RebeccasReads

Transplant: A Young Woman Struggles to Adapt to Her New Face

Jenny Beaulieu is an active, social young woman enjoying a career in software development when a horrific car accident suddenly destroys her life as she knows it.  Her face is sliced off in the collision, stripping away her ability to eat or speak.  Her face is unbearable to look at and needless to say, her confidence is eclipsed.  She becomes a prisoner in the home she shares with Rob, a boyfriend with whom she has a disintegrating relationship.  She resents his hovering but is reluctant to leave.  Despite the support of family and friends, she hides herself away, masking her face with veils.  Slowly, she forces herself back into the world.  Using a computerized speaking device developed by her colleagues she returns to work.  She learns to deal with the stares and the veils become her façade.

As she is adapting to her changed life, she is offered the opportunity to have a face transplant.  It is a chance for her to have more normal appearing features.  She would be able to breathe more easily, eat normally and speak once more.  It is not an easy road ahead as there are medical side effects and unexpected emotional ones.
Fortunately Jenny realizes she must be her own advocate.  Everyone seems to have his own agenda, not necessarily aimed at her benefit. She asks questions but the doctors and therapists are often condescending and cold. The transplant team, unsympathetic to her need for anonymity, is anxious for her to be their poster child so they can get funding.  Her friends seem to think that this will be an easy fix and question her reluctance.  No one seems to understand that she is fighting for an identity.  It finally takes the compassion of an old friend and a troubled young girl to make her grasp who she really is.

Although the story is fictional, much of the science associated with transplants is incorporated into the story, the reader learning about the medical and emotional impact right along with Jenny.  Neufeld sensitively explores possible results, both positive and negative, reinforcing the fact that advances in medical science should be approached with caution. 

Transplant: A Young Woman Struggles to Adapt to Her New Face
Gerald Neufeld
Novel Voices Press (2011)
ISBN 9780986877315
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads (8/11)

The Orchard: A Novel

Grace Lyndon is a successful young woman well on her way to accomplishing all her dreams and plans.  She travels the world in search of new and exciting scents and flavors to recreate in labs. These are then used in products from designer perfumes to everyday foods.  She is a steadfast workaholic that neither wants nor needs any outside distractions.

However, the taste of an apple her assistant gives her changes her life and introduces her to an apple widowed farmer named Dylan Jackson and his young daughter Carter.  They need her more than they realize and in turn she learns they have much to offer her.

While " The Orchard: A Novel"  has a lovely plot line and interesting characters, the descriptions can be long and tedious (much like reading Hawthorne).  Paragraphs go on about the apple’s taste, feel, look, etc.  This is much more information than most people not in the apple industry would ever want about apples.  The same descriptions take place, regarding the orchard or the food at the restaurant.  It was too much and at times took the reader so far away from the characters that it takes a moment to regroup when the story is reintroduced.

Also, a twist on Grace’s past is presented and then dropped without much meat being added.  This felt a bit jarring.  As did the ending which seemed forced rather than elegantly ended.

I did enjoy the story and it is a very good read provided the reader is prepared for the bumps that are present in the story.

The Orchard: A Novel
Jeffrey Stepakoff
Thomas Dunne Books (2011)
ISBN 9780312581596
Reviewed by Melissa Koltes for RebeccasReads (07/11)

Farewell to Freedom: What Happens in Las Vegas Doesn't Necessarily Stay in Vegas!

Cheyenne Stevens is blindsided when her husband announces he’s leaving her for his mistress just days before Christmas. Heartbroken, she and a girlfriend rush off to Vegas. There she meets Rowdy Harrison, a cowboy from Freedom, Oklahoma. A weekend love affair quickly turns into much more.

Cheyenne tries to go back home and move on, but she feels drawn to Freedom and to Rowdy. Soon she’s sharing her love and business experience with him. Both beaten down by previous relationships, they find solace in each other. The luster of new love and a new adventure starts to wear thin as Rowdy spends more and more of Cheyenne’s money, they suffer various business setbacks, and Cheyenne’s divorce drags on.
I wanted to care about Cheyenne, she’s feisty and stubborn. Not easily discouraged, she fights for every success she has in the book. But she was so blind when it came to Rowdy, I lost more respect for her with each turn of the page.

The author never showed me any truly endearing side of Rowdy, so I never believed Cheyenne’s intense draw to him or to Freedom. Most of the book I was just angry: angry that a woman would get herself into such a mess in the first place, much less continually go back for more.  I couldn’t buy Cheyenne throwing it all away on a guy who drinks too much, rarely shows her any real affection (outside the occasional roll in the hay), and spends all her money.  Maybe with a first love, but this woman should have been hardened by her first marriage suddenly collapsing. Or at least cautious.

There was one highlight: I loved the character of Cheyenne’s best friend, Maryanne. She said exactly what I was thinking at one point, “What in the hell does Cheyenne see in the macho cowboy?” If only Cheyenne had listened to her spunky girlfriend.

The story jumped around so much it was hard to follow. Way too many characters were introduced and quickly thrown aside. For a good story and memorable characters, I could have moved past the poor editing and jumbled thoughts. But, in the end, I didn’t care about the characters (where were Cheyenne’s kids during all this mess?!) or the story, so I was left with nothing.

Farewell to Freedom: What Happens in Las Vegas Doesn't Necessarily Stay in Vegas!
Anita Waggoner
Strategic Book Group (2011)
ISBN 9781609119324
Reviewed by Tia Bach for RebeccasReads (7/11)

The Sandalwood Tree

As the British are scheduled to leave India for good and new borders are drawn to partition off land to create a Muslim Pakistan separate from a Hindu India, University of Chicago graduate student Martin Mitchell is awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to observe and report on the end of the British rule.  It is a heady time to be a historian assigned to follow the political impact firsthand.  Wife Evie, with toddler Billy in tow, naively joins him in this potentially dangerous and culturally dissimilar land in hopes of repairing a disintegrating marriage.

Martin, a World War 11 veteran, returned a damaged man, haunted by memories of his horrific experiences.  His lack of ability to put the past behind him makes it impossible for him to embrace the future.  He buries himself in his academic endeavors, pushing Evie further away. He is running away and she is running toward him.  Going to India is a new beginning.

The university settles in them in a century-old bungalow in Masoorla, a comparatively safe area to set up house.  It is unique in that it has an indoor kitchen, an anomaly in that area.  Evie attempts to clean it lamenting:  “I couldn’t fix our insides, so I fixed our outside.”  As she scrubs a way, she finds a loosened brick, and hidden within the wall finds a cache of letters dating back almost a century.  As she reads them she is drawn into the lives of Felicity Chadwick and Adela Winfield, childhood friends who escape the mores of Victorian England by creating an expatriate life in India.  She becomes obsessed with their past and sets out to fill in the blanks.  As she doggedly investigates their unconventional lives, she begins to learn a bit about herself.

I found myself lost in "The Sandalwood Tree," not wanting this book to end. I loved reading its interweaving stories of the post-war and Victorian times.  It is rich with images of India, complex in both its beauty and poverty.  The descriptions of colorful stalls and aromatic food in the bazaars are as invocative as the smell of the flowers and burning flesh of the elaborate funeral pyres.  Caste systems and religious divisions, survivors and victims of war, sexual orientation, and marriage rituals are all compassionately explored in both time periods illustrating the differences yet the sameness. 

The Sandalwood Tree
Elle Newmark
Atria Books (2011)
ISBN 9781416590590
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads (05/11)

The Imprint Journey: A Path of Lasting Transformation Into Your Authentic Self

“Our subconscious imprints are the deep-seated beliefs and messages we have received and internalized.  Once an imprint is internalized, it becomes a subconscious governing force in our lives. Our imprints form our emotional map, determining our ability to relate to self and to others. Imprints form our perceptions, values, and belief systems. Imprints determine the quality of our relationships with life, God, self, and others. Our values govern our choices as well as our behaviors. They determine whether we are reactive or pro-active. “   (p. 11)

In “The Imprint Journey:  A Path of Lasting Transformation Into Your Authentic Self,” Desjardins shares with us her own imprints, stories of others’ imprints, and provides the reader the tools and information needed to successfully overcome any unwanted imprints that may exist in order to help the reader realize his/her “Authentic Self.”

The first part of the book focuses on Liliane Desjardins' life.  Reading Desjardins' personal story was deeply interesting to me.  She definitely has led an eventful life thus far and reading of all of the imprints picked up along the way was quite fascinating.  I found the sharing of her life history to be one of the most appealing parts of the book.  The inclusion of personal stories and backgrounds in “self-help” type books really add to the book for me.

The second part of Desjardins' work centers on providing the reader with the tools to recognize and assess imprints and the steps to take to transformation.  This information is presented in a manner that a layperson is able to enjoy and understand, and therefore, easily able to learn from. 

I think that Desjardins' work has merit and everything that she says makes complete sense.  “The Imprint Journey: A Path of Lasting Transformation Into Your Authentic Self” would be beneficial to anyone looking to transform their lives.  We all have imprints of some kind so I can’t think of anyone that the information in this book would not be applicable to.  

The Imprint Journey: A Path of Lasting Transformation Into Your Authentic Self
Liliane Desjardins
Loving Healing Press (2011)
ISBN 9781615990870
Reviewed by Kam Aures for Rebecca’s Reads (03/11)