Book Description
In 1945, an American G.I. mailed home a Japanese flag. Fifty years later, his daughter unfolded the past. Growing up, Louise Steinman knew little about her father's experiences in World War II. All she knew was that the whistling teakettle was banned from the kitchen and that she was never to cry in front of him. Years later, after her parents' death, she found an old ammunition box, filled with nearly five hundred letters her father had written to her mother during the War. She also found a silk Japanese flag inscribed to Yoshio Shimizu. Who was Yoshio Shimizu and why did her father have his flag? So began Steinman's quest to return this "souvenir" to its owner, and in the process, to learn more about the war that transformed the expressive young man in those letters into the reserved father she had known.
Weaving together her father's raw, poignant letters with her own journey, Steinman presents a powerful view of how war changed one generation and shaped another.
Customer Reviews:
A Moving Memoir.......2007-06-30
Louise Steinman has hit it out of the park with this wonderful, moving memoir about her father, Norman Steinman, his war experiences, and the way those experiences shaped his life--and his relationships with his family. It is also about Ms. Steinman's own odyssey in experiencing her father's war, through reading hundreds of her father's war-time letters discovered after her parents' deaths, talking to other Pacific War veterans, and visiting long-forgotten battlefields in the Philippines. Ms. Steinman eventually makes a special journey to Japan to visit the family of a long-dead Japanese soldier. It involves a simple errand: she needs to give something back...
Ms. Steinman shows that the scars of war run deep and the impacts are felt through succeeding generations. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
AN EXCELLENT READ AND A WORK VERY WELL DONE!.......2007-06-06
Like so many in my generation, the author, like the rest of us, really had no clue as to what made her father tick. These men, and women, of the "Greatest Generation" were a different breed. I had to blink twice when the author described her father, his attitudes, work ethic, treatment of his family and on and on. She could have well been describing my own father.
The author, after her father's death, discovers a box of letters written to his wife (the author's mother) during the war. Her father fought in the Pacific, taking part in some of its most brutal of battles. Amongst the letters, in an envelope, was a Japanese Flag, a "souvenir flag" which her father had sent home. The flag was of the type carried by many Japanese soldiers, which was a sort of good luck piece. The story is basically Ms. Steinman's search for the family of the soldier whose body it was taken from and a story of Ms. Steinman's search for her father, i.e. who really was her father, and how had the war changed him?
Now I will be honest, there were parts of the book that disturbed me. I am not all that certain if the author ever did have a clue as to what made her father the man he was and how the war truly affected him. The author never actually says it, but after reading her description of her father, which gave us some idea of the kind of man he was, there is really no doubt where he got the flag, and how he got it. He did not seem the type of man who would simply pick up a flag off any old dead body and keep it. While this falls into the realm of speculation, I think it probably would have been better if the author had faced reality. Be that as it may, the author did quite a good job with her research and I certainly admire her objectives.
The book is well written, easy to read, and quite informative. Like another reviewer here, I have the feeling the author actually found out more about herself than she did of her father, and that is actually a very good thing. I do recommend this one highly. You certainly will be richer for having read it.
D. Blankenship
Beautiful story, beautifully written.......2006-06-12
A page turner, I could hardly put it down. Moving and poignant. Through reading about "the war" of the author's father, I learned a lot about my own father and "his war". He too faught with the 25th Division at Balete Pass in 1945, earning a combat intantryman badge and purple heart. He has rarely spoke of his experience and after reading this book, I better understand why. The Souvenir is a must read for anyone whose father fought in "The Pacific War". Thank you Ms. Steinman, The Souvenir is truly a gift.
The Souvenir: A Daughter Discovers Her Father's War.......2005-09-03
I have just finished reading Ms. Steinman's THE SOUVENIR, and through her skill and persuasion, her souvenir has now become "my" souvenir too. I find myself thinking about her journey as a daughter as well as the unspeakable journeys our fathers, brothers, and sons (now daughters too) have made in times of war.
If You Believe in it, You Win.......2005-08-08
Louise Steinman weaves war, family and an unsolved mystery into a fine story about how a daughter trys to uncover the meaning of the deep, inconsolable silence her father brings home from one the worst battles of World War II: MacArthur's famous "return" to Luzon, the Philippines.
She retraces history with the help of more than 700 letters her father wrote to her mother during his time away, and with her friends, family and a handful of old infantry vets she is able to puzzle together what was the most momentous time in her father's life. Her journey forges a new understanding of her father and, most importantly, her relationship to him, even many years after his death.
The story tantalizes with descriptions of jungle warfare, imperialism and young men in the throes of battle, especially from the vantage point of Japan, where like their American counterparts, families were torn asunder by the conflict. They too carry the remnants of pain and sorrow sixty years later. Here, at least, Steinman could have spent more time illustrating the cultural differences-and similarities-that propel leaders and their societies to sacrifice their young men for nationalistic fervor.
In the end, the tale reveals just as much about the author as it does about her father. The care, grace and sensitivity with which she tells her story reflects the same qualities her father had, then lost, then struggled to regain after he returned home from 165 consecutive days of brutal warfare.
-Christopher Thomas Scott
Book Description
To encourage and guide men in becoming the dads they want to be, Michael Farris addresses issues common in all families with daughters: friends, dating, personal appearance, and preparing for the roles she'll have as a woman. Michael Farris challenges fathers to take their unique opportunity to train daughters for life's challenges-in ways that only a dad can. Originally published as How a Man Prepares His Daughters for Life, it now includes new material on relating to an adult daughter.
Customer Reviews:
Solid advice.......2007-07-16
Conservative advise on raising daughters. It is a refreshing viewpoint from someone who obviously cares for his daughters long term success. While not agreeing with everything I picked up several ideas that I hope will make me a stronger father.
A powerful book about raising your daughter. A must read!.......2007-02-23
What a Daughter Needs From a Dad is a book for dads about raising their daughters, from birth to parenthood. Author Michael Farris has five girls of his own and uses this book to advise men on their roles as their daughter's protectors, leaders and spitritual guides.
Farris gives advice on raising daughters from infancy to adulthood, and backs it all with Biblical principles and scriptures. Farris includes plenty of antecdotes from his own experiences to back up the points he is trying to make. Farris also warns you about what kind of dad you shouldn't be. You SHOULD NOT be an "All-Male" dad, only spending time with your daughter if it includes many activities such as watching sports. You shouldn't be a "pushover" granting her every request, or a "sugar daddy", thinking you can buy her love. Farris urges the reader to become engaged in his daugter's lives, to be supportive and admit when you are wrong.
The one unique point I will take away from this book is the chapter on dating. With my daughter being only three, I'm closer in years to my dating period that she is to hers, but Farris says he didn't let his daughters date until they were actually ready for marriage. This seems controversial, highly conservative, and pratcially unrealistic. But the principles are strong. Farris says that girls, and boys, when in "love" when they are young (high school or even college), but not ready for marriage, they will ultimately give parts of their heart to the person that will not end up being their spouse. So, while girls may remain sexually pure, their hearts will be damaged. I don't know if it is reallistic to keep a high school senior from dating, but I will definitely pass on to my daughter some of the wisdom in this book.
In conclusion, this is a short, powerful book on raising your daughters. Farris stresses that men can't do this alone. They need the help of others (spouse, brother, friend) and most importantly, God. Men should pray for their children everyday and men should not put off building a relationship with their children. In a few short years, their kids will be gone and out of the house. Now is the time to build that strong, biblically based relationship that God asks men to create with their children.
A new perspective to how we'll raise our daughters..........2007-02-03
Sure, they're just 3 and 5 but every day counts, right? My husband embraced this book and so much of the suggestions rather solidly. He was raised in a home of all boys with rather Godless and unstable parents. While I was raised in a strong Christian home, I think my upbringing would have been so much richer and less heart-wrenching had this book been around 38 years ago... Our favorite part is about the dating-free courtship and how that will prepare our daughters for a lasting marriage and a pure unity to their future spouses. What a great book.
well worth reading.......2006-10-07
The book offers many good thoughts on raising daughters. Although the book is overtly Christian, an open-minded non-Christian might benefit as well.
The only thing keeping the book from a 5-star rating is that the author frequently amplifies one experience with one girl into a principle with broad application. Sometimes this practice works well, but other times it struck me as a stretch.
A Must must read for Moms and Dads.......2005-10-21
This is a wonderful book. I bought it for my husband b/c we are headed into the teen years and thought it would be helpful.
This is a must read for mothers and fathers. This book was so very helpful to us. I am hoping that it will save us from some of the heartache that we have seen others go though.
The book is wonderfully written and very interesting and easy to read.
I really do not think that anyone would be sorry for getting this book.
There are several girls in our family and we have been passing the book around to each set of parents.
Average customer rating:
- Classic Ramona!
- Good 4 younger kids
- Good 4 Younger Kids
- If only we had a million dollars...
- Ramona and her father
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Ramona and Her Father (Avon Camelot Books)
Beverly Cleary
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Similar Items:
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Ramona and Her Mother (Ramona Quimby)
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Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Avon Camelot Books)
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Ramona the Brave (Avon Camelot Books)
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Beezus and Ramona
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Ramona Forever
ASIN: 0380709163
Release Date: 2006-04-11 |
Amazon.com
Second grade is not turning out the way it should for Ramona Quimby. Her dad has lost his job, her mom has found a full-time job, and her big sister Beezus has "reached a difficult age." In her inimitable way, Ramona decides to take charge. She practices TV commercials in hopes of earning a million dollars, but only ends up insulting her teacher and getting into a prickly mess with some burrs. Then she embarks on a campaign to make her father stop smoking. Mr. Quimby manages to hold up under all these strains, but the challenge is on for the whole family to prove their mettle.
Once again, Beverly Cleary proves her own mettle in this touching and hilarious Newbery Honor Book. Beloved author of over two dozen children's books, and recipient of many awards, including another Newbery Honor for Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and a Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, Cleary's instinct for children's jumbled emotions is flawless. Alan Tiegreen's adroit line drawings perfectly complement Cleary's style; it's hard to imagine one without the other. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter
Book Description
Ramona just wants everyone to be happy. If only her father would smile and joke again, her mother would look less worried, her sister would be cheerful, and Picky-picky would eat his cat-food. But Ramona's father has lost his job, and nobody in the Quimby household is in a very good mood.
Ramona tries to cheer up the family as only Ramona can -- by rehearsing for life as a rich and famous star of television commercials, for instance -- but her best efforts only make things worse. Her sister, Beezus, calls her a, pest, her parents lose patience with her, and her teacher claims she's forgotten her- manners. But when her father admits he wouldn't trade her for a million dollars, Ramona knows everything is going to work out fine in the end.
Customer Reviews:
Classic Ramona!.......2006-12-02
After her father lost his job and her mother is forced to find one, 7-year-old Ramona begins trying to take the family's finances into her own hands...literally. She spends her days reciting various TV commercials, in the hopes of being noticed by a talent scout, when she decides to crown herself with burrs, ending less than successfully.
Ramona is also concerned about her father's health. At 7, she is painfully aware of classmates without fathers, and she is afraid that she may lose her own if he does not stop smoking.
Whether in the 1950s or today, Cleary hits the worries and joys of a seven-year-old dead on every time.
Good 4 younger kids.......2005-12-21
This boook is ok, but the reason I disliked it was because of the younger aged vocabulary. I am in 6th grade so the vocabulary bored me to death especially since I have an already higher reading level than a normal 6th grader. I suggest this book to grades 3 and 4 the most maybe advanced 2nd grader.
Good 4 Younger Kids.......2005-12-20
I really liked Ramona and her Father but I thought it was a little boring. I thought that because the reading level is lower then what I expected w/ me being a 6th grader and the fact that my reading level is already high. That is why I advise maybe grades 3 and 4 to read it; maybe advanced 2nd graders. They will enjoy this book a lot. All together I think it is a good book, but not for my age level. I really think that the way Beverly Cleary writes is funny and that 3rd and 4th graders will really enjoy it.
If only we had a million dollars..........2005-04-04
Well as they say, "Money can't buy happiness". Ramona thinks it can, well it can but it doesn't have to in this case. Mr. Quimby losing his job was tough on the whole family, especially Ramona. She couldn't do anything about it if she tried. Her father let her know they're trying to be a perfect family and surely enough this reflects back to my family. When my father lost to someone else for this "government" job, it was tough on me. I wanted to get a job, raise money, anything just to see my father happy. We aren't the perfect family and neither is Ramona's. That's why I can relate so much to her.
Ramona and her father.......2005-01-04
The book I read was Ramona and her Father. This book is about a girl a named Ramona and her father. Her dad was fired from his job, so that meant that he would get to spend more time with Ramona. She was happy about getting to spend time with her dad. But her dad smoked and she did not like that. It was bad enough that they weren't going to have much money since her dad wasn't working but then he was spending the money he did have on cigarettes. Ramona did everything she could to try to get her dad to stop, but he just wouldn't. But they did other things together that Ramona did like. They did things like draw big pictures and they got to spend a lot of time together. Ramona liked to be able to spend so much time with her dad but she didn't like the fact that he smoked.
The main character was Ramona. Her appearance is a little different than most peoples because she just seems a little weird at times. Her personality seems ok until her sister Beezus comes around, then Ramona always fights with her. Some of the traits that are the same with Ramona and I are that she always fights with her older sister and I always fight with my older brother. Also I like to spend time with my dad and so does she. Some of the things that are different between Ramona and I is that she is a lot younger than me. Her dad smokes and mine doesn't. She has an older sister and I have an older brother.
I liked this book because it reminded me a lot like me. My favorite part was when Ramona was trying to make her dad stop smoking and her and Beezus made cigarettes out of paper and wrote stuff on them and put it in their dad's cigarette box instead of his cigarettes. Yes, I would recommend this book to a friend.
Customer Reviews:
An honest search for truth.......2006-11-15
As a creative nonfiction student, I have read a number of memoirs and have found few to be as honest in its search for truth as Karen Spears Zacharias' "Hero Mama." Zacharias is a natural storyteller. Her style captivates the reader as she attempts to unravel the events of her life and to understand how the tragedy of losing her father to war impacted her family. The reader is left laughing one minute and crying the next as she glimpses into Zacharias' journey from loss to redemption. I highly recommend this book to all readers.
A must read for historians and students; for daughters and families.......2006-05-02
I've read much history of war and came upon this book with interest, as I hardly ever read memoir. But I found the author's voice to be simple and refreshing, and her unjaded eye rang very true in recounting her life before and after her soldier father died in Vietnam.
So many southern men fall in war, and this down-to-earth, honest account should be on the reading lists for high schools and historians alike, as it gives an honest and moving account of the real costs of war on American and American families.
Lest We Forget.......2006-01-31
I am huge fan of Southern Fiction Writers (P.Conroy,A.R.Siddons,R.Wells.
I am also the only daughter of
S/Sgt Lewis Walton (SF:Army:MIA-1971). With my baby brother serving in Iraq, I was both hesitant and curious about this book.In my estimation, Karen's account was personal and inspirational.More importantly it sheds light on what life was like for "us kids". Her story should be shared with many and be required reading for ALL high school AND College Classes which focus on Vietnam. Vietnam affected more than just the brave soldiers serving- their parents, children and grandchildren. Kind of makes you think about Aft. and Iraq. A definite must read!
Jacke Walton
Well written and thought provoking.......2005-11-04
Karen's memoir is one of truth and inspiration. Not only because of her mother's courage and strength in the face of such tragedy, but in Karen's journey in seeking the truth about her father's death, a truth that would result in redemption for her, and her family. Hero Mama is a well-written, thought provoking memoir, and its subject, the aftermath of war and how it affects those left behind, is never more timely than right now.
I Honor My Hero Grandma.......2005-10-25
Throughout the pages of this book, Karen shares her life with all of us whether we be widows, children, or like myself grandchildren of war. Living a life of unanswered questions and digging for those answers through her own bravery, Karen recounts the cherished nine years of her life she spent with her father as well as the 30 fatherless years that lied ahead beginning on July 24, 1966. She recalls the struggles of childhood and the successes that her mother set out to achieve to raise three children on her own without choice.
Wanting answers myself to questions about a grandfather I never knew, I seized every moment of this book with overwhelming emotion. I had tears of sadness, tears of happiness and continue tears of pride for my own "Hero Grandma" who raised seven of her own children due to the loss of her husband in VN in April 1966.
"Hero Mama" will be a book you will be unable to put down once you open and read that first page. I know that you will have a different view of war after completing such an emotional journey with Karen. I am one of many who am thankful to Karen, for sharing her family's gallant journey of life with all of us. Her family remains in my heart.
Book Description
An intimate and honest chronicle of the everyday life of Iranian women over the past century
“A lesson about the value of personal freedom and what happens to a nation when its people are denied the right to direct their own destiny. This is a book Americans should read.” —Washington Post
The fifteenth of thirty-six children, Sattareh Farman Farmaian was born in Iran in 1921 to a wealthy and powerful shazdeh, or prince, and spent a happy childhood in her father’s Tehran harem. Inspired and empowered by his ardent belief in education, she defied tradition by traveling alone at the age of twenty-three to the United States to study at the University of Southern California. Ten years later, she returned to Tehran and founded the first school of social work in Iran.
Intertwined with Sattareh’s personal story is her unique perspective on the Iranian political and social upheaval that have rocked Iran throughout the twentieth century, from the 1953 American-backed coup that toppled democratic premier Mossadegh to the brutal regime of the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini’s fanatic and anti-Western Islamic Republic. In 1979, after two decades of tirelessly serving Iran’s neediest, Sattareh was arrested as a counterrevolutionary and branded an imperialist by Ayatollah Khomeini’s radical students.
Daughter of Persia is the remarkable story of a woman and a nation in the grip of profound change.
Customer Reviews:
In love with Persia.......2007-09-03
Milo Wolff, Manhatan Beach, CA. Sattareh Farmaian, member of Persia's upper-upper class was buffeted around the world by the religious turbulence of the Middle East, and the international greed for oil to feed growing indusrialization. Admiration of her capable father caused her to spear-head establishment a graduate college of social services to serve the village needs of Persia (Iran). As the reader follows her adventures and hair-raising escapes you will feel that you are there with her ('Satty"); in the hold of a ship to Bombay, disembarking in the strange port of Los angeles, and enrolling as a student at USC. You will understand her disappointment that the Statue of Liberty is not in the port of LA but 3000 miles away in NYC. And her amazement watching college co-eds use their bodies as bait for males. Even if you have not read the poetry of Omar Khyam, you will end up in a love affair with the culture of Persia. You will not put this book down.
Riveting, balanced, and a great way to learn about Iran and Iranians........2007-05-21
This memoir by Sattareh Farman Farmaian, a truly amazing woman, is not only a hard-to-put-down account of prerevolutionary Iran but is unusual in offering Westerners a personal way to learn about Iranians, their modern history, and why the Islamic Revolution took place -- including where the West went wrong.
On a personal level, this dramatic book is about how the author broke away from her traditional harem upbringing and became a pioneering social worker, but it's also a surprisingly even-handed account of the rocky course of the Pahlevi dynasty, from its beginning in 1921 to its end in 1979. As you might expect frorm a member of the royals who preceded the Pahlevis, the author is proud of her family -- especially her father, a prince of the former dynasty who cared deeply about the welfare of the individual poor -- and she doesn't have much use for the last Shah's father, who got his start as her dad's gunnery sergeant and later executed her oldest half-brother. Farman approves of the last Shah's efforts to modernize Iran, but she's critical of him because he cared far more about getting and keeping absolute power than he did about the plight of the poor, illiterate Iranians she hersellf fought to help for twenty years. In fact, Farman's real point is that the Pahlevis' indifference to the welfare and feelings of ordinary citizens was the ultimate cause of the Islamic Revolution. Given the current state of affairs in Iraq, Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim countries around the world, that just might be a message we should be listening to today.
disappointed.......2007-04-18
This is a story of a remarkable person who lived a remarkable life and had great accomplishments. I salute her.
However, I found the book a little disappointing in the fact that the author spent so much time trying to make out the Qajar dynasty/extended family were all good and cultured (and by inference they could do nothing wrong), while the Pahlavi family were nothing but the opposite (and could do nothing right). The truth is often somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.
The author's personal biases and bitterness often ignored facts and detracted from the book.
Highly Recommend.......2006-11-09
I truly enjoyed "Daughter of Persia"! This book is a biography that reads like a novel! It is beautifully written, fascinating, and informative. I definitely recommend it for everyone. In fact, it really SHOULD be read by Americans to better understand Iran and the Persian culture.
Daughter of Persia:A Woman's Journey from her Father's Harem Through the Islamic Revolution.......2005-07-11
The book is excellant, well written and very valuable to read for understanding Iranian life from a personal view.
Customer Reviews:
Is she real?.......2000-06-21
The late William J. Coughlin was a federal judge in the Detroit area. He has around 16 books to his credit, among them The Twelve Apostles and Shadow of a Doubt (a NBC TV movie).
Coughlin did an excellent job of plotting and has pretty good action in this book. Those who are looking for similar kinds of macho action as Day of Wrath will be disappointed, however. The main character is Victoria Van Horn, who is at odds with her father. Her father believes that women are to marry & stay at home & spend money. The tension in this story comes from quarrels over money, power, position, and over all looms the spectre of the Vault, a coalition of top-name families with immense wealth.
I did not find the portrayal of some of the characters entirely convincing, especially Victoria Van Horn. Nevertheless, this book is a good read.
To some degree, the writing has stereotypical characters & the plot is fairly standard. Nevertheless, Coughlin has a gift for language and a gift for plotting that carries you along with his work. This book is far more romantic (as with Mary Higgins Clark's work) and far less gritty than Day of Wrath.
Book Description
Become that special someone in your daughter's life. Use these fun and creative ways to show her you care and deepen your relationship.
Customer Reviews:
Penny, Please....!.......2004-01-27
religious agenda?
It's his book! If he wants to write about following the example of the best Father ever, it is his right. I for one loved this book, especially the way he reminds us (mothers and fathers) of the common sence things we often tend to forget in our busy lives.
So get off your anti-religius soap box, and maybe try getting on your knees!
Another author with a religious agenda.......2002-03-06
I was very disappointed to see that this was another author with a religious agenda. Some of the suggested activites were cute and sweet, others were just plain common sense. The author's credibility was lost when he chose to include his own religious beliefs which has nothing to do with being "Your Daughter's Daddy"
New Fathers.......2000-11-05
I never knew having a daughter would be so much fun. This book offers a slew of activities that all father\daughter relationships will benefit. From simple little games to gift ideas. After all our daughters deserve there childhood.
Amazon.com
For a so-called "Catholic novelist," the revelation that her father was born a Jew qualifies as something of a literary bomblet; that his past was a tissue of fabrications, that he became an anti-Semite and reactionary, is a revelation that haunts this unusual book. Gordon's search for her father, who died when she was seven, leads her to libraries and archives, to interviews with his associates, to family birth records and finally to the extraordinary project of disinterring and reburying her father's remains. The search becomes a literary quest in which Gordon transforms herself by transforming her images of her father.
Book Description
In The Shadow Man, the bestselling author of Final Payments and The Company of Women elevates the memoir into an uncompromising and unforgettable art form as she seeks to learn the truth about her lost father. 20 photos.
Customer Reviews:
Commonweal Magazine.......2007-08-29
For a lengthy review of this book written by Marjorie Steinfels O'Brien in the prestigious magazine Commonweal, go to the magazine's archives. The review is truly sui generis !
An Electra Complex Unrestrained.......2006-01-12
Much as this reader enjoyed Mary Gordon's other writing, especially Final Payments, he must fault the writer for this maundering, meandering piece of work. Bloviated with rhetorical questions, she plows the same ground over and over again, bemoaning her fate, and crying out, "Why? Why?" One is tempted to respond, "Because. Because." Without the self-conscious and self-serving rhetorical questions, this book would be 1/3 shorter, and it would be improved. If you've ever fantasized about being a psychiatrist, wondering what it would be like to listen at length to someone who refuses to accept life, this book should satisfy you. For the rest of us, let's hope that Gordon finally accepts herself. Frankly, Kathryne Harrison's The Kiss was more fully honest and better written.
Too much self-pity.......2000-03-09
Author Mary Gordon's intimate biography of her father is told as an account of the author's own adventure in researching and recalling the embarrassing facts of her father's real life. Most of the drama comes in the author's feelings of betrayal, guilt, and disillusionment, so the book functions more as an autobiography, as is emphasized by a lengthy addition describing the author's mother's life.
Gordon has an engaging, lucid style, and the first half of the book has some suspense as she pores over records and searches out witnesses for the truth about her father's unusual life. But ultimately the self-pity becomes wearying, and one wishes the author could gain some perspective and be grateful for her blessings.
Fascinating memoir of ambivalence.......2000-01-28
This book is very much in the same vein as Geoffrey Wolff's Duke of Deception... a man who was a failure as a person yet a loving father. A chilling portrait of the ambivalence of knowing one's imperfect parent.
see above.......1999-02-10
A reader , July 10, 1997 5 stars A Daughter's Search for Her Father :
This person has got to be an insider!
Average customer rating:
- Eden's Outcast
- An amazing account of two amazing individuals (+ their family & friends)
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Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father
John Matteson
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0393059642 |
Book Description
The beloved author of Little Women was torn between pleasing her idealistic father and planting her feet in the material world.
Louisa May Alcott's name is known universally. Yet, during her youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson—an eminent teacher, lecturer, and admired friend of Emerson and Thoreau. Willful and exuberant, Louisa flew in the face of all her father's intricate theories of child rearing. She, in turn, could not understand the frugal life Bronson preached, one that reached its epitome in the failed utopian community of Fruitlands. In a family that insisted on self-denial and spiritual striving, Louisa dreamed of wealth and fame. At the same time, like most daughters, she wanted her father's approval. As her father struggled to recover from a breakdown and slowly resurrect his career, Louisa learned to support her family, teaching if she must, but finally finding her vocation in writing. This story of their tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters. 26 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Eden's Outcast.......2007-10-06
A well writen biography of one of the 19th. Centuries least famous literary families...The Alcotts father Bronson, mother Abba and daughters Elizabeth "Lizzy", Lousia May, Anna and May...This is a book without training wheels Professor Matterson leaves it to the reader to be familuar with Transdentialism, Godwinism, American Putitainism the lives of Hawthorne, Thoreau (Brothers), Enerson, the Lake District Poets, Wordsworth, Carisle etc. he doesn't take the time to inform the reader how they fit in to the Alcotts story...The heart of the book deals with the relationships bewteen Bronson Alcott and disgruntled Puritain turn Emerson transdentalist (Americas first hippie)and his cast of daughters who were as individual and different from each other as they could be...Louisa May the number two daughter is the focus of that relationship but her three sidters play strong supporting roles...If 19th. Century American Literature is of interest to you and you have done the prerequsites this will be an enjoyable read that will advance your knowledge of a most interesting if disfunctional family that played an inportant role in both literature and philosophy.
An amazing account of two amazing individuals (+ their family & friends).......2007-08-30
She wrote LITTLE WOMEN and became the household breadwinner. He held philosophic conversations after several failed attempts at running his own private school. Both nearly starved at Fruitlands, their utopian experiment. But if that's all you know about Louisa and Bronson Alcott, you are sadly ill-informed. You need to read EDEN'S OUTCASTS; and the sooner, the better.
In spite of its title -- which gives misleading higher billing to Louisa -- this book is indeed a dual biography that documents a complex father-daughter and writer-writer relationship. Chronologically, the treatment has to first study Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), from his beginnings on a farm in Wolcott, Connecticut, and a rural education that, unlike other Transcendentalist men, did not include a college degree. Working first as a peddler, he later landed what seemed to be the perfect job for such a thoughtful, self-taught young man: school teacher. Soon enough he was married to Abba May (1800-1877) and had a household of little women -- daughters Anna Bronson (1831-1893), Louisa May (1832-1888), Elizabeth Peabody/Sewell (1835-1858), and Abigail May (1840-1879). Matteson follows Bronson's myriad attempts to find suitable jobs as well as every subsequent relocation the family made, covering a good portion of the Northeast and New England. He turns to Louisa as she moves to the family forefront, and also when she serves time as a nurse in a Union Army hospital. Because each member of the family kept a journal, much of their daily lives and thoughts are available to us -- at least, those events and feelings that they took the time to document. Diaries were not kept private in those days.
Center stage here are Bronson -- the fumbling father who wanted very much to be a teacher and philosopher but did not find sustained success in either venture at first - and "Louy" - the imaginative tomboy who seemed to defy convention at every turn and gradually created stories that magazine editors were willing to buy, in spite of the fact that a woman wrote them. This is real life, a seesaw featuring a father and a daughter who had very different personalities but sometimes exhibited startling similarities. The ironies are almost staggering: they were both born on November 29th. They both found literary success at the same time, and they both struggled with new-found celebrity. They died within several days of one another. And both were inexplicably influenced by the text of John Bunyan's classic, "The Pilgrim's Progress." Like father, like daughter, in many respects.
Author Matteson obviously read every scrap of writing penned by Louisa and by Bronson; and because of his diligence, we readers have front row seats to their everyday lives. He also takes the time to provide a succinct and sound critique for each of their published or otherwise finished works. His approach in presenting and interpreting the facts is as neutral as possible, while being moderately sympathetic to the foibles of both of his subjects. Readers need not follow his lead: it's difficult at times not to feel terribly sorry for Louisa, Bronson, and the whole Alcott family. The true miracle is that they met and survived their challenges as best they could. And they found enough fame for their work to still be known and appreciated.
The text is wonderfully revealing and readable. Matteson's concluding paragraph is a stand-alone masterpiece. Every biographer should take the time to reflect on his/her subject in such a fashion.
Destined to become THE biography of the Alcotts, EDEN'S OUTCASTS is worthy of sharing a shelf with Megan Marshall's THE PEABODY SISTERS. It's a must-read for fans of the Transcendentalists as well as for the ever-growing number of Louisa May Alcott aficionados.
Book Description
On June 22,1986, Stan Howard was stabbed in his bed, his ten-year-old daughter Rachel sleeping in the next room. Unable to fully process the tragedy, Rachel coped the only way she knew how by trying to pretend the murder never happened. More then fifteen years later, Rachel became engaged, and the need to confront the night of her father's death before entering the next phase of her life grew strong. Her father's murder remained unsolved, and many questions unanswered and unasked. In The Lost Night, Rachel shares her father's story, and her keen investigation of memory, truth, and how a family moves on from a tragedy for which they may never find the answers. BACKCOVER: “The Lost Night is enthralling, a skillfully narrated story that begins as a tale of detection but becomes something more.”
—The New York Times
“No novel based on Ms. Howard's life, no matter how skillfully crafted, could have been as believable as The Lost Night. It is a quintessentially American narrative of self-creation and redemption, a postmodern Gatsby with a hard-earned, doubt-tinged happy ending. I don't know when I've read a better first book.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Powerful.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“The Lost Night illuminates a bond between a father and a daughter that neither time nor death can undo.”
—The Washington Post Book World
Customer Reviews:
You are there.......2006-08-18
Met the author at a book signing and was impresssed by her impeccable poise and story-telling ability. Then I went home and read the book. Wow. I had the same experience as the other readers. This is an excellent and poignant memoir.
One feels the you-are-there quality of a little girl awakening in the middle of the night to see her father covered with blood on the floor. The people in her book are like characters in a Dickens novel, yet they are (were) all very real. Howard captures the cultural milieu of Merced California in the mid '80's. Her father loved Rod Stewart with a passion and the lyrics of his songs weave through the true story of a child trying to make sense of what is going on around her.
The child matures into an adult and becomes a writer! What an awesome contribution to the memoir genre. I do hope that the killer is eventually caught.
Great combination.......2006-07-23
This is a wonderful combination of memoir and true crime. I felt as though I realy got to know the author. Her willingness to examine the fragility of memory and adjust her conclusions accordingly made her more appealing. The change in her attitudes toward the people in her life caused me to re-examine my own feelings toward people in my life. This book is a definite addition for anyone's library.
Lost and Found - a past reclaimed.......2006-02-28
Lost and Found - a past reclaimed
I finished Rachel Howard's "the lost night" at 3 this morning. From the minute I cracked its spine, the pages turned themselves, inviting me to ignore every routine chore of mine: dirty dishes, daily exercise, even meals (though I did manage to go to work and feed the cat).
Masterfully written, the book tells a riveting story of the murder of Rachel's father when she was only 10 years old. How she handled the loss of this beloved man, her protector and playpal, is a glimpse into how children cope with tragedy of this magnitude. The experience retrospectively defined Rachel, her relationship with her family and also with her stepmother Sherry, her father's third wife when he was murdered. Rachel, the product of divorce, was spending a few summer weeks at her father's home during this time. She was witness to his last waking minutes and remembered details that would replay themselves with increasing vividness as time went by.
But memory is elusive...and selective. The author comes to realize that her memories were circumscribed by the limited frame-of-reference of a young life.
What I found so compelling here is the child's perspective. I have read (and probably own!) just about every true-crime/courtroom/forensic book that exists, yet I never read such an account from a 10-year-old point-of-view. Rachel illustrates the sometimes graphic, sometimes muted terror-of-the-night children of murdered parents are heir to, their wispy and unexpressed--indeed unconscious--suspicion of significant-others, and their necessary dependencies on adults who, often not comprehending the nuances involved, believe that by trotting the kid to therapy, they absolve themselves of the pain of revisiting the circumstances themselves. In Rachel's case, her father's family remained largely silent with her about that night. They may have felt that openly speaking about the murder with someone so young would somehow legitimize it for her. In fact, their passivity had the opposite, and quite damaging, effect on a young mind hungry for assurance and validation.
Palpable throughout Rachel's memoir is its raw honesty. The writing is often brutally introspective, devoid of the self-pity and lachrymose language which the author might easily --and justifiably-have indulged. She is seeking information and answers, and by the last page, I realize she has found those things, and some peace along the way.
Therese Hercher
New York Times Sometimes wrong but not this time.......2006-02-05
William Grimes has always been one of my favorite NY Times reviewers. Although he tends to be negative, when he waxes effusive, I take notice. When I saw this....
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"As a memoirist, she succeeds BRILLIANTLY. "The Lost Night" is ENTHRALLING, a skillfully narrated story that begins as a tale of detection but quickly becomes something more."
--William Grimes, NEW YORK TIMES
I figured I'd take a chance. Well, it's been sitting on my nightstand for 6-months now and damn if it's not enthralling. Although I was hoping for a bit of a who-done-it, I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of the messed-up Central Valley(to put it delicately)were terrific. With some sex, drugs, and even some 80s Rod Stewart in the mix, for good measure, it was a joy to read.
A wonderful memoir, not a crime story!.......2005-10-23
This book is much more memoir than a "true crime" or crime investigation book. It does center itself around the author's father's murder when she was 10, but from there, it goes on to tell very well how this event affected both her life and the life of her family and extended family. I got a strong feel for the parts of California she was writing about, and for her father's large family and how they dealt with his death in their own ways.
The book also examines the issue of memory---how memory is not a set-in-stone thing---how different people remember things differently, and we can feel very sure we know how something happened, and another person is very sure it happened differently.
Some might feel unsatisfied that the murder is not solved in these pages, but I was not. That was never really the point here. This is an examination of how murder affects a family, and of the time and place and people that set up the scene. The author leaves us free to form our own opinion as to what happened, and she also is amazingly free with writing about her own changes of perspective and doubts about her feelings about the past. She is a skilled writer and sounds like a strong, caring person. I thank her for this book.
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