Review: Ghellow Road, by T.H. Waters

GHELLOW ROAD: A LITERARY DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL'S JOURNEY

T.H. Waters

Verefor Publishing Company

October 14, 2010

302 pages, pb

$10.30 US

978-0-9828931-1-1

GHELLOW ROAD, a literary diary will consume your attention from the first page. It is a coming of age story about a young girl named Theresa.  Promoted as a novel, the author admits much is drawn from childhood experiences. You will find this to be a rich heartfelt novel of a family devastated by a mother with serious mental illness.  I will forgo the short summary as it would spoil the reader’s experience, but instead offer a glimpse, as a prologue to a play about to unfold.

The story takes place in a small town called International Falls with a population just over 10,000, somewhere in Minnesota.  Theresa was born in 1965 smothered by the love of two parents and a brother, Mikie. In diary format throughout, we learn about her life, her point of view. She was five when she first realized there was something very wrong with her mother. Although her mother most often demonstrated her love, with affectionate kisses and endearing names, Theresa knew things weren’t right.  She would often disappear, she heard things, she had a look. When this happened, Theresa and Mikie would often end up at the homes of various relatives. One day, they are betrayed by their loving Dad, who had always been the stable parent. Their future is bleak.  

The main protagonist is Theresa, outwardly happy and sometimes shy who despite the odds, makes many very good friends.  Yet, inside she is a cacophony of conflict, desperately seeking stability and a normal life. Once, she is told by a palm reader.... “it doesn’t matter what a man’s name is or where it is that he may take you. The only true force in life is l-o-v-e. Look for a man who has love for you in his heart, and it is there that you will find the meaning of happiness on this earth.”  

An unforgettable novel that puts a spotlight on mental illness and its corrosive potential on families. My apologies to the author, for not reading her book sooner as it is my only regret. T.H. Waters as written an inspirationally affecting novel that will beguile every reader.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a candid review. The review submitted my honest opinion. 

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2013]. 

Wisteria Leigh

August 13, 2013

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert-Paperback Release

Great News!! For those of you who loved Elizabeth Gilbert's bestseller Eat, Pray, Love or saw the recent movie this post is for you. Penguin Books will be releasing Committed, the follow-up story to Eat, Pray, Love on February 1, 2011.  


To celebrate this release,  Penguin is donating a copy of Committed to one lucky reader of my blog. So, first the information about the book.

Here is the information from Penguin Books:

Elizabeth Gilbert’s COMMITTED: A Love Story debuted at #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list when it was published by Viking in January of 2010 and was also a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. On February 1st, Penguin Books will release the book in paperback. 

COMMITTED begins where Gilbert’s # 1 New York Times bestseller Eat, Pray, Love ended—just after she fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who’d been living in Bali when they met.  Resettling in America , the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married.  (Both were skittish divorce survivors.)  But providence intervened one day in the form of the U.S. government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. 

Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Elizabeth and Felipe spent the next ten months wandering haphazardly across Asia , traveling with limited resources and waiting for word from their immigration lawyer as their case languished in bureaucratic uncertainty.  Gilbert used this time to ponder the subject of romantic commitment, interviewing everyone from housewives in Vietnam and Thailand to family members and friends, and looking closely at how the institution of marriage has evolved to reflect our social needs and how it is so often intertwined with religion, politics, class, and money. 

COMMITTED tells the story of one woman’s efforts to make peace with marriage before she enters its estate once more.  Told with Gilbert’s trademark wit, intelligence, and compassion, it frankly discusses issues of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, tradition, economic realities, divorce risks, and social expectations.  Myths are debunked; fears are unthreaded; historical perspective is found; and romantic fantasies are ultimately exchanged for vital emotional compromises.  In the end, Gilbert’s book is a clear-eyed celebration of the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

About the Author

ELIZABETH GILBERT is an award-winning writer of both fiction and non-fiction.  Her short story collection Pilgrims was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, and her novel Stern Men was a New York Times notable book.  Her 2002 book The Last American Man was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award.   Since its initial publication in January 2006, her #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love has sold over 8 million copies and been published in forty languages.  A film adaptation of the book came out this past August from Columbia Pictures with an all star cast: Julia Roberts as Gilbert, Javier Bardem as Felipe, James Franco as David, Billy Crudup as her ex-husband and Richard Jenkins as Richard from Texas.  In 2008, Time magazine named Gilbert one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.

The author's website: http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/committed.htm

Book Giveaway Details:

Contest runs from January 28-Feb 14, 2011...just in time for Valentine's Day.

Rules:

1. To be entered you must be a follower on my sidebar Google Reader, and post a comment on this post about either book or the author, Eat, Pray, Love or Committed.

2. Blog or Twitter about this contest and leave a link to the post in the comments.  (2 additional chances) 

3. Leave a comment about your special love or love story or Valentine wish. (2 additional chances)

Open to Canada and US participants.

Disclosure: All copies for review and giveaway are free copies by Penguin Books. Any review or guest post is submitted with no monetary compensation. Opinions by the author of this blog are honest and truthful.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011].

Teaser Tuesday-#1 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme,
hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
Anyone can play along!

This week my teaser comes from:

The Notorious Mrs. Winston

by Mary Makey
Published by Berkley
©2007

"She has come to think of the lens as the barrel of a gun. Even now, when it is pointed in another direction, she feels as if she is standing in the crosshairs." (page 11)





Disclosure: I purchased this book in Gettysburg.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2011].

Review- All That Is Beautiful, by Roxane Tepfer Sanford

ALL THAT IS BEAUTIFUL
Roxane Tepfer Sanford,
Lumina Press, JUNE 2010,
$16.96,pb/$34.95,hc
310pp,
978-1-60594-460-9/978-1-60594-461-6

Synopsis from the publisher:

It is the year 1878, and at last, Lillian, now a young woman, is free from the prison called Sutton Hall and the evil grandmother who ruled. After years locked away and far from her beloved lighthouse on Jasper Island, she finds her only escape through sheer luck and the generosity of one man, Richard Parker, an aspiring commercial illustrator. Though Lillian is shamed by the sins of her parents, and the unspeakable act committed by Warren Stone, she entrusts her life to the charismatic, though married, Richard Parker, until it is safe to return home.

However life, as unpredictable as the sea, has other plans for Lillian.

Not long after leaving, she is caught up in an adult world of money, greed, drugs, and sinful pleasures, turning her life upside down once again.

It is only when Lillian discovers the shocking truth to Richard’s cruel years of deception that she finally returns to her lighthouse, desperate to recapture her lost years, and most of all, lost love.

But fate has one more devastating surprise in store, leaving Lillian with incomprehensible choices, and ultimately, tearing her beautiful new world apart.

My Evaluation:

Lillian Arrington was first introduced in The Girl in the Lighthouse. After reading the first book, one would think that Lillian had lived through enough and had endured enough. In the sequel, All That is Beautiful, Lillian begins what she expects to be a new life, full of promise. One that she hopes will allow her to forget the scars of her past. It seems her destiny is a tragic one. As I began to read, I wondered if she would ever recover?

There are times when I think Lillian is a selfish little brat, childlike and unrealistic. Yet, she really is still a child, and had never really lived a normal childhood. Even though at times she appears confused, disillusioned and living in a fantasy, her character survives. You may come to embrace or at least understand her actions when you reflect upon her past. She is desperate for love, desperate for a happy and safe life. After returning to Jasper Island she believes she has found solace.

Sometimes the sequel to a book does not live up to the original. Roxane Tepfer Sanford has written a startling and touching end that offers dramatic closure. All That Is Beautiful is a delicate journey, a story of Lillian’s precipitous life. Soulfully memorable with the potential for unimaginable tears, this is a story that will paralyze your heart.



© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2010].

Book Raffle-Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

Yippee! Another book raffle thanks to the Hachette Group and Valerie Russo.





Information from the publisher:

Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.

For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.

It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

As in the past, five copies will be given away. If you are not a follower of my blog please join us. Hachette cannot ship to PO boxes and the contest is limited to US residents only. The contest will run till July 19th at 1:00AM. I will announce the winners on my Sunday Salon July 19th. Winners need to contact me via my email address with their snail mail address in order for Hachette to distribute the winning copies.

Please leave a comment about what makes you think you would like to read this book.
Here are a couple of links to check out.

Author Interview:
Author Website
Hachette Group