Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood
by Leah Vincent (Goodreads Author)
 

Phyllis Hoffman Jacobs's review 

Oct 29,20 15 

3 of 5 stars

Read in October, 2015

In the vein of Prozac Nation and Girl, Interrupted, an electrifying memoir about a young woman's promiscuous and self-destructive spiral after being cast out of her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family

Leah Vincent was born into the Yeshivish community, a fundamentalist sect of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. As the daughter of an influential rabbi, Leah and her ten siblings were raised to worship two things: God and the men who ruled their world. But the tradition-bound future Leah envisioned for herself was cut short when, at sixteen, she was caught exchanging letters with a male friend, a violation of religious law that forbids contact between members of the opposite sex. Leah's parents were unforgiving. Afraid, in part, that her behavior would affect the marriage prospects of their other children, they put her on a plane and cut off ties. Cast out in New York City, without a father or husband tethering her to the Orthodox community, Leah was unprepared to navigate the freedoms of secular life. She spent the next few years using her sexuality as a way of attracting the male approval she had been conditioned to seek out as a child, while becoming increasingly unfaithful to the religious dogma of her past. Fast-paced, mesmerizing, and brutally honest, Cut Me Loose tells the story of one woman's harrowing struggle to define herself as an individual. Through Leah's eyes, we confront not only the oppressive world of religious fundamentalism, but also the broader issues that face even the most secular young women as they grapple with sexuality and identity.

My Review:

I liked the book. It was a fast, interesting memoir of the author's life as a girl raised in an Orthodox Jewish home. I understand how she felt the need to reject the laws of her upbringing since they were very strict.
I found her to be very brave when she decided to set out and discover what it was like to live in a secular world. Her experiences were shocking and harrowing . I found this part of the book, which was a good majority of it, to be heartbreaking, too graphic and repetitive. This was the path Leah chose to follow.
I am glad the book ended on a positive note but it was too rushed and abrupt by ending in a couple of sentences. I would have liked to have seen more details about her new life. The author keeps the reader hanging as to the future of Leah's life. Too much of a cliffhanger.

Born in Fire (Born In Trilogy, #1)
by Nora Roberts (Goodreads Author)

Oct 11, 20 15  

3 of 5 stars

Three modern sisters bound by the timeless beauty of Ireland...

The eldest Concannon sister, Maggie, is a reclusive, stubborn and free-spirited glassmaker—with a heart worth winning.

Margaret Mary is a glass artist with an independent streak as fierce as her volatile temper. Hand-blowing glass is a difficult and exacting art, and while she may produce the delicate and the fragile, Maggie is a strong and opinionated woman, a Clare woman, with all the turbulence of that fascinating west country.

One man, Dublin gallery owner Rogan Sweeney, has seen the soul in Maggie’s art, and vows to help her build a career. When he comes to Maggie’s studio, her heart is inflamed by their fierce attraction—and her scarred past is slowly healed by love. Maggie is a young but lonely woman. She lost her beloved dad five years ago and her relationship with her mother is far from good. Actually, because of her mother she prefers loneliness and she doesn’t want to marry. She really doesn’t trust anyone, expect her sister Brianna who is very kind. Maggie is an artist and when in her life comes Rogan the owner of an international art gallery, many things will change in her life either she want it or not.

My Review:
I found the book to be very descriptive of the setting (Ireland) and characters. Nora Roberts has a way with words. She uses similes, metaphors and lots of adjectives. I felt like I was part of the setting and that I knew the characters.

I loved Maggie's stubborn character. She was a strong person but with a good heart even with a mother whose main purpose is to make her life a living hell but no matter what she was determined to keep her promise to her father, once he died, to care for her mother and sister.Maggie was a lonely woman because of her upbringing.I felt so sorry for her. I would be bitter if my mom treated me as evil as her mom, Maeve, did. What a horrible life to lead.She doesn’t want to marry either because she doesn't trust anyone, except her sister, Brianna, who is very kind. I certainly understood why she felt the way she did because of her evil mom.Another horrible thing to endure. I loved how her life started to change in a positive way as the story moved on even though she fought it all the way.

Parts of the book went at a slow pace. I found myself putting it down too often because of that, I gave it 3*. Even so, I will read the next book in the trilogy. I am curious to see how the characters' lives change or stay the same.

Wonder
by R.J. Palacio, Raquel Jaramillo

Sep 02, 2015  

5 of 5 stars

Read in September, 2015

You can't blend in when you were born to stand out.

My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.

My Review:

I found the book to be wonderful. It's the first book in a series. The themes included bullying, peer pressure and showing kindness to all people, no matter what abnormalities they may have. The book was heartwarming and emotional. Get the tissues ready. It talked about the struggles that Auggie had to encounter with other children because of his deformed physical appearance. My heart went out to him as I was reading. I think all children and adults should read this book so they can see what it feels like to be bullied. I definitely liked the ending. It taught a good lesson.

The Wednesday Letters
by Jason F. Wright (Goodreads Author)

Aug 15, 2015  

4 of 5 stars

The story of marriage, family, and forgiveness that has become not just a bestseller but an instant classic.


Their story begins with one letter on their wedding night, a letter from the groom, promising to write his bride every week—for as long they both shall live.

Thirty-nine years later, Jack and Laurel Cooper die in each other's arms. And when their grown children return to the family B&B to arrange the funeral, they discover thousands of letters.

The letters they read tell of surprising joys and sorrows. They also hint at a shocking family secret—and ultimately force the children to confront a life-changing moment of truth.

My Review::

I found the book to be a sweet, touching, emotional story about a family and the secrets they have kept from one another and their challenges they have had along the way. Each family member had a valid reason for their secrets. As the secrets start to unravel, the book becomes more mysterious. I like those kind of stories. I always try to guess the outcomes and I was quite surprised with some of them in this book. The author kept me guessing until the end.
I also like how Jack wrote letters to his wife every Wed. throughout their marriage. They turned into a diary about his feelings, events in their marriage, his devotion to her and their family challenges. The story unravels through these letters.
The book sends the message that whatever happens in life, good or bad, we should always forgive one another. I found it hard to forgive some of the things that happened in this book. You will have to read the book to see what they are.

Otherwise Engaged
by Amanda Quick (Goodreads Author)

Phyllis Hoffman Jacobs's review

Jul 21,20 15  ·  edit

4 of 5 stars

I never read a book by Amanda Quick, but I will probably be reading some of her other books. She goes under other names just like Nora Roberts is also J.D. Robb. I usually don't read historical fiction books but this one was an exception. The setting took place in high society Victorian England. I liked the different expressions the characters used to explain different parts of the story. Quite different from what I am used to hearing.

This book involves 2 love stories but not overly done at all. I don't like reading books that include nothing but romance. This book also includes the murder of 5 women, and a spy scandal. There was something about the beginning of the book that pulled me in but I am not sure of what it was. Different characters were introduced and lots of clues as well. AS with any other mystery/suspense story the reader has to remember all of them in order to solve the mystery. I found the middle of the book not so captivating . As the story unraveled with all the clues coming together (last 100 pages or so)I was glued to the book. I was surprised to learn who the murderer was and why the events and people in his life lead up to his murder spree.

The Good Luck of Right Now
by Matthew Quick (Goodreads Author)

Jul 13,20 15  

4 of 5 stars

For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?

Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreaking earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.

A struggling bipolar priest, a “Girlbrarian, Elizabeth, who is obsessed with aliens. Her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, Max who has Tourette's syndrome , and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew, who has Asperger's syndrome. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.


My Review:

I liked this book because it had quirky characters who were there for each other. I found Bartholomew to be a caring person and he was trying to find himself and how he was trying to learn how to be on his own. I liked him the best. The bipolar priest had a secret that we learn about toward the end of the book. I didn't see the secret coming. Elizabeth was strange with her love for aliens. Her brother, Max, was the character that was really annoying. Every other word out of his mouth was f--k. It got old after awhile. I was skipping over some of the dialog because of the profanity.

All in all I will probably read another book by this author.

Nemesis
by Philip Roth

May 31, 2015 

4 of 5 stars

 

Read in May, 2015

This is a frightening story about a polio epidemic that spreads throughout the Jewish community of Newark during the excruciating hot summer of 1944, and the struggles of 23 year old Bucky Cantor who's 4-F military status keeps him from joining his buddies in the war.

Bucky, a physical education teacher, is an extremely conscientious and kind-hearted young man who sincerely cares for the children in his care and is well-liked and admired for his athletic ability and easy-going ways in return, but as his "kids" become infected, he continually questions his decisions, and fights a guilt-ridden battle within himself and his beliefs.

Review:

The reason I chose to read this book is because it takes place in the neighborhood I grew up in until I was thirteen years old. All the streets and places,in the book, brought back good memories of my childhood.The Yiddush words were always spoken by my parents and grandparents so they brought back memories for me as well. The author is from the area as well.

It is also considered a historical fiction novel. The characters' names are fiction but the events are very real. The book opened my eyes to the Polio Epidemic that was happening in the 1940s. I remember getting the Polio Vaccine when I was a kid. I was definitely able to relate to this book.