Biography Books

Ricardo Semler calls himself a maverick, but he's actually a visionary. Semler, now 49, was way ahead of the curve 25 years ago when he radically altered the structure and philosophy of his father's company, Semco. Long before most businesses acknowledged that employees were thinking, feeling human beings and not timecard-punching robots, Semler rebuilt the infrastructure at Semco, eliminating layers of bureaucracy and allowing employees to decide their own fates. They determined their own schedules, pay scales and dress codes. Semler drastically reduced paperwork; he restricted memos, for example, to a single page. He believed that empowered employees, freed of their corporate shackles, would be motivated, creative and productive. You may find some aspects of that approach unrealistic or totally impractical for your organization. You may even think Semler is crazy. At the very least though, getAbstract believes executives should give careful consideration to his approach. His innovations are still relevant, even a quarter of a century later.

Great book. Amazing story.
Lot's of good lessons to be learned here. I read it all the way through and enjoyed the writing style a great deal. A quick read with fascinating stories and good information.

I think this book gives In Search of Excellence a run for its money as the all time great. This book really promotes a different way of thinking about the workplace in a much more collaborative way. I can't wait to start his other book the Seven-Day Weekend.

I have been strugling about how to have an organization or a corporation that are at the same time efficient and humanistic/democratic. Although people normally receives these types of ideas with reserve, the feeling is that it is almost impossible (take out the "almost" if you wish).

After reading Maverick everything changes. We have heard histories before, for example, ancient Athenas, Robert Owen cooperative success in 19th Century England, Mahatmas Ghandi, and so forth. However, rarely a 20th Century corporation has gone so far as Semco, at least to the best of my knowledge.

If you are interested in "real" humanistic-democratic management, you must have this book in your reading list.

Maverick is the story of Semco, an medium size Brazilian company who has set free their employees. The owner, Richardo Semler has been on a journey to continuously improve and innovate their employee related practices. Maverick describes this journey, the steps Semco took, the effect it had and the reasoning behind it. The changes they have gone through is innovate, thought provoking and may be even revolutionary.

What are these innovations? They range from flextime for factory workers, letting people control their own work to more extreme practices like completely abandoning the organizational chart to people who can set their own salaries! Chapter after chapter, Richardo describes these changes, starting with the smaller ones and ending with the large and most thought provoking changes and ending the book with a speculation about how his ideas and Semcos experiences might influence other companies and maybe the general business culture.

Maverick is very well written. It took me 2 days to read it, it kept me reading all the time. Well structured and really builds up to the end. Also the end, for me, was not dissapointing and looking forward to reading Semler's follow-up book.

Very much recommended.

Right from the gitgo Ben Hamper's Rivethead grabs you with gritty gusto of passages such as the above; Hamper is an extraordinary writer about life for the ordinary guy... at least the ordinary guy who winds up as an automotive assembly-line worker for General Motors in Flint, Michigan--once considered the Automobile Capital of the World. The author is a natural shop rat, growing up in Flint, with an alcoholic mostly absentee father and a long-suffering, working-three-jobs mother trying to raise the family as practicing Catholics.

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For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2008

The endless monotony and idiot bosses drive anybody with an IQ above their shoe size to do something to kill the thought that, if they're lucky, they only have 30 more years of mind numbing drudgery to go before they can retire. I'm not saying alcohol abuse is the proper outlet, but it does seem to be the most common and most convenient. Good book, excellent portrayal of what exactly "blue collar America" does for a living.

Ben Hamper shares his life as a worker on the GM assembly line in Flint, MI. Bold, frank, honest and often hilarious. This book was recommended to me years ago and for some reason I never read it until now. Hamper chronicles a part of American history (manufacturing jobs) that seem to be going stateside or as Ross Perot once described in a quip about NAFTA, what's that whoosing noise? manufacturing jobs headed to Mexico. This is prose for the ages. Loved the book.

I didn't really like reading this book because I too work in a (once) major three Auto plant. I didn't feel that it properly portrayed some of the workers. It made it sound like all workers are like the author where they just really don't give a damn about anything except having a joking time on the job. It also made the workers sound like they were underachieving, undereducated, bottom of the barrel workers and I didn't care to have that stigma for all of us. I hold two bachelor degrees, like my job and take it serious!

I grew up with people like Ben Hamper in a place which was much like Flint. For the first couple years of my adult life, I did the kind of work he did. What he describes is the tail end of a lifestyle; the lifestyle of the shop rat. It's dirty, monotonous and smelly. Many of the people you work with are either below average in intelligence or in sanity. Drugs, booze and having no concept of "forethought" are fundamental parts of the culture. It's nihilism with a rivet gun. If you come from a place like that, chances are, your only way out is via a jail cell or a career in the military. Or, you could win a workmans comp suit. Which is presumably how Ben got out.

I miss rust-belt working class america. It's a hard life, and it doesn't have much in the way of rewards, but the people who make it up are genuine in ways that others are not: they have a lot of heart and spirit. Ben's book brought it all back in a great galloping rush of memories. If you've ever wondered what the factory working classes are, or at least were like (back when we had factories); read the book.

This is the first time that I felt compelled to write a review. I found this book honest, entertaining, soul searching and amazing. Josh really lets you see who he is and doesn't hide his emotions or short comings. He provides insights into coping with his deafness and also reveals how he experiences that world. His journey in Africa is unbelievable except, of course, it is true. I would highly recommend this book.

I found Josh Swiller's riveting and beautifully written account of his Peace Corps service in Eastern Africa impossible to put down. Swiller weaves insight about deafness brilliantly into his story, giving the reader an insider's perspective on being deaf in any and every possible situation. As the mother of a present Peace Corps Volunteer, I couldn't help but imagine how Josh's mother might have been feeling during his two years in Africa. What did she know about his experience? Was she able to communicate with him? Did he protect her by not divulging details of the danger? While he doesn't tell the reader much about his mother in his book, I found myself wondering about her beyond the book. And...I have continued to think deeply about his experience long after reading his final words. I'm ready to read whatever Swiller publishes next!

I love this book. I've recommended it to just about everyone I've spoken to since I finished it. It is a wonderful memoir. It is hard to put down, and it's incredible to reflect on.

Read it.

As a Psychotherapist, I would recommend this book to anyone with a hearing problem or anyone who has a child with a hearing problem. I also would recommend it to anyone who needed to be inspired by the human spirit and to see that the limits of our coping capacities are beyond anything we can imagine.

Josh Swiller's account of his Peace Corps years is a wonderful insight into how he coped with volunteering in an African village as a young deaf man. It is a real page turner. A 5 star read!

I am glad I am not the only one who has read and reread With Love Form Karen so many times. I have probably read this book more times than I have read any other book in my life. This story inspired me because like Karen I was born with a birth defect. I am not disabled but Karen's story gave me the courage to face the obstacles in my own life (they paled in comparison to what Karen faced). Marie does focus a lot on Gloria and I feel this as well as the tragic fire that killed three of Little Marie and Gloria's children lead to estraingment later on. The family is old world and very private and will not make their individual stories public. Today they would be on the talk show circuit and making a movie deal. I respect that but it would be nice to know what has happened to them. I always felt there should be a movie but that wont happen because none of the family members will take part in it.

I wrote a review of "Karen" and won't repeat myself here, except to say I love this book--I read it when I was in about fifth grade. I had always wanted to live in a family like this.

The reason I'm writing this is because of a review where someone criticized Marie Killilea for allowing Karen to practice walking (in her leg braces) by mowing the lawn, saying it was dangerous. Once again, you have to keep in mind the HISTORICAL CONTEXT of these books. I doubt very much that they had a gasoline-powered lawn mower back then. She was probably pushing a hand mower, a big heavy non-motorized thing which actually would provide stability for someone who had trouble walking, much like the walker on wheels that my grandmother uses.

"With Love From Karen" continues the true story of a girl, born in 1940 with cerebral palsy, and her family. This follow-up to the 1952 book "Karen" picks up five years after the end of the first book. Karen is now 12; the family has found a suitable house for their unique needs; and Gloria has officially joined the Killilea clan.

As with "Karen," I have read "With Love From Karen" many times since my teen years. Although I enjoy reading it as a continuation of Karen's story, I have never found it as compelling as the first book. Perhaps it is because the breakthroughs are different, or perhaps the writing is simply not as strong.

For those whose interest was piqued by the first book, I heartily recommend reading the rest of the story. If you have not been introduced to the Killilea's by reading "Karen," then you should start there.

The tone of this book is matter-of-fact tending toward upbeat. There are many anecdotes and stories that illustrate the Killilea family's interesting life. Some will make you laugh, others will make you roll your eyes; many will make you think.

A few important things to consider: The Killilea's were devoutly Catholic, and their attitudes and decisions reflect this as well as the era (1950's). The book was written long enough ago that the language and situations, particularly with regard to matters of educating the handicapped, may seem outdated and "wrong." Welcome to the world before the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act!

Readers should also note that the "C.P. work" in the book refers to Marie Killilea's work with United Cerebral Palsy, which she helped to found. She remained active with the organization for many years; read the book to learn more.

I am glad that I own this book, as well as the original "Karen." I am glad to have it on my bookshelf, where I can periodically pull it down, read it, and be reminded how lucky I am to be healthy and have a healthy family, as well as of how much (and how little) people have changed in the last 40 years.

Marie Killilea (1913-1991) wrote WITH LOVE FROM KAREN (a sequel to her first book, KAREN) about her daughter, born with cerebral palsy at a time when little was known about the condition and when many were puzzled over or even afraid of persons with disabilities. The Killilea family's endeavors to ensure Karen a healthy, productive life are great reading, even almost a half-century later. This book relates the adventures of Karen and her lively family from approximately age twelve through her entrance into adulthood. Keep Kleenex handy, because you're going to weep for sympathy and then you're going to howl with laughter. Mrs. Killilea writes with resolute faith, tenderness, and great humor. Although developments in treating disabilities (and people with disabilities) have greatly changed, you'll love the courage and warmth of this book and you may wish that children who happen to be born with disabilities could all have families like the Killileas.

Both books are highly inspirational and leave one with the feeling of being "one of the family." The fight of the Killileas to give their daughter and sister the most "normal" life possible is awesome. When I first read the books as a child, I simply accept this wonderful family into my world without question. As an adult, I would suggest they could not be quite as saintlike at they seem to be depicted at times. Again, from an adult perspective, I know there must have been disagreements and quarrels from time to time. That would just be normal!
I would recommend these books to anyone facing challenges of his/her own. You will be inspired beyond a doubt.
I didn't know about the fire tragedy which took the lives of Russ and Gloria's two daughters and Marie and Ronald's daughter until a few years ago. I can't even begin to imagine the impact this tragedy must have had on the family. Amy@parsley has copies of newspaper articles about this as well as other pictures of Killilea family members.
The best praise I can give these books is that I wish more had been written, following all the family members, because they truly did seem to become "family" to readers. To this reader, anyway!!
To the Killilea children and their families - thank you for sharing such a large part of your lives with us. I hope you have never had cause to regret it. I suspect your stories have inspired more people in more ways than you will ever know.

There are so many other good reviews, that I do not feel the need to say much except read this book. It was great through and through, cover to cover.

the ending made me switch to 5. I liked the happy ending. I think what made it kinda bad for me reading this one was that I saw the movie first. So while reading I kept trying to copy parts to scenes in the movie.

What makes this book great for me is the fact that it's written by a black man about his troubled life. Most black men won't even tell the people close in their lives things like this let alone write a story for the world to read.

End child abuse today.

This is an awe inspiring piece of literary work. The narrative from the beginning inspires the reader and allows almost a walk-along journey into the author's life and the actual steps that he took. The movie was good in its setting and up to date account of a life in the 60's. The book adds so much story that went untold in the movie and is that much more moving. Antwone Fisher writes as if he has been doing this since a child.

The novel Finding Fish by Antwone Fisher is a very good book. The book is far better than the movie and i reccomend it to all. It entails his life as well as select readings from his poetry. It is a a story of struggle and beating the odds to become a success

If you have any interest in human behavior, this is a must read. It is a true story of a man who has to overcome so much to succeed. The challenges he faces are so harsh, as he struggles through life as a foster child.

There was a seeming dual purpose motivating the author to write this book. Remen is a medical doctor who basically tells the stories about how her professional experiences moved her closer to, rather than away from, emotional involvement with her clients particularly as it pertained to the connection between one's spirituality and recovery,amongst other things.
Remen also shares some very deep and moving stories that were shared with her by her clients once she became a therapist.
It's a wonderful read and will be helpful to anyone seeking spiritual enlightenment and motivation.

Beautiful sweet touching book that helped me get me through some tough times. Celebrates the human spirit.

I recently had the privilege of hearing the author speak. she is an amazing woman.

Rachel Naomi Remen believes in the healing power of stories. She trained as a pediatrician and expected to practice traditional medicine much as her father and other male members of her family had done before her, but something happened to change her carefully planned course.

In the introduction to Kitchen Table Wisdom, Remen tells how her male colleagues frequently knocked on her office door to ask for her help with a crying patient. They believed that she, as a woman, would know what to do. Though she knew no more than they, she felt flattered that they came to her and felt that this helped her be more a part of their exclusive "Old Boys Network." She began to spend more and more time listening to patients share their fears and feelings of living with a terminal disease.

Since the age of fifteen, Remen has suffered from Crohn's disease. As she listened to her patients, she began to feel less lonely and isolated. Probably, her guidance and uncanny understanding of her patients stemmed from her familiarity with physical and emotional pain.

Kitchen Table Wisdom is a compilation of eighty-eight poignant stories that Remen heard over many years, as well as stories of her own life. Her stories demonstrate her belief that a larger process is at work in all our lives and that human beings are "unfinished, a work in progress." She believes we come into the world whole but lose faith in our wholeness and become discouraged by feelings of not being pretty enough, smart enough, etc. " ... our wholeness exists in us now," she writes, "Trapped though it may be, it can be called upon for guidance, direction and most fundamentally, comfort."

No retelling of Remen's stories can do them justice. One of my favorites is "The Question"--a story told by a patient named Tim (now a cardiologist) of his experience at the age of fifteen with his father, who was in the last stages of Alzheimer¹s disease. At the time, his father had not spoken for ten years and was totally helpless. Tim and his brother were alone with their father when he suddenly slumped over and fell to the floor. The brother was calling 911 when both boys heard a voice commanding, "Don't call 911, son. Tell your mother that I love her. Tell her that I am all right." With those words, the man died. An autopsy later revealed that Tim's father's brain had been entirely destroyed by the disease. Tim never stops wondering who spoke those final words. He tells Dr. Remen, "Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed."

The author believes that talking about and sharing one¹s feelings revives memories that can lead to important new insights about one¹s life, bringing about a healing that formal treatment is unable to offer. She says that Shamans believe illness is a direct indication of soul loss. The soul, she explains, is that which is aware of the sacredness we carry and the sacredness that exists in the external world as well. Losing our appreciation for our sacredness, living with sadness, with feelings of unworthiness can manifest illness.

"Life is the ultimate teacher...," she writes. "It is through experience, and not scientific knowledge or expert academic training alone that we learn our deepest lessons." In her lectures and writings, Dr. Remen likes to tell of a sign on the wall of a room in Florida where the elderly come to play Bingo. It reads, "You Have to Be Present to Win." And so it is in life.

by Duffie Bart
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I am presurgery and this book helps to calm me and encourage me to think positively.

For years I refused to read this book after a friend's recommendation thinking that it would be another "feel good" attempt . Boy was I wrong! This book is one of the most extraordinary pieces of writing I have ever encountered. I have read it over and over again many times (the stories are short enough that allow you to read at your own pace). It has actually become sort of a "guide to Life" for me. Furthermore, as story-telling itself goes, is simply masterful. Dr. Remen is a powerful communicator and her wisdom goes beyond "new age". It is a groundbreaking work about mystery, awe and Life with a capital "L".

"Only as Good as Your Word" is a witty and engaging account of one writer's ability to make a career for herself doing the thing she loves most. Shapiro tells the story of her successes and stumbles with humor and humility, while sharing sage advice of her own and words of wisdom from the mentors who guided her along the way. "Plumbers don't have plumbing blocks," said her cousin, the writer Howard Fast -words anyone who has frozen at the sight of a blank page would do well to remember. Shapiro's insights are helpful, entertaining and inspiring. One can't help but admire her perserverance and appauld the success she has achieved. "Only as Good as Your Word" is a great read.

The adventures of making it as a professional writer - it's more than an endless stack of rejection slips. "Only As Good As Your Word: Writing Lessons from My Favorite Literary Gurus" is author Susan Shapiro's memoir of her life trying to make it with her pastime of writing. Focusing on the wisdom imparted on her from her countless mentors over the years, it serves as an excellent source in itself for writers and aspiring writers. "Only As Good As Your Word: Writing Lessons from My Favorite Literary Gurus" is highly recommended to community library memoir collections.

Susan Shapiro brings the same lively, smart, hilarious prose to the history of her writing life as she brought to her sex/love life in Five Men Who Broke My Heart. Who would have thought this book could be just as compelling and entertaining? In writing about her mentors, Shapiro is full of priceless advice about writing--and about living in general. She was a girl who never gave up, who fought hard and worked hard and listened and learned when older and wiser writers spoke. Most of us would do well to read this book with as much attention.

Susan Shapiro's memoir sparkles with humor and insight that any writer could put to good use. Every chapter chronicles her courtship of and relationship with a different literary mentor, each of whom she psychoanalyzes into a substitute familial role - the emotionally available father, the kind older brother, the intellectually-minded maternal figure. What makes this work is Shapiro's endearing candor about her analytical bent, and the way it shapes the narrative into a cohesive whole.

As Shapiro navigates the rocky world of the NYC literary scene, she never hesitates to admit her own mistakes and point out the pitfalls to her readers. The stories are engaging and poignant, and most importantly, they demonstrate that mentors are cultivated in all the expected places in unexpected ways. This book is a useful and entertaining choice for anyone curious about the New York publishing world, and an invaluable resource for those who want to become a part of it.

Shapiro's "Only as Good as Your Word" is an informative, well-written, humorous and heartening book that should be mandatory reading for any aspiring writer. The mentor-protégé relationship plays such a crucial role in the literary/journalism world--which is why the author's no-holes-barred insight on its highs, lows, psychological underpinnings and ramifications as they relate to her are breathtaking. She pulls no punches when it comes to indicting her own neurotic behavior--and in doing so deconstructs the myth that having it all means having it all together. That Shapiro does it with such seemingly effortless yet loaded prose makes for quite the feat; her poetry training has obviously served her well.

If you've ever, had, been or needed a mentor, this book is for you.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BETTER TRUE CRIME BOOKS I HAVE READ IN AWHILE. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I DIDN'T GET ANY WORK DONE. JIMMY AND WANDA AND TRACI ARE AN INSPIRATION.

Today is the nniversary of my father's passing, Cleveland Stevens, Atty. at Law. My mother and I helped Mr. Hudson with this book and I feel that he did the entire case justice and wrote extremely well. There are many sides to the story of what his daughter and wife, my mother and I, went through as we watched this case being tried, watched my father agonizing over what he knew would be the inevitable, and watching Rusty Woomer eating his last family meal with his cancer stricken mother and devoted sister. Again, there is another side to this story. The human element of the side of the guilty. The book does a marvelous job displaying Wanda's tenacity and strength. I recommend everyone read this, and if you ever want to know the inside of the other side, you will have to wait for my book! Thanks Dale for capturing such horrific and life changing events in such a great way!

This is The Best True Crime book and one of the best books I have ever read! I Read alot of books and this one just haunts me..Its a inspirational story of Wanda Summers who survives a Shot gun Blast to the Face.It tells of her struggles,The Case,Its much more than a True Crime Story..Its a Story of a Survivor! I look forward to reading more by these Authors!

Wanda Summers is a courageous woman who fought to live
and survive at the hands of sociopath Rusty Woomer and
Eugene Skarr. The story is so well-written I felt as if
I was right there with her, Louise Sellers, and the
other victims all the time. The authors did a very
credible job of mixing the action and narrative so as
to keep the story moving forward. Most true crime stories
have several sections which are difficult to read, but
not so with this one. Thumbs up for this story and the
authors. I am off to find something else they have written.

From the intriguing and unusual cover to the contents of the book to the back cover -- this book is one of those books you just can't put down.

Wanda's courage and strength comes shining through due to the incredible writing of Hudson and Hills. This woman defied all odds and should have never lived, much less have the nerve to tell her story to all. But she did.

The story reads easily, like fiction, but you must remind yourself at all times this is REAL. Events really DID HAPPEN. In order for Wanda's suffering to have been worthwhile to share, we have to learn from her.

I implore women especially to read this book and to see that we do have a way to take an extremely bad situation and right it.

Another fascinating part of this book is the way Wanda's husband stood by her, throughout it all. This man has had to suffer his own grief and guilt. Another title could have been "In Hell: A Love Story Emerges."

Wanda is -- tragically -- not just another pretty face, she was a daughter, a mother, a wife, a friend ... a survivor.

Thanks for a story well told.

In a world saturated with stories overcoming life challenges, Remember This Titan delivers a message unlike any I have read.
Steve Sullivan's ability to capture the essence of Coach Bill Yoast while weaving in an out of the life narrative is remarkable. He has cleverly captured in words, the essence of a man who made it his life's commitment to make a difference and inspire. Sullivan has beautifully portrayed with drama, insight and humor, the life of a man whose unwavering commitment to others enabled them to prosper- all became better, some became great. Many went on to positively impact on other's lives and for this, Sullivan's book is a brilliant reminder that the `Domino Effect' can be a powerful force.
Although Coach Bill Yoast is in the twilight of his journey, Remember This Titan and the wisdom it delivers is a legacy that will live forever.

A friend sent me the book as gift. She said it would change my life. She was right. It took me on a glorious trip. In a world filled with deceit, fear, anger and lost people Remember This Titan shows how one man can make a differance. Remember This Titan is a story that delivers integrity and courage in abundance. Coach Bill Yoast is now my hero. Remember This Titan is triumph and should be required reading for anyone looking to navigate life with a sense of purpose. Five Stars is not enough.

This is a great motivational and uplifting story. A must read for teens and parents alike!!

"Remember This Titan" is an excellent story of an American hero. In a time when personal glory is mainstream, Bill Yoast was not only an inspiration to a community but to the nation as well. Absorbing every word of a simply beautiful story of a no-nonsense man, I learned that, "In navigating life, the best lessons are learned when the riding gets rough". Not only do I believe in the philosophy of life according to Coach Yoast but our entire youth organization and metro area are looking forward to having Mr. Sullivan and Coach Yoast motivate our young men for our 2006 football season. I look forward to meeting Coach Bill Yoast and Steve Sullivan in August, (www.greenmountainfootball.org) and showing them that the TITAN theory exists in Colorado. Steve Sullivan along with Bill Yoast are truly the cornerstone of INSPIRATION.

Remember This Titan, is a wonderful accounting of Bill Yoast's life, ups and downs, the expected and the unexpected. It is the story of a man who LIVED decency long before it was fashionable. The success of the team, both on the field and in their interpersonal relationships, was nurtured by the presence of this fine teacher, leader and coach. In a time when schools go out of their way to emphasize that character counts, this is a fine, enjoyable book to share with the children/students in your life. There are so many valuable lessons, from Mary's impact on Coach Yoast to the profound influence of Raymond Tetfeller on Yoast's young life. This book is beautifully written. It flows with astonishing honesty from humor to heart-wrenching pain. Sullivan has an obvious knowledge, understanding and respect for Coach Yoast. As if all of the above isn't enough, there are action plans and lists of invaluable facts in the back. Remember This Titan is a great read which has had a lasting impact on me. p.s. I had a student at the end of the year say, "Hey, Ms. Stewart are YOU reading a football book, cool!" Enjoy.

It's my #5 book on memoirs of the Holocaust. All of them I discovered right here, on Amazon.
The first one was "Thanks to my Mother" by Shoshana Rabinovici about life and survival by a minute in the Vilna Ghetto. Then was "Alicia", "Cage"...
Rena and Danka are two sisters in Poland. Rena promised their mother to be with her littler sister and watch her. And all she was doing in Auswitz was to keep Danka alive. Amazing woman and very very street smart. There were so many situations where most people would loose the will to live, but Rena kept finding the ways to save herself and Danka at the last split of a second. Over two years to be in the Death camp and survive!
An amazing Courage to fight for Life!
An amazing example for us all!

On a day where a person has everything that they need and no need to cry is the same day that a person may be going through what one would consider the "worst" day of their life. The novel Rena's Promise is the best novel that a person could ever read because it talks about the Holocaust but, not only does it describe the bad times but it makes one feel as though they were right beside Rena during those years. Rena's Promise is the beautifully told story of two remarkable young women in their early twenties who endure and survive nearly three and one half years as prisoners of the Nazis in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. My favorite aspect of the book is how no matter what goes on in Auschwitz or Birkaneau, Rena still made sure that she would stick to the promise that she made to her mother which was that she would take care of her sister. In addition, Rena's Promise is powerful because as Rena was describing the events that took place in the camp it felt as though I were right beside her the whole time due to the imagery that she used. Although I can feel her sorrow and pain, I cannot feel the cold freezing my body at every minute, I will never starve the way in which she did and I will never be treated as badly as she did. For anyone who may have been involved in the Holocaust or is just a fan of the Holocaust, this book will definitely captivate you and you will not want to put it down. It's an amazing book so I would absolutely suggest that you read it. (Fonda Walker).

I just started reading this book yesterday, and I must say I am completely intrigued! I do like this type of memoir reading and I love to read about the atroscities of the holocaust. This book is a very easy read and it really captivates you; I haven't wanted to put it down yet!!

This is an incredible story of sisters in a concentration camp. I've done a great deal of research into the Holocaust, but never have I come across a book quite like this one. It literally changed my life. I found myself thinking about it for days afterwards, little things reminding me of Rena's story--eating a potato, walking outside with a coat on, seeing a young child playing. I found a distinct connection with Rena, even asking myself if I could do what she did.
Rena is an astonishing woman who is responsible for her sister surviving Auschwitz. The critic got it wrong when s/he said that Rena's promise was made to her mother to protect the baby; Rena's promise is to her sister, that if her sister is to die in that terrible place, she will not die alone. Rena went through a terrible ordeal to keep them both alive, and to attempt to recount it here would be a great injustice to Rena's story and spirit.
Read the book. It will change your life.

I came away from Rena's Promise with a new found respect for people who have experienced racial discrimination. Rena Korneich Gelissen and Heather Dune Macadam did an excellent job of reconstructing Rena's life prior to the Holocaust and what happened as the Allied Powers were beginning to win. Although I never read a novel about any historical issue, Rena's Promise seemed to portray an acquire example of many historical events within that time period. Even though I came away from the novel very pleased, it did possess some limitations. In my opinion the pictures within the book should be at the end of the novel because it takes away from the suspense of surviving her terrible ordeal. If this was put into thought, then the reader would have enjoyed her escape or her survival even more. I also enjoyed the author's use of diction because the reader is able to learn Polish or German words while they are reading, although they may have been hard to pronounce. Nevertheless this is an excellent book about a courageous young lady who went through some horrendous events during the Holocaust, although it was a little far fetch.