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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book though it deals with lots of tough issues. Truly, there was one too many issues. They were dealt with very well but it did not need to have that many. Also I am not sure it needed to be as graphic as it was. There are certain images that will never leave me. Tough, tough subject.
In the end this is a story of how love can overcome tragic awful stuff. There is so much love in this story that you feel it coming off the pages. I think this what I enjoyed the most and what made me get through the tough stuff. It is also quite funny! There were many times when I was laughing out loud. I suppose that is the point of this story - there is laughter and love in the midst of awful. The love and laughter are always more powerful.
Some of the story line was unbelievable and over the top but I excuse it a bit as I loved the characters. The grandmother is too much and it got repetitive and old. The hearing violin was so unbelievable that it was simply crazy. The reunion at the end is also crazy.
In the end this is a story of how love can overcome tragic awful stuff. There is so much love in this story that you feel it coming off the pages. I think this what I enjoyed the most and what made me get through the tough stuff. It is also quite funny! There were many times when I was laughing out loud. I suppose that is the point of this story - there is laughter and love in the midst of awful. The love and laughter are always more powerful.
Some of the story line was unbelievable and over the top but I excuse it a bit as I loved the characters. The grandmother is too much and it got repetitive and old. The hearing violin was so unbelievable that it was simply crazy. The reunion at the end is also crazy.
I did not like this book. I couldn't get into it and the references to the past trauma were too difficult for me to get past.
Cathy Lamb does it again. She takes a hard life topic and enables the reader to get through it with laughter as well as tears. She takes wounded characters and gives them life and makes them real. I don't know how she does it but she does it BRILLIANTLY.
This newest novel from Lamb is no exception to her abilities to craft a good read. She takes a broken, wounded woman (and her family) and takes us on a jounrey of healing. Lest you think these journey's are dull and depressing think again. Lamb always manages to infuse the seriousness of the topics with warmth, laughter, and lessons - and always a few tears. If someone doesn't cry at the descriptions of pain that her characters have to work through then I question if that person has a soul or a conscience.
I loved this newest offering. Madeline is a successful life coach who can dish out the life counsel but can't live it due to horrific childhood circumstances. But it begins to catch up with her and she is faced with coming clean or continuing to hide. As a life coach she knows coming clean is the best thing to do but it's a lot harder than she has the energy or strenth, so she thinks, for. What Madeline and her sister are about to find out is they do have the strength to live their lives well and let the past quit dictating their futures.
Lamb tackles a tough topic in this book, one I don't believe she has yet to tackle. So a reader warning is this: the topic is covered to a degree that will cause some readers to connect because of their own stories. If you have been abused as a child or are the parent of a child who has been abused then this book will be harder to read. It's hard enough for someone who hasn't had personal experience with child abuse. But it is a good read and Lamb is sensitive to the topic and it's wounds.
This newest novel from Lamb is no exception to her abilities to craft a good read. She takes a broken, wounded woman (and her family) and takes us on a jounrey of healing. Lest you think these journey's are dull and depressing think again. Lamb always manages to infuse the seriousness of the topics with warmth, laughter, and lessons - and always a few tears. If someone doesn't cry at the descriptions of pain that her characters have to work through then I question if that person has a soul or a conscience.
I loved this newest offering. Madeline is a successful life coach who can dish out the life counsel but can't live it due to horrific childhood circumstances. But it begins to catch up with her and she is faced with coming clean or continuing to hide. As a life coach she knows coming clean is the best thing to do but it's a lot harder than she has the energy or strenth, so she thinks, for. What Madeline and her sister are about to find out is they do have the strength to live their lives well and let the past quit dictating their futures.
Lamb tackles a tough topic in this book, one I don't believe she has yet to tackle. So a reader warning is this: the topic is covered to a degree that will cause some readers to connect because of their own stories. If you have been abused as a child or are the parent of a child who has been abused then this book will be harder to read. It's hard enough for someone who hasn't had personal experience with child abuse. But it is a good read and Lamb is sensitive to the topic and it's wounds.
*Possible Spoiler* Boy, this was a tough one. As one of my favorite "new" authors, Cathy Lamb creates laughter and tears with beautiful imagery and character development. Unfortunately (for me), children in danger - children being harmed in any way, is tough for me. The abuse suffered by Madeline and Annie is tough to stomach, and even though the details are not a large percentage of the story, I was tempted to set this aside. Only because this was a Cathy Lamb book did I forge ahead. Thank goodness for unique characters and the warmth of good, true love...
This book really through me for a loop. It started off very slow and did not capture my attention at all. However, about 1/2 way in, I became hooked...couldn't put it down. I ended up enjoying it and I loved the ending. I would recommend, just give it some time. It is so worth it.
I first have to say what a great book. At times reading this book I didn't know whether I should be laughing or crying. It felt like Cathy Lamb could have made several books out of this one book. One with just Madeline's life coaching experiences, another with the unspeakable horror Madeline and Annie faced when they were little, another story of how their grandparents escaped what so many other Jewish people did not, and lastly the colorful life that was their mother's beauty shop. At times I felt overwelmed by all the different ways I was being pulled and just wanting to stay on one story and find out more about it. After reading this book I came a way with a few life lessons of my own.
This was ok. Several storylines are intertwined, and humor is mixed with tragedy, but I still found it to be predictable. A good read for summer, but not something I will remember.
The last third of the book had me hooked but it was slow going until then.
Oh. I cried. I cried. And then I cried some more. A heartbreaker, tearjerker and in the end, a very strong story about a strong woman and her family filled with secrets.