Family & Childhood Books - Page 5

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India (Vintage)

Madhur Jaffrey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Enjoyable 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I know the author by her association with Said Jaffrey, an actor of some repute
in India, and her famous cookery show and books in the same domain.
Apparently, at one time the author was married to Mr. Jaffrey, but has since
divorced and is now re-married to a gentleman in New York and settled in the
same city. I presume she still writes books on Indian cooking. In any case,
the Jaffrey name and the title were enough of a ruse to get me to read the
book. What emerges is a tale of a priviledged childhood in pre-independence
India: her family traces its roots back to the time of emperor Aurangzeb
(the last Mughal ruler of India) in whose court Madhur's ancestors used to
ply their craft as writers. The emperor gifted land to her ancestors in what
would later became New Delhi, enabling Madhur a luxurious childhood by Indian
standards. Her family was well to do: grandfather was a barrister, father
owned mills, the family took trips to Europe and possessed two American cars -- and
this is in pre-independent India, mind you. The book itself is composed of short
chapters, each one detailing some memory of childhood: cousins, siblings, aunts and
uncles, grandparent, summer trips to Simla, train rides, traumas, first love, the
travails of a joint family, etc. A common thread that runs through all the chapters is
the association of food with the memories. Madhur (which means "sweet, honey-like" in
Hindi) draws upon her strength -- food -- to permeate each chapter. The writing
style is informal and colloquial, but enjoyable nonetheless. As an added bonus, the
last portion of the book contain her favorite recipes. (July 2007)

Editorial Review:

Whether acclaimed food writer Madhur Jaffrey was climbing the mango trees in her grandparents' orchard in Delhi or picnicking in the Himalayan foothills on meatballs stuffed with raisins and mint, tucked into freshly baked spiced pooris, today these childhood pleasures evoke for her the tastes and textures of growing up.

This memoir is both an enormously appealing account of an unusual childhood and a testament to the power of food to prompt memory, vividly bringing to life a lost time and place. Included here are recipes for more than thirty delicious dishes that are recovered from Jaffrey’s childhood.

Mommie Dearest

Christina Crawford

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The price says it all... 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 16 people found this review helpful.

Anyone buy this book for a penny? If it were possible to give negative stars I would have. This book reads like the diary of a twelve year old complaining about her mean mommy.

The adopted daughter of Joan Crawford, a movie actress from the 20's to the 70's, Christina Crawford clings to her desperation to ride her mother's coat tails into fame and fortune. The book chronicles the authors childhood and ends with the bitter will reading where Chirstina and her adopted brother Christopher were left nothing whle their two adopted sisters made out well. Enraged by her failure to inherite her mothers estate, Christina takes the cowardly chance to ruin forever the reputation her mother built, by writing this tell-all book andhaving it printed after her mothers death.

The story line is shallow at best and sadly, people read this book and for the most part gulp down every word. Pooooor Chirstina. If the reader is smart enough to realize, the "abuse" Christina, a lazy child furious at not being handed everything in life on a golden platter, was commonplace punishment methods used by parents of the time. Sent to bed without dinner, taught by example how to clean and display proper manners, and actual spankings! Joan Crawford busted her hump working and was understandibly stressed at being a single mother of four adopted children in a time where a single woman adopting was unheard of.

While child abuse is a real problme and by no means excusable, this book fails miserably to paint a story of the long undeserved suffering of a child. Was Joan Crawford perfect? Of course not, she was human. If you want to read about real child abuse and compare this waste of paper to a REAL story of child abuse; I suggest reading "A boy called IT". Mommie Dearest is nothing more than a revenge diary trashing a mother who refused to let her priviledged children grown up spoilt rotten and taught them values that seem lost on most parents nowadays.

Lazy B (Modern Library)

Sandra Day O'Connor, H. Alan Day

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Now, for the first time in paperback, here is the remarkable story of Sandra Day O’Connor’s family and early life, her journey to adulthood in the American Southwest that helped make her the woman she is today—the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and one of the most powerful women in America. In this illuminating and unusual book, Sandra Day O’Connor tells, with her brother, Alan, the story of the Day family, and of growing up on the harsh yet beautiful land of the Lazy B ranch in Arizona.

Laced throughout these stories about three generations of the Day family, and everyday life on the Lazy B, are the lessons Sandra and Alan learned about the world, self-reliance, and survival, and how the land, people, and values of the Lazy B shaped them. This fascinating glimpse of life in the Southwest in the last century recounts an important time in American history, and provides an enduring portrait of an independent young woman on the brink of becoming one of the most prominent figures in America.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Of Beetles and Angels

Mawi Asgedom, Dave Berger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Heart warming and inspiring 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I won't take a lot of space stating what the book is about. Just get it and read it, everyone from middle school through adults. You'll be glad you did.

Editorial Review:

Few tales capture the spirit of the American Dream with the unabashed enthusiasm of Mawi Asgedom's inspiring memoir, Of Beetles and Angels.

Mawi's fascinating story takes on a remarkable journey: from civil war in east Africa, through a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually, to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. At every step--whether learning a new language, overcoming racial discrimination or succeeding despite personal tragedy--Mawi forges ahead with unshakable optimism and devotion to his family.

More than the retelling of an immigrant's struggle, Of Beetles and Angels demonstrates how the values that led to Mawi's success can uplift us all. It reminds us that no goal is beyond our reach and that we can all find greatness through our love for another.

Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy

Dorothy Allred Solomon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The inside story on polygamy 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a good read on a subject that is very controversial at the moment. It gives great insight into the daily lives of polygamists and sheds light on their beliefs. The author talks about her childhood and her relationship with her numerous siblings and mothers. Her father is a huge influence on her life and it is clear he was an influential member of their religious group. This book is definitely worth reading.

I didn't like this one... 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I didn't like this book very well. It gave too much history and not enough current events. I have read the history of polygamy over & over & over and would like to read current events. There wasn't too much to read about current events in this book. If you want the history, this book's for you. She's a good writer but I've had their history crammed down by throat enough. I get it!

Editorial Review:

THIS BOOK IS AN astonishing and poignant memoir of life in the family of Utah fundamentalist leader and polygamist Rulon C. Allred. For Dorothy Allred Solomon, daughter of her father's fourth plural wife, twenty-eighth of Allred's forty-eight children, childhood was beset by secrecy and lies, by poverty and imprisonment and government raids. Solomon, herself monogamous, broke with the fundamentalist group over her desire for equality and her inability to reconcile the polygamist doctrine with the vastly different laws of the state.

The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood

Kien Nguyen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 67 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Enjoyable 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've been interested in this book for two years, and it didn't disappoint me. I started reading it a four o'clock P.M., and I finished it by eleven o'clock P.M. There are many stories about Vietnam from the perspective of the military members who served there, but there aren't many stories from the Vietnamese perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

forget the subject matter 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I realize there are people out there who will disagree or won't get it, but of all the memoirs I have ever read the TONE and FLOW of this book is perfection. If you want to read something that has a great story, but in my opinion is a masterpiece, pick it up. This book is the reason why most of us read, to cry, to laugh, to get angry and to know joy.

Editorial Review:

When Saigon fell to the Viet Cong in April, 1975, Kien Nguyen was there. He watched the last US Army helicopter leave without him, without his brother, his mother or his grandparents. More at risk than most in the decimated country, with his odd blond hair and light eyes, he was the most "unwanted" - an American. This is a memoir by an Amerasian who stayed behind in Vietnam and is now living in America. Told with stark and poetic honesty, it is a story of survival, a story of hope, and a moving, personal record of this tumultuous time in history.

Colors of the Mountain

Da Chen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 67 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The bankruptcy of the Chinese Communist system. 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

One wonders why the communist system was swept into the dustbin of history. Da Chen tells you why. Intellectuals were purged in Mao's society and people learned very little. In fact, school was not even required of everyone. Only after Mao joined Lenin in a masoleum did intelligence and ability matter much.
Da Chen relates his early life story about his early Chinese childhood in the rural south of China. He was discriminated against because he was a son of a former landlord. Peasants lorded it over him and his family. Da Chen relates his experiences of the Cultural Revolution and how the school system was devastated by the purges and reeducation.
Da Chen escaped this poverty by using his intelligence to shine in the reform education system after Mao's death. He received a state education in English and went on to emigrate to New York. A nice rages to riches story and the tyranny of the Communist system.

Editorial Review:

Colors of the Mountain is a classic story of triumph over adversity, a memoir of a boyhood full of spunk, mischief, and love, and a welcome introduction to an amazing young writer.

Da Chen was born in 1962, in the Year of Great Starvation. Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution engulfed millions of Chinese citizens, and the Red Guard enforced Mao's brutal communist regime. Chen’s family belonged to the despised landlord class, and his father and grandfather were routinely beaten and sent to labor camps, the family of eight left without a breadwinner. Despite this background of poverty and danger, and Da Chen grows up to be resilient, tough, and funny, learning how to defend himself and how to work toward his future. By the final pages, when his says his last goodbyes to his father and boards the bus to Beijing to attend college, Da Chen has become a hopeful man astonishing in his resilience and cheerful strength.

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter: A Memoir

Barbara Robinette Moss

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Find Joy In the Most Desparate of Situations 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter is a powerful and poignant story of impoverished life as experienced by Barbara Moss.

Surrounded by poverty, alcoholism, abuse, malnutrition and facial deformities, Moss could easily have allowed herself to be trapped in that negative world. Instead, through determination and the kindness of a few strangers along the way, she rose above adversity and has been able to escape the clutches of childhood demons.

In 1996, Moss won the Gold Medal for Personal Essay in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Contest. Her winning essay became the first chapter of Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter. Her life, her determination, and her writing acheivements serve as an inspiration to the aspiring writer in me.

When I first read this book, I was working through the emotional impact of having undergone facial surgery to remove a malignant melanoma and recreate a nose. At the time of that first reading, I was more tuned into the parts of Moss's story which dealt so poignantly with the emotional effects of her deformed face and people's unkind reactions to that deformity. Her drive to find a way to resolve the situation was nothing less than admirable. Now that I am a few years beyond my surgery and have re-read her story, I find her desire to become Zeus's daughter (the goddess of beauty) pales in comparison to the beautiful person who writes this remarkable story.

With grace and insight, Moss takes us back in time to a place where life seemed to surely be waging war against her. In what she calls an effort to heal wounds and reclaim her family, she writes of both the challenges and the triumphs of childhood, adolesence and adulthood. Throughout the story, Moss interjects memories of a humorous nature - proving that even in the most desparate of situations, it is possible to find joy.

In what can only be described as a "wise beyond her years" approach, the ninth grade Moss wrote a list of eight things she wanted to do to improve herself. At the top of the list were "1. Remove moles on face, 2. Get braces on teeth, 3. Fix face." It is incredible that one so young would seize such determination and not let go until she had accomplished these seemingly insurmountable goals. Shortly after writing these goals, she began to act upon them. Her book reveals the ways she accomplished them. With remarkable insight, Moss writes about how each achieved goal created both negative and positive issues for her.

Moss's writing talent is evident in this deeply personal and moving story. Her gift to her readers is the lesson of redemption and grace in the midst of life's biggest hurdles.

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

Editorial Review:

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter is a haunting and ultimately triumphant memoir about growing up poor and undaunted in the South. With an unflinching voice, Barbara Robinette Moss chronicles her family's chaotic, impoverished survival in the red-clay hills of Alabama. A wild-eyed, alcoholic father and a humble, heroic mother along with a shanty full of rambunctious brothers and sisters fill her life to the brim with stories that are gripping, tender, and funny.

Moss's early fascination with art coincides with her desire to transform her "twisted mummy face," which grew askew due to malnutrition and lack of medical care. Gazing at the stars on a clear Alabama night, she wishes to be the "goddess of beauty, much-loved daughter of Zeus." Against all odds, the image of herself surfaces at last as she learns to believe in the beauty she brings forth from inside.

Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered (The Helen Rose Scheuer Jewish Women's Series)

Ruth Kluger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Now in paperback, this European bestseller won huge -acclaim from U.S. critics, Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post Book World declared this memoir of a Holocaust girlhood and a life reclaimed "one of the best books of 2001 . . . a book of surpassing, and at times brutal, honesty. . . . Among the many reasons that Still Alive is such an important book is its insistence that the full texture of women's existence in the Holocaust be acknowledged."

Ruth Kluger's story of her years in several concentration camps, and her struggle to establish a life after the war as a refugee survivor in New York, has emerged as one of the most powerful accounts of the Holocaust. Still Alive is a memoir of the pursuit of selfhood against all odds, a fiercely bittersweet coming-of-age story in which the protagonist must learn never to rely on comforting assumptions, but always to seek her own truth.

"A deeply moving and significant work . . . compared by European critics to the work of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel." -- Publishers Weekly

"A stunning contemplation of human relationships, power and the creation of history. . . . A work of such nuance, intelligence and force that it leaps the bounds of genre." -- Kirkus Reviews

Ruth Kluger is professor emerita of German at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of five books about German literature and the recipient of Austria's National Prize for Literary Criticism. Her widely translated memoir has won eight European Literary awards. Lore Segal's writings include the novels Other People's Houses and Her First American.

Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China

Ursula Bacon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

MAKE A MIRACLE--You Can Do It!!!!!!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 16 people found this review helpful.

Several months ago I saw the author, Ursula Bacon, on BookTv (C-Span 2). I was very impressed with her; her lecture was excellent; and the true story of her life from the age of 10 to 18 was compelling. So, I immediately ordered her book. But the book sat on my desk for weeks making me feel guilty about not reading it. I too am a writer. So, finally after completing one book and revising another one, I took a break. And what a break that was--when I was transported to the CHINA of 1938-1946! Ms. Bacon, an only child of a Jewish family, left Germany with her parents as Hitler and his cohorts were rounding up Jews and transporting them to Death Camps.

By the time Vati, Dad, and Mutti, Mom, were looking for countries to immigrate to, every country had closed its doors to German Jews except Shanghai, China. And Shanghai was a total mess, worse than anything most Americans would ever see. But Ursula's family lived in the filthy disease-ridden slums and survived by bartering their few possessions for food. Ursula, up until then a very sheltered child, attended a Catholic school where most classes were taught in French. And most of the time she remained optimistic, made many European and Chinese friends of all ages, learned to speak Mandarin Chinese, encouraged her Mutti, and helped Vati with his business endeavors.

Ursula became an adult before becoming a teen! And she encountered many bizarre situations which she handled better than most adults. The worst was when she was 12 or 13 and killed a drunken Japanese soldier with her bare hands when he attacked her as she walked home from a friend's house late at night. She didn't tell her parents, though, because she didn't want to burden them with additional worries.

This intriguing and inspiring survival tale is about Jewish refuges in China during WW II, though it depicts the color of Shanghai and the many nationalities struggling to survive their wartorn world. I didn't want SHANGHAI DIARY to end! However, I couldn't wait to finish it, so I could pass it on to an friend whose daughter adopted the most delightful Chinese girl who I predict will someday be an important leader in some capacity.

The world has grown so small today that every American should go out of his or her way to become acquainted with other cultures and religions. And every American teenager should be given the opportunity to live in a foreign country to learn new languages and cultures. I give this wonderful book MORE than FIVE STARS! And I hope parents will share it with their teens and high school teachers will use it in their classes. Thanks, Ursula! K.J. McWilliams, book reviewer as well as author of Pirates, The Journal of Leroy Jeremiah Jones, a Fugitive Slave, The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo, and The Journal of Darien Dexter Duff, an Emancipated Slave, winner of the Young Adult Fiction 2003 Royal Palm Literary Award.

Editorial Review:

By the late 1930s, Europe sat on the brink of a world war. As the holocaust approached, many Jewish families in Germany fled to one of the only open port available to them: Shanghai. Once called "the armpit of the world," Shanghai ultimately served as the last resort for tens of thousands of Jews desperate to escape Hitler's "Final Solution." Against this backdrop, 11-year-old Ursula Bacon and her family made the difficult 8,000-mile voyage to Shanghai, with its promise of safety. But instead of a storybook China, they found overcrowded streets teeming with peddlers, beggars, opium dens, and prostitutes. Amid these abysmal conditions, Ursula learned of her own resourcefulness and found within herself the fierce determination to survive.