Product Description
"These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become."

So says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker about her beautiful new book, in which "one of the best American writers today" (The Washington Post) gives us superb stories based on rich truths from her own experience. Imbued with Walker's wise philosophy and understanding of people, the spirit, sex and love, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart begins with a lyrical, autobiographical story of a marriage set in the violent and volatile Deep South during the early years of the civil rights movement. Walker goes on to imagine stories that grew out of the life following that marriage—a life, she writes, that was "marked by deep sea-changes and transitions." These provocative stories showcase Walker's hard-won knowledge of love of many kinds and of the relationships that shape our lives, as well as her infectious sense of humor and joy. Filled with wonder at the power of the life force and of the capacity of human beings to move through love and loss and healing to love again, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart is an enriching, passionate book by "a lavishly gifted writer" (The New York Times Book Review).


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
Even a fickle reader of Alice Walker will find something to admire in The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart. This tender, elegiac collection of stories is based in part on her early marriage to a white man and her continuing puzzlement at how their connection--once so charmed and resilient--faded to nothing. Looking back at their happy years together in "the racially volatile and violent Deep South state of Mississippi," a place and time in which their union was not only unconventional but illegal, Walker is also led to imagine other, less metaphoric homecomings. After the initial autobiographical story, "To My Young Husband," she turns to a character named Rosa, a novelist like herself, who returns home to the South with her sister, Barbara, after their grandfather's death. Rosa had not made it to the funeral, since news of his death arrived just as she was leaving on a long-planned holiday abroad. Now, belatedly, she has come to gather family stories. But when she asks her Aunt Lily a question, this woman glares back at her with something close to hatred: "I don't want to find myself in anything you write. And you can just leave your daddy alone too." Reeling, Rosa turns to her sister for comfort, but Barbara, too, rejects her with "a look that said she'd got the reply she'd deserved."

For wasn't she always snooping about the family's business and turning things about in her writing in ways that made the family shudder? There was no talking to her as you talked to regular people. The minute you opened your mouth a meter went on. Rose could read all this on her sister's face. She didn't need to speak. And it was a lonely feeling that she had. For Barbara was right. Aunt Lily too. And she could no more stop the meter running than she could stop her breath.

Customer Reviews (24)

What Nothingness!
I picked this book up from my local library after having read a book of poetry by Walker. The poetry was very unique and full of rarely experienced perspectives on being an American of Color. I grabbed this book because the title is evocative of spiritual growth. What I found is a book totally devoid of any redeeming spirituality. There were excerpts from Walkers sexual history which I could have done without reading. This book read like an awful diary than was meant to be thrown away but, was found.......by an enemy intending to stab you in the back! What surprises me is, the fact that this garbage was published at all. It is a bunch of senseless ramblings. The title is very misleading. If you like to make comparisons then, this definitely more Anais Nin than Shirley MacLaine!

Reflective and Healing
I happened across Alice's latest while seeking something, anything to read during the weekend immediately after September 11.The introduction simultaneously broke my heart and gave me hope for a better tomorrow.Once I got home, I immediately typed up the majority of the introduction and sent it onto my friends.Many responded thanking me for sending this onto them.

While many of the other reviewers are correct in saying that some of the stories are difficult to understand and others scattered and incosistent, I find this part of the books charm.It is unvarnished, sometimes very thoughtful, other times angry, and still other times conciliatory.In short...it is very real.

If you don't want to think and be challenged, avoid the book.If you want a challenge, pick it up.Nobody says you have to agree with it all, but I for one am thankful that a person such as Alice is willing to bare her soul in such a way that is so provocotive.

I am honestly a bit surprised by the venom of some of the reviews.

Not EXACTLY what I expected...
The conversational tone with which this book is written is delightful. You feel like you're having an intimate chat with Alice over a hot cup of coffee, and that's cozy enough. Problem is, she takes a perfectly good beginning (I can hear LTD's "Where Did We Go Wrong" playin' in the background...)and adds to it perfectly confusing detours. I think the story would have read much better had she added no fiction at all. Most want to hear the truth of it all -- or so it seems to me -- more of the life story of this love union and its subsequent heartbreaking end. Who among us hasn't ever struggled over the disbelief that what was once so right somehow slipped through our fingers like oil? Alice is rich and raw in her expression, and her candor is admirable. But the added fiction to a moving memoir is, particularly when the names and circumstances of the ficticious characters keep tripping over themselves, questionable at best. If you're feeling experimental, go ahead and try it. Otherwise, I'd suggest you stick to more authentic, unclouded memoirs.

Moving Stories...............
..................that analyze the experience of romantic love in all its complex forms. As only Alice Walker can do, with such convincing story lines, common elements of romantic love are demonstrated in stories about transracial, gay/lesbian, rich and poor, educated and less educated couples. Walker shows us how superficial circumstances may differ, while preserving those characteristics of relationships that are common to us all. In doing so she breaks down stereotypes and we come to see her characters as human beings who are just like ourselves.

confusing and vague...
I guess a celebrated author such as Walker can receive accolades from a book that is vague to the point of being- pointless.

With the exception of the first story about her failed marraige, the rest of these stories don't make a whole lot of sense. ... Read more

Product Description
`A tour de force of historical scholarship and detective work... so good it sets the mind racing.' LITERARY REVIEW (Frank McLynn, 08/93)Malory's stories of King Arthur and the Round Table have been widely read for centuries, but their author's own life has been as variously reported as that of any Arthurian knight. The first serious attempts to identify him were made in the 1890s, but the man who then seemed most likely to have written the book was later found to have been accused of attempted murder, rape, extortion, and sacrilegious robbery and to have spent ten years or more in prison. Could this be reconciled with the authorship of the most famous chivalric romance in English? Other candidates for authorship were proposed but there was little consensus. This book gives the most comprehensive consideration of the competing arguments yet undertaken. It is a fascinating piece of detective work followed by a full account of the life of the man identified as theMalory. Close consideration of individual documents, many of which were entirely unknown in 1966, when the last book on Malory's life appeared, makes possible a fuller and more convincing story than has ever been told before. ... Read more

Product Description
In this marvelously original book, Dan Hofstadter shows how a great treasure of forgotten personal writing—diaries, memoirs, and letters written by George Sand, Anatole France, and Marcel Proust, among others—bears on the erotic lives of the writers, and how the fine French tradition of conducting love affairs developed as an art form. As his subtle analysis makes clear, the love letters exchanged in a series of highly charged liaisons also suggested the themes of celebrated future novels.
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Customer Reviews (1)

charming
This is an unusual book: it has no pretense of scholarly contribution, yet is delightfully literary in a refreshingly casual way. Hofstadter delves insightfully and amusingly into the dynamics of love affairs between literary figures in 19th century France. He explores, sometimes speculatively but never reductively, how these figures' characters and backgroundsplayed into the ways that their entanglements unfolded, and feels for the links between love, understanding, letter writing, literary inspiration and creativity, and the social world of the time. Altogether charming ... ... Read more

Product Description
Set against the backdrop of a rapidly fissuring disciplinary landscape where poetry and science are increasingly viewed as irreconcilable and unrelated, Bernhard Kuhn's study uncovers a previously ignored, fundamental connection between autobiography and the natural sciences. Examining the autobiographies and scientific writings of Rousseau, Goethe, and Thoreau as representative of their ages, Kuhn challenges the now entrenched thesis of the 'two cultures.' Rather, these three writers are exemplary in that their autobiographical and scientific writings may be read not as separate or even antithetical but as mutually constitutive projects that challenge the newly emerging boundaries between scientific and humanistic thought during the Romantic period. Reading each writer's life stories and nature works side by side - as they were written - Kuhn reveals the scientific character of autobiographical writing while demonstrating the autobiographical nature of natural science.He considers all three writers in the context of scientific developments in their own times as well as ours, showing how each one marks a distinctive stage in the growing estrangement of the arts and sciences, from the self-assured epistemic unity of Rousseau's time, to the splintering of disciplines into competing ways of knowing under the pressures of specialization and professionalization during the late Romantic age of Thoreau. His book thus traces an unfolding drama, in which these writers and their contemporaries, each situated in an intellectual landscape more fragmented than the last, seek to keep together what modern culture is determined to break apart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gay love and life just before Stonewall.
This second memoir by Felice Picano follows him as a bored and restlessyoung man to Italy, where he finds both romance and adventure among thedenizens of Cinecitta, the famed Italian film studio. The first half of thebook chronicles his relationship with Djanko, a director. In the secondhalf, "The Jane Street Girls," Felice has returned to New York,has landed a job at Graphique magazine, and is involved with a man who isold enough to be part of a more closeted, cautious generation.

Of thethree memoirs, this one is not *as* compelling, but is still veryworthwhile reading, and delivers a blow in its final pages that still hasme reeling, wanting to hear more, even though there's not much more thatcan be said. Worth it for that alone, actually, and makes the title evenmore meaningful, changing it from possibly self-serving toironic.

Preceded by Ambidextrous and followed by A House on the Ocean,AHouse on the Bay. ... Read more

Product Description
"When you come to reflect that there are only a few planks between you and the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, it makes you feel sort of pensive." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice romances
This book was published in 1923, and it contains 10 short stories. Most of them are romances, and most of those are about a man and a woman who don't like each other and have nothing in common but end up together anyways. (Gee, how different from today.) Dell comes up with a wide variety of characters and plots, though I found a couple of the stories to be rather unimaginative. She writes very well. If you like romances you'll find some very good short ones here. ... Read more

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Rufus the Red sat on the edge of his boat with his hands clasped between his knees, staring at nothing. His nets were spread to dry in the sun; the morning's work was done.
... Read more

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This is an electronic edition of the complete book complemented by author biography. This book features the table of contents linked to every chapter. The book was designed for optimal navigation on the Kindle, PDA, Smartphone, and other electronic readers. It is formatted to display on all electronic devices including the Kindle, Smartphones and other Mobile Devices with a small display. ... Read more

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Lani never knew true love until she met Love.He was the brother of her best friend since junior high and he came at the perfect time.Lost in the streets, she was picked up by Love and shown how a real man should love her.Initially he seemed different from all other men; he was but not as far as cheating.Though he gave her things she never received from a man and showed her things she never seen, he also gave her something else she never had nor wanted - an STD.He took her out of her character, doing things she never thought she would do.He changed her for the better and also for the worse.Dealing with him also came violence from him hustling in the streets.As author Quaneysha Poindexter shares with you her life story of growing up in New Haven, Connecticut about love, drugs and violence, brace yourself for the blatant reality in her life.Though the majority of the events actually happened in her life, only the very ending did not happen but it does happen in other people's life. ... Read more

Product Description
Rufus the Red sat on the edge of his boat with his hands clasped between his knees, staring at nothing. His nets were spread to dry in the sun; the morning's work was done. ... Read more

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Anne Rivers Siddons invites you into her home and her heart

In this collection of heartfelt and involving vignettes, Anne Rivers Siddons--the beloved bestselling author of Downtown, Hill Towns, and Colony--offers a stirring and insightful look at our everyday world and how one woman has chosen to live in it. Moving from memories of her gentle grandfather to her uncanny ability to attract stray animals, Siddons' intimate stories of her family are graced with the same poetic lilt and vibrant detail that have so wonderfully served her novels. For all those who know and love her works of fiction, John Chancellor Makes Me Cry is a glorious and thoroughly entertaining treat.

Customer Reviews (6)

A sweet Southern Woman
Of all the Anne Rivers Siddons books, this first is her only non-fiction and for some reason it remains my favorite.Without the devices of plot and character to get between the author and her audience, Ms. Siddons tells the stories that matter the most to her: the death of a beloved grandfather, the look of Atlanta in the spring, the lunacies inherent in the advertising industry and most of all a life well loved and well lived with her husband, menagerie and home.

These short essays that are somewhat dated with their references to issues that were prominent in the 1970s.However, the joys and tribulations of everyday life recounted here are timeless and the language is thoughtful, witty and heartfelt. The book is a joy to read and re-read and I give copies away like Gideon's disciples distribute bibles.

I cannot say Ms. Siddons is my favorite author or this is my favorite book (although they are whenever I'm re-read JCMMC). I can say her essays have become the dearest of friends.

Times change
This is my first book by Anne Rivers Siddons. I must say she has a fine way with words and story-telling. However, I expect this group of stories played better in 1975 than it does today. Siddons portrays herself as awfully childish in almost every essay, crying buckets of tears and fretting over the most superficial aspects of life. If you like the modern-day southern belle genre, you might enjoy this, but if you like your women a little gutsier, steer clear.

"Steal Away Your Work Day Soul"
The evening news has always drawn me like a magnet - but sometimes watching it is soul wrenching. Past months have been particularly poignant.Mass murder in the name of God and parents murdering or abusing children entrusted to them, and on and on, it all become cumulative.I knew I had to replace my copy of JOHN CHANCELLOR MAKES ME CRY and re-read it. Isn't it too cool when a book is even better the more you read it? Can I recommend this book enough?

Ms. Siddons' foray into non-fiction is an excellent introduction to the depth of feeling and emotion in the many fine books she has written since.There is something that touches me on every single page of this year long glimpse into the life of this very REAL lady. Weather, stepchildren, cats, suburbs, politics, it's all there, along with a delicious slice of Maine and summers on the seashore."On fast-darkening twilight patios, when you are thrumming with sunburn and clean and still damp from a shower, in fresh cotton and on your second tall drink, it can steal away your workday soul." I find myself again and again in this deliciously emotional piece of non-fiction. "I am a natural if sadly undisciplined and haphazard hostess." "Do not go gentle into that good night." Her love of words, her politics, her empathy make for one of the best reads EVER. Please read this, and love it for me?

Colony
I have recently found Siddons works,and have read 6 so far.They engross the reader, take him into the story, and keep him there to the end.I would love to know more about the author, and exactly how she totallycaptures the audience.Thank you ms. Siddons for many engrossing hours.

A true writer lets you into to her life, her heart.
After reading the first of many addictive books by Siddons I couldn't help but wonder what she was like as a person, what kind of life she had lead that made her such a wonderful writer.Reading this book gives me such agood idea of where she got many of her ideas and nuances for her very vividcharacters.I can see her in all of them now and I am thankful for theglimpse into her real life and her real feelings.It is a very rare treatfor anyone who admires her writing and wants to know what makes her tick. Very courageous of her!! ... Read more

Product Description
Subjects: Anne Boleyn, Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England, 1507-1536 -- FictionNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A book that shows the mystique of an historical castle.
This little book is a blend of robustness and full-blooded adventure with a good deal of history intertwined within the story.The book covers the happenings within Windsor Castle between 1529 and 1536.A seven-year span that saw the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, and the ascendancy of Jane Seymour in King Henry VIII's life.There are an awful lot of characters in this book, but at this time in England's history large castles like Windsor were home and life to a small community.Ainsworth does a very good job of portraying these historical figures in his book.His character portraits, and his descriptions of castle life put the reader right into the picture. ... Read more

Product Description
Isabel Allende is arguably the world's most popular living woman writer. Her major books-The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, The Stories of Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, and Paula-have been translated into nearly thirty languages and have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. The first two novels have been made into successful Hollywood films.

A marvelous ability for storytelling, particularly the hidden stories of women's lives, is the secret of Allende's success. In this collection of thirty-four interviews spanning the 1980s and 1990s, she tells her own story in her own words, from her early years as a Chilean TV personality and niece of the late Chilean president Salvador Allende through the major transformations of her adult life, first as a political refugee in Venezuela, then as a United States visitor, permanent California resident, newly remarried wife, and renowned world writer.

The interviews spotlight issues in Allende's life, art, and working habits that have consistently fascinated her readers and critics. Five of the interviews have not been published before, and several that originally appeared in Spanish, German, and Dutch are here translated into English for the first time. As a collection, the interviews constitute a sharply focused, intimate short autobiography of Isabel Allende-the first to appear in any language. Family photographs selected by Allende (including some never before published) complement the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

FASCINATING
If you are captivated by Allende's novels and moved by her memoir then you will be equally enthralled with this work. Conversations with Isabel Allende is a collection of thirty-four interviews covering the life, work and assessment of Allende as a writer. The interviews are divided into three periods. The first begins in the mid-80's and is predominated by literary interviews given by academics and scholars of Latin American Literature. The second period (late 80's to 1991) consists of interviews that are biographical and focus on the relationship of her works with her life. The third set of interviews (1991-1994) deal with her relationship with her daughter, the impact of the Latin American Boom Writers on her work and how her move to the United States has impacted on her writing.

I was fascinated with this vast array of material which contains something for everyone. Allende deals with the probing questions of critics and academics regarding her style, structure and influences on her work. Her answers are most surprising in that she doesn't see herself as falling into any particular writing tradition. In fact she confesses her ignorance about those in the literary field who analyze and take apart her works for greater understanding.

Another part of the interviews that are intriguing is her sharing with us her life story, anecdotes, and challenges. You see an intimate portrait of her as a mother, journalist, feminist and novelist. Allendes warts as well as her beauty shines through. Her responses to the questions are a story unto themselves and you wonder if they are indeed true.

What is most important about this work is that you see the progression of growth of one of Latin America's most significant female writers. Allende's works are put in a particular context and you as a reader are able to engage her in viewing how she writes, why she writes and the significance it has for women and Latin America. Conversations is a "must have" text in doing any literary or biographical research on this great writer. ... Read more

Product Description

A daring memoir of love, magic, adventure, and miracles, Victor Villaseñor's Thirteen Senses continues the exhilarating family saga that began in the widely acclaimed bestseller Rain of Gold, delivering a stunning story of passion, family, and the forgotten mystical senses that stir within us all.

Thirteen Senses begins with the fiftieth wedding anniversary of the aging former bootlegger Salvador and his elegant wife, Lupe. When asked by a young priest to repeat the sacred ceremonial phrase "to honor and obey," Lupe surprises herself and says. "No, I will not say 'obey'. How dare you! You don't talk to me like this after fifty years of marriage and I now knowing what I know!" After the hilarious shock of Lupe's rejection of the ceremony, the Villaseñor family is forced to examine the love that Lupe and Salvador have shared for so many years -- a universal, gut-honest love that will eventually energize and inspire the couple into old age.

But sorrow is rare and humor plentiful as Villaseñor affectionately recounts his relatives' travails and improbable dreams, some of which, like a grandfather's quest for gold in a hidden Mexican canyon, come true. As he writes, Villaseñor underscores the importance of tradition, faith, forgiveness, and, yes, good stories in making life livable, and this good story will please many readers. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Villasenor has done it again!
I am a big fan of Victor Villasenor's literature. He has such a style that is serious but can make you laugh out loud. In Thirteen Senses, it starts where Rain of Gold left off. The boo chronicles the first few years of Lupe and Juan Salvadors marriage. This book is very intertaining and a delight to know that these events actually took place. I would recommend this book to anyone!

Loved It!
Started out a little slow, but became one of my favorites by the end. The second time I read it, it was much better. It is definately on the top of my recomindation list.

Villasenor is Magnificent!
I was truly excited to hear Villasenor had written a continuation to Rain of Gold!I could hardly wait to get my hands on a copy of Thirteen Senses, and I'm so happy I did.Rain of Gold did so much to change my perspective on the Mexican experience in this century, and I felt a longing to know what happened to Lupe and Salvadore after their marriage ceremony.This story really came through, showing their growth as a couple along with their individual spiritual growth.This story is about growing into real adulthood and loosing our childish self centeredness.It's about discovering how incredible a person can be, and how far limits can be pushed.

Daughter-in-Love
I think the sequence where Lupe is talking with her mother-in-law an Idigeneous Mexican Indian was very moving. Finished the book on our way to San Francisco were we visited our daughter-in-love" and our son and grandchild.Have been struggleing with the "Thirteenth Sense" all my life, and if I can't make it on a beautiful barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico, with my husband of 37 years, there is no hope for the rest of us.Buying the book for Christmas gifts to give all the people who give meaning to my life.Beautifully written and with such sensitivity it makes you want to invite Victor for dinner.

A MEXICAN LIFE IN THE ROARING 20'S
I would suggest reading "Rain of Gold" first as it lays the background for Thirteen Senses and I, personally, thought Rain of Gold was the better story which pointed out the meaning of LOVEin a myriad of ways that was better than most other descriptions I have ever read.

The weakness of this story is the overuse of the Almighty's powers and Salvador's mother's retelling her philosophy of life page after page after page.If 50 to 75 pages of this type dissertation was edited out, it would be a much better story.The religious nature of both primary familys' is very important to the story, however, it is overdone.While reading I was comparing the American Indian's religious beliefs (which I love) along with the Mexican Indian's outlook.Quite the same in many ways, particularly when actually changing from human to animal form and then back to human.Fascinating.

I read this book out loud to my wife and she also enjoyed it and would most certainly recommend this being a fine reading experience, however, she also agrees there is too much philosophy given by Dona Guadalupe, Salvador's mother. Her meanderings are important to the story, but you can pass by many paragraphs when she gets too wound up. ... Read more

Product Description
A handsomely repackaged edition of the perennial holiday best-seller tells the poignant and often hilarious story of an avowed curmudgeon and the proud but lovable stray he rescued one Christmas Eve. Reissue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

A Cat-Human friendship, told with humor and love
I absolutely adore this book. Just curl up with it and prepare to laugh and be moved by Mr. Amory's deep compassion and empathy for animals. Interwoven with the wonderful tales of his life with his beautiful white cat Polar Bear, are stories of Amory's tireless work as an animal advocate. I have rescued some cats who were homeless, and the description of how Polar Bear arrived in his life on a snowy Christmas Eve-- cold, hurt, terrified-- is so real. And how Polar Bear gradually opened up as he got to know and trust the new person in his life. I still giggle at the part where Cleveland Amory and Polar Bear "discuss" how they will live together, as 2 bachelors sharing a small apartment in Manhattan. "His hours, we understood, were his own."

And his first morning with Polar Bear, when he awoke to find himself being solemnly surveyed from the end of his bed by a very dirty yet dignified cat.

And Polar Bear's bored expression when Mr. Amory was shocked to discover, after washing him, that he wasn't a gray cat-- he was white! "Well, what were you expecting? Purple?"

If you love animals, you will love this funny and moving story of the friendship between a man and his cat.

The Cat Who Came For Christmas
For anyone who is a cat lover, this book is recommended.It's a warm and lovely story of a stray cat who became a member of the family.Cleveland Amory tells a warm, wonderful story.

The cat who came forchristmas
I had borrowed this book from my friend. I just loved it. SoI ordered itasa gift, to be given to my friend, who loves cat.
If I did not know about the book beforehand---- I would have wanted to know" any animal-lovershould read thiswonderful book,written by a great author. The language is crisp. Imagination is wild. After you read the book, you understand your own cat'spsychologybetter and loveand adoreyour cat more."

A Cat's World
"The Cat Who Came for Christmas" is an utter joy to read.If one obtains pleasure from cats as I do, Amory's memoir will allow them to purr and feel the feline's silky fur against their skin.

As an animal activist, Amory did not own his own cat, but suddenly, out of nowhere; he is (owned) by a stray that he calls Polar Bear.If anybody has ever had a cat, they know that she will take over the entire house as Amory's cat does.Didn't you know that cats are the center of the universe?

Amory talks to Polar Bear as if he's his best friend, and the reader enters into a dialogue of sweet ecstasy.Amory takes the cat's personality and characteristics and makes him human.It's almost as if Polar Bear should be sitting at the kitchen table with a knife and fork eating his Fancy Feast!

The writing is beautiful.... long flowing sentences.... charming insight about the cat's world, life, beauty, grace, and breathtaking nine lives. I loved it!

A Novel Look at Our AEIOU Feline Friends
I received "The Cat Who Came for Christmas" as a Christmas gift, and I could not put down this biography of Polar Bear and his human. Some aspects of the true story made me sad, but Cleveland Amory's love for animals was inspiring. I love cats, but I am unemployed now due to multiple sclerosis (MS), so I cannot afford the responsibly of adopting a kitty. I have a lot of time and love to devote to a shelter cat, but I have no money. Caring for a cat or kitten would make my life so much better.

Christine Powers
Waltham, MA
... Read more

Product Description

More than one year on the New York Times bestseller list! Richard Bach's timeless and uplifting classic of hope and love

Customer Reviews (123)

Love Story
One of the best books I have read in a long time. This was really a love story with a difference, It has given me hope that one dayI'll be able tofind my soul mate.

Back for more...
Of course I loved it. Like One before it, Bridge Across Forever came to me at a time in my life that I needed an inspiring read. This book did not disappoint. I loved reading about Robert and Leslie's path to true love, it gave me hope for my future and I recommended it to friends for many years. And then they got divorced. Oh well.

Another winner from Bach!
I've been an avid Richard Bach fan since Jonathan Livingston Seagull was first published, and I was not disappointed by The Bridge Across Forever.

As noted elsewhere, the first half is somewhat slow moving, which I think reflects Richard's own sometimes tedious search for a soulmate. I'm amazed at his ability to portray himself so honestly while simultaneously sharing such a wonderful philosophy with the reader. It's as though he's taking us along on the journey for the fun of it.

I've seen a few comments reflecting a disillusionment with this book
because of his divorce. But who's to say that soulmates always stay
together, or that they ever meet in any given lifetime? Personally, I
think they did very well.

All in all, a joyous mix of discovery, metaphysics, humor and love!

Facsinating learning experiance
The author gives execelent exapmles of how to change and grow within a relationship.Commitment avoidance is over come to show true personal growth and meaningful spiritual growth.

Thought provoking and mind opening
The first time I read The Bridge Across Forever was in 1991. My joy in learning about the synchronicity of Richard Bach and Leslie Parrish's lives led me to yet one more interesting and challenging point of view. Like lovers who cross paths 20 years earlier without knowing the level of their significance to each other. This is an incredible story of lovers sharing each other's dreams while sleeping and the discovering their completeness when finding their soul mate is the epitome of life's purpose. We should all be so fortunate. Each time I have read this book, I am enlightened and over joyed. ... Read more

Product Description
Presents the story of Allende's ancestors and youth as it was written by her daughter's hospital bedside, reflecting the challenges and achievements of one family during a turbulent time in Chilean history. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. BOMC Alt. Tour.Amazon.com Review
"Listen, Paula. I am going to tell you a story so that when you wake up you will not feel so lost." So says Chilean writer Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits) in the opening lines of the luminous, heart-rending memoir she wrote while her 28-year-old daughter Paula lay in a coma. In its pages, she ushers an assortment of outrageous relatives into the light: her stepfather, an amiable liar and tireless debater; grandmother Meme, blessed with second sight; and delinquent uncles who exultantly torment Allende and her brothers. Irony and marvelous flights of fantasy mix with the icy reality of Paula's deathly illness as Allende sketches childhood scenes in Chile and Lebanon; her uncle Salvatore Allende's reign and ruin as Chilean president; her struggles to shake off or find love; and her metamorphosis into a writer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (102)

Beautiful memoir
The author wrote this to her daughter as her daughter lay dying.It's a beautiful piece of work and has historical significance as well.

An extraordinary piece of writing
This book involves the slow death of Paula, actually Isabel Allenda's daughter and not fiction. As Paula is in the process of taking her last breaths her mother tells her the story of her life, which actually becomes an autobiography. We learn of the family background, of the complexities that reveal the characters, their relationship with one another and the effect in which their lives are bound together. Allende's writing frequently has metaphysical overtones. In her first novel, "The House of Spirits," she has a young girl with amazing physic abilities and a gift for foretelling the future which attracts many people to come to her in order to discover what lies ahead for them. After that the story enfolds with tension that powerfully draws the reader into it with such intensity that it is almost impossible to remove oneself from the power of Allende's words and the plot that she weaves out of her own life. She is constantly at Paula's bedside, watching her last days of life. In this book too, Isabel Allende has a character with physic ability, However this does not play as important a role as it does in "The House of Spirits." Isabel Allende has an enormous vocabulary. She writes with an intellectual insight, as she views her story both from the objective and the subjective point of view. The political aspects of the chaos in her country Chile' adds to the interest of the book. There is no doubt that Allende is a master writer although there are times when I wish she would use simpler words as to make a dictionary not quite so necessary.

Louise Cabral

Absolutely beautiful!
This book tells a story that is at times both heartbreaking and joyous.It is a memoir of Isabel Allende's life interwoven with a letter to her daughter who is in a coma brought on by a rare illness.It moves back and forth between the past and the present and both stories are fascinating and powerful.She talks about her childhood in Chile, including the political events and their effect on her family.She describes marriage, her work, her children, her travels, all with emotion and artistry that demonstrate without doubt her amazing talent as a writer.Allende writes with such beautiful language it makes her incredible, yet sometimes sad, journey all the more wonderful and enjoyable to read.While The House of the Spirits (one of her many excellent novels) is not to be missed, if you read only one book by Isabel Allende, this is the one I recommend.

such a strong genuine writing!
Through her book Paula, I.Allende accomplished to tranform a sad life changing experience of hers, the experience of loosing her only daughter in a hymn for life. Her poetic writing does not leave you stop reading the book. Her passion is succesfully communicated to the readers.
Well done Isabele

a wonderful book
Isabel Allende writes about the relationships of women to their men and their children also including womens' related emotions. She wraps this book around how we live and come to accept death. The book is written using a past, present and future construct which tested my memory.It touches the senses and emotions.

cassandra jennings hall ... Read more

Product Description
This is the Hispanic Roots, an all-American story of poverty, immigration, struggle and success. It focuses on three generations of Villaseñor's kin, their spiritual and cultural roots in Mexico, their immigration to California and their overcoming the poverty, prejudice and economic exploitation. It is the warm-hearted, humorous and tragic, true story of the wily, wary, persevering forebears of Villaseñor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (109)

Genuine story, translation lacking
A genuine story recommended by a Latino friend who is determined to have "gringo" friends understand his cultural "genetics". The story does well to portray history, family, culture, thinking...but the English translation seems a bit thin linguistically in a book that would be well served with rich language. Still worth the read.

one burros take
very well written kept me interested to see what was going to happen next,can relate some parts of the book to my own parents and grandparents

Muy bien!
A wonderful novel! I read it for my AP Lit class and really enjoyed it. One warning: if you are considering reading and annotating this novel, be prepared for a lot of work!

Rain of Gold is a great book!
Our book club read Rain of Gold and every one of our 12 or so members greatly enjoyed the book.
Since we live in an area which population includes many Mexican immigrants,I felt it was a culturally important work.
The writing was mesmerizing, beautiful and gripping.

Excellent! Heart Warming & Touching (if you have ethnic roots)
I thought the book was an excellent portrayal of what people of ethnic backgrounds have gone through and are still going through around the world!The prejudices that they went through in both Mexico and the U.S. is very unfortunate but is alive and real today.The good news is, the book offers a different perspective and way to get around both prejudice and dogmatic religious practices representing out-dated belief systems.

The characters in the book are wonderfully depicted and represented, I felt as if I knew them all first hand.The book brought me to tears in many places during and throughout the various tribulations they faced and also many laughs as well.

People who don't quite understand the story line and its' testiment and magic of real life, well sadly, just probably haven't been exposed to any type of cultural affairs.

It was GREAT and I would read it again!
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