thecrears: August 2009

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Push by Sapphire

This book was missing the giant orange label with the little skulls and cross bones across the front. It should read:

WARNING: Intensely graphic. Not for the weak hearted or the emotionally unstable!!!

I think that Sapphire was graphic just to be graphic, for the shock value of it. Or maybe she was just trying to "push" her point. Pun intended. I get it. Her and George Bush need to campaign together for the No Child Left Behind Act. Sapphire tells the story of a girl who is truly left behind. She is almost invisible until a teacher sees her and finally helps. The teacher doesn't neccessarily do anything to for Precious Jones. She does so much more. The teacher gives Precious Jones the knowledge, confidence, education, friends and resources so the Precious can finally start to help herself. Help herself out of a helpless home life, a helpless educational system and onto something better. It's a slow process and maybe something so far dug that Precious could never get out. But she can try and she can stop a cycle of abuse and neglect with her own children.

In my opinion, the morel that Sapphire intends for "Push" is that life can be devastating and there is nothing you can do about. All you can do is push forward.

Life Laughs by Jenny McCarthy

I ran across this book at the public library and checked it out just for laughs . I've see Jenny on Oprah and countless other morning shows talking about her son's autism, so I wanted to read what she had to say about "life's laughs".

I am so glad it did. It only took me one afternoon to read the entire book, but it was a great afternoon! It was like spending the day with Jenny McCarthy in my living room talking my ear off. She kept me laughing from page 1. Even all the chapter titles are hilarious on their own. My favorite chapter is called "The Mommy Hangover". That one is self explanatory. I even took away some helpful girlfriendly advise from one of those chapters.

Jenny talks about her marriage both before her divorce and after her divorce. She talks about sex, bowel movements, hygiene, and tons of other stuff we usually keep to ourselves. She was really honest (a TMI kind of honest). One thing I wanted to hear about and she didn't mention once was her new relationship with Jim Carry. That would have made for an interesting chapter or two.

It was such an easy read. I would never say that it's the best book out there, but it sure was fun!! Overall, a great read. Thanks Jenny. Love you on Two And Half Men!!

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult said that she wanted to write the anti-Romeo and Juliet story. She did, but it is still a travesty. The story revolves around two families that are not enemies they are the very best of friends. They are neighbors and friends so close they could be family. Each family has a teen aged child. The Golds have a daughter named Emily and then the Hartes family has a son named Chris. Both children grew up so close together they considered themselves like siblings for the first part of their lives.

However, somewhere during adolescence they became much more than friends. All their high school peers said that they were the perfect couple. You could not tell where one started and other ended. Many people envied their relationship. They were both successful in academics, sports and popularity. We all know that everybody has daemons in their closet and Emily and Chris were no different.

At the end of their senior high school year an event occurs that would change both families forever. Jodi Picoult does her best to go back to tell the events leading up to tragedy. she starts the story with the end and then works her way through from the "then" to the "now". The suspense is intense so make sure you have a pen to bite down on or a pillow like I did. As the families fall apart, so does the strong bond between the two families. Lines are crossed and friendships are destroyed possibly forever.

Tragedy with children involved is always hard to read, but I love this story. I know that those teenage years are sad and challenging, but they end soon enough. If I learned one thing from "The Pact", its that I want to know my son better. It's hard to tell what is going through his little 12-year-old head!