 |
highly recommended |
Gritty and Moving .... 
I will be honest ~~ this book did not move me to tears like "Blackbird" did ~~ but it did make me angry ~~ really angry and disgusted with human beings, especially those who are in charge of taking care of the children who need them. I was so relieved when I read the ending of "Blackbird" that Jennifer was going to be rescued by her father's family (though I was really confused as to why Aunt Georgia and Uncle Charles didn't pick her up at the bus stop since they were the ones that went looking for the Lauck kids in L.A.). Then I picked this book up, the sequel to "Blackbird" and finished it in two days.
This is a fast paced book ~~ it skims a lot of Jennifer's growing up years but it dealt with her anger and frustrations. She was separated from her brother, Bryan, as he "chose" to live with Uncle Leonard and Aunt Sylvia. Jennifer didn't get to choose ~~ after spending several weeks with her grandparents, her father's parents, (a few weeks where she began her healing process and started to feel safe) she was sent to live with Peggy and Dick, her father's youngest sister and husband. From the very beginning, Dick made her feel like that she was never welcomed. Peggy was inconsistent with her behavior and gradually became meaner to her over the years, in spite of the fact that she loved Jennifer's mother and was one of her closest friends. Jennifer grew up in various places in the Northwest, confused, lonely and gradually getting angrier. Shuffled among different relatives, enduring sexual abuse, emotional abuse, basically being her aunt and uncle's (though they eventually adopted her) housekeeper/cook and on and on. The dishonesty of her relatives boils me ~~ and no wonder why Jennifer was so angry and bitter by the time she made her escape at the age of 18.
Then her brother committed suicide. Bryan was never close to Jennifer and she mistakenly thought he had the "better" life since he was an all A student, and so handsome. When Jennifer finally went on a journey to discover peace and the truth of what happened to her family and how it impacted her, she discovered so much more about Bryan that the reader ends up grieving for him too. By the end of the book, Jennifer has faced her demons and rediscovered the youth she missed out on by enjoying her son's life. She was able to find peace again.
This book is about surviving. This book is about finding peace in the worst that life can offer you. This book is an inspiration to all people ~~ regardless of how they live their lives. This book is just a wonderful sequel to the first one and for once, it shows that someone can have a happy ending in spite of it all. It shows how some people can survive neglect and abuse and how some people can't. It shows the power of forgiveness and the power of letting go.
This is one that I will definitely recommend to my book club to read ~~ it provides so much fodder for conversation just by reading these alone! It is not easy reading but sometimes, readers just need to be reminded that life isn't always easy and reading about someone else's struggles can affirm our sense of survival. At least Jennifer's story did.
7-10-07
Highly recommend 
This is a sequel to her book Blackbird. Both novels are so very interesting. You won't believe everything this girl has been through, and how she not only survives, but goes on to live a sucessful life. Both novels are hard to put down as you cannot wait to read what happens next.
Still Waters
This book is a sequel to the author's first autobiography, 'Blackbird: A Childhood Lost And Found.'
'Still Waters' affected me even more strongly than the first book, because it more closely mirrored my own childhood and young adulthood. There are millions of kids who are not foster children but what I call shuffled kids, sent from one relative to the next, from one family friend to the next, and back again.
At one point in the book, Lauck writes about staying a few days at a relative's house, where there are no other children, and she is comfortable and happy, and there's more than enough room for her to live there without being in the way. Yet inexplicably that relative sends her off to live with someone else and no real explanation is given.
Despite being shuffled around like a deck of cheap cards, Lauck found the inner strength to grow up intact, and this book affirms the incredible resiliency of children to thrive even under less than ideal circumstances.
This is also a disgraceful and shameful retelling of what happens when relatives turn their back on children who are blood relatives and allow them to be raised by strangers. It is truly a gift and a miracle that Lauck made it to adulthood without becoming a criminal or a drug addict, because her family certainly didn't provide the guidance and nurturing that every child deserves.
I can't stop thinking about it.
All I can say is, Wow. I picked up Lauck's first book, "Blackbird" at the library and loved it. So right after I finished it I bought Still Waters. I read it in about 2 days.
A lot happens in her life. A lot happens in many of our lives. But the way Lauck sees things that go on in her life and in the world, are special. Her books opened my mind and my heart.
Saying this is a memoir about a dysfunctional family does not do this book justice. Yes, her family is dysfunctional, but her attitude and experiences and how she draws these into her world view, are all woven through her book in a way that I wanted it to never end.
Another thing, many sequels re-hash much of what happened in the first book. And for those of us who have read the first book, it's a bore to read about all this re-hashing. "Still Waters" does not do this. I really appreciated the fluidity with which Jennifer Lauck wrote her sequel.
I look forward to more from this gifted writer.
reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Twelve-year-old Jenny stepped off a bus in Reno straight into the wide-open future, following only her own heart. Her brother Bryan had chosen a tragic destiny, and Jenny began unraveling her anger and pain. Jennifer finds miracles. A hardened heart learns to love. Life, once merely a matter of survival, becomes rich with the joys of truly living.
still waters, still, waters
|
based on 43 reviews
