New Jersey Books

This is a very ambitious novel in which Horn attempts to use mystical images and thought to connect two separate times and plot lines. Remarkably, she deliberately does not push the plot to its conclusion, but instead devotes her final chapter to elaboration of the mystical thought.

Unfortunately, I thought Horn got too literal and specific in the final chapter and it did not work. The highlight of the novel for me was the love affair between Ben and Erica, two very likable and well developed characters. The love scene in the darkened cellar of the museum was beautiful and erotically charged.

The greatest mystery for me about "The World To Come" is why I didn't love it. There is much to admire about it. Start with the cover art by Rob Ryan, who manages to evoke both Marc Chagall and Maurice Sendak. I could hang a print of that on my wall. And then there is the miraculous writing, that weaves together a love story, historical re-imaginings, and religious musings. The story is original, profound, and very well written. In fact I'm a little in awe that this was written by someone under the age of 30.

Consider the way Dara Horn handles this mundane scene, when a character is trapped in a bathroom stall, overhearing a conversation about herself: "Two sets of high heels clicked along the marble tiles, and then Erica was sitting inside their conversation as they took their places in the stalls on either side of her, their words arching over her bent neck." And then there is the fantastically imagined "world beyond" in which souls prepare for their journey to earth by drinking chapters of the Bible at a cocktail party. Where else can you imagine a writer comfortably using the line, "Ugh, that explains it. I can smell Lamentations on your breath"?

And, yet, I didn't love it. I admired it, enjoyed it, and sadly looked forward to it ending. Dara Horn is extremely talented. I just wasn't completely won over.

This novel excells in every respect. It is wonderful storytelling. The book uses beautiful language and imagery, has excellent character development, and is easy to read. Dara Horn weaves stories within stories in a maze like fashion that delights the soul. Spread over generations, different countries, and different languages, she posits that The World To come is really what one does on earth in life. She delves into Jewish notions of the afterlife which will relate well to any Abrahamic faith. Her opinion is clear from the text while the reader may choose to differ. Much of the book is about trust and betrayal, truths and lies, the real and the counterfeit. She salts the tale with Yiddish folk tales and interesting plot developments. Those who like to read mysteries will also enjoy this novel. This work is so much better than her first, In the Image, that I was truly pleasantly surprised. My only complaint is that she leaves the ending hanging persumbably so that the reader can elect an ending. I am not fond of trying to guess the end. Further, I wonder if any other careful reader noticed that she uses the image of caterpillars to describe someone's bushy eyebrows. This is the same image Golden used in Memoirs of A Geisha which I read many years ago. Did anyone else notice this? It may have been unconscious or it may have been specifically placed in the book so that the reader could detect a bit of plagerism. After all plagerism is a form of dishonesty similar to forging an art work. If you liked this book, You will like A Day of Small Beginnings.

Horn, almost Rushdie-an in her ability to create a metaphor that is a story in its own right, has mastered her big, fat, lurking metaphor (i.e. The World To Come; a womblike place full of books where the not-yets are taught about life by the already-weres)with a kaleidoscopic command of her story and characters--especially Ben, the quintessential flounderer, and Sara's unborn child, a not-yet,--who are both endearingly and emotionally-charged. THE WORLD TO COME is so much more than the sum of its parts: spine-tingling historical richness à la Umberto Eco; multi-generational enigmas à la Nicole Krauss; and stimulating allusions to obscure myth and lore relevant enough to provoke the reader's curiosity.

This book was recommended to me so I had great expectations. The first 80% of it was cativating as long as you could keep up with the different characters, time periods, family relationships etc. Then when it started to get really good, it just stops and the last couple of chapters are about the pre-life of the main character's unborn nephew. Very disappointing.

Not a book for anyone whose religious beliefs won't allow questions or alternatives. In fact, it's not for anyone who can't suspend belief for 300+ pages. Not really science fiction or fantasy, Only Begotten Daughter is more of a "what if".

It's impossible to describe much without using spoilers. Amazon's description and other reviews give away more than they should. Since I presume you have read them, I will add that Morrow's effort will both amuse you and scare you.

This is one of his early books and not as accomplished as his later ones. However, it is a good place to start reading Morrow.

This book beautifully combines biting satire with wonderful prose. I truly enjoyed reading every page and I would have to rank this book among my favorites.

Several other reviewers have remarked that pace through the middle third of the book "sagged" a bit and I agree with that but, on the other hand, I was grateful that the author gave me a little time to catch my breath before diving into the ending.

Reading a book like this, I always feel a little nervous as the end approaches like watching figure skaters near the end of a flawless routine... will they blow it right at the end? Well, Morrow makes it through the final act without a wobble and I can't wait to pick up more books by him.

All right, perhaps you won't, but didn't that catch your attention? It's actually the book's title character, Julie Katz, who tries to fathom the nature and will of God. But despite her own semi-divine parentage, this Jewish girl from South Jersey has no clue what the eternal Mom wants her to do on this Earth.

Julie does get a lot of advice and ideas from others, however. That sets forth a chain of events which sometimes parallels Julie's more famous half-brother, who coincidentally is one of the main characters of the all-time best selling book.

Instead of dwelling on "the power & the glory" - though there is that aspect to the book as well - Morrow mostly focuses on how an average woman with divine powers gets on in life. Julie's attempts to seek the truth lead to a miracle-filled ministry, a trip to a fascinatingly-devised Hell and her returning to a warped future Jersey where the Revelationist sect holds sway but an underground Church of Uncertainty holds her words quite literally as "gospel." (By the way, as a one-time New Jerseyan, I can appreciate the irony of Morrow's turning my former home state into an autonomous right-wing fundamentalist theocracy in the latter part of the book.)

Morrow's novel hits home on multiple levels. In particular, he boldly satirizes religion as practiced by various denominations of Christians. If you are easily offended by religious satire (especially those who believe The Rapture may be imminent), this is probably not the book for you. Those who are somewhat more open-minded will appreciate Morrow's biting wit in this well-paced novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! The satire was spot-on and very prescient. The baroquely grotesque dystopia built by the Revelationists in this novel is perhaps more frightening (and less hyperbolic) now than when Morrow wrote it, given the gradual mainstreaming in the U.S. of fanatical evangelical perspectives on "the End Times." If the loud intolerance of many modern fundamentalist Christians keeps you from comfortably embracing Christianity, this may be the book for you. I found it at turns laugh-out-loud funny and heart-breakingly poignant. Morrow's prose is rich and eminently quotable; I couldn't stop reading choice bits and pieces to my family. This is my first Morrow novel, after having read many of his short stories (I recommend "Bible Stories for Adults"), and I was fully satisfied with the expansion of Morrow's narrative powers into the novel form. Enjoy and be enlightened!

Now that's a cliched review title but that's about as good as we're going to get tonight. It is true, to some extent, but it's not like Morrow sets out to offend everyone in creation, mostly just people who take religion too seriously and the majority of his "offenses" are simply pointing out contradictions or other illogical facets of said religion. The premise of this is that Murray Katz, a single Jewish fellow, winds up with an immaculate conception when one of his donated sperm suddenly fertilize and eventually gives birth to his daughter Julie, who right away exhibits powers that are similar to a guy who lived two thousand years ago, leading family and friends to believe that she's the daughter of God. Right then starts her journey as she tries to contact her heavenly mother and get some word out of her, while resisting all impulses to use her powers to fix everything in the world, knowing that it really won't solve anything. Along the way she encounters some extreme Christian fundamentalists (and wait until you see what they do to Atlantic City), and the devil, and goes to a lot of places that she really didn't expect to go. Morrow tends to stick to the genre of religious satire and when he's on (this novel, Towing Jehovah) he's fantastic, and when he's not on (This is the Way the World Ends) it just comes across as heavy handed. Fortunately in this novel he's firing on all cylinders, the premise is sound and the characters are sometimes prisoner to their own archetypes but he manages to wring some actual emotional content out of all of this. It works because he doesn't get too silly, the way he does in some of his other books. Julie is the daughter of God and she has powers and he actually plays it straight from there, with everyone having basically believable reactions in the context of the book. Even the devil makes sense and the scenes later when they visit, er, another plane of existence seem to have some kind of solid grounding. Julie's quest to get some kind of acknowledgement from God and to basically figure out what the heck her purpose is on Earth is touching at times. Some things start to get odd toward the third part of the novel, when New Jersey decides to secede from the rest of the country (another reason I like the book, it's my home state, although we're not really too flattering there . . . but then who likes Atlantic City anyway) and Julie has to deal with a whole new set of problems. But even that makes sense, again you have to suspend a little bit of disbelief but Morrow doesn't take himself totally seriously. But things aren't played totally for laughs either, when people get killed, it's horrifying and brutal and Morrow spares us nothing. It's black humor, in the Vonnegut sense, and he's trying to prove a point and entertain us at the same time. Sometimes he goes a bit over the top, while I do appreciate the noting where the church (or Christian teaching) deviates from what the Bible actually says, I've never seen anybody do it in a way that doesn't come across as someone lecturing at me and proving that they've done their research. Fortunately he only does it once, but it's still one too many times. But I'm nit-picking really. This is probably tied with Towing Jehovah as his best novel (and I think this also won the World Fantasy Award) and well worth the time to read if you want an examination of religion that doesn't get too serious. Devoutists of any religion may want to steer clear, but I don't think this book is for you anyway. Just a hunch.

good read.. left alot of unanswered questions but only because i don't think she really even knew the answer herself... hard to believe someone could be that unattached to what was going on around her, don't think she wanted to see alot of it because of her own political ambitions... but good read....

I wanted to know how could a woman be married to a man without knowing he's gay. Or rather, I wanted to know how could a gay man be married to a woman without letting her know he's gay. In this book Dina Matos comes across as a very intelligent and kind person. If she could be fooled, anyone could be fooled. I think anyone who's ever been betrayed by a loved one can relate to the feeling of trying to keep up the hope when there's a nagging feeling of something not being right. I want to read the ex-husband's side of the story but there is no way getting around the fact that Dina was deceived.

I loved reading this book, about the true events in the life of a governor and his wife. She is very elegant in the way she tells of the lies and truths she find out about the life she led with her husband. It tells of the difference in what was going on and what she had missed. She tells about seeing signs after the fact and how she stepped out of the public eye after being pushed into a public scene with her cheating husband.

This book was personal for me because I had this experience. There is a large percentage of men who fall into the category - so ladies beware.

I was also deceived by a gay man disguising as straight. I met him online where he presented himself as a "marriage minded man seeking a woman." I began to get suspicious after a few weeks of dating and asked him if he was "bi" and he tearfully told me of his past. He also professed undying love and the desire to be with a woman permanently so I stuck with him for a few more months. Those months can only be described as a roller coaster ride; one I wish I never got on. I was not equipped mentally or emotionally to cope with this man's sexual confusion. Probably 1 week after we parted, he found himself an "amazing gentleman" and raved about how he had finally found love. (it sounded pathetically familiar; he used to rave about me.
I walked away and had to deal with my anger and resentment for what he put me through. Yes, you can go through relationship problems with anyone, but these were particularly painful and confusing for me. No matter what anyone says, it's not the same. I felt used and exploited by him to test out the heterosexual waters.
Prior to meeting him, I had a old friend who was gay. She fell in love with me when I was 17 and used to harass me to be with her. Physically and emotionally. That, too, was an awful experience.
I used to be a tolerant person; probably too tolerant and it got me in some situations that were not good for me.
Unfortunately this has caused me some trepidation in being with gay people. It's sad but I just have not had any positive experiences with them. I do try to keep an open mind though and hopefully healing will prevail.
Thanks for listening.

This book is easy to read. Unfortunately it reads more like a collection of articles than a narrative. I'd have loved a bit more depth on some members of the team. Also it seems near the end that he hadn't given enough time before writing the epilogue. I'd love to know what happens to these kids 4 or 5 years later, not just the following year.

Another problem I had, was that many of the chess moves noted in the book were left with no illustration or very little description, while others, like the Orangutan were given the entire history of where the name comes from (an odd bit of chess lore in itself). Also as with any book about Chess, Bobby Fischer was discussed. In this case it just seemed like filler. It wasn't related to the story and just served to show how "normal" these kids are in comparison.

This is very inspirational because it makes you want to play chess by the way it describes how cool the game is. However, the story-line is very slow. There was no real conflict in the story.

When I read the initial reviews. I thought by reading this I would have a similar experience to the enjoyment I got out of word freak. I was wrong.

I thought it would be a cool book about some out there people playing chess.
I was wrong.


The characters are very dull and certainly not worth writing a book. These guys are about as exciting as a documentary on garden mulch.

If you like chess alot, it might be worth it, yet it doesn't stand alone as a book.

This book was a running commentary into the life of the top chess team in America. The book was void of sex, drugs, and other issues in the typical America high school. The book provided insight into the America education system, into the chess culture in America, and into the world of a genius. One would believe that these geniuses would be top students in high school, but most of them struggle with staying engaged in school. These young people are bored with school which does not motivate them. They are more motivated to win money playing chess. The challenge of chess is greater than the challenge that school presents. It makes me wonder about the policy of "no student left behind" because it seems that really it is "no student gets ahead." Students like these need a challenge or they will disengage from school. How can you care about school when the really test is against another grandmaster chess champion. Most people would not enjoy this book unless you enjoy chess. The book is incredibly well written. It makes the basic story a flowing narrative.

I first heard of this book in a New York Times book review that praised the author's deft touch and vigorous reporting. That was more than enough for me. Not only am I an incompetent chess player (a.k.a., a "wood pusher"), I was also the teacher advisor of one of Oregon's state champion teams. (This team went to the Supernationals multiple times under the tutelage of parent volunteer extraordinaire Dan Sharp [www.sharpinvestments.com]).

So that pulled me into this book, but Michael Weinreb did all the heavy lifting from there. The story's diverse cast of characters from Edward Murrow High School in Brooklyn lends this tale built-in interest, and Weinreb masterfully builds on it with investigative work and style. How do these kids view their talents? Their peers? Education? And as many are from immigrant families, America itself?

By not delving too deeply into the minutia of chess technique, and staying focused on his subjects, Weinreb creates a general interest book of a fascinating subculture. That is, even if I didn't have an interest in chess, I'd have enjoyed this book.

Sidelight: One of the current featured reviews dismisses having a team advisor/teacher who is inferior to his or her team's players as "unhelpful." Not so; the teacher is in charge of serving as a liaison to the school and other teams, as well as organizing events and practices, and so forth. Among these duties would be bringing in a local Master level player to provide instruction. Rare is the teacher with a 1600+ rating who can hang with the best homies on the chessboard.

I was utterly disappointed by this book. In short, I thought it was terrible. The writing is poor, uninteresting, and disconnected. The cover and chapter headings seem to suggest that I'd get to go exploring the Meadowlands along with the author. This is definitely not the case. I felt no connection with the author or his 'adventure' whatsoever. Adventure??? The only thing adventurous about this book is the title. Don't be fooled by the chapter headings. Searcing for Jimmy Hoffa - he gives up the search before it has even begun. The entire book is like this. The author apparently knows nothing about the Meadowlands and this is clearly evident in his book. The problem isn't that he's clueless, rather that the reader is also left clueless after reading this book.

I can't actually believe that all these reviews were written by actual readers. I would have to imagine that publishers or the author's friends are writing these nice reviews. I very strongly suggest you pick a chapter in the book and read it before you purchase this book. The worst chapter by far has to be 'Gone With the Wind.' I can't believe that a book about wilderness adventures in the Meadowlands spends an entire, agonizing chapter about a collection of Gone With the Wind translations in a library in Kearny. Seriously, is that the best the author can do with a topic as interesting as the Meadowlands? Then he spends a chapter on soccer in Kearny? Are you serious? What does that have to do with wilderness adventures? And don't be fooled into thinking he actually sheds any light on soccer in Kearny, he doesn't. Or that the Gone With the Wind library session is at all interesting or enlightening, it isn't.


However, if you are too lazy to read a chapter then let me sum it up for you: the Meadowlands are polluted, full of mosquitos and are inhabited by a few strange and uninteresting people. I just saved you ten bucks or whatever this book is going for.

Sullivan does a great job of revealing the beauty and promise of an area hugely blighted by urban and industrial development, offers an example of how we might look more closely at many things, and highlights how careless we can be in destroying our natural environment...

The New Jersey Meadowlands is a large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey three miles across the Hudson River from New York City. At one time the area was filled with spruce forests, but over the centuries the area has been used for a wide variety of agricultural, mining and industrial uses. Today a large portion has been developed with office, shopping and industrial buildings; vast areas were used for landfills and other areas suffer from environmental abuse. About 8,400 acres remain relatively pristine.

Robert Sullivan has spent many hours hiking, driving and kayaking through this area. His book needed the firm hand of a strong editor, but nonetheless there are treasures here.

Sullivan opens his book on a bus that has left the Lincoln Tunnel for Secaucus, and he describes the landscape as he travels. He writes that in airplanes he can see taking off from Newark Airport "people have packed their trunks or their backpacks or their carry-on luggage with travel books or maybe brand-new water-repellent hiking clothes or Power Bars and polypropylene underwear, and they are heading west to travel and explore. But I am creeping slowly back into the East, back to America's first West -- making the reverse commute to the already explored land that has become, through negligence, through exploitation and through its own chaotic persistence, explorable again."

"Snake Hill is cragged and denuded, a 150-foot tall, all-but-removed casualty of a gravel company's demolition work. But what's left of it is still the only real hill in the Meadowlands. The rest of the hills are garbage hills, the Meadowlands having once been the largest outdoor garbage can in the world. Snake Hill is to the Meadowlands what the Empire State Building is to New York or the Space Needle to Seattle, only instead of looking out on a living city, it looks out on the world's great postindustrial landscape. If I climb leisurely, it takes about an hour to reach the top, and when I get there, I look out at the not-quite-drained glacial lake that makes up the Meadowlands, and I marvel."

This is a book best enjoyed in small bits, perhaps with on a trip to explore some part of the Meadowlands.

The New Jersey Audubon Society has produced a wonderful guide book called "New Jersey Birding and Wildlife Trails, Meadowlands and More." The 72 page guidebook is produced in both an English and in a Spanish version, is printed on glossy paper with spiral binding, and contains many full color illustrations, excellent maps, and detailed information on access points and sights of interest.

The guidebook is absolutely free from New Jersey Audubon, Meadowlands Liberty, Hackensack Riverkeeper or New Jersey Trails. There is no better way to explore the Hackensack River Watershed than with this guide book in hand, and Robert Sullivan's book in your backpack.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This is an enjoyable, easy-to-read book. Though many that live outside the New York Metro area would probably enjoy it, the millions that have passed through the Meadowlands on the way to work or to Giants Stadium to catch "The Boss" will most enjoy the nuggets of info in Sullivan's book.

The Meadowlands is a mix ecology, biology, folk tales, local history, and personal observations that seem to reflect the author's love/hate (mostly love) relationship with the meadowlands. Personally, I found the historical tidbits the most fascinating part of Sullivan's book. Like most people, I rub shoulders with a geographic area on an almost daily basis that I know little about. Why a certain place is named what it is? What was this place about one hundred years ago? The author relates the colorful history behind the town of Kearny and its namesake, General Philip Kearny, a one-armed (you will have to read the book to learn why he had one arm) general killed during the Civil War. Sullivan also relates the fascinating tale of Seth Boyden, a notable inventor from Newark, New Jersey. Now I know who Boyden Ave was named for. The Meadowlands has many of these gems imbedded between its covers.

At two hundred pages, Sullivan's book is a fairly quick read. For the millions of folks that rub elbows with The Meadowlands every year, I highly recommend this book. When you are passing Snake Hill while driving down the New Jersey Turnpike, you can turn to your passengers and say, "Let me tell you a little bit about that hill over there...."

Sullivan takes a fun look at one of the most maligned regions of the U.S. - the New Jersey meadowlands. He definitely looks at it as an outsider (he is from the Pacific NW) with a mixture of repulsion and ivory-tower superiority, but with a bit of respect at times for the survival of the area and the people around it.

Unlike John Quinn's _Fields of Sun and Grass : An Artist's Journal of the New Jersey Meadowlands_, which was written by a Meadowlands native and mainly deals with the economic and environmental legacy of the area, Sullivan mostly looks at the region from a sociological standpoint, stressing his encounters with the people in and around the meadowlands (and humanity's legacy there) rather than the actual natural area itself. If asked to choose, I personally preferred Quinn's work myself, but Sullivan's book is a worthy companion to Quinn, and I strongly recommend that you read both books to get a total picture of the meadowlands.

My favorite chapter, in fact, dealt with Sullivan's quest for the remains of New York Penn Station, a neoclassical gem of a train station in Manhattan that was torn down in the name of "progress" in the 1960s and which is reported to be buried in the swamps of NJ (read _The Destruction of Penn Station_ by Peter & Barbara Moore for more on the station's demise). Sullivan tackles the project with one part archaeology and one part good detective work, and it reads like a charm.

Sullivan thankfully has an engaging writing style, making the book read like a series of interconnected essays that briskly flies along like a phragmites reed bending in the wind. Since its written more for the general audience (who may not be as familiar with the meadowlands as us NJ denizens), give it a good read, and you won't be disappointed.

I particulaly enjoyed the history around the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Area. There were many of these types of camps dating back to the thirties where city people had a chance to get away from the hot summer and live reasonably on the water. I also liked the reference to the old abandoned Casino. Old abandoned places are perfect settings for mysteries. Mary Jane Clark did an excellent job of keeping me on the edge and wanting to read more and more. Diane's decision of job versus family is one that many of us can identify with. The cutting was very interesing but I felt left hanging. All in all I enjoyed this book very much. It's a keeper!

Seeing "Higgins Clark" on the cover I accidently picked this up thinking it was her former mother-in law. Being an avid Mary Higgins Clark reader I was pleasantly surprised with the results of this book. I found it as good, if not better, than some of the more recent elder Clark's books. A fresh new edge for "clean" mystery readers.

For Diane Mayfield, the last few months of her life have been spent trying to keep her children, Michelle and Anthony, on an even keel. After her husband was sentenced to prison for his part in the financial upheaval of a company who cooked its books, she's been the sole parent and money-maker in a family that once had it all. Her position with KEY News as a correspondent for its Hourglass newsmagazine forces her to give up the family's vacation to the Grand Canyon and instead haul her kids and her 17-years younger sister, Emily, to the New Jersey seashore town of Ocean Grove. Her assignment? Interview Leslie Patterson, a woman who police believe "cried wolf" about her recent disappearance.

Leslie has a past that includes therapies for anorexia and harming herself physically, and the police are reluctant to take her claims seriously. Leslie states that she was abducted by an unknown attacker, and although not raped, was forced to dance with the man over a period of days before a security guard found her, bound and gagged, on the grounds of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. Orignally a religion-based commune type establishment, the Association meets every year on Ocean Grove's shore to spen the summer in their tents.

But as another girl disappears, both the local police and Diane start to believe that something more sinister is at work than a trouble young woman staging her own disappearance. As Diane delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, her own family becomes a target for the disturbed individuals that are harassing the tranquility of this once calm sea-side town.

Mary Jane Clark has deftly penned another entertaining thriller. Her characters are all true-to-life and believable, and will have you turning pages until you figure out the mystery.

In Dancing in the Dark, news correspondent Diane Mayfield is forced by her boss to cancel her vacation to the Grand Canyon to cover a story unfolding in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Leslie, a young woman suffering from aneroxia had been missing for 3 days and while she claimed she was abducted and held captive the police believe that she cried wolf and faked her own disappearance. That is until a 2nd girl from Ocean Grove goes missing....

As a fan of Mary Higgins Clark I was hesitant to pick this up but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it flowed and how MJC introduces numerous suspects so that you truly are guessing until the end! A very similar writing style to MHC I enjoyed this quick read, mystery and will pick up another MJC mystery in the future.

DANCING IN THE DARK is my first book by Mary Jane Clark. I found this book to be an enjoyable, albeit lightweight, read. This is a fun, fast-paced whodunit, written in the tradition of Mary Higgins Clark or Agatha Christie. Essentially, the reader gets a great deal of suspense and mystery without any graphic language, violence, or sex.

My major problem with DANCING IN THE DARK was the sheer volume of characters, which made it difficult to keep track of who was doing what. There are some supporting characters in this story who play no meaningful role, and they should have been eliminated for the sake of simplicity. Also, like some of the other reviewers, I found it relatively easy to guess who the murderer was, which led me to be slightly disappointed by the ending.

Still, this book is smoothly written and has an exciting climax. If you're looking for a decent page-turner without any graphic sex or violence, DANCING IN THE DARK should meet your requirements. It is a relatively short novel that can be read in a single afternoon.

Three and a half stars.

I heard Amy Grossberg speak a few months ago for my youth group, as part of her community service. Like her, I'm a white Jewish teenager living Wyckoff, New Jersey, where Amy Grossberg grew up. I do not at all think everything said in the book was true, and from the research I've done on the internet, I don't think everything said about Amy Grossberg was true. I don't want to simply believe everything she said, but I think we have to step back from being judgmental outsiders and look at it this way. I could be Amy Grossberg. My friends could be Amy Grossberg. Amy Grossberg could be any of us, and I firmly believe this could have happened to any of us. If I were in Amy's situation, would I have known what to do, and would I have made a responsible choice? I say I would have, but I don't know. Amy said she thought she would have, too. But I know what it feels like, indeed I think everyone knows what it feels like, to be afraid to disappoint their parents. Amy also specifically mentioned, to all those who blame her parents for "not noticing," that she did not show at all. She said she only gained a few pounds because she was filling with fluid from the eclampsia, and when her mother saw her, while she did notice that Amy had gained a little bit of weight, she attributed it to the infamous freshman fifteen, and did not say anything (because she didn't want to hurt her daughter's feelings). I don't think Amy Grossberg deserved to be faced with the death penalty; from what she said, she wasn't even aware of what happened to the baby after she gave birth: she was having seizures for most of the night. She also didn't even know she was giving birth, because her labor had no contractions, and was completely unlike anything she'd expected to experience, the kind of thing you see in health class. The idea that she and Peterson would face the death penalty is ridiculous, because the murder was not premeditated. I don't think either of them planned to kill the baby, at least Amy didn't; I think they honestly just didn't know what to do. Amy Grossberg made some bad decisions, and some terrible moral mistakes. She admitted that. I don't think she is a bad person because of it, I think she simply is a person who did some bad things. And I think before any of you judge her, you should think about what you would do in that very same situation.

ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS is the story of a pair of privileged teenagers who, rather than face the reality that they were going to have a child, waited until the time of the baby's birth in a motel room and then disposed of him in a dumpster. The reason suggested by author Doug Most for their behavior is that they came from a culture fostered by their families and by the town itself in which the most important thing in life was to get all A's, attend a fine college, and be a success in life. To do less was unacceptable and an embarrassment and disappointment to one's parents. Having a child before the orderly progression of meeting these expectations was therefore unacceptable.

So Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson, high school seniors who were in love as only young people can be, dealt with their incipient parenthood by not dealing with it. And when the reality of their situation reared on occasion its ugly head, they quickly repressed it. Brian made several attempts to help Amy get an abortion, but when they got to the clinics, she always backed out, not out of any feeling for the child she was carrying - whom she referred to as "it" - but because she was afraid she would get sick, her mother would find out, and her college plans would be ruined. The couple was selfish and emotionally and spiritually unprepared to deal with any change in their lives.
Amy's mother's behavior is a constant theme throughout the book. She is presented as loving Amy so much that she was totally controlling, going so far as to take Amy to a doctor's appointment - she was still seeing a pediatrician at age 18 - and being present in the examining room. Amy told the doctor she was not pregnant and that she was having her period when she was in fact 6 months pregnant. It is doubtful she would have admitted it to the doctor in any case, but with her mother in the room there is no way she'd have acknowledged her pregnancy. Throughout the book, Amy's mother, even in the face of some pretty convincing evidence otherwise, is presented as always taking the position that "Amy did nothing wrong."

The underlying themes in ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS are that the parents in Wycoff, NJ, were either afraid to examine the lives of their children and that they felt that pregnancies, drugs, whatever, happened in other families, families in less favorable circumstances; that the children were under "cutthroat" pressure to do well; and that while the parents gave their children every material advantage possible, they failed to allow them to learn anything about what the real world is like or to teach them how to function in it as adults.

This book is well written and fast paced. The often tedious courtroom scenes and police investigation are handled well. And the way Most deals with the numerous lawyers involved in the case, another potential dead spot, is informative and interesting. The only problem I had, and it is a minor one, is that the picture section is substandard - not nearly enough pictures of Amy and Brian which based on the narrative should have been readily available and too may pictures of buildings and cars.

ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS is not a "big" book, but neither is it shallow. It is well written, the product of an honest effort, and highly recommended.

The author included too much unnecessary detail in the first few chapters, which made for a boring start. But once the first 50 pages are out of the way, things start coming together and you'll realize what an incredible story this is. This book is seen from everyone's point of view and gives an unbiased look at this case. By the time you finish the book, you'll feel like you know Amy and Brian personally. This book gives some insight as to how and why they did what they did.

Doug Most's true account of two teenagers who threw away their baby is most shocking. I like that Most didn't try to find excuses or explanations for the behavior of the teenagers. Most presented a very unbiased, detailed story for readers.

Amy and Brian chose to throw away their baby like it was garbage. Literally tossing the newborn into a dumpster. Perhaps they might have gotten away with it. Had Amy not had severe complications post birth. Was justice served? Well it is a matter of personal opinion. I think not, but again that is just my personal opinion.

This is a very good read, especially for true crime buffs (like me) The pictures section isn't salacious or gory so no worries there.

On November 13, 1996 Amy Grossberg gave birth to a baby boy in a motel room. She began screaming at her boyfriend, Brian Peterson, to get rid of it. He covered the baby with a towel, went to his car to get a plastic bag, put the baby in the bag, tied the drawstrings, and calmed walked to a dumpster and tossed the baby in. They drove back to college and acted as though nothing had happened.

They might have gotten away with their crime if Amy had not developed eclampsia. She experienced extreme swelling all over her body and was complaining of being sore and tired. Then she started having seizures. The college had her rushed to the hospital. When she was examined, the ER staff called in an OB/GYN. She had not passed the afterbirth and a portion of the umbilical cord was still visible externally.

The OB/GYN recognized the symptoms as soon as he walked in. They knew she had given birth to a baby and prodded her to tell where it was. All she would say was that she did not know.

The hospital told Amy's mother that she had given birth. Her mother called Brian and demanded he tell her everything he knew. Once he learned that everybody knew she had given birth, he admitted it and said he got rid of the baby and that he didn't think it was alive. When they asked where the body was, he refused to tell them, stating that he did not know. He finally admitted that he threw it in a dumpster somewhere. Police began a search of dumpsters in the area where he said he had been. They stopped the garbage trucks from picking and began searching dumpsters. They brought out cadaver dogs.

Lisa Nyland, a dog handler with Maryland Natural Resources Police brought her yellow lab, Jesse to help. When they neared one dumpster, he started barking. She crawled into the dumpster and began searching. She found the bag with the body and radioed it in.

The baby was taken for an autopsy. He had been alive and breathing on his own. There was air in the bowel and lungs, and hemorrhages in the brain: all signs that the heart had been beating and the lungs were picking up air. There was a deep indentation in the top of the baby's skull, roughly thumb sized and shaped. A fracture ran away from the hole and was slightly raised. The baby's skull had been split almost open.

The parents of this couple spent more than a million dollars on their defense. The court proceedings will blow you away, especially the unorthodox move by one of the prosecutors. You likely will not believe the results.

Several things about this case are absolutely unbelievable. When Amy was five months pregnant, she had a physical. The doctor failed to discover that she was pregnant, even though he felt and poked around on her stomach. Her parents failed to notice that she was pregnant. Nobody from the college ever mentioned the pregnancy to her parents. I was left asking myself how this could have happened, especially with the doctor. His license to practice to be suspended and he should be held liable for everything that happened.

This was a wonderful book about a horrible act. It keeps you reading and touches every emotion deep within. This is a must read.

This was my first leap into one of Mrs. Wilson's mysteries, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm usually not a mystery person, but I'm going to expand my horizons.

I've read two of Mrs. Wilson's books (Playing My Mother's Blues, and Ain't Nobody's Business), and I enjoyed those also. I plan on purchasing the rest of Mrs. Wilson's mysteries, and suggest them to my book clubs.

I was completely engrossed in this mystery. The writer guides you on a journey that takes you up one trail and down another. A great trip all around.

Great book - I have read several of Valerie's books - again Val does not disappoint - great story - could not put it down. I am a fan - love your style - hope someone will do a movie on one of your books one day - Tamara is so cool! Keep 'em coming Val & thanks.

Until purchasing this book, I hadn't read anything by Ms. Wesley. "Easier to Kill" is a great read. Ms. Wesley brings her characters to life in a seamless way. Once I started, just couldn't put the book down. I'm hooked on this author and can't wait to read more of her works.

This is the first book I've read by Valerie Wilson Wesley; I'd gotten it from my mom, and I wasn't that intrigued by the cover. Finally I'd come across it again and decided to at least read the first chapter, which lead to the second, the third, and then I was finished. It was a fast, mysterious read, and I mostly liked it! All of the mystery, the suspects, the mother in her, as well as the secret love she held in her heart, however I didn't love the ending! I was shocked by who the killer turned out to be, but I'd thought of different angles--OH WELL... I will be giving Tamara Hayle another try, to see if maybe this was clumsy as one of the previous reviewers said.

This book tells a very believable story of a young man who is searching for a place where he fits in this world. It takes you through his experiences with rejection, friendship, loyalty, and love. This book was hard to put down and left me wanting more.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE DANS STYLE OF WRITING, CANT WAIT FOR VOLUME TWO!!!!! EXCELLENT READING, ITS A CANT PUT DOWN!

Neiwert isn't a writer, he's a storyteller. So to the bad reviewers...go read your lit anthologies and bow to your cannonized icons while I rave about the story this book tells. Following the life of Donny and his rowdy crew of friends is the epitome of entertainment because you never know what will happen next. I've never read anything so real in my life. Neiwert's honesty draws you so deep into the story that it becomes absolutely addicting. You can't put this book down, but then again, you never want it to end. No...this isn't literature. Yes...this is better than literature. It's simplistic approach to taboo topics is refreshing. Neiwert is my new favorite author and I can't wait for Volume Two.

Unique read for me. Didn't like putting the book down, was captivated. Love the original style & produced quality. Guess you can say I could relate some what to Donny & his past decisions, such as friends, jobs, & etc., encourages one to become the person they are today. This book is intended for very open minded people, so if your one of those kinds of people I suggest you take the gamble as I did & purchase the book. Folks this is the real world, in incredible detail, from a very insightful man. Enjoy the read as I did. Looking forward to another book from this author!!!

I loved this book. I have read it three times already and love it even more everytime. Neiwert grabs your attention and holds onto it throughtout the entire book. You never want to put it down. A true masterpiece. Can't wait for the next one!!

This is my first book by this author and thus have nothing else to compare this memoir to. My first impression was her honesty, with herself and with others: her alcoholic mother, her own drinking (a bottle of wine a night), her relationship failures both with men and women, and her regrets in life. Had she been an American publishing this book it would have been a sensation, but alas, because she is Irish and Catholic and an unknown in the US, the book made little waves here.

She mentions her first book "Are You Somebody" a lot in this memoir and this seems to be a sequel. It's the book that shot her to fame, which brought her interviews in the more progressive US Northeast where many Irish live. She ponders her success almost to the point of insanity, rather than enjoying her success for her efforts. It's that typical Catholic guilt feeling.

Her honesty with her seemingly gay relationship had me at first stumped. I almost stopped reading after her first mention of her ex-partner leaving her, but I overcame that after I continued her chapter. Then I realized that subject is just too tabu in the US. So I congratulate her for bringing that subject out in the open.

Her candor of her first book caused some heartache to others in her life, others who may have hurt her in the past. Was she trying to get even with them by publishing the events as they happened according to her? She's honest and covers the other person's point of view, which was a courageous act. Most people who write memoirs mention the people who hurt them, but few take the time to ask themselves why they hurt them, or the reasons for the behavior. Different people, different perspectives, says Nuala. Who's right?

It's definitely not an easy read or one that one laughs out loud reading. It's one more of the "Damn, that hurt!" reaction that, after more thought, allows the reader to gain greater respect for the author, and allows the readers to look deeper into themselves.

first off i want to say i shouldn't complain too much as i bought an autographed hard copy of this book for just $1.00 . Thank God for small favors . to begin with i really was enjoying this book in the beginning and too quick to imagine myself buying her first memoir .

what bothered me the most was her having an illicit affair with a man who even she described as not being educated, nor really a " looker " . yet time and again she would drive miles, hours, and pay for their trysts .
he'd bring hard candy ....lol.
like, didn't she wonder why she never heard nor saw this gink on holidays such as xmas . not even a card ? I think she knew in her deepest being. she's just the type of woman for some reason needs to be exploited as that's all she feels she truly deserves . it was sickening .

she's lucky to have found someone who cares . but, i didn't give a damn about her during this entire fiasco of a book . she saw the inside of more motels then " the gideon bible " .

my advice to her ...go back to column writing . she ought be ashamed to have her siblings read this as well as everybody else .

i don't believe in bookburning ..but, i'm tempted .

I could really relate to her life's reflections in relation to her own personal experiences as well as her perspective on universal family situations. Nuala's frank proclamation revealing her loneliness was quite powerful. The fact that she read this book on CD herself with wit and prose makes me want others to listen to her gift of gab.

Yes, ma'am, this `analyze my life and then tell-all' book seems like the sort of fare on which Oprah could chew for several shows. It was ready-made for her book club and would have instantly been embraced by her angst-loving fan base, but somehow it stayed outside that sort of recognition. But that's not a cheap shot, I mean it, this is a book for those who like the sort of reading material common in Oprah's book club. So Oprah readers, go get this!

I don't know if I was supposed to, exactly, but I found this book gloomy, and mostly only liked the rare parts where Irish Times writer Nuala O'Faolain wasn't speaking so personally. Her reports on the state of Northern Ireland, her experiences in America (page 195, " 'America' was always the word for promise." Boy have I ever heard that before...) the compare and contrast moments that dealt with Ireland in relation to other places she's been, these were a lot more likely to hold my interest, I found, than her oft-murky forays into her own allegedly bleak childhood, her controversial romantic life, or her stark realizations at her own failings, failures, and foibles.

Still there's something endearing about a woman whose best mate is her dog, Molly, and whose singlemost passion in life seems to be her readiness to delve into self-deprecation as if it is also her salvation.

I don't regret reading Almost There, but I don't plan on seeking out any of Nuala O'Faolain's other published books, either.

I love this book. While her first, Are you Somebody, was so full of darkness, this is full of hope. It is a book about redemption. She is not there yet, but almost there. She writes BEAUTIFULLY. A real wordsmith. The way she writes alone makes it worthwhile. I am in my 30s and male, and I found that I could relate to the themes she raises. They really are universal.