impulse, as Rabbi Daniel Lapin (a teacher of mine) rightly points out. Trying to speed the undoing of this impulse through legislation and protest marches, while not completely unhelpful, risks bloodshed. Having the faith/attributes of Biff (who runs a restaurant/hospitality center in the spirit of Biblical patriarch Abraham, the father of faith), Mick and Singer makes peaceful change possible in time.
Doctor Copeland and Jake Blount foreshadow the professional protestors of our era. Their enjoyment in physical confrontations tells us a good bit about the psyche of poverty pimps and union thugs.
Singer's life shows the truth of what another of my teachers (the saintly Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT"L) once said -- "It is the quiet man that is respected." The public activist hero portrayed in Hollywood and TV news misleads many into thinking that they must pour forth a constant stream of verbiage to make an impact and promote "understanding." Rabbi Miller and other sages know better -- Most talking is counterproductive.
McCullers (who was 23 at the time "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" was published) proves herself the Great American Prophetess of the Great American Loneliness. Widespread ambivalence and inarticulateness amid the Information Age and cell-phone-driven communications "revolution" wouldn't have surprised Carson McCullers.
To close, here's a gem -- "He (Biff) had known his loves and they were over. Alice, Madeline, and Gyp. Finished. Leaving him either better or worse. Which? However you looked at it."
Character study, not a story.......2007-09-13
I read tons of "pulp" novels and I've started adding some classics to my wish list--largely to see if the books I abhored in high school would be more enjoyable if they were not assigned reading. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was no better now.
As a character study it is superb; the main characters are deep, believable, and unique. I understood the characters, or at least why they didn't understand themselves. Each chapter with Mr. Singer made me smile with anticipation while I waited for something magical to happen to make the characters happy.
That was the problem with the book. Each chapter barely moves the story forward, and in the end nothing happens. There is so much potential for characters to talk and understand and change, but it never happens and the potential hangs over the entire book like a cloud. The book simply ends. No character is better off than they were in the beginning, no character's life path is appreciably changed from those of their next door neighbors. In short, with the exception of Mr. Singer, there was no reason to write about these characters in terms of their participation in events that are worth writing about.
The book was not a labor to get through, but I was largely unsatisfied with the resolution. I don't need a happy ending, but atleast give me a sense that the previous 200 pages somewhat affected that ending.
No thrilling page-turner, but a deep, honest look into the heart of man!.......2007-09-09
It's no fast-paced thriller, nor is it a gripping page-turner, it is however, an incredibly deep look into the heart and soul of man. Not until you finish the very last page and reflect on what you have read, can you truly begin to understand the simple truth behind the title, `The heart is a lonely hunter.'
The heart of man is lonely, always seeking, always needing something... elusive. We all share the need to feel connected, to be part of a whole. To know truth, and be at peace. We are so many disjointed voices that few of us are ever really heard.
Set in the deep South, Carson tells of a deaf mute named John Singer and a group of frustrated individuals that gravitate towards his serene and kindly nature--a young girl, desperate to follow her dreams; a drunkard, willing to impart his wisdom on the uninformed; a black doctor, eager to lift his people to equality; and a café owner, stuck in the routines of life.
Each seek Singer's company and tell of their woes with a deep believe that he, and only he, truly understands their ply. In him, each sees a kindred spirit. But what, exactly, does Singer see in them?
The Meaning of Life.......2007-08-29
"Seek and ye shall find," Jesus is quoted as saying in the Bible. All of us, no matter what our religious affiliation--or lack thereof--are seeking out a dream, a little piece of happiness. Sometimes this process is conscious and sometimes a subconscious imperative drives us forward towards that piece of happiness.
The five main characters of "The Heart is A Lonely Hunter" are all seeking their dreams in an unnamed mill town in the South in the late 1930s. For teenaged Mick Kelly, the dream is a career in classical music that her impoverished family can't afford to provide. For the relentless black Doctor Copeland, the dream is freedom and equality for his people. For restaurateur Biff Brannon the dream is having children. For vertically-challenged drifter Jake Blount the dream is a Marxist revolution to level the playing field for all people. And last, but most important, the dream for deaf-mute John Singer is to be reunited with his long time partner Anatopolous, who was committed to an institution.
Singer becomes the prime focus for the other four. One by one they inadvertently seek him out and spill their wishes and desires to him, although he often doesn't understand them. To Mick he is a secret friend who understands her. To Copeland he is a wise man who understands the struggles of the black minority. To Blount he is a comrade in arms for the revolution. And to Biff he is a kindred spirit, a fellow observer of humanity.
Yet for as much as he represents to them, they mean relatively little to Singer. His thoughts are consumed by his love--platonic, we assume--for Anatopolous, the one he thinks understands him. But much as Singer is a false idol to the other four, Anatopolous is a false idol for him, a lazy, selfish, slovenly person incapable of appreciating Singer's love. In the end these troubled souls are left to pick up the pieces after the false idols shatter, as they inevitably do. This leads each of them to make a decision and to enter a new phase of life.
What makes this book so wonderful to read is the profound understanding of humanity shown here. All of us at one time or another have felt the pent-up ambition Mick feels at wanting something that remains just out of reach. We've felt the righteous anger to right a terrible injustice like Doctor Copeland. We've felt the isolation of being the outsider like Blount. We've all felt the confusion after a loss like Biff. And those of us fortunate enough--or perhaps unfortunate enough--have felt the heartache of an unrequited love like Singer.
These people all seem real because their hopes and desires are those hopes and desires we all have. Their dreams aren't altogether different than those each of us seek, whether we're aware of it or not. We know their longing and desperation to find someone who understands them, even if that someone is a deaf-mute who can only nod along.
Because of that, the book touches something deep in our consciousness, something primal within all of us--the need to seek out for something greater. The most astounding thing about "The Heart is A Lonely Hunter" is that the author was only twenty-three years old when she published this. At a time when most of us are just getting out into the "real world" and discovering ourselves, McCullers already had it figured out.
This is truly a literary achievement that you should seek out at your local bookseller or library at once, those who haven't already done so based on Oprah's recommendation.
That is all.
doesnt stand up over time.......2007-08-13
Lula Carson Smith was my favorite author for a long time. However i must have outgrown her, because i found a recent re-reading of 'the heart...' to be a little tiresome. i agree with another reviewer who noted it was easy to tell the characters were developed by a 23 y/o.
Book Description
Dr. Larry Crabb calls this book ""the most profoundly helpful book about childhood sexual abuse."" Now includes information about false memory issues.
Customer Reviews:
This book breathed life back into my soul!.......2007-09-25
At the time I read this book I was struggling with alot of guilt, shame and self-disqust. I was in bondage to a great deal of baggage from a 10 year abusive marriage. Through his book, Dr. Allender brought me through the bittersweet process of repentence and forgiveness. Dr Allender is truly insightful and divinely aware of the pain that lingers in "The Wounded Heart". He has given me the hope and confidence to know who I really am and why I am here. My tradgedies have been turned into blessings for myself as well as those around me! A must read for anyone who is struggling with an abusive past!
Sally H Taylor Childrens Book Author & Illustrator
Very informative and helpful.......2007-09-24
I am an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse. This book was recommended to me by a Christian counselor and I am glad that I read it. It is very informative and helpful. I have been able to understand more about myself and my life and why I am who I am because of the explanations provided. The author seems to really understand. I can't believe that he knows so much about the inner workings of the heart of a victim like he seems to. I recommend that the loved ones of abuse victims read this book as well. It will be very beneficial in them knowing how to approach and deal with those victims in their lives.
AL SARNO, LPC, BCPC.......2007-07-02
I have recommended this book for years. Clients and friends who have read it all say that it has helped them and their spouses significantly! thx, al
Powerful, tender, transforming.......2007-07-01
"The Wounded Heart" is one of the most powerful, life-changing books I have ever had the privilege to read. I was deeply moved, and wonderfully challenged, while reading it. Allender goes so much deeper than the usual Christian platitudes on the subject of sexual abuse. His writing style is passionate, tender, with a tremendous grasp of rich vocabulary that will leave you saying, "Yes! That's EXACTLY what I have been feeling." He offers far better help to the victim than the usual simplistic "forgive and forget" which so many well-meaning people offer. There is much more to the process of healing....but the healing can be so much richer, deeper, and pervasive than most people expect to enjoy.
If you have been abused, you do not have to feel the shame that your abuser wants you to feel. You are the VICTIM and you did nothing wrong! Your abuser knew exactly what they were doing. But God weeps with you and wants you to know a freedom far greater than you can imagine!
This book will touch your soul in a precious and gentle way. It will draw you closer to God and help you understand why you are the way you are. I definitely recommend "The Wounded Heart" to anyone -- victim, friend, loved one, spouse. You will find hope, help, understanding, wholeness, and joy. In the Bible, God promises to "restore the years that the locusts have eaten." The truth really will set you free!
AWESOME.......2007-03-15
The book is awesome and the workbook gets you to go one step farther. Yet I believe that everyone has to be in that time and space to deal with this issue, if you are the book and this work book and getting professional help from some one who knows what they are doing makes a world a difference!
Amazon.com
All parents fall short from time to time. But Susan Forward pulls no punches when it comes to those whose deficiencies cripple their children emotionally. Her brisk, unreserved guide to overcoming the stultifying agony of parental manipulation--from power trips to guilt trips and all other killers of self worth--will help deal with the pain of childhood and move beyond the frustrating relationship patterns learned at home.
Book Description
When you were a child...
Did your parents tell you were bad or worthless?
Did your parents use physical pain to discipline you?
Did you have to take care of your parents because of their problems?
Were you frightened of your parents?
Did your parents do anything to you that had to be kept secret?
Now that you are an adult...
Do your parents still treat you as if you were a child?
Do you have intense emotional or physical reactions after spending time with your parents?
Do your parents control you with threats or guilt?
Do they manipulate you with money?
Do you feel that no matter what you do, it's never good enough for your parents?
In this remarkable self-help guide, Dr. Susan Forward drawn on case histories and the real-life voices of adult children of toxic parents to help you free yourself from the frustrating patterns of your relationship with your parents -- and discover an exciting new world of self-confidence, inner strength, and emotional independence.
From the Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy & Reclaiming Your Life.......2007-07-07
This book, for me, was very hard to put down. Reading other peoples' experiences and the results in their lives was heartrending and helped me feel less alone. The letters to parents helped me start to formulate letters to mine. This book was recommended by my therapist, and it has given me the strength to move forward.
I HIGHLY recommend it. Thank you!
eye opener.......2007-05-08
This book along with a couple of others on the subject have helped me to have peace with my hurtful childhood. I had pretty much adopted the attitude that I received the hand that I was dealt in life. Now I'm beginning to see that things could have been much better had I had parents who bothered to take an interest in me other than what I could do for them. The good news is I feel empowered to break the cycle and provide loving feedback for my children at all times.
"And you were wondering why...".......2007-05-01
It is rare that any of us grow up in "perfectly-parented" households; after all we're imperfect humans. Some of us have had really difficult, complex upbringings. Yet, we can move on and make the best of our lives with the help of information offered in this book. It opened a new vista for me, and parents should find it thought-provoking for their own relationships, especially in regard to both their parents and their children.
It was a great help to recognize the psychological types in my parents. For a couple of years in my adulthood my mother and I even "divorced" each other. Although we were not able to resolve all our issues before her death, we were finally able to function on relatively friendly terms in the last years of her life.
Although individual situations often warrant consulting a professional counselor, this book is an invaluable tool for identifying and recognizing the problematic traits, reasons for the behaviors, and ways to move beyond the differences, so you don't wallow in the blame-game. Depending on one's spiritual inclination, blame cannot be laid entirely on the parent. There may be karmic dynamics that call for healing.
E. A. Davis, author, Waiting for Wings: Accompanying a Parent to the Edge of Life
Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life.......2007-03-26
Perfect Item & Fast Shipping.
Self-help .......2007-03-24
Good book for doing self-analyis of one's childhood. Good start to moving foward and getting over the past.
Average customer rating:
- Terse, Quite Compelling Novel On 9/11 From Don DeLillo
- Tedious Going and Very Bad
- Very good, despite what many reviewers said.
- "A Clear Day Gone" ... THE Definitive 9/11 Novel (for now)
- A Masterpiece
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Falling Man: A Novel
Don DeLillo
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
DeLillo, Don
| ( D )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Terrorism
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
September 11
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
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ASIN: 1416546022
Release Date: 2007-05-15 |
Amazon.com
The defining moment of turn-of-the-21st-century America is perfectly portrayed in National Book Award winner Don DeLillo's Falling Man. The book takes its title from the electrifying photograph of the man who jumped or fell from the North Tower on 9/11. It also refers to a performance artist who recreates the picture. The artist straps himself into a harness and in high visibility areas jumps from an elevated structure, such as a railway overpass or a balcony, startling passersby as he hangs in the horrifying pose of the falling man.
Keith Neudecker, a lawyer and survivor of the attack, arrives on his estranged wife Lianne's doorstep, covered with soot and blood, carrying someone else's briefcase. In the days and weeks that follow, moments of connection alternate with complete withdrawl from his wife and young son, Justin. He begins a desultory affair with the owner of the briefcase based only on their shared experience of surviving: "the timeless drift of the long spiral down." Justin uses his binoculars to scan the skies with his friends, looking for "Bill Lawton" (a misunderstood version of bin Laden) and more killing planes. Lianne suddenly sees Islam everywhere: in a postcard from a friend, in a neighbor's music--and is frightened and angered by its ubiquity. She is riveted by the Falling Man. Her mother Nina's response is to break up with her long-time German lover over his ancient politics. In short, the old ways and days are gone forever; a new reality has taken over everyone's consciousness. This new way is being tried on, and it doesn't fit. Keith and Lianne weave into reconciliation. Keith becomes a professional poker player and, when questioned by Lianne about the future of this enterprise, he thinks: "There was one final thing, too self-evident to need saying. She wanted to be safe in the world and he did not."
DeLillo also tells the story of Hammad, one of the young men in flight training on the Gulf Coast, who says: "We are willing to die, they are not. This is our srength, to love death, to feel the claim of armed martyrdom." He also asks: "But does a man have to kill himself in order to accomplish something in the world?" His answer is that he is one of the hijackers on the plane that strikes the North Tower.
At the end of the book, De Lillo takes the reader into the Tower as the plane strikes the building. Through all the terror, fire and smoke, De Lillo's voice is steady as a metronome, recounting exactly what happens to Keith as he sees friends and co-workers maimed and dead, navigates the stairs and, ultimately, is saved. Though several post-9/11 novels have been written, not one of them is as compellingly true, faultlessly conceived, and beautifully written as Don De Lillo's Falling Man. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
There is September 11 and then there are the days after, and finally the years.
Falling Man is a magnificent, essential novel about the event that defines turn-of-the-century America. It begins in the smoke and ash of the burning towers and tracks the aftermath of this global tremor in the intimate lives of a few people.
First there is Keith, walking out of the rubble into a life that he'd always imagined belonged to everyone but him. Then Lianne, his es-tranged wife, memory-haunted, trying to reconcile two versions of the same shadowy man. And their small son Justin, standing at the window, scanning the sky for more planes.
These are lives choreographed by loss, grief and the enormous force of history.
Brave and brilliant, Falling Man traces the way the events of September 11 have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world. It is cathartic, beautiful, heartbreaking.
Customer Reviews:
Terse, Quite Compelling Novel On 9/11 From Don DeLillo.......2007-10-06
For better or for worse, a literary cottage industry has arisen in the aftermath of 9/11. This still recent horrific event - which ought to endure within the American psyche for decades, if not centuries - has become either the subject of several critically acclaimed novels, or a firmly entrenched background to the tales being spun by such gifted writers from Jonathan Safran Foer to William Gibson. Now one of the truly great writers of American fiction, Don DeLillo, has chimed in with "Falling Man"; a novel that is remarkable not only for its relative brevity, but also for delving deeply into the psyche of New Yorkers who witnessed the World Trade Center terrorist attack and are still coping with their psychological trauma years later. Quoting from its dust-jacket blurb, "Falling Man" is indeed a work of fiction that is "cathartic, beautiful and heartbreaking". Without question, it also demonstrates that DeLillo is still a worthy literary artist at the height of his creative powers; a keen observer of human nature in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. His latest novel also proves that DeLillo is an elegant storyteller delving into the lives of ordinary people who remain mentally imprisoned by the searing images and painful memories of that fateful, tragic clear blue September morning not so long ago. Without question, for these very reasons, "Falling Man" is one of the most impressive novels published this year.
DeLillo deftly weaves the narratives of three members of a rather unremarkable New York City family, whose lives remain touched forever by what they witnessed on 9/11/01; a dysfunctional American family which was tearing itself apart at the seams long before that September morning. We meet Keith as he stumbles through the grayish ash blizzard of building debris and human remains, soon after the collapse of the first World Trade Center building to fall, his face splattered by glass fragments and blood, pressing northward on foot towards Canal Street. Years later his estranged wife Lianne remains in a psychotherapy support group, reliving the grim memories of that day, recalling Keith's unexpected arrival at the Upper East Side apartment of herself and their young son Justin, whose hobby is to stare out of apartment windows, searching the skies with a pair of binoculars for more airplanes crashing into tall buildings like the World Trade Center towers. But is it really a hobby, or rather a phobia, brought on by witnessing the terrorist attacks from the window of a young friend's apartment not far from the World Trade Center? DeLillo's literary ambitions are so vast, that he takes us to an Afghanistan Al-Qaeda training camp, and to Germany, allowing his audience to reside inside the mind of one of the 9/11 hijackers, right up to the final fateful moments of the terrorist's life. But this is an excursion that deflects from, not enhances, the powerful narratives he's created for his three main protagonists, and one that remains a rather facile effort in trying to explain the psychological motivation of one of the nineteen Al Qaeda hijackers. It is also an effort that makes this figure sympathetic to the reader, as if his blind adherence to Islamofascism is one worthy of pithy; an effort that others, most notably John Updike, have handled far better.
Tedious Going and Very Bad.......2007-09-27
This book was like reading a loosely put together collection of stories of how 9/11 affected a husband, his estranged wife, their child (the kid), and others. The characters are hard to connect with and even harder to keep straight. DeLillo jumps from charcter to character with the ease of a jackhammer and the charcters are not at all interesting. Even the eventual story of the main character's escape from the Twin Towers was anticlimatic. All in all this is a book that tries, and fails miserably, at capturing our thoughts about that fateful day and the reactions we had to it. I found myself struggling to finish this book and would not recommend it to anyone.
Very good, despite what many reviewers said........2007-09-14
If you read any mainstream reviews about this book you got the distinct impression that it was sort of a dud. I could not disagree more.
I often struggle with what I call "period fiction," in which the author tries to encapsulate the feelings/mood of a perticular period/event through fiction. However, this book had me in its first pages. DeLillo does a terrific job of conveying the sort of numb anger that many of us felt along with the "now what" questions that we were left asking.
This is one of those books that you may read and enjoy but I did not truly appreciate how good it was until a few days after I had finished it and allowed my brain to process what I had just read. It was then that I began to think that this was one of the best books I had picked up in a long time.
For me, this book is a must read for anyone but especially if you are in that 18-34 age group, for which 9/11 is likely to be one of the major events of our lives. I suspect this is how many children of the Cold War felt when they read "Underworld." Kudos to Delillo for doing such a great job at capturing the emotion of such an event.
"A Clear Day Gone" ... THE Definitive 9/11 Novel (for now).......2007-09-13
FALLING MAN is an unorthodox yet compelling novel of 9/11 and its immediate aftermath. DeLillo tells the story primarily through the eyes of protagonist Keith, a survivor who walked out of the World Trade Center that fateful morning with minimal injuries but sizable emotional scars. Plot lines follow his strained relationship with his estranged wife, a dalliance with another World Trade Center survivor whose briefcase he retrieves and a growing obsession with poker.
Parallel to this is a depiction of the Islamic "martyrs" who eventually hijacked the planes on their way to presumed Paradise. A recurring motif is a performance artist known as "Falling Man," who at random points throughout New York City pantomimes falls from buildings and structures as the essence of his "art."
If it sounds strange, it is, but oddly compelling nonetheless. The characters' dialogue is odd but weirdly believable.
On this sixth anniversary of 9/11, FALLING MAN prompts us to think of what meaning we invest in that experience. Perhaps there will be many more novels to come about that fateful Tuesday, but DeLillo has staked a claim for now to THE definitive 9/11 story.
A Masterpiece.......2007-09-09
An emotional, breathtaking work that captures 9/11 and it's aftermath superbly. In Delillo's masterful style there is amazing insight into what it was truly like for those who survived the nightmare. It also addresses the lack of emotional connection between people before the tragedy and how the human heart both fears and needs closeness with others. Simply a masterpiece. Delillo is one of our greatest living novelists.
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- Death in Texas: A True Story of Marriage, Money, and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library.)
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- Doing Good Better
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- Edward in the Jungle
- Egil's Saga (Penguin Classics)
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Infidel
