Nannie D.

Small town-trauma in the 80s

Revisado: 05-31-22

This book has so much going on and is told from one of the young sisters.

I will not spoil it but it was well told, well written and you feel like you are in this small town and in the family.

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Interesting data - read it to learn about problem… not for answer

Revisado: 03-05-22

This book highlights all the areas where men are used as the main gender when studies are done - from seat belts to medical testing to medicine to pretty much everything. I think its something we knew deep down but there were things that I didn’t realize could really impact us.

It is worth the listen/read for sure. If it ends up bothering you, that is worrisome. It is just information. She is not attacking anything - just highlighting a gender gap. It should not surprise anybody.

We will only get better if we know and discuss the issue… pushing it down or hiding an issue, will not help anything.

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This is a must read for everybody!

Revisado: 02-28-22

It took me two days to read this book - the author covers things in such an amazing way, while showing how our ancestors trauma is interwoven into us, she uses actual case examples.

“2nd and 3rd generation descendants genocide survivors… these are high productive and functioning people living with ghosts of persecution inside them. Under the surface they carry the trauma and guilt of the survivors. I learned that these people, from childhood age have images, daydreams, nightmares of the genocide. The memories live inside them, even if their parents and grandparents never talked about it. It continues to effect them and the way they live.”

As a 3rd generation descendant survivor of the Armenian genocide, and also have the survivor guilt of having family in Lebanon during the civil war in the 80s and in Syria during the current conflict - I can see how this trauma can be carried on to us survivors. I know as a child knowing the stories of the genocide, I would think about it often. I even went into refugee work and then took on secondary trauma from all the refugees - I never thought about the cycle of all of this. What my grandparents and great grandmother went through, I was now hearing daily at work from applicants and did this for many many years.

My great grandmother got her neck partially cut off by soldiers and it was deep while she was running and carrying two kids. She somehow held her head on, although she had to of been bleeding, and kept running for safety… she kept going… and the lesson to me in that has always been, no matter what - you keep going. But I don’t know if we always have to. If we are hurt, maybe we need to stop and take care of ourselves.

I think another learned thing from both sides of my family was that my great grandmother in the Middle East was left as the sole parent, because all the men were killed and my maternal grandmother was left as the sole parent, when my paternal grandfather died of cancer (when my mom was 14). Both women had to be strong independent women and raise their kids on their own and manage life - my maternal grandmother had to run a farm. My paternal great grandmother had to get her children to safety as refugees and find a new home and life for them after living only in a village for their entire lives. Female independence was inherited in my life and that is obvious in my sisters and my life.

This book can make you think about your friends lives and your own..: it is well worth reading and a fast one.

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I did not know this could happen to the brain!

Revisado: 02-21-22

I totally thought this book was about something else. I have not seen the movie yet but I will see it now. The writing was fabulous and how she detailed her whole ordeal from her families perspective and her partners to the medical doctors was fascinating.

I want to give her some side credit - the doctor in this that ended up being her savior was Dr. Nasser, she credit not only the doctor but where the doctor was from, Syria, multiple times. Thank you for doing that - it is always a precious moment for me when somebody acknowledges a Syrian or any Arab in America doing AMAZING things. We need to see this note often - Thank you so much.

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Refreshing change....

Revisado: 02-18-22

As an Arab-American reader, it was nice to read a pretty normal book about real relationships and lives of Middle Eastern young people. It was something that was hard to find when I was a teen. It also felt comforting in a very strange way to hear the internal feelings of other Middle Easterners during the Trump Muslim ban time period and all of the scare around that time. This book felt current and timely and it is good for people to read it and get a more realistic view of Middle Eastern or Muslim people to realize they are just perfectly normal and they have relationships, fall in love, fight, hide things from their parents, and so on... there is so much to this story and the author covers so much ground but it was nice to read a book like this. I kept thinking "my mom would have really liked this book...." It's always something good, if I have that thought!

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My beloved, Halab…

Revisado: 02-17-22

“Aleppo is like the dead body of a loved one. It has no life. It has no soul. It is full of rotting blood.”

I will write my review in pieces on this one… I am not sure how far I will get in this book. I have tried multiple times to read it. I got further today. The writing and story is so well done, but the reason for the story is just so intensely heartbreaking… and for me, personal. I never want to hear about Aleppo, or Syria like this, although I know, very well, that it has and is in terrible condition. I will keep going…

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Did not know what to expect, pleasantly surprised.

Revisado: 02-11-22

I was not sure if I was going to love this or not - I have not followed Dave Grohl's career since he was in Nirvana, as much as I probably should have. I respect him as a musician and I am from Washington state - the grunge state, but I just wasn't sure what to expect.

I did not expect to get some of the most beautiful words on grief over friends dying that I have ever read.
I did not expect to hear about his children and how much they changed him.
I did not expect to hear how important his relationship with his mom was.
I did not expect to hear how in awe he was to meet different rock stars or politicians in his life.

I just did not expect to get to know him as a human being so easily in this book, but he shares himself and lets the world know he is just a normal person - that has had pain, who has loved, who gets star struck and who has had loss.

I am glad he was able to write his own memoir.... so many of our great grunge stars were lost before they could write their own stories.

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Living a secret life as a child…

Revisado: 02-09-22

This would be a good book for any book club to read - especially a book club that has mixed political beliefs. The story is of a child who is undocumented in the United States. This happens a lot and it is from the child's point of view and how she's been taught to fear authority and all that they have been taught to "get by." It would just help people that do not understand, start to understand. The author wrote this in such a beautiful way and expressed the views of a child so well, since it is her story.

This book is highly recommended.

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The category is LOVE….

Revisado: 02-06-22

I am only half way done with this book and I can already say that I will be changed by this book and more of a fan of Billy Porter than I already was. I am so glad he read his own book - I am listening to it on audible and his voice is so unique and soothing, but you can also hear the infliction… the pauses… the pain… and just so much more.

I recommend this book to anybody with a heart. Sending Billy Porter all the love in the world and I am only half way done with this book!!!

The second half of the book would excite anybody that likes to hear about fashion and award shows. This book really was so lovely - and I loved to hear his own excitement in his voice in the audible when he won his emmy.

The category is… love!

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Not for me, but can see why it is for some.

Revisado: 01-31-22

She is not happy, optimistic or show any excitement on anything - ever. The epitome of entitled but she knows it and admits it. I guess that is the irony of it, which is why it is obvious she has humor much like her dad. I don’t always follow that same humor train.

She will grow and hopefully find happy at some point.

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