Biography Reviews

Belles on Their Toes

Published in Library Binding by Amereon Limited (1976-12)

Authors: Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

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Wonderful Old Fashioned story

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-10

Wonderful book if you like vintage stories, especially of large innovative families.

There are a number of books related to this one, as well as movies connected as remakes of the books.

Belles on Their Toes, Cheaper by the Dozen, etc. are refreshing insights of life in the early 1900's.

Great book!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-29

especially for a sequel!

Great Sequel

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-28

I found this book a couple years after I came across the first one as a teenager. It's a good continuation of the story and lets you know what happened, and how this amazing family all chipped in to make things work after their terrible tragedy.

Do YOU have a big family? If you do read this!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-10

This book continues the true story of the Gilbreth children or the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen.
The story continues after the father died. The mother is now the soul supporter of her family. There is a graet saying in the book that says,"Mother wasn't afraid anymore because the worst had happend."
The mother carried on her husbands works. She held conferences and taught the scince of time saving. She became a very strong woman.
It was a long hard haul but ahe successfully continued her husbands work. The children successfully ran the household.
This story is humorus and very touching. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Awesome sequel

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-03

I can't believe I didn't know this book existed till very recently; I would have bought and read it a whole lot sooner had I known, having read the first book about five or six times. It's in the same funny spirit as the first, though the focus has shifted from the antics of the entire family to the mother's struggle to take care of her eleven children after her husband died. And the funny moments aren't as frequent as in the first book, since the children are older. It also seems like the younger children got the short end of the stick--less time was given to writing about their own humourous childhood anecdotes and stories, since time passes really quickly after Anne gets married. The only other thing in this book I wasn't keen on was how some of it was dated. Some of it, like Mrs. Gilbreth trying to find reasons for the oldest two not to smoke and then instantly retracting each reason, or the youngest boys teaching Jane how to be popular and get dates by not being her true self, is to be expected, given not only the era in which that happened but also when the book was published, but there are a few slang words and references that the modern reader might not understand or find as funny or relevant as someone who was a contemporary of the family might. We all know what a sheik is, but who uses the term "wet smack" anymore, for example? Still, overall it's a sweet fun way to wrap up the story of this funny family.

Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro

Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (2002-12-01)

Author: Andre Soares

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A-Ok but lacks good photo's

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-18

The book was interesting although I do have to admit I wish there were better photos and close-ups in the book. Seemed to focus too much on the negative, hear say of this wonderfully talented gentleman. I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the actor. It saddens me that his contributions have gone mostly unnoticed in the film industry. The proof is that there are hardly ANY DVD's or even VHS available of his best films? It would be fantastic if there were a film made today of this great actor, that is as long as it was as close to the real Mr Novarro as possible. I'm afraid it would focus too much on the negative, gossipy parts of his most private life.

This what saddens me when any person passes away, others can swoop in and destroy their reputations and if no living relatives are around to stop it. the story becomes gospel truth. Such an injustice.

The book is worth buying but lacks movie still, etc that most BIO's have.

Beyond History and Geography

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-30

Re: Krebsman comment:

In "Beyond Paradise," it is stated that Franklin was located just north of El Paso del Norte, not El Paso. (We're talking 19th century here.)

It says in the book that El Paso del Norte would be renamed "Ciudad Juarez" or "Juarez." Needless to say, Franklin would turn into (or become a part of) what is today known as "El Paso."

The sad life of the screen's first Ben-Hur

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-04

If silent movie star Ramon Novarro is remembered at all today, it is for two things: his starring role in the original film version of BEN-HUR and his brutal murder in 1968 by two alleged male hustlers. Andre Soares' biography of Novarro, BEYOND PARADISE, is intelligently written and sympathetic towards its subject. Novarro seems to have been a nice Mexican boy who was devoted to his family and his religion. He was also homosexual, which caused him a great deal of spiritual torment in a time when such things were not even mentioned among nice people. He had a rapid rise to stardom in the embryonic motion picture industry and was one of the few silent screen stars to survive the transition to talking pictures (despite his Spanish accent), when he played opposite Greta Garbo in the sound feature MATA HARI. But miscasting combined with a conflicting desire to become an opera singer brought about a slow decline and ultimate obscurity. He also became an alcoholic and, perhaps because of his homosexuality, a virtual recluse. This is a sad story.

There are some factual errors early in the book that made me doubt the accuracy of the other points in the book. For example, he says that Franklin, Texas is slightly north of El Paso when it is actually 300 miles to the East. However, he does set the record straight about the means of Novarro's death. In the 1975 book HOLLYWOOD BABYLON, Kenneth Anger states that Novarro choked to death when his art deco styled artificial phallus was stuffed into his mouth by his assailants. Soares gives the lie to this myth when he quotes official evidence that Novarro not only died from being bludgeoned to death, but that no such object was found among Novarro's possessions, nor did it ever exist.

The trouble I had with the book is that actor biographies are all fairly similar. After reading dozens of them over the years, I don't find most of them very interesting. The best parts of the book for me were the final chapters dealing with the murder and its aftermath. But for those who already have a keen interest in the silent movie era of Hollywood and are already familiar with the actors and directors of the period, BEYOND PARADISE could be compelling reading.

Excellent

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-07

I bought this book at the behest of a friend and have since reread it twice. I am a severe critic of biographies, having read more than I can number. Happliy, Andre Soares' book is a well-written, intelligent and well-balanced account of the life of a man who was both complex and not always very smart in his choices. The book does what all good biographies SHOULD do: make you want to go out and find out more about the subject.

Among the many positive attributes to BEYOND PARADISE are:

* A balanced appraisal of Novarro's personal and professional strengths and weaknesses (this is a hopeless, gushing tome by a misguided fan)
* A willingness to analyze the facts without sensational exploitation of them
* Detailed research and substantive factual foundations
* A sincere (thought not always likeable) portrayal of Mr. Novarro
* A well researched documentation of the studio system that made and ultimately destroyed one of it's brightest stars who is, today, largely forgotten

I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it is one of the best biographies I have read in some years.

Incredible biography

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-14

This is an incredibly riveting compelling read, and beyond being entertaining and informative, it's also a balanced thoughtful sensitive portrait of a fascinating human being and actor. Some celebrity biographies seem to have been written by people who can't stand their subject and some are written by people who are too in love with the subject to think clearly, but this one gives a nicely balanced account. We see here a man who was a very fine gifted talented actor, but who eventually became a has-been, for various reasons, who didn't always give his all to selecting the best projects because of his conflicting desire to have a career as an opera singer, and who was deeply torn over his genuine deep committment to his family, his Mexican roots, and his Catholic faith, and how he was also a gay man in a time and a society where that subject was strictly taboo. Even at the time of his murder by two young hustlers, gayness was still considered a psychiatric disorder. Because Ramon kept so much of his life private, this biography can't tell us everything about his personal life, but it is made clear he was:

A very talented actor (he was allowed more range and depth of roles than some of his other romantic leading man counterparts), a man who played to perfection a number of dream roles, most notably that of Judah Ben-Hur in the 1925 version of the screen adaptation of the General Lew Wallace novel, as well as starring with a number of great leading ladies;

A talented singer (even though his acting and singing careers conflicted multiple times and mutually hindered one another);

A devoted family man, deeply religious (he seriously wanted to enter a religious order at several points in his life), becoming the head of the household after his family immigrated to America, as the oldest surviving son in a family of originally twelve children, stepping into the shoes of his father, who had once been a successful dentist but became too ill to support his family during much of his life;

A good human being in spite of natural human flaws (such as his problems with drinking in his later years and several car accidents caused by his heavy drinking);

Someone who sometimes wasn't always the most agreeable person, as evidenced by when he was touring a play in England in the Thirties and getting catcalled by the audience who couldn't hear him, since Ramon had never learnt how to project his voice, being a screen and not stage actor, and actually stepped out of the play to catcall back, "Now, *I* can't hear *you*!"

Even though he is most remembered today for playing the title role in 'Ben-Hur' and for being murdered in his home on Halloween Eve 1968 by two young hustlers, which finally exposed to the public that which he had worked so hard to keep hidden and private (i.e., the fact that he was gay), he was so much more than either of those things, a deeply talented and flawed man. This biography truly does his life and character justice.

Bitter Freedom: Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor

Published in Paperback by Hermitage Publishers (2006-04-25)

Author: Jafa Wallach

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Bitter Freedom

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-02

A very powerful story about the Holocaust that is well-written and gives intimate detail. It's marvelous that the mother wrote down her entire story in 1959 and then was able to live to see it published. I also enjoyed the Afterward, written by the daughter, giving her impressions and what she remembered from this utterly tragic period from which almost no Jew escaped. The fact that each town was carefully named, each incident described in detail, made the story come to life for the reader who could well imagine himself/herself there at the time. The copy-editing done on this book was excellent; I only found two tiny errors.

A Definite Must Read!!!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-25

I just finished reading Bitter Memories, and this is a definite for everyone to share with their family. What this family saw and lived through is awe inspiring and will leave you looking at your own lives. It will make you appreciate where we live and gives a new look at what the Holocaust victims went through. There are so many who will deny that the Holocaust ever took place, but Mrs Wallach and her daughter will help you see through their memories just how horrible it truly was.

Hail The Human Spirit

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-25

This is an incredible story which while simply written,
encompasses all of the best and worst of what humans are capable of. The unbelievable love between and mother and her child is the overwhelming power that pervades the narrative. A gift to anyone who needs to understand what that period of history was all about.
Patti Sacher

Life in the Face of Death

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-26

A very poignant and interesting memoir. You can never imagine what these poor people went through to survive and re-establish their lives. A worthwhile read.

Surely to be an Oprah Best seller

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-10

Bitter Freedom
Jafa Wallach
Paperback: 209 pages
Publisher: Hermitage Publishers; First edition (April 25, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1557791570
ISBN-13: 978-1557791573

Although I have read many first-hand account books written by holocaust survivors, I found Bitter Freedom to be the most compelling story of it's kind since The Diaries of Anne Frank. The book moved me like no other.
Bitter Freedom is written in straight-forward prose by a mother survivor (Jafa Wallach) who shortly after the WWll ended, sat down and wrote the personal history of her family's lucky and often miraculous survival of the Holocaust. In letter form to her daughter- (Rena Wallach Bernstein) too young at the time to know the adult horrors of in which they survived, Mrs. Wallach pens an incredibly honest and poignant memoir.
"The years have gone by and yet the memory of how it all began remains vivid, fearfully close, as though it all happened yesterday. We were at home, apartment #3 Jagielonska Street in the town of Sanok Poland, listening to radio bulletins of Hitler's attack. You, my daughter, were just one year old. You looked up at our anxious faces, your father's and mine, but you could not have understood how deeply frightened we were. You repeated after us, in your baby lisp, "war, war"-the ugliest word in human speech. It wasn't long after that German planes began to pay their deadly visits to our little town of Sanok."

The book transports you back in history allowing you a glimpse of what everyday families were seeing, feeling and experiencing during this horrific time of war. The Jews of conquered Europe were taken by surprise never dreaming that civilized man could do to their fellow human beings what was now being done to them. Terror and mayhem swept Europe, and so swiftly had Hitler come east and so complete was his control of the lands he occupied- there was literally no where to run-no where to hide. Those hunted were now trapped in their own villages.

Escaping the terror was made especially difficult because many people of the Nazi controlled villages were deeply and historically ingrained with hate for certain groups of their fellow countrymen. The Nazis used this hate to their advantage by turning neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend. Christian against Jew. Those of the hated lucky enough to survive, did so only with the help of others who chose to put their own lives, and those of their families at risk to save their friends and neighbors. Very few were willing to take that risk.

Fortunately for the Wallach family One Christian man- a mechanic named Jozef "Jozio" Zwonarz did choose to put his own life and family at risk to save five fellow human beings. As he concealed four adults under the very noses of the Gestapo, he desperately schemed to save the life of the fifth family member, a four year old child. (Rena Wallach)
With parents and daughter now separated, the nightmare for this family was complete. There was nothing left for them to do. Their very lives were now in the hands of God and an auto mechanic named Jozio.

Bitter Freedom is a touching memoir, a suspenseful thriller, and an accurate historical novel all in one. Although the story took place more than 60 years ago, Jafa Wallach's messages to the reader are timeless and wonderfully relevant in today's world where war is in the news every day.

I predict that Bitter Freedom will eventually be on the top of every school's reading list. There are lessons here for all of us.
A must read.

The Bridge Never Crossed

Published in Paperback by Science & Humanities Press (1999-01)

Author: George A. Burk

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A Must Read For Everyone!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-03-12

This story has been and will continue to be a true inspiration to anyone who reads it. I have known Captain Burk for thirteen years and was familiar with his experiences. The book provided me an in depth realization of the chain of miracles that lead to Mr. Burk's survival of such a tragic event. The Bridge Never Crossed causes the reader to reflect on what is really important in life and realize that God has a plan for each of us. I have purchased several copies to share with family and friends. George has been one of the most influential people in my life. He is constant reminder that each of us control our own destiny.

A Must Read For Everyone!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-03-12

This story has been and will continue to be a true inspiration to anyone who reads it. I have known Captain Burk for thirteen years and was familiar with his experiences. The book provided me an in depth realization of the chain of miracles that lead to Mr. Burk's survival of such a tragic event. The Bridge Never Crossed causes the reader to reflect on what is really important in life and realize that God has a plan for each of us. I have purchased several copies to share with family and friends. George has been one of the most influential people in my life. He is constant reminder that each of us control our own destiny.

A PERFECT GIFT!!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-28

This wonderful, courageous and inspirational story makes a perfect gift for anyone on your list - mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, co-workers, friends, enemies, ANYONE! Capt. George Burk is a truly remarkable, amazing man with a truly remarkable, amazing story...a story that I defy ANYONE not to be moved by. Capt. Burk was a recent guest on our radio show...and never has any guest had the impact on my me and my co-host, Debbie...but our producer, the engineer - EVERYONE IN THE BUILDING! George Burk is one of the most incredible people I have ever had the great opportunity to come into contact with. I will say right now...if you haven't read this book - read it NOW!! You will not be sorry - you will be changed.

An awsome, unique and inspirational story.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-15

George Burke's survival story was first heard by me on a radio talk show. His book is as awsome as his discussion was, and I was profoundly moved by his courage, determination, and humor. I have often recommended his book to my "special needs" clients. His story gives much needed encouragement to them, and a new perspective in facing the challenges of living, despite tragic events. I was so impressed by George, that he will now be the keynote speaker at the 6th Annual Joint Services Special Needs Awareness Forum in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Bridge Never Crossed

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-26

After meeting the author in person,reading his book was as powerful as listening to him speak.Mr.Burk takes you on a journey that only a true survivor would attempt. His stop at the Bridge is the starting point for us all !

Cache Lake Country: Life in the North Woods

Published in Paperback by Countryman Press (1998-09)

Author: John J. Rowlands

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Average review score:

Very enjoyable

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-28

I read "Cache Lake Country" in 1968. I was delighted to find it in print again...like meeting an old friend.
Thank you.

what a great book!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-24

I have read a lot of outdoor books over the last 40 years, and this is one of the best. I am going to research the author, John J. Rowlands, because he was obviously a fascinating man who lead a very interesting life. This book tells about 12 months living in a cabin on a lake in Northern Onatario. At the time Rowlands was working as a timber cruiser, evaluating forests for use as lumber. He happened upon his ideal lake and was lucky enough to get stationed there by his company. He was also very lucky to have two great friends living within miles (within signaling distance via the various drums, horns etc. they engineered), on other little lakes. Together the three lived every outdoor boy's dream life of independence and adventure. This book has stuff about canoes, wild animals, sled dogs, snowshoes, knives, axes, the history of the lumber camps, and many boy-scout like craft projects. I just wish it was a lot longer.

Paul Schmitt

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-15

A good book but I didn't think it was as easy to read as friends lead me to believe. A tremendous amount of reference material, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cache Lake Country: Life in the North Woods

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11

I found the book enlightening and informative. Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy and learn from this book.

Life in a cabin in the North Woods

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-31

I'm going to be a little less enthusiastic, but only a little, than some of the other reviewers here. I really did like this book, but for some reason it just didn't quite pull me into the time, place, space the way it did some others- although it didn't miss by much.

This is a very unique book-probably reminding me of my old Boy Scout Fieldbook (a little more detailed and survival-oriented than the handbook) more than a typical non-fiction work. The illustrations are great as well as occasionally light-hearted, and if you are at all handy or have an engineering or for that matter, culinary bent, you will find plenty of recipes and blueprints for food, tools, gadgets- even crystal radio sets or birch bark canoes. While some of these you'd probably have to find some supplemental information to make, most come so well described and diagrammed that you could probably build them or bake them directly from the book.

For me the best part is the author's midwest and at times almost cowboy way of describing life. His time around rough loggers in the days when horses and two man saws were still the order of the day especially captured my imagination. Like many readers, I'm a lot hermit, and the thought of life in a cabin in the north woods with nothing but snow, bear, moose, and wind has a certain charm, and I'm grateful to Rowlands for giving enough of a story to enjoy a bit of that charm vicariously. An excellent and unique book, and for some it will probably become a treasured possession.

The Church of 80% Sincerity

Published in Kindle Edition by Perigee (2008-02-05)

Author: David Roche

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Average review score:

An Easy Read, With Laughter, Pathos and Peace

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-10

This is an honest account of a facially disfigured man who has done lots more with his life than most "normal" men. Anyone who has ever been self-conscious about freckles, a big nose, extra weight or any "perceived" deformity, will feel a kinship with his self consciousness. I certainly did, yet I also felt gratitude that I did not have to go through what he went through. I laughed hard, I cried a few times and I came to some peace with myself after reading this personal little gem of a book, written by a gem of a man.

A memoir with pointers for all

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-28

What a wonderful book this is, though I look at it more as a funny and poignant memoir of someone who has seemingly overcome tremendous obstacles to create a wholesome and very meaningful and happy life for himself. Through significant events in his past, David relates, with great humor, how he was able to overcome the society's burden of judging people by how they look and lead a very fulfilling life. There are some aspects of a "self-help" book about the text, but mostly it is the story of David. At the same time, I found myself looking inward quite a bit and reviewing my own choices in life. David does touch on some aspects of faith, especially in his Catholic upbringing, but the book is mostly about finding the true self within and creating strength and thriving. A warm, funny, touching and thoroughly enjoyable read. I recommend it for all.

Amen to Reverend Dave!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-31

If David Roche did not exist we would have to invent him. He is one of those people (and I'm beginning to think there may be more of them around than we imagine) who make this tired planet a better place to incarnate. David is a truth teller, hope giver, path finder, holy clown and, as we now discover, a hell of a good writer. I read the book in one sitting weeks ago and have been letting its stories and images percolate in my mind, heart and soul ever since. David is not a new-age pollyanna. He reminds me of Barack Obama -- whose memior I"m now reading -- in the way he has earned the authority of the one who has gone through the dark night of the soul and has come back to tell the tale. His compassion, optimism and salvific humor come from his willingness to work with his wounded parts. He takes the alchemical path, transforming the "base material" his life has given him into spiritual gold. In modeling, especially as a man in this society, this willingness to look unflinchingly into his own soul he performs an act of service. And love.

Critical Analysis of "The Church of 80% Sincerity" from a Disability Studies lens

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-29

Jeff Roche
Communication Arts 610
March 6, 2008
Critical Analysis of The Church of 80% Sincerity
In reading David Roche's The Church of 80% Sincerity, I thought that I would be able to "kill two birds with one stone," simultaneously satisfying my curiosity/interest and sense of obligation as the author's nephew, as well finding an autobiographical text that I could examine with a critical lens. However, while I satisfied one part of the equation, I complicated the other; it's not easy to be critical of family.
But I digress. Roche's book is not truly an autobiography. This work is a testimonio, as it "represents an affirmation of the individual subject, even of individual growth and transformation, but in connection with a group or class situation marked by marginalization," (Couser 88). Still, this description is not entirely accurate, as Roche hardly mentions his connection to and development with a community of performers with disabilities (Roche 6). Yet, to quote Steven Winn off of davidroche.com, "what's most striking, and finally moving, is the way he both draws attention to his disfigurement and makes the audience see beyond it as well," fitting nicely with the first part of the testimonio definition. Thus, The Church of 80% Sincerity is more of a semi-autobiographical, non-linear novel that draws attention to Roche's poignant life stories/events that fit into his overall themes.
One might then ask, what are these overall themes? "It is the story of accepting yourself, despite all of your flaws," (Roche 5). By recounting various life experiences, Roche tells his tale of finding self-identity as a person with a congenital facial disfigurement and the setbacks that occurred at various stages. However, for Roche, humor is a key element in the telling of his story. According to Krefting, the use of humor affords her "the catharsis of laughing at myself and my insecurities, as well as allowing me a modality to criticize/satirize," (Krefting 110). I feel the same can be said of Roche. Humor is one part of Roche's identity, but his is an expansive identity that is inherently tied to his ability to "find my voice...I continue to find it onstage, in the pages of this book," (Roche, 56). In many ways, Roche's path of self-discovery aligns itself perfectly with Gill's description of the four types of integration.
The first type involves one's "assertion of a right to inclusion in society," (Gill 42). Roche has several examples related to such assertions. Whether it was his right to be politically active by voicing his concerns on city buses (Roche 64), or preferences for what he wants in a companion (Roche 101), Roche asserts his right to not be excluded on account of his disability.
The second type of integration relates to "finding a place" within the disability community (Gill 42). Roche's initial avoidance of disability culture can be explained by the factors that made him shameful of his own disability, desiring to be "normal". At home, the issue was not discussed; thus, Roche "never learned to explain myself. Instead I learned the safety of standing to the side," (Roche 34). This, combined with feeling rejected by the god that he was raised to love, led to Roche's (unsuccessful) attempts at passing, avoidance, and later substance abuse (Roche 38). Eventually, by finding "community, the feeling of mutual support and being in it together," (Roche 69), Roche felt empowered to challenge his shame and the oppression of others and stop "pretending to be normal and began to accept myself the way I was," (Roche 6).
Now, in a way this seems good because Roche finds strength in a supportive community. What is disconcerting is the lack of a challenge towards the concept of "normal." According to Lennard Davis, the "the idea of a norm is less a condition of human nature than it is a feature of a certain kind of society," (Davis, 24). Roche never directly questions the very notion of "normal," but rather, he continues to make several "normative" remarks throughout the book, leaving the societal construction of the norm untouched. The closest attempts came by asserting how everyone is unique and that Roche's experiences are "wholly human," (Roche 11). By using the word "normal" in this context, it implies that there is a poorly connoted "other," and there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that requires one to assert their humanity because they are viewed as "other."
"Coming together" is the third type of integration, where one recognizes their sameness and differences (Gill 43). The Church of 80% Sincerity does an excellent job of portraying this stage's classical struggle of self-acceptance. There is no need to repeat the why of the matter, for the same mental/physical barriers that prevented Roche from finding a place within the disability community, also prevented him from accepting himself. Though I criticized this quote in relation to the concept of "normal," it accurately shows the integration of sameness and differences: "My face is unique but my experiences are wholly human," (Roche 11).
"I thought...that my face was an impediment...Amazingly, that fear turned out not only to be unfounded, but also to be the opposite of the truth," (Roche 69). A statement such as this demonstrates that Roche was able to reach the fourth type of integration, "coming out," (Gill 45). Not only does Roche see and accept himself as whole, he takes pride in his appearance while using it for his advantage (performances, keynote speeches, charming himself).
The Church of 80% Sincerity extensively covers Roche's personal development in relation to disability, but he downplays any notion of "overcoming". Rather than stating that he overcame ill-formed patterns of thinking about himself and the world around, Roche discusses several self-transforming "moments of grace." While the lessons to be learned from these moments of grace are well-intended and not overlooked, one cannot help but to be distracted by the fact that self-transformations are "a matter of individual will and determination rather than of social and cultural accommodation," (Couser 80). The fact that Roche discusses matters with more of an introspective focus may cause one to overlook the larger sociocultural factors that helped create the ill-formed patterns of thinking in the first place. For example, a sociocultural model of disability might examine societal conceptions of beauty and the assumptions that are tied to it. However, by examining the "random acts of cruelty" that Roche encounters, such as the man who spit in his face, The Church of 80% Sincerity points out the inherent flaws in all of us (Roche 40). Although this does not directly challenge sociocultural factors, it is a step beyond the phenomenological level.
And yet it is difficult to be overly critical of these "moments of grace," because all of these individual, phenomenological experiences have led Roche to form the backbone of his "Church of 80% Sincerity." Although no physical church actually exists, the "Church of 80% Sincerity" can effectively be classified as a lifestyle choice/ way of thinking about the world. The Church is an abstraction "for recovering perfectionists, You can be 80% sincere 100% of the time, or you can be 100% sincere 80% of the time," (Roche 7). Many tenets of the Church are mentioned throughout the book, but the primary tenet would have to be one that calls for self-acceptance, despite one's flaws. One could argue that "The Church of 80% Sincerity" is a sub-set of disability culture, one could even go so far as to say the Church is disability culture. If one takes a look at Gill's work on the eight core values of disability culture (Gill 2-3), one would quickly see that the Church embraces the majority of these core values throughout the book, with a few additions of its own.
On a final note, Roche is very modest about being seen as an inspiration by others. Yet, it is in this modesty that Roche fails to acknowledge the fact that his high level of intelligence and incredible sense of humor assisted him in his identity development and ability to work though challenges; perhaps Roche is modest because of the fact that he was not always looked at as an inspiration, either by himself or others. Roche's work does a good job of challenging the notions of the theoretical gaze and stare, as well as the diagnostic gaze (Millet 26) by reiterating his own experiences with the Western model of medicine. Roche relates his early medical encounters, "One by one they came forward to examine me...If our eyes ever met, it was only a nanosecond before theirs turned away with easy, practiced avoidance," (Roche 53), "You never talk about feelings...or anything!" (Roche 54). This breakdown of the medical experience into feeling like a subject to be examined and gazed upon was a powerful one; stirring up emotions in the reader, as well as inciting Roche to action, as he later became an expert on the physician-patient relationship.
Ultimately, Roche and the "Church of 80% Sincerity" seem to align themselves with many of the core values of Disability Culture. Although one might choose to criticize Roche for his lack of social resolution, political agenda, or inherent call for change, one must realize that that is not what The Church of 80% Sincerity set out to do. This was a story of "courage, faith, inspiration, and laughter...to understand that you and I are very much alike, with our gifts and our flaws woven together," (Roche 11). The majority of the criticisms presented here were merely a means of expanding upon Roche's already solid foundation of self-love, tolerance, and an appreciation for the uniqueness of the human spirit.

Works Cited

Couser, Thomas G. "Conflicting Paradigms: The Rhetorics of Disability Memoir." Embodied Rhetorics Disability in Language and Culture. Ed. James C. Wilson and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson. Southern Illinois University Press, 2001. 78-91.

Davis, Lennard. Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body. London: Verso, 1995. 1-49

Gill, Carol J. "A Psychological View of Disability Culture." First published in Disability Studies Quarterly, Fall 1995. www.independentliving.org/docs3/gill1995

Gill, Carol J. "Four Types of Integration in Disability Identity Development." Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 9 (1997): 39-46.
Krefting, Rebecca. "'The Taming of the Sun': Finding the Joke in the Cancer Narrative of a Pedagogue." Disability and the Teaching of Writing A Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson and Brenda Jo Brueggemann. Bedford/ St. Martin's: Boston, 2008. 109-116.

Millet, Ann. "Disarming Venus: Disability and the Re-Vision of Art History." FemTAP (Summer 2006): 21-39.

Roche, David. The Church of 80% Sincerity. New York: Perigee, 2008.

Not just for Sunday!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-30

My wife, Wilene, and I saw David Roche perform THE CHURCH OF 80% SINCERITY on stage in 1996. It had rocked us with laughter and moved us to silence. When we finally spoke, I said to her, "He should write a book!" Now that didn't qualify me to be a prophet in his church, but it did make me a proud parishioner, because now that his message is out in print, everyone has access to Reverend Dave's gospel. And, that is a blessing!

David was born facially disfigured and I will say no more about that, because whatever I could possibly write, it would pale before David's words as he chronicles his life in this magnificent little book. I have known David for about fifteen years and what I love about the CHURCH OF 80% SINCERITY is the very thing that I love about him. It is about the place where he lives, the intersection of pathos wisdom and humor. When reading it, one is never a sentence or two away from the integration of these three forces.

Another potent and enchanting aspect of his writing lies in his ability to pilot the reader down the same road he is travelling. As David allows us to examine the grief,anger,love,and joy of his life, we are simultaneously compelled to examine and reexperience our own. Ultimately, what the book reveals is that David's journey has been been an alchemical one. We become very clear that he turns lead into gold, and there in lies the gospel; the good news that we can do the same. -- at least eighty percent of the time! -- I can't recommend it enough!

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief

Published in Hardcover by W. W. Norton (2008-05-12)

Author: Ann Hood

List price: $19.95

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Average review score:

There is no comfort in this book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-08

This book should never have been called " Comfort - A journey through Grief." It should have been called "Self Indulgence - A journey through repetition." I too lost my daughter...she was 14 and died from respiratory illness. I seek out books like this to help me with my own grief. This book did not provide any help, let alone comfort. To the contrary, it irritated me because of the lack of any attempt by Ms. Hood to discuss comfort or healing and the observations that she repeated over and over, ad nauseum. And where is the journey of the title? Ann Hood says late in the book (almost at the end, in fact) that she doesn't know how she got from there to here. She is referring to going from being the crazy woman with the dirty clothes to being the woman who wrote a new novel. If she doesn't know this, then it is misleading and irresponsible to call this book a journey. I can see how people who have not lost a child would find this book poignant, but as someone trying to make my own journey through grief over my loss, this book is a fraud.

Finding Hope in Grief

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-21

I have just finished reading "Comfort" by Ann Hood and I sit here stunned. Never have I been a witness to such raw and intimate emotion. Ann writes of her tortuous journey of trying to cope with her grief after the sudden death of her daughter, Gracie. "She was only five years old." The reiterating of this sentence and the phrases describing her frantic experiences that day in the hospital, over and over again throughout the book, convey the sense of disbelief, helplessness, and raw pain throughout the memoir.

Ann Hood is not a new author to me. I have read many of her other books. "Do Not Go Gently" about dealing with the impeding loss of her father to cancer also revealed her ability to put on paper what was coursing through her veins. "The Knitting Circle" a fictional story of a woman trying to put her life together after the loss of her daughter, was her previous attempt to try to tell the story of the loss of Gracie. In each of these, woven in with the phrases of pain and brutal honesty is an energy and lust for life that is redeeming. I find myself crying and then laughing with tenderness as she goes on to mention something that brings to life the human spirit to survive and cope.

Even though the book deals with such tragedy and pain, it is not a downer. I am left with a sense of connection to Ann and her family that make me want to hug her and bring a cake over to her house. She is each of us...she is a mother who isn't afraid to feel her pain and share it with us. She is a wife who isolates herself in a corner one minute and then grasps tenaciously to her husband in the next. She is a woman who exhibits love, anger, longing, strength and determination. If she can walk through this then there is hope for all of us who also have difficult journeys in our future.

A Mother's Grief Shared Comfort

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-19

There is a kinship between those who have suffered the death of a child, and this book speaks to that familiarity, and the healing that begins to nudge its way in as the retelling occurs. I nodded my head in agreement, and cried as Ann shared the journey of her grief, the silly things people think they have to say to a grieving parent, and the reality of the words "I'm still here". This book is an empathetic comfort for those who have known the tragedy of burying a child.

Grief Unveiled

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-04

Reading Ann Hood's best-selling novel The Knitting Circle, I sensed that she was doing exactly what aspiring writers are told to do: She was writing what she knew well: Knitting, friendship, life's challenges--and losses. What I didn't realize as I read her wonderful novel was that she held a deeper, far more intimate story that was begging to be told. Comfort: A Journey Through Grief is that very personal story about the sudden loss of Hood's five-year-old daughter Grace. With the kind of raw emotion that only a survivor of such grief can share, she journeys back to the events that define her losses and finds light and hope in what seems to be a hopelessly dark place.

In a searing prologue bearing the same title as the book ("Comfort"), Hood begins and ends with the thought that "Time heals," methodically listing the comments that people made to her in the aftermath of Grace's death. Interspersed among the well-intentioned words of others, Hood writes her own rebuttals and rebukes of them. "Once you have lived through all of the firsts, it will get better." ... "Are you writing down how you feel?" "But I cannot write. I cannot think of anything but her." ... "She is in a better place." But how can a five-year-old little girl be in a better place without her mother?" "Are you writing any of this down?" "Only the lies people tell me. There are no words for the size of this grief. There are only lies."

By the time I finished reading the prologue, her words clutched my heart and threatened to never let go.

They say that writing about such pain is therapeutic. I say that reading this book is also therapeutic. As a mother and a nurse, I cannot imagine having to make sense of the loss of a young and healthy child. Likewise, I cannot imagine having to function and move forward after such a shock. Hood reveals just how terribly difficult it is to go anywhere but inward.

"In the days and weeks and months that followed, I told these details over and over and over to anyone who would listen. Repeating them made the story which seemed unbeliebable still, real. It was as if by repeating the details I cold somehow understand them, understand what had happened to Grace, to our family." (Chapter Two: Knitting Lessons).

This book will take you on an emotional ride unlike any other. I have emerged from the pages of this book with an incredible ache for Hood's loss but also with joy for her renewed hope for the future, in her adopted daughter, Annabelle.

Written with grace and brutal honesty, Comfort has touched my life and is sure to touch the lives of all who read about Ann Hood's powerful journey.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Hug your children and don't let go...

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-30

The author's five year old daughter Grace died suddenly. She writes about her life and her coping with her grief. While the subject matter may turn many away, this 186 page book, which can be read in one sitting, will move you and particularly so if you have children.

Many compare this book to Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. From my point of view, this book is in a different class - far superior - coming deep from the author's soul where you live and feel the grief as you turn the pages. For example (P. 96): "I have read that when someone loses an arm or leg, for months afterward they still feel the pain in their missing limb. A phantom limb, it is called, as if the outline or shadow of that limb is still there. That is what my arm became. Phantom limbs, aching for Grace. At night I would wake up in pain, my arms actually hurting with longing for her. It is hard to imagine that emptiness can cause pain, but my empty arms arched."

The book is beautifully written. The author has a knack of bringing alive small every day experiences - "I ate wine biscuits twisted into pretzel shapes and hard bread dipped into tomato sauce, tight batons of prosciutto and crunchy stalks of fennel dripping with olive oil."

Hood is direct in explaining her grief - there is no magic silver bullet to deal it.

"Writing about Grace, losing her, loving her, anything at all is not linear. Readers wants a writer to be able to connect the dots. But these dots don't connect. One day I think about how knitting saved my life, and I write about that. But how do I connect it to other parts of my grief? Grief doesn't have a plot. It isn't smooth. There is no beginning and middle and end."

Or

"It had been three years since Grace had died. Slowly, we were back to work, out with friends again. Our loss still filled our home, every corner of it. It still filled us. Time doesn't heal, I had learned, it just keeps moving. And it takes us with it."

And finally, she expresses her anguish in vivid heartbreaking ways:

"The first time I walked into Grace's room after she died, when the reality of what had happened to us in the past forty-eight hours was still unbelievable, the first things I saw were those tights. I saw them and screamed, not the kind of scream that comes from fright, but the kind that comes from the deepest grief imaginable. It is a scream that comes when there are no words to express what you feel. It is an argument with God or life or death. It is a scream that rails against logic and fate and everything there is."

Hood eventually turns the corner but never shakes the horror and pain of losing a loved one. Hood's grief comes alive and is real as you turn the pages. Sad but emotionally stirring book.

Elvis: Unknown Stories Behind the Legend

Published in Paperback by Celebrity Books (1998-09)

Authors: Jim Curtin and Renata Ginter

List price: $19.95

Used price: $15.55
Collectible price: $37.00

Average review score:

My Elvis Bible

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-16

This book is what I will call from now on: MY ELVIS BIBLE

Definitely the world's best Elvis "reader book".
Well written, easy to read, easily enjoyed whenever.

I am patiently waiting for the other Volumes of this series.
If they are anywhere near as good as this volume, Jim Curtin will the world's best Elvis books on the market! (well he kind of does already).

I am so happy I found his books online.
My first exposure to Curtin was through his Unseen Elvis book (definitely the best photo book on ELvis to date).
I did not know he authored more books, till one of my friends bought me his Christmas With Elvis book, and from there on, I became a Jim Curtin / Renata Ginter fan!

With as much enthusiasm as I had reading this book, I can honestly attest that anyone who buys it, will love it just as much. I can guarantee it (if my word even means anything to anyone).

I am just a fan who enjoys reading quality material on Elvis and who LOVES to see rare photos on him as well.

So if you want my recommendation as to what kind of books to buy or get on Elvis .... stick with Jim Curtin (the true Elvis expert and friend)

My thoughts about this tremendous book

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-05

I have never written a review before on anything, so please don't mind if I rattle here and there. I will try to my best ability explain what I liked about this book.

#1- This book dispells the Elvis myths that have for some reason been printed all wrong! ... Jim makes true sense of many of these myths and explains in detail the real truth behind certain things: .... [EX: That the Dorsey Brothers who hosted "The Stage Show" did not like nor want ELvis on their show and only allowed him a few appearances when Colonel Parker paid them $5,000 under the table!!]

#2- Has touching stories about the sad times in his life: his mother's death - breakups with his girlfriends - breakup with his wife - etc.

#3- Has funny stories about how Elvis too had his moments of embarrassment, accidents and just plain ole funny situations .... [EX: In the 1970s, Linda Thompson talked Elvis into going to the local Memphis McDonald's and there he was approached by a man who thought Elvis was an impersonator and told him how sad he was to be someone else! Linda simply went along with the man and said to Elvis, "Cut the crap Bob!" ]

#4- Has wonderful behind the scenes stories during Elvis' movie filming ...... [EX: How on the set of Roustabout, Elvis was accidentally kicked in the head by costar and as a result had to have stitches to sew up the wound. The director incorporated a scene in the movie, where in a fight Elvis' character suffers an injury to his head! ]

#5 - Has great stories about the women he dated and what happened during some of the dates! hehe ....... {EX: How Elvis dated Yvonne Craig and he invited her to his CA rented home, while trying to leave, she activated his alarm which in turn called the local police and swat team. She was almost arrested for breaking and entering by them, if Elvis hadn't been woken up to explain why she was there!]

#6- Also has fantastic business stories of some of the deals he and Colonel Parker were offered and turned down. .... [EX: They were offered $1 million to perform one show in England]

#7- Heartwarming family stories about his parents, Priscilla and Lisa Marie ....... [EX: How Lisa Marie, at age five, would play Elvis' records on her own personal record player and memorize the words - and then go to Elvis and "perform" the songs for him - complete with all of Elvis' stage moves!]

These are just 7 reasons why this book is so great. It is so heart touching it should be retitled to: CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE ELVIS SOUL

So fellow readers, if you want a book that you can laugh, smile, cry and be amazed with, this is it! You do not need to be an Elvis fan to read it ... all you need is an open mind, a hot cup of tea of chocolate, a comfortable chair with blanket and this book!

My thoughts about this tremendous book

Helpful Votes: 20 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-05