Daphne Stevens

A Voice of Wisdom and Grace

Revisado: 02-04-25

Bishop Budde speaks with vision, humility, authority, and a graciousness that rekindles a hope for sane and kind leadership, Thank you.

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authentic, gripping

Revisado: 09-26-24

Mary Trump is an excellent writer. To dustin such s complex and painful history is an accomplishment. To write a memoir so reminiscent of our country’s ordeal is masterful. Thank you Mary.

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Living history

Revisado: 07-01-24

A well crafted story by a true public servant in the midst of some our country’s most treacherous challenges. Dr. Fauci’s work throughout the AIDS crisis was known to me, but I was not aware of the many other pandemic scares that he navigated with research, compassion, and accurate public education.

Dr. Fauci became the voice of truth and hope during the nightmare of Covid. I am saddened that he and his work have since been politicized and maligned.

Dr. Fauci has maintained his quiet authority and grace in the midst of persecution and chaos. This is the stuff of American heroism.

A fascinating story, told with candor and compassion. Thank you, Dr. Fauci.

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Why?

Revisado: 07-01-24

It’s a story about wife battering. Like spousal abuse itself, it is circular, predictable, brutal, and tedious. No character development. No meaningful plot. Just your average narcissistic abuser and his shallow, self-effacing masochistic wife. It’s an insult to those who struggle to survive and face their inner demons and (sometimes) create new lives for themselves.

And the plot. I never figured out how or why Cassie showed up, lying in a grave yard, unconscious and then amnesiac. Did any reader understand that?


I appreciate the way that Picoult deals with social issues through her novels. The stories are usually well developed and intriguing fodder for reflection and thought.
This one—like spouse abuse itself—is empty and painful, and full of empty promises. Much more depth and research was needed.

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Thorough research, Heartfelt story.

Revisado: 06-06-24

A touching account of one of the icons of television for children and service to humanity. Thank you.

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must read

Revisado: 05-23-24

Thoroughly researched, thought provoking, and well performed.
The author speaks from personal experience as the child of an evangelical family, and addresses the serious social consequences of a country whose religion has gotten mixed up with its politics.
A measured, articulate and gripping account.

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disappointing

Revisado: 05-09-24

Characters were shallow, plot was
uninspired and unconvincing. I usually enjoy this author’s work, but this had little to offer.

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thin, contrived

Revisado: 11-20-23

A disappointing effort.

Nina is a narcissist. Her toddler is molested. It becomes her own personal drama, with no regard for the welfare of her child or well being of her family.

Lots of gaps in the story. (How does a person get into a courtroom with a gun? )

Jodi Picoult is a master storyteller, but this is a waste of good talent,

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A glimpse into the soul of Democracy itself

Revisado: 10-01-23

A riveting, heartbreaking, inspiring story of an “ordinary” public servant who risked everything to tell the truth. An excellent audio production.

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Willy Loman in the Oval

Revisado: 10-12-22

I’d read plenty of books trying to make sense out of the Trump phenomenon. What was/is his appeal? Why have his transgressions, cruelty, pettiness, and “unhinged” patterns come without consequences? What is it about him? Facts don’t matter. Issues don’t matter. Justice or compassion or plain good manners don’t matter. Drama matters. And as I read Maggie Haberman’s book, I came to realize the power of that drama.

Narcissistic people thrive on the sense of power they create through chaos and confusion. That’s drama. But Trump’s story is drama of a particular American story—the tragic character of Willy Loman Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

Like Trump, Willy believes that he can be better, richer, more powerful than others through the power of his will. He pushes his magical thinking on his sons, coaching them to
fake their way into high places, to flatter and to bluff and to bully a path to success. And, like Trump’s sycophants, they seek approval through the flawed self image of Willy’s ever-changing narcissistic mirror.

Willy is a broken man, doomed by his own delusions and lies and his inability to see himself with clarity and compassion.

Trump is different. He is rich. He IS powerful and famous, but, like Loman, he
is hollow. In reading this book, I thought about Trump’s famous feuds, tantrums, betrayals, infidelities, boasts. I used to wonder: How (and why) do people put up with it? Now I wonder how HE lives with it. Loneliness and sadness immanate from the pages.

“We are free and clear!” Linda Loman weeps at Willy’s graveside at the end of the play. His suicide has freed them from the stranglehold of debt, of trying to
be more than the were.

Our freedom (and grief) will not likely be as neatly won. Willy was an object of pity. Trump is simply too dangerous.

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