Book Description
Acclaimed linguist Dr. Robert Blair offers a one-of-a-kind, proven effective systematic learning process that takes advantage of recent innovations to teach Italian to English-speaking listeners and English to Spanish-speaking listeners faster than ever before. Most language-learning methods have not changed much in the past 50 years, offering the same old 'listen-and-repeat' methods dressed up to look new. Dr. Blair's breakthrough method uses the best language teaching strategies from around the world, mixing up a variety of approaches and activities to accelerate learning exponentially-for all types of learners. In these entertaining presentation, listeners are guided to imagine themselves as undercover spies in a secret location who must learn enough Italian and English to pass themselves off as a native speaker.
Customer Reviews:
A different kind of detective story.......2007-09-03
Reading a story about a serial killer set in Munich in 1929, you know there is not much room for a happy ending. The people the killer doesn't kill are going to suffer through a terrible war; if they're Jews, they're going to get gassed.
This is a personal story for Faye Kellerman. She is an Orthodox Jew whose father served in the Second World War and was part of the forces that liberated the concentration camps. She never got his whole story while he was alive, and this fills her with regret. But Straight into Darkness isn't his story, it's an exploration of Munich at the tipping point into Nazism. She did a ton of research for this book, traveling to Munich and meeting with Germans who survived that time. The result is a city that comes to life in sights, sounds, and even smells.
City Homicide Inspector Axel Berg is no hero. He's a persistent cop who doggedly pursues his case. His superior is a power-hungry sadist who values Berg's skills but mistrusts his independence. Meanwhile Berg pilfers evidence and slaps around his teenaged Jewish mistress. Munich in 1929 is a fearful city. It is barely under the rule of law, and the rival political factions are practically private armies, marching around in signature uniforms. The Nazis brownshirts are the most egregious, but there are others who are ready to brawl with them and only the unarmed police are there to prevent mob violence. Times are bad for everyone, with the country emerging from hyperinflation and basic necessities like coal and coffee too expensive for working people to take for granted. If the Jews are responsible for every problem, that takes the responsibility from the government, the police, individuals, and society.
This is an excellent book, with the extra spark provided by Kellerman's passion. Mob-think never goes away, and if we can understand past events with the perspective provided by distance, we are closer to understanding our own time.
"why do I paint in red?".......2007-06-04
This novel begins with the words of an old artist in New York in the year 2005: "red is the color of shame...the shame of my generation, of a people who accepted genocide as the most expedient way to restore the Fatherland to purity and greatness...[we] must carry the burden of shame and guilt for [our] elders' unspeakable acts."
Straight Into Darkness is set in Munich in 1929 and conveys with accuracy the cultural and political atmosphere of Munich in the years when Hitler's threat was not yet taken seriously. Kellerman decided to write this book after a book promotion tour to Germany in 2001, which led to her discovery of her father Oscar Marder's experiences as a Jewish GI stationed in Germany during World War II. In her preface, she mentions many of the historians of Bavaria and Munich which she consulted in person - the historical facts and descriptions are well integrated into her story for the most part. Her picture of the neighborhoods, the class structure, the architecture and decorating styles of the period, as well as of the squalor of the working classes, is visually and olfactorially involving, making vivid a vanished time.
The police face many moral dilemmas in the course of solving the murder cases, as well as in dealing with the personalities, political beliefs, and demands of their superiors and fellow policemen. The historical setting adds a fascinating layer to these routine conflicts. "So easily I could have become one of them," says the old artist at the end - and as I read, I had to agree. No one's hands are clean in this book, not even Axel Berg's, and yet his choices must be respected. I found Kellerman's treatment of Germans and Jews to be quite evenhanded; she goes into detail to convey the historical roots (the first war's treaties, the Weimar republic, and the fall of the Wittelsbacher dynasty in Bavaria) that led ordinary Munich citizens to be vulnerable to Hitler's rhetoric. I had read the facts - but this book shows us people enraged and humiliated by these events.
Berg dialogues with his teenage son Joachim:
Joachim: "It disturbs me that the Nazis mock anyone who disagrees with them. Sometimes I speak up...but sometimes I don't."
Berg: "Part of being clever, Joachim, is knowing when to hold one's tongue."
Joachim: "But being clever isn't the same as doing the right thing."
Joachim, near the book's end: "I know you don't like Herr Hitler, but he knows the problems that face us. And he's working hard to bring the German race back to glory ----"
Yes, there is a "love story" - Axel loves his wife but has a Jewish mistress, Margot. I cannot remember ever reading such an honest rationale for infidelity as this one:
"Britta was agreeable in bed, warm and enthusiastic - a far better lover than Margot. He strayed not because he lacked desire for his wife. He strayed because of the bitterness of her harsh speech...because his wife's flexibility was morally superior to his rigid stubbornness. He strayed because sex with Margot held no demands."
All that good stuff aside, the search for the murderer involves a tangled web of family relationships that you'd better be awake enough to follow. If you like less complex solutions, you won't be happy with the resolution of the mystery itself. It's not predictable, though! And the ending is not "happy" in the usual sense. The assortment of policemen are sometimes difficult to keep track of, but one stands out - Kommissar Martin Volker - a complex and unforgettable character. At the end, you will discover another reason why the painter paints in red....
Disturbingly good !.......2007-03-30
I read this book without being prejudiced about Faye and her previous works, this book in my opinion an exceptional fictional experience of the 1920's Germany, The political and social scenario's can be experienced and felt.
You can alost smell Hitler, his Brown Shirts and the streets of Munich.
Hitler's uprise and his impact on the German youth, overall characterization of Munich and depiction of post war depression is what held my attention.
Nicely tied with the murders and lead characters with personalities that almost seem real.
I highly recommend this book - but please note that it contains some disturbing sexual and voilent accounts.
Excellent, very atmospheric.......2006-11-21
Faye Kellerman has made a reputation for herself as a detective novelist, writing books mostly with modern characters, the primary ones being a LA cop and his wife. She's also done some other stuff, one involving strange supernatural events and characters, another a cop thing with her husband, and some years ago she wrote a historical novel set in England several centuries ago.
This current book is a historical novel too, but the main character (Axel Berg) is a police inspector in 1929 Munich. As the story begins, he's confronted with the murder of a young married woman whose body has been found in a large park in the city. From there, things get complicated. A second body is discovered, and while the plot is thickening, we also learn that Axel isn't exactly an angel himself. As if things weren't complicated enough, Hitler and the Nazis try to take advantage of the murders by blaming them on the Jews. Berg's not convinced: whatever else he is, he isn't an anti-semite.
The book operates on a number of levels. Kellerman's handling of the main character and Germans of the era in general is generally fair, and interesting. She doesn't pull any punches with regards to the anti-Semitism (not surprising: she and her husband are both Jewish) but she doesn't make the Jewish characters in the story into saints, or all the Gentiles monsters, either. There are many layers and nuances to the characters, and not all of them are immediately apparent.
I will not one semi-negative thing. The author has several of the characters saying at various points in the book that Hitler was illegitimate. At one point someone recounts that this was in a newspaper, and several of the characters then discuss whether it's the case or not, even adding to the story by saying that Hitler's father married his mother while she was pregnant, to provide legitimacy for the child before he was born. I've never read anything like this in any of the books I've read about Hitler (and I've read more than a few). I have no idea if such things were in the press at the time in Germany, but nothing like this occurs in the modern writing about Hitler.
That said, this is an excellent book. I enjoyed it a great deal. It *is* a bit long, but if you stick with it you'll find it a very good book.
Wow! They published THIS?.......2006-09-19
I had not read any of Faye Kellerman's books before and her name is not what drew me to this book, it was rather the subject matter that enticed me to pick this book up after eyeing it for a long time. My wife and her family are German and I lived for three years in Germany before moving back to the states this year. I invested a lot of time studying this dark period of history both in Germany and here in the states. This book is very one dimensional in it's portrayal of Nazi Germany to be. There are historical inaccuracies and the book paints nearly every German out to be a cold blooded villain. In many ways the book is very black and white about judging the common German during the late 20's in Germany. I am surprised that it seems Ms. Kellerman received assistance from modern Germans in her research considering how the book paints everyone in Germany as a killer or close to it. While this book vastly oversimplifies the circumstances that led to WW2 and Nazi Germany I can understand that this is fiction and not necessarily meant to be historically accurate.
So if I am to judge this book on the merit of the writing, plot development, characters, etc. where would I be? I still can easily call this one of the worst books I've ever read (in fact I can only think of ONE worse book I've ever read and that is Daniel's Veil by RH Stavis). The writing here is horribly amateurish, reminding me of high school level creative writing courses, the characters are flat and act out of character depending on what plot twists are needed to advance the plot, descriptions are boring, drawn out and repetitive and I didn't care for anyone or anything in this book (and I promise you, I DID give it a chance in spite of my misgivings).
One of the things that really sealed the amateurish-ness of this book was at the end of the book, the hero is confronting the killer and while the killer has him in a tense situation he goes through a very Scooby Doo type moment and explains his plot in extreme detail while he supposedly has the hero against a wall. Only in terribly bad movies do I expect a villain to sit there with a gun in their hand and explain their diabolical plot in such detail. This is just a horribly baaad book and I don't expect I'll ever give Kellerman another shot. If you are really searching for a fantastic thriller author or a whodunit author, checkout writers like Martin Cruz Smith (Gorky Park, Polar Star and Red Square all run circles around this book), Elizabeth George is also good as is Anne Perry (for a more Sherlock Holmes-y type style). I know Kellerman has her fans out there and maybe this book is off the mark for her. I'm surprised it ever got published.
Product Description
4 Titles By Faye Kellerman : The Quality of Mercy Moon Music Straight into Darkness Double Homicide (With Jonathan Kellerman). Four mmpb books.
Book Description
Lara's negotiations to buy a certain Etruscan sculpture come to an abrupt end when the owner turns up dead in his own Etruscan tomb. Now, Lara must search for that most precious, and most often counterfeited, rarity in the antiques market-someone she can trust...
Customer Reviews:
Good light reading.......2006-04-13
I just finished The Etruscan Chimera-the third one of Lyn Hamilton's novel I have picked up in my travels. I didn't read them in proper order and I do think this one was the best of the three-the other two being The Celtic Riddle and The Thai Amulet.
I enjoyed them-the story flows, the characters, although not deep, are interesting and you get a little travelogue and historical knowledge to boot. Lara is not Indiana Jones but she is human enough. I certainly will seek out the other 7-in time but if you want a few hours light reading and like a bit of a puzzle wrapped in historical context I would certainly recomment spending some time with Lyn Hamilton's Toronto's globe trotting heroine.
RATHER UNBELIEVABLE.......2003-12-14
I do love a story that can weave together an exotic location and a challenging mystery that reaches into the past. I thought that might be what I was getting in this novel, the first I'd read by this author. But by the middle of the book, I was so disgusted with the hackneyed writing I almost quit reading. If they were giving away awards for the most repitition of the word "rather," Ms. Hamilton would be a shoo-in winner. The rather cardboard characters in this rather poorly-plotted book left me wondering why the heroine didn't just get on a rather large jet and fly home to her rather nice antique shop in Toronto. As for me, I'd rather read a well-written book than this one. Maybe the gross overuse of the word "rather" is a Canadian thing??
The plot took many unexpected (and unexplainable) turns as the main character tried to figure out who wanted the Etruscan hydria and why it kept turning up in her car and hotel. In the end, the reasons were so laughable and improbable that it ceased to bother me that I couldn't remember who was who (they all seemed rather similar). Even the main character acted in ways that seemed unreal. Hadn't she bought a round-trip airline ticket? How could she simply endlessly extend her antique buying trip? Why was her $10,000 sudenly cut off and why did she continue spending like a drunken sailor after that? How was Lola able to live in Europe? She was there permanently but was living in hotels? And why wasn't she on the suspect list? Her behavior was just as strange as everyone else's. If I went to France and Italy, would handsome men just sit down next to me at the sidewalk cafes and start talking, offering to buy me dinner? If that happened, I'd know I was in a bad Lyn Hamilton novel.
The only good point for this book is the information about the Etruscans, their art, and the important locations in Italy for their culture. The author clearly did some homework, but the Etruscan material is not really integral to the story. You could substitute pasta bowls or leather hats or some other collectible object. The fanatic collectors in the story and their actions were not believable. If you are going to use some ancient artifacts in a story, they need to have more meaning to the ultimate mystery that unfolds. In this story, nothing much unfolds except foolish people engaged in unfathomable behavior.
If you want good writing, real mystery, great (and believable) plots combined with a superb sense of place, try Dan Brown or Tony Hillerman. In my humble opinion, Lyn Hamilton is not in the same league as those masters of the mystery.
Complex and intrguing.......2003-11-07
Lyn Hamilton has another winnner with this complex tale of greed and betrayal set in Italy. Few writers can compare with her in presenting layer upon layer of deceit together with intricacies of plot and character.
This mystery novel, set in Tuscany and Rome, illuminates the dramatic scenery of the region and shows the reader the world of antique hunting and the people within it. These are not your gentle Sunday afternoon antique shop browsers but sharks in Lamborghinis, some motivated by financial greed, others by the need to possess the finest Etruscan artifacts. They have the money and the motivation to establish expensive smokescreens, sending antique dealer Lara McClintoch to Paris and back through Tuscany in an attempt to retrieve the Etruscan Chimera.
But the chimera is just that. The characters are never so simple, and just as one could not trust a chimera, one cannot trust anyone but Lara McClintoch in this book. Their deceits are so manifold and intricate that it's almost hard to keep track. Chimera indeed.
This is a vivid and and well-told tale. It is carefully researched, even scholarly, but never loses its drama and immediacy.
Complex and intriguing.......2003-11-07
Lyn Hamilton has another winnner with this complex tale of greed and betrayal set in Italy. Few writers can compare with her in presenting layer upon layer of deceit together with intricacies of plot and character.
This mystery novel, set in Tuscany and Rome, illuminates the dramatic scenery of the region and shows the reader the world of antique hunting and the people within it. These are not your gentle Sunday afternoon antique shop browsers but sharks in Lamborghinis, some motivated by financial greed, others by the need to possess the finest Etruscan artifacts. They have the money and the motivation to establish expensive smokescreens, sending antique dealer Lara McClintoch to Paris and back through Tuscany in an attempt to retrieve the Etruscan Chimera.
But the chimera is just that. The characters are never so simple, and just as one could not trust a chimera, one cannot trust anyone but Lara McClintoch in this book. Their deceits are so manifold and intricate that it's almost hard to keep track. Chimera indeed.
This is a vivid and and well-told tale. It is carefully researched, even scholarly, but never loses its drama and immediacy.
I couldn't put this down either........2003-08-25
I loved this book, it is exciting, well-plotted and very well written. I was surprised that this book didn't get more attention because it is as rivetting as The DaVinci Code, maybe even more. Lyn Hamilton is quite skilled at developing a sense of place, I have wanted to visit every locale she writes about. You won't be disappointed with this mystery either, it is as good as any Hitchcock had in his best days.
Average customer rating:
|
The Etruscan Chimera
Lyn Hamilton
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000LT5L04 |
Average customer rating:
- Welcome Reaction from a Family Therapist
- The Art of Vulnerability
- writes like an angel
- Fearful Redemption
- A Country Worth Visiting
|
Welcome to My Country
Lauren Slater
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Medical
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Mental Illness
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychiatry
| Specialties
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
| Cardiology
| Critical Care
| Endocrinology & Metabolism
| Gastroenterology
| General
| Hematology
| Hepatology
| Infectious Disease
| Nephrology
| Neurology
| Oncology
| Pulmonary
| Rheumatology
| Urology
General
| Psychiatry
| Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Prozac Diary
-
Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir
-
Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
-
Blue Beyond Blue: Extraordinary Tales for Ordinary Dilemmas
-
Group : Six People in Search of a Life
ASIN: 0385487398
Release Date: 1997-07-14 |
Book Description
Lauren Slater, a brilliant writer who is a young therapist, takes us on a mesmerizing personal and professional journey in this remarkable memoir about her work with mental and emotional illness. The territory of the mind and of madness can seem a foreign, even frightening place-until you read Welcome to My Country.
Writing in a powerful and original voice, Lauren Slater closes the distance between "us" and "them," transporting us into the country of Lenny, Moxi, Oscar, and Marie. She lets us watch as she interacts with and strives to understand patients suffering from mental and emotional distress-the schizophrenic, the depressed, the suicidal. As the young psychologist responds to, reflects on, and re-creates her interactions with the inner realities of the dispossessed, she moves us to a deeper understanding of the complexities of the human mind and spirit. And then, in a stunning final chapter, the psychologist confronts herself, when she is asked to treat a young woman, bulimic and suicidal, who is on the same ward where Slater herself was once such a patient.
Like An Unquiet Mind, Listening to Prozac and Girl, Interrupted, Welcome to My Country is a beautifully written, captivating, and revealing book, an unusual personal and professional memoir that brings us closer to understanding ourselves, one another, and the human condition.
Customer Reviews:
Welcome Reaction from a Family Therapist.......2005-02-04
Lauren Slater presents a vivid tale of a therapist' s sojourn, examining mental illness from both an insider's and outsider' s perspective. Slater takes us on a journey through her own work in hospital settings, culminating in a personal coda. She confronts unbelievable countertransference at Mount Vernon, the same place she was hospitalized, with a client suffering from a similar constellation of symptoms. She is unique in the mental health community, populated by professionals attempting to abstract themselves from their clientele in the name of objectivity. Although, my psychoanalytic frame dictates an objective stance, I was deeply touched by her sincere humanism and willingness to explore the subjective world of her clients' alien worlds.
Before exploring the clients, their illnesses, the therapist and the treatment interventions, I feel compelled to comment on Slater's unique writing style. Her prose is the result of the ability to paint from a diverse palette of lexicon, style, theory and foremost, metaphor. I was whisked through her world, experience and firm theoretical grounding, giving way to a clear image of her thought process and orientation as a therapist. Her writing style is lush and sensual, like her unique approach to therapy, crossing boundaries rarely trespassed by the orthodox therapist. At certain points, I was left questioning whether this was bravery, or a misguided foraging into the taboo realm, which leads to dual relationships.
Often, clients with Axis Two disorders, such as Peter, have a wide repertoire of tactics at their disposal, testing the boundaries and weaknesses of the attendant therapist. I conferred with one of my colleagues, and they agreed that some of her sexual imagery, in describing herself as well as Peter was a bit much, to say the least. For example, she states, "I imagined myself in sequins, my crotch sprayed silver, as I, nude, gyrated to the beat of his voice" (p. 53). Later, she asserts, "in his admission of pain he was now naked; he had pressed himself against me and I wanted to celebrate, not violate, this stance" (p. 59). The list of sexually charged metaphors is simply too long for this brief review. However, a few more examples might help to make my point. She goes on to say, "and I, well, I grew to love him and love the strength in his slow surrender" (p. 61). Sometimes, I was overwhelmed with laughter, writing in the margins "this is too much". For example, try this sentence on for size: "it is a dangerous thing for us, we people who grow up sucking the steel nipples of this country's missiles, many think living in the world is living in war, women who think their bodies are Molotov cocktails that must be detonated, destroyed, before they are munched up by their own metabolism" (p. 62). In the words of George Orwell, "The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not"(Orwell, 1950). Simply stated, although she is an Ivy Leaguer, her metaphors are mixed as "people sucking steel nipples" clash with munching metabolisms. This is not an isolated example of where I felt metaphors mixed, and poetry superseded the message. Frankly, my impression of Peter was summarized in the margins as, "he is a sociopath", "she's turned on" and "he's got her where he wants her". Perhaps, this is too simplistic, however this was my reaction.
Nevertheless, her work and description of the schizophrenic clients is noteworthy. It helps the shed light on the discombobulated world of the schizophrenic, and her daring and adventurous discarding of the banal "activities of daily living" foisted upon her clientele. I think there is a connection between R.D. Laing's views on insanity and Slater's subjective willingness to voyage into the mind of madness. Perhaps, it is because they both have a grain of insanity within their own minds. However, as Aldous Huxley once stated, "sanity is a matter of degree"(Levy, 1997). I found the hospital settings, frightening, rigid and mundane, until Slater injected some humanity into their sterile milieu. Perhaps, this comes partially from her being a former mental patient and seeing things from the inside looking out as well as the outside looking in.
In contrast to Maslow, Slater's vision as well as her life is circular, not linear. Like so many of us, she finds herself walking down the same path and confronting the past and its ghosts. Emotionally, this resonated with me on a personal and intellectual level. Her client, Linda Cogswell, is described as bulimic and borderline among other things. Slater courageously admits, that she to was diagnosed with an eating disorder and a borderline personality as well as hospitalized at the same facility in which she treated Linda. Lauren Slater allows the reader to catch a glimpse of her unique beauty, and talent as a therapist and person, readily admitting identification with the client. Vis `a vis identifying with Slater as a multifaceted human being, I was able to readily accept the notion that borderline personalities and mental illness involve people as opposed to categorical descriptions. Lauren Slater renews a sense of humanity in writing about her clients, their illnesses, herself as a therapist and her unique approach to therapy. I enjoyed this novel a great deal and was enlightened, entertained and invigorated by her refreshing memoir of madness.
References
Levy, D.A. (1997)., Tools of critical thinking: metathoughts for psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Orwell, G. (1950). Shooting an elephant and other essays. London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
The Art of Vulnerability.......2004-11-16
Her work is not a work of non-fiction. She admits that she has changed the identities she has written about and confounded their settings. Therefore "Welcome To My Country" should be regarded as a work of fiction. But that is nothing to spit on.
I must confess that I feel a sense of dread and perverse anticipation when I look back on my reading of this book. Doctor Slater engages in what can only be called the art of vulnerability. She peels back the petals of many, many roses until we find, with a bit of shock, that the most central rose is both hers and our own. Her prose is cool but her spirit is warm. The theme of the erotic is constant through out this book and in all of its episodes. I was bewildered by this until in a sequence that lies near the end of the work she reveals exactly what country we are being welcomed to. Her own confessions are gut wrenching and are the kinds of expostulations that make me cringe as if I was being compelled to pay ear to the screechings of fingernails dragged across the surface of a black board.
There is a great beauty in this book. There is also something slightly clumsy and sweaty as Doctor Slater strives to make sense of the madness of her clients and her own madness.
A memoir of madness. Whose?
I will return to this book often.
writes like an angel.......2004-11-04
Read this in the library of Slater's secondary school when I was in hs, but didn't know it was by a graduate. Looked at it from that perspective of knowing who it was by this time w/out knowing that I had read it. I knew that I had read it because I remembered Marie's cracking peach nail polish. I have remembered that image forever; it has been echoing in my mind. I think that I was skimming the book, and hadn't read the personal part before too. So, if I remembered parts of the book after probably 7 years, this has to be an extraordinarily poetic book. After I read the book, I remember thinking maybe I should become a psychologist (i really don't know what i am going to do yet, but the book really did make an impression on me nevertheless). So, this book deserves really to be in any library, and not on the basis of the author graduating from that school! The author comes across as being very compassionate and well spoken. She writes like an angel.
Fearful Redemption.......2004-10-12
Lauren Slater has guts. We've had decades and decades of first hand accounts of mental illness by those who have worked with the afflicted, but Slater is singular in her unwillingness to spare the layman's sensibilities.
Slater's book is a first hand account of her journey through life with a house full of schizophrenics, some doomed and some just in the reach of redemption. She herself is driven to the emotional brink trying to bring something whole out of these irretrievably wounded people. In one scene she practically breaks down trying to convince a group of schizophrenics that the imaginary UFO they want to take off in as a group simply isn't there. She works with a borderline sociopath male chauvinist, every inch the ruthless alphamale, who brutalizes his girlfriend and in his spare time watches sadomasochistic pornography films--all symptoms of his underlying terror of the feminine. Miraculously, despite her disgust with this guy, she gets somewhere with him.
This is not light reading but necessary reading.
A Country Worth Visiting.......2004-08-23
Welcome to My Country is a beautifully written narrative about psychotherapist Lauren Slater's challening work with mental patients in Boston. She goes to greath lengths to get inside the minds of each patient, following their schizophrenic dreams and fears, their history, and treatment. Her prose is vivid and poetic, albeit a little overwritten at times. Her metaphors are far-fetched, but the language is astounding. The ending is a bit short, but works well. The reader does not get a true grasp of Slater's own private struggle with mental illness, but it is touched on enough to show how her compassion and experiences set the groundwork for her entrance into the mental health field. It is more lyrical essay than psychological text. For all intents and purposes, this book seems to have more to do with Slater recognizing her own voice and self in her patients (much countertransference) than the patients themselves. However, the memoir, at its most basic point, is a fascinating study into Slater's own psyche.
Average customer rating:
|
Welcome to Hungary (Welcome to My Country)
Shuh Cheng Chang , and
Nicole Lundrigan
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Europe
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Biographies
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Austria
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0836825446 |
Average customer rating:
|
Welcome To Bangladesh (Welcome to My Country)
Eileen Khoo
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Asia
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 083683125X |
Average customer rating:
|
Welcome To Tanzania (Welcome to My Country)
Chin Oi Ling , and
Oi Ling Chin
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| Activity Books
| Sports & Activities
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Central Africa
| Africa
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0836831373 |
Average customer rating:
|
Welcome to Cambodia (Welcome to My Country)
Dora Yip , and
Dayaneetha De Silva
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Asia
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Other
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0836825225 |
Average customer rating:
|
Welcome to Ecuador (Welcome to My Country)
Vimala Alexander , and
Amy S. Daniels
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Colombia
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0836825438 |
Average customer rating:
|
Welcome to Myanmar (Welcome to My Country)
Dora Yip , and
Pauline Khng
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Asia
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Other
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0836825209 |
Customer Reviews:
HORRIBLY DEMEAINING ANTI-POLISH GARBAGE.......2007-06-26
Polish bashing goes to an all time low with Paul Grajnert at the wheel. Why do people spend so much time wriring hate books like this one by Grajnert. If Grajnert knows nothing about Poland, then he should not write about it. What makes this anti-Polish book horribly tragic, is that Grajnert's hate of Polish people is aimed at school children. This book only reminds chidren to hate Poles. The world needs books about bringing people together, and not very upsetting and distorted books like Paul Grajnert's. Don't bother!!!
Books:
- Tears of Pride
- The Alchemist's Daughter: A Novel
- The Bellmaker (Redwall, Book 7)
- The Bone People: A Novel
- The Book of Garnishes (Book of...)
- The Corps: Book 1 Semper Fi (Corps)
- The Diary of Mattie Spenser
- The Empress File
- The English Breakfast Murder (Childs, Laura. Tea Shop Mysteries.)
- The Fifth Elephant: A Novel of Discworld
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
- History: Fiction or Science
- Across the Bridge of Sighs: More Venetian Stories
- Blue Champagne
- Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West
- Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
- Fundamentals of Photonics
- Coastal Alert: Energy Ecosystems And Offshore Oil Drilling
- Beck!: On a Backwards River: The Story of Beck
- Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor