Rowe Books

I own this book and i love it! THe serries is great, for dog lovers like me. I think Jenny Dale is such a good writer.

this is a good book to read because prince almost gets kicked of the time travilers! can neil help prince befor its to late?

I used to do a bit of volunteer work with a local animal shelter, and have always had a knack for attracting any stray within 10-miles. I stumbled across this book in our library and was initially attracted to the illustrations which reminded me of a cat I once fostered. The story is a perfect read-aloud (though I had to read it many times before I could make it through without sobbing). Like the other reviewer mentioned, the book is a very good way of introducing the idea of stray animals to a young child without being scary or too pessimistic. The book is simple and sentimental, but still very moving.

To anyone who ever loved a cat, especially a stray cat, this book will conjure up tears as the story of a little stray kitten with a lot of lessons to learn unfolds. Fortunately, someone cares and when all hope seems lost to the frightened, hungry, homeless creature, help arrives. This tender story would be perfect shared with a child with a newly adopted kitten or any cat-lover. The illustrations are not too frightening even for a young child while the words beg to be read aloud.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I became aware of the relevance of Shakespeare to our present culture and how our everyday experiences could be transformed by thinking about the values that Shakespeare, very cleverly, used in his dramas. I wished Shakespeare was taught at school the way Mr. Weinberg & Mrs Rowe represent him in their book.

Organized in a natural accumulation of chapters, Will Power! uses the lessons learned in Shakespeare's great works to illuminate our personal behaviors as well as the behaviors of others. In addition to illuminating, authors Dr. George Weinberg and Dianne Rowe offer tips in the form of bulleted lists on how we can better improve our behavior to acheive the results we desire--results from better communication to more aggressive control of our lives. Will Power! leaves the reader feeling enpowered and more in control of their lives. Above and beyond any other self-help book, Will Power! uses Shakespeare to help us remember what we've learned and practice what we we've been taught. Will Power! is a must for anyone who wants to better and more effectively interact with employees, friends, family, and associates

Swann's Way is the ax that chops into your frozen sea by plunging and penetrating deep into your soul. Proust's mellifluous prose flows into you and you flow into it and the outcome is a intimate connection with the characters in the book, the narrator, and the author. It is nothing short of a miracle.

The product and the narration is very well done. Unfortunately, I found that Proust is just not for me.

Let me say first off that Amazon has mixed up the Proust translations. I am looking at the Kindle e-book edition of the Modern Library translation of Swann's Way, published in 2000, yet the "publisher's note" speaks of the newer translation by Lydia Davis, which Penguin published in the U.S. in 2003. (If this reader's review migrates to the paper editions, please ignore it.)

I see that multiple versions of Swann's Way are available as Kindle e-books. Beware! All except this Modern Library edition are public-domain uploads of the original Scott Moncrieff translation, which is not nearly as good, nor as accurate, as the much-revised version edited by Kilmartin and Enright. (Or the Lydia Davis translation from Penguin.) Among those books offered right now as Kindle editions, buy only the Modern Library version with Proust looking soulful on the cover (well, he always looks soulful!) and a vertical band down the right side with the title.

And here is my take on the dueling translations: The Fourteen-Minute Marcel Proust: Everyone's guide to the greatest novel ever written -- and again, note that it is a Kindle e-book.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

*Swann's Way* is a difficult novel to recommend unreservedly. Not because it isn't a beautiful and affecting masterpiece, but because it's inevitably the sort of novel that--by its very nature--is not everyone's cup of tea. A novel that begins with a 60+ page riff on a man falling asleep and recalling the drama surrounding his mother's goodnight kiss may be enough to turn off even your most enthusiastic fan of one of Flaubert's potboilers. On the other hand, for anyone who appreciates the sensual, visual, and musical possibilities of language and the infinite psychological subtleties revealed in the gimlet-eyed scrutiny of self and others there are few--if any--novelists that top Proust or novels more spellbindingly beautiful than *Swann's Way.*

The first of Proust's legendary six-volume epic, *In Search of Lost Time,* *Swann's Way* actually consists of three distinctly separate but closely linked stories--the narrator's famous recollection of his childhood; the tortured and scandalous love affair between Charles Swann and the courtesan Odette de Crecy; and the narrator's later schoolboy crush on Swann and Odette's willful daughter, Gilberte. In each section, Proust's analysis of the foibles, passions, and disappointments of his dramatis personae is so exact, so incisive there hardly seems anything left worth saying about the topics he turns his surgical eye and sets his pen to dissect. His observation of people in society--their vanity, snobbishness, and petty cruelty--are wickedly amusing, devastatingly accurate, and, on rarer occasions, touching. No better account of the vicissitudes, illusions, and degradations of love exists in all of literature than the section entitled *Swann in Love.* Anyone who's ever been in love will instantly recognize himself with wry amusement and cringing embarrassment in Swann's agonizing travails.

The ability to "fool" ourselves into thinking that what we love--whether a person, place, or time--lies somewhere "out there" as opposed to within ourselves is the main theme of the final section, *Place-Names. The Name* but it's also one that permeates the entire book. "The memory of a particular image is but the regret for a particular moment." In a series of novels that goes under the general title *In Search of Lost Time* this epigram is indicative of the bittersweet and paradoxical nature of Proust's project--the attempt to find in memory and to recapture in literature what is gone forever even if it never existed apart from our consciousness in the first place.

So i finally made the commitment to reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time. I've been contemplating this for years, and this spring i have the time so i've excitedly decided to forge what will be a memorable relationship with the author and the text.

But geez, am i DISAPPOINTED with the first "installment"!!! I'm usually an avid reader of European classics, and although i wasn't expecting Proust to be thrilling, i guess i didn't realize that the work was completely plotless.

I have to stop and remind myself (lest i give up?) that i am reading for the full experience rather than instant gratification, so i'm going to doggedly push on, and read something "fun" like Waugh or Vonnegut between each of the 6 books of I.S.O.L.T...

On a postive note, Proust's unique style allows the reader's mind to wander with the narrator, so i honestly can't say that i was "bored". It is also interesting that Proust is so often right on target about the human psyche and about society, when he, an invalid, was himself removed from it for much of his life.

Finally, Swann's Way is, let's face it, a moderately thick book. Without plot, you'd think that it would be a slow and dragging read. However, his long sentences somehow propel the reader forward to the next interesting speculation or to the next social event, and once again, his style is such that we become involved in the character's life....what will be the next step in Swann and Odette's relationship?

Although i have mixed feelings about the start of my Proustian journey, I console myself with his notions of time. The way we feel and think about something while we are in the midst of it may differ greatly from the way we feel and think about it once we are removed from it. Perspective is altered by distance (and memory, imagine that...). Perhaps once i finish the work in its entirety the pieces will all come together and there will be a cumulative gain. If nothing else, there will be a sense of accomplishment!

In some ways this is a hard book to get into since it is set in a totally different culture from ours -rural England of the mid-nineteenth century. You would think that that is close enough in time to not be a problem. But to me the things like their courtship customs, or what is considered scandalous/honorable behavior, are really at a variance with the way we act today that I found it hard to relate to. Add to this some of the implausible melodrama and coincidences that make up the plot and I almost ended up putting down the book.

However I kept reading and in the end I thought it was an excellent story. This is because it illustrated a truth about life that I could empathize with. How a man through pride, anger, stubbornness and alcoholism could end up destroying his relationships with all of the people he is close to and in middle age end up being alienated from everyone who was important to him in his life. Since this story was written there have been millions of guys like Michael Henchard. The details of their lives are different, their endings may have been different. But there is an underlying truth that is the same. That aspect of the story is timeless.

Michael Henchard, a down-on-his-luck, unemployed hay trusser, succumbs to the siren call of alcohol at a country fair. Subconsciously feeling his wife, Susan, is holding him back from success in this world, he awakes to sobriety the next morning and realizes that, in a foolish fit of pique, he has auctioned her and his daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, off to a sailor. Despite his frantic efforts to find them, they have disappeared. Ravaged with guilt over his selfish, impulsive act, he swears he will not take another drink for twenty-one years.

Whether his wife was indeed one of Henchard's problems is left for the reader to ponder as Henchard moves to Casterbridge, prospers wildly in business and eventually becomes the town's leading citizen and mayor. Henchard's wheel of fortune, however, begins to spin on a wobbly axle as Donald Farfrae, an enterprising young Scot travelling to seek his fortune, enters his employ as the manager of his business. At the same time, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, re-enter Henchard's life believing that Michael Newson, the sailor who had purchased them some nineteen years earlier, has perished at sea. Henchard's life truly begins to come apart when Lucetta Templeman, a former lover, also moves to Casterbridge and, ashamed of her past romantic entanglement with Henchard, seeks to hold him to his promise of marriage!

Hardy raises many issues but, not expressing his own opinion through an unequivocal direction in the story's plot line, seems content to leave these issues as topics for sober analysis by his readers. Hardy questions the conflict between the merits of tradition vs modernization. There is the enormous irony that Henchard's success as a business person seems clearly attributable in part to his tee-totalling vow but is founded upon the five guineas seed capital raised through the auction of his wife and daughter! Henchard seems to epitomize the constant personal conflicts we all face between decisiveness and strength of character as opposed to impulsiveness and stubborn bullheaded intransigence! One wonders whether Lucetta is flighty, coquettish, thoughtless and selfish or is she an early manifestation of modern woman sadly out of time and years ahead of the ladies around her? Is Farfrae to be admired or scorned for his meteoric rise to power in Casterbridge and his complete devastation of Henchard's place among his peers?

Perhaps the most powerful moment of the entire novel comes with the discovery of Henchard's will and his words directing that the world leave him to rest in forgotten isolation and that no person mark or mourn his passing in any fashion. Once again, we are left to decide for ourselves whether Henchard's life should be pitied, forgiven, admired or looked upon with scorn and disgust.

To the readers of the day, "The Mayor of Casterbridge" would have been perceived as a darkly pessimistic tragedy that might have evoked emotions akin to those raised by Shakespeare's "Hamlet" or Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex". A classic worthy of the term, "The Mayor of Casterbridge", certainly never cheerful or uplifting, is however many, many things - compelling, moving, disturbing, thought-provoking and poignant. Above all, it is worthy of being read and enjoyed by any lover of classic 19th century British Literature.

Paul Weiss

In the novels of Thomas Hardy, tragedy can be an externalized force like Egdon Heath in THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE or it can be of the internalized sort, the kind that Michael Henchard brings on himself in THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE. In either case, nature is unforgiving, a quality which is a given in any of Hardy's works. When tragedy is of the latter kind, then the protagonist is not unlike the doomed tragic hero from classical Greek drama wherein he is first seen as a great or simply a good man who suffers from a tragic flaw, the results of which drag him down so that by the end of the action, his state is so miserably pathetic that the reader/audience can do no more than shake their heads in sorrow at his downfall, that in another and less proud man need not have happened at all.

Michael Henchard is the post-Victorian man of mixed qualities who like Oedipus, commits a sin and then spends the rest of the book trying to make amends. His sin is maudlin self-pity. He allows his current debased financial position to lead him to drink, all the while blaming his wife and child. At an auction, he offers his family for the sale to the highest bidder. He ignores the warnings from those present that he is courting disaster. An unknown man offers the highest bid and off he goes, taking Henchard's wife and child with him. Hardy takes pains to place Henchard squarely in the middle of this somber farce. Hardy gives no name to the successful bidder nor does he allow the reader to note the wife's actions. She, surprisingly, remains silent, but weeping. Henchard, by contrast, is loud, crude, and obnoxious. He occupies central stage until the next chapter when he sobers up, is filled with remorse, and then tries to set things right. He fails and winds up the leading citizen of Casterbridge. The image of the drunken Henchard and the mayor Henchard are startlingly unlike. The latter is sober, industrious, and respectable, causing the reader to commiserate with him. But the tragedy of Henchard does not lie merely in a series of vain regrets. Just as he seems to undergo permanent rehabilitation of self, his ex-wife shows up again, with a new child from the now dead bidder. Hardy complicates the plot with his usual unwieldy complications. As a result, Henchard plunges again into the depths of despair; this time he shows that his old sins of false pride and egotism have returned with a vengeance. He tries to bankrupt his business partner Farfrae, for reasons purely of jealousy. It becomes progressively more difficult for the reader to maintain the same sympathy that they had earlier. Later, at the novel's close, Henchard is made to wander like a wounded Lear, and this alone partially elevates him back to his previous stature of a tragic figure. He, like Lear, dies repentant. From his death, the audience discovers that the essence of a tragic fall lies not so much in how much sympathy that protagonist garners during that fall but rather in how true to life his fall was. Michael Henchard was neither saint nor reprobate sinner. He was the Victorian Everyman with a mixture of goodness and mean-spiritedness, either of which could emerge under the right circumstances. At his fall, the reader saw that the "right" circumstances were sufficiently ordinary so that anyone of us might have done the same. This is the essence of the tragedy of THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE.

Thomas Hardy has a reputation for writing bleak, sad stories. The Mayor happens to be my first Hardy read, and I can't tell you how saddening I found the overall tale.

Many points are made by Hardy: dealing with the past and its haunting effects; pride before the fall; and even the folly of mental inflexibility.

I couldn't shake the parallel of the King Saul/David story from the Bible while reading this. You have the powerful man who takes in an apprentice then becomes overcome with jealousy and envy as his apprentice eventually outshines him. And rather than putting his usurped life in perspective, allows his anger and envy to make matters much worse.

I saw Michael as a flawed man who is redeemed by his sense of duty and obligation.

I think the theme of duty to world versus self is important here. Michael's duty to his first family overrides his desire to be with his new girlfriend Lucetta. He probably would have been happier with Lucetta; but wouldn't we as the audience have seen him as selfish if he had chosen her instead of Susan? Both women were manipulative, one aggressively, one passively, so it probably didn't matter. But it does raise the question of how much of our personal happiness should be sacrificed for societal duties.

Donald Farfrae, the Scottish apprentice is put here purely to provide Michael Henchard with a foil. I don't feel he is developed at all, and is kind of dull, as is Elizabeth Jane.

There are character driven stories and plot-driven stories. And in plot-driven stories, you know that the characters' personalities or decision-making won't really matter in how things end. That's an aspect of Mayor...that some may find the most frustrating. You never could shake the feeling that destiny was unalterable. I, however, had no problem with it. It was a good ride.

Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge is a story about Michael Henchard attempts at redemption and the many sorrows, pain, and misery that comes with his decision to uphold his pride and name. To say that Henchard is the only character that suffers in this novel would be a misrepresentation; almost every character at some point suffers immensely in some trial of life, whether it is death of someone close, pain of separation, or the frustration of a relationship. For these reasons, this work is not a "light" read by any stretch of the imagination, and will probably test even the optimist's patience in getting through. Still, Hardy's story, the descriptions of the countryside and the characters' inner feelings, as well as the way he ties together every character in this book, is a remarkable feat and makes for a powerful read.

The story begins with Michael Henchard walking with his wife, Susan, to the fair as they cross the countryside. While there, in an act of drunkenness, Henchard sells his wife to a sailor, and seemingly sets in motion his irreversible bad fortune. Not being able to find his wife the next day, he makes an oath to not drink alcohol for 21 years, the exact amount of years he has lived. The novel then fast forwards 19 years to find Henchard the Mayor of Casterbridge, and a noteworthy man of respect. Susan finds him, marries him after forgiving him, but there are many secrets that both parties have and will have until the end of the novel. It seems that many of these secrets are the character's downfalls. Henchard, while Mayor of Casterbridge, meets a man named Donald Farfrae, who he comes to like and implores to stay in town; however, eventually he and Farfrae become bitter rivals in not only their business and society, but also in their relationship with Lucetta, a woman who had an affair with Henchard in the past.

Henchard's fallacy of character lay in his stubborn pride and his foolish belief that name and appearance is everything. He sometimes tries to create a façade, or cover up one sin with another secret or problem. When he tries to persuade Lucetta to marry him, so as to not destroy her name, he retorts: "But it is not by what is, in this life, but by what appears, that you are judged." He is a tragic individual who seems to not be able to change his views long enough to make something right occur; when something does go well, it is short lived. He even gets to a point where he connects himself with an ominous and unpreventable fate, at one point referring to himself as Cain. He never really heeds Elizabeth's attempts at love until very late in the novel when tragic occurrences seem to be set in motion.

Still, despite all his problems, and all his pride, he is a "likeable" character because he makes the effort at retribution and is sorrowful each time he gets hit with a dilemma or makes an unfavorable decision. He has the willingness and conscience to try to amend his deficiencies, but, in the end, he just makes too many mistakes, and has too much pride to reverse his fortunes.

This is a Gospel that is very short in itself. Taken from the parchment found in a cave. It is analyzed
by a lot of different people, and is ear opening to listen to.

The first time I read this book it was as if my Catholic brain could not absorb the detail. I re-read it and similarly I have very limited memory of reading it at all. The third time was the charm, it all started to click in to place, it was as if my brain had to be jump started. I am now reading it again, 4th time, and hope that I glean even more. I like the way the material is presented by the Author as well, his insights into early Christian/Jewish, or vice versa, traditions are interesting as well. All in all this book is worth the re-read!

In all this debate about Mary Magdelene (and now Judas), one all-important fact seems to elude us "enlightened" moderns: the Church Fathers, who established the official canon at the Council on Nicaea, lived nearly 1600 years closer to the time of Christ than we do. That means that the apostolic Traditions, which they strove to follow, were much fresher in memory; in other words: there were only 400 years of transmission of those traditions. 1600 years later, along come the moderns, suddenly boasting that now we know what REALLY happened with Christ and His followers! This is the height of pride. The Church Fathers were not dreaming or pleasing their own ideological fancies, as most moderns are in these matters; they were striving to strictly adhere to the truths and sacred memories that were passed down to them, in an unbroken line of apostolic succession. Think of that before dismissing their decisions about rejecting certain texts.

Enlightening and very well written. Confirms what I always felt was Mary's status in relation to Jesus.

One of the happy outcomes of The Da Vinci Code phenomenon is a wider awareness of the "Gnostic Gospels". Publishers have not been slow to respond, but this precious volume towers above the crowded scene along with its companion titles in the series: the Gospels of Thomas and Philip. The French admire and understand these long-lost Scriptures and Leloup uniquely combines mystical insight with scholarly wisdom. The big problem is that other most editors and commentators "leave the track" because they are one or the other. Your best guide is qualified in both fields! Take this book to your heart.

The Tao Te Ching is one of the most influential books of Taoism. This Penguin Classics version is an excellently translated version of the timeless masterpiece. Translated by D.C. Lau, this version is a very smooth and easy read. The footnotes explain confusing passages with clarity and allow you to get a better undertanding of the intented meaning of the books within the Tao Te Ching. I fully recommend this book for those who want to get more in touch with the Tao and the flow of the universe!

Although Tao Te Ching contains a decent amount of insightful knowledge, it is not the best I have seen and would recommend only for those who's spiritual journey has led them here directly.

Stepping Off the Edge: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
Traditionally ascribed to Lao Tzu, an older contemporary of Confucius, the work is more probably an anthology of wise saying compiled in about the fourth century, "says the rear cover of this book. Whoever did it, the Tao Te Ching is wonderful. I have this version.

My first reaction was negative to the fatalism of
"doing nothing"
that is a major theme of this mystic path philosophy,
but I realized that this was contemporary to the Hebrew biblical wisdom books
like Proverbs. The dualism seems more Persian as in Zorasterism
than would be expected for such an early Chinese document.
I actually think the translation trys more for poetic form
than actual meaning. One gets a feeling of Vulcan like stoicism
than seems out of place in an era that is mostly polytheistic.
The author was a well respected wise man who advised the kings of his time.
The result is a blending of wisdom, politics, philosophy and mysticism
with the religious origins of both Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

I love this translation. Not so much for the translation but for the introduction in the original edition. Lau was really the first critic of the traditional story of Laozi and the Dao De Jing to bring it to the English masses. The DDJ is a composite work, not the work of one author, as romantic as the story of Laozi may be. It was the work of many and thus the reason for some of its inconsistencies. Sure the work can be made to fit into one's particular scheme (the Dao obviously has plenty of flexibility to accommodate) but quite often this reflects the reader/translator/interpreter more than it does the actual DDJ which makes sense as the 'mirror' is a latent symbol in this work.

Lau grounds this translation. Though he notes there may be hints of an ancient cosmology and perhaps traces of a guide to lengthening one's life through mystical practice, he notes that in reality the DDJ does not emphasize these at all. Any hints of these are reinterpreted and recontextualized due to the multiple layers of sayings represented here. It's just one particular view of the multitude of views of the Daoism school. If anything, such views are actually stripped away. Contrary to the belief (and translation) of many, the DDJ does not emphasize long life. In fact, it even points out that those who emphasize life too much surely come to an early end.

In all my years and in all my readings (from at least a dozen different translations) I too have come to a similar conclusion. This isn't a mystical treatise; it isn't an otherworldly spiritual guidebook; it isn't even a philosophy. It is a guidebook that teaches us how to live here and now, on earth, in the dirt,with the people. No fortune telling, no mystical visions, no otherworldly gurus, no escapism, nothing transcendent here.

Lau's translation reflects this spirit. Don't expect a poetic, mystical, New Agey translation tailored toward a Western audience nor one that embodied in the Perennial Philosophy. Too often the book is viewed as exotic, as "the Other", an alternative to the overly analytical, linear and often overbearing Western religious traditions.

But as the DDJ reminds us:

"Beautiful words aren't true; true words aren't beautiful."

"When people hear the Dao they think: How bland it is."

This poor little elephant gets spanked by each parent, and all relatives, even different species for asking questions. I haven't had to spank my children yet and I certainly wouldn't do it so often, especially not for questioning things.

Geoffry Patterson's beautifully illustrations combine with the easy to read rhythm of this Rudyard Kippling tale. A captivating book. A treasure.

I used to read this story to my son, now 29; and it was always a favorite of his and of mine. I just bought this copy to read to his 3-year-old daughter, who also loves it. I got the "again!" plea from her, which is always a good sign. This is a fun story to read out loud.

This is a wonderful, imaginative, creative take on an old tale. Nicholson is great -- charming, sly, knowing & on top of each character, McFerrin is pure lyric, his vocal skills put to perfect use here, & the whole production is enough to stop you in your tracks. Unless, of course, you have a zombie agenda -- the stubby mustachioed desire to dictate all that happens in the world around you, to re-write history to your preconceptions. Too much whacking? How about you get a real life, load up on the amazing, the unexpected, the delightful, the instantaneous & then try this. Yup, it'll never live up to any PC ideas. It may not be the definitive telling of this story (though I know of no better & don't expect any real soon), but it is a totally charming variation if you are still breathing when you see it.

One of the most original tales in the English language, "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling is published again, this time with pictures by Lorinda Bryan Cauley. The book has been around since 1983, and still holds its own in style.

From time to time, during visits to the zoo, have you wondered why an animal has a certain feature? Giraffes have long necks. Why? Monkeys have feet that are a lot like hands. Why? And, elephants have extraordinarily long noses. What good is that?

Kipling knew why and took time to tell us. With the refrain explaining where it all happened, by "the banks of the great-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees," Kipling shows us what fun alliteration can be.

While in pursuit of an array of questions, especially what crocodiles eat, a young elephant -- an Elephant's Child, goes on a journey to the Limpopo to find out. His quick to spank him relatives don't encourage him to go so much as force him to, fully geared with little red bananas.

Loaded with naivete and his next meal, he heads out. He meets a bi-colored-python-rock-snake and the crocodile who not-so-politely gives him the answer, and the Elephant's Child returns to explain on his own terms what he learned.

A generous mix of black and white, and color pen and ink drawings frame the story. As imaginative as Kipling's words, Cauley's pictures will tease readers to wonder about the animals and exotic jungle and river.

Versions of "The Elephant's Child" abound, as the original tale is part of public domain. Be sure to get an unedited, uncorrected version, as modern editors lack the brilliance Kipling was blessed with.

I fully recommend "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling, and this version is worthy of the story and your shelf.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

The Book of Jesse is about the life, illness and death of a young man. It is equally the story of his father's efforts to care for his son in the face of serious and ultimately fatal illness. It is about the family's struggles and, most of all, about the mysteries of creativity and of human development as long as life is breathed. In his introduction, Michael Rowe says that the writer dons�"the mantle of creative artist while dealing in the coin of true story�; and let his readers decide whether he has written a good story, and a true story."

In my view, this true story is also a good story. It is surprising that a reader should look forward to reading a book about the illness and death of a young man. Yet the book is intrinsically interesting and compelling, both in style and substance. The use of Jesse's drawings offers a symbolic focus that reminds us of the power and transcendence of art. The moving back and forth between events before and during Jesse's last illness and after his death, while confusing at times, also works because it helps to show the varying moods and tugs that his father and family encounter. The impact of modern technological medicine on patients, families, and medical staff is also well described.

There are no easy answers here, and no manipulations either. The author's style is straightforward and honest. Despite the unanswered questions and the grieving that continues, this book leaves the reader with a sense of wholeness both about Jesse and his father's struggle to understand his son and himself.

The Book of Jesse by Michael Rowe is the story of a family's love and suffering as they watch and try to help their loved one struggle to stay alive.
It is a book in which the author has shared his thoughts and feelings with us. In doing so, he has put into words what many of us have experienced in one way or another.
As a retired member of the madical profession, I highly recommend it be read by everyone in the medical field. It will enhance and renew their empathy.
To the author I say "God Bless you and your family for all that you did for Jesse."
- Gloria M. Coughlin

I recommend this book from many perspectives: as a parent, a social worker and former health administrator, and as a relative of another young man who died from liver disease. I specifically recommend this book for the precise reasons that some readers will find themselves struggling with. The author exposes the unpretty side of medical care and in doing so, heightens our awareness of all too readily accepted medical practices and behavior. Rowe presents the uneasy complexities of two families grasping for precious moments with their shared loved one. And, a father's struggle to make sense out of devastation is sometimes hard to read. Self serving? Yes. Of course. It's a father's story about his son. However, the author need not apologize. In writing this book, he helps us know ourselves better; we can appreciate the sharp, difficult realities of illness better; we are challenged to see hope and beauty amidst the shards; and, we get to know - and learn from - a courageous young man, Jesse. This book should be required reading for medical students and professionals.

With a gentle but sure hand, Rowe guides us on a tour of a young man's talent and illness, and a father's profound hope and loss. The book is illustrated with pictures drawn by Jesse, which seem to range from a fascination with comic book heroes, to anguished representations of mortality--some of which are on par with works from the Vienna Secession. As such, Rowe sets upon a mission of collaboration with his late son, and introduces us to Jesse in the most intimate and graceful of fashions. At one point in the text, Rowe describes how he pretends to haggle over a painting of Jesse's with his other son, Daniel; although Rowe knows this is contest he must lose, he engages it to watch "the heat of [Daniel's] love draw Jesse from his shadows." This book represents a similar endeavor that meets its goals, and in so doing, effectively draws Jesse from the shadows of illness, medicine, and time, to our conscience.

Life on an intensive care unit is such as to induce family members to forget that there is, or has ever been, normal life elsewhere. It is the great merit of Michael Rowe's book to remind the reader that his son Jesse had always attempted to build such a normal life for himself, even as a child battling numerous illnesses. Jesse did this by creating many drawings, and Rowe includes both reproductions and verbal analyses of them in the book. The effect is to normalize Jesse for us, to re-humanize him, to lift him out of the patient role, as he lies teetering between life and death on the ICU. I took care of my father during his critical illness of five-and-a-half years, and I can attest that the book eloquently captures the minute-by-minute feel of intensive caregiving, of love at full emergency arousal.

This book is perfect for those living in, around, or near Mormons. It dispels many misbeliefs about the Mormon religion and it takes the outsider into the religion without bashing, hating, or belittling them. It explains the differences between a true Christian and a Mormon instead of just laying into Mormonism as if they were the most evil of people. Having moved to Utah myself with very little previous Mormon interaction I found this book as a life saver in terms of getting a grasp on everything culture to vocabulary to history. It is a must read for any Christian or non-Christian, in other words, everyone should read it. It is a very easy read as well.

I was fully prepared to study up on the various problems with Mormon theology and lovingly lay them on a friend of mine, expecting that he'd see his mistake and hopefully change his mind. This book showed me that my idea was clearly wrong. It's not the way to approach Mormons. In fact there is no secret or special way at all. You approach them as you would anybody that you love, with respect and care, and without condescension.
This books deals with the core theological issues but not before explaining real Mormons for who they are- wonderful people with real lives and a strong commitment to their culture and country (and others who aren't so devout- like some Christians).
The book also explains what the approach I was ready to take actually results in- walls going up so thick that the clearest, most well explained and lovingly presented argument will never penetrate them.
The author has lived as an evangelical Christian in the Mormon capital of the world for many years. He knows what happens when you challenge Mormons on their faith, and explains in detail what an improper attitude does to any chance of being taken seriously by them.
Please, please read this book before talking theology with any Mormon, or suggest it to another person you know that will be.

This is the best book out there on the LDS if your interest is in following the call of Christ on your life (the great commission). This is not the book for you if you would rather simply judge others as heretics or feel good about yourself for witnessing on someone. The "unique methodology" in this book has proven over the last couple of centuries to be effective -- whether you are in China or Utah. Oh, and it was also the methodology of the Master.

This book really focuses on the Christian living a life of love and authenticity among those of differing faiths. I felt this was more the focus of the book than "converting Mormons", although our desire is always that all others would come into a redeeming relationship with Christ. Rowe's theme is basically that when others met Christ in us, they will be drawn to Him. We can then invite them to join us on our faith walk. I found this a very enjoyable book to read and developed a new respect for Mormons as well. Rowe makes every effort to acknowledge the areas in which we can have a great deal of appreciation for the Mormon culture, if not their doctrines.

First of all, Mormons are Christians a.k.a followers of Christ. Secondly and most important "Utah Mormons" are a culture and differ from most Mormon's. It is entirely too ignorant to judge/label someone as being something because they are a certain religion. As all religions it is a family and all members of that family are unique. As individuals we choose to do things from our perspective, even under a collective viewpoint we still have many varying degrees of actions, perceptions and feelings. I think this is a nice book, well written and interesting. However I think the viewpoint is skewed as it pertains to "Utah Mormon's" which do have a strong culture of their own. Personally I would not choose to approach someone's beliefs based on generalities. How about gaining your own perspective rather than taking someone's word for it?