Book Review: My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers-Memoir

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers.

Title: My Vanishing Country: A Memoir

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Memoir

Author: Bakari Sellers

Publisher: Amistad
Publication Date: May 19, 2020

Language: English

Hardcover: 240 pages
Meet the Author: Bakari Sellers
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

New York Times Bestseller

What J. D. Vance did for Appalachia with Hillbilly Elegy, CNN analyst  and one of the youngest state representatives in South Carolina history Bakari Sellers does for the rural South, in this important book that illuminates the lives of America’s forgotten black working-class men and women.

Part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, My Vanishing Country is an eye-opening journey through the South's past, present, and future.

Anchored in in Bakari Seller’s hometown of Denmark, South Carolina, Country illuminates the pride and pain that continues to fertilize the soil of one of the poorest states in the nation. He traces his father’s rise to become, friend of Stokely Carmichael and Martin Luther King, a civil rights hero, and member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) , to explore the plight of the South's dwindling rural, black working class—many of whom can trace their ancestry back for seven generations.

In his poetic personal history, we are awakened to the crisis affecting the other “Forgotten Men & Women,” who the media seldom acknowledges. For Sellers, these are his family members, neighbors, and friends. He humanizes the struggles that shape their lives: to gain access to healthcare as rural hospitals disappear; to make ends meet as the factories they have relied on shut down and move overseas; to hold on to precious traditions as their towns erode; to forge a path forward without succumbing to despair. 

My Vanishing Country is also a love letter to fatherhood—to Sellers' father, his lodestar, whose life lessons have shaped him, and to his newborn twins, who he hopes will embrace the Sellers family name and honor its legacy.

My Thoughts

Quick to read and interesting memoir. 

Bakari shows a sincere love for his family, and a lot of respect and real care for his State and its people. 

An honest account of his early years as a son, student, and later in life as a father, lawyer, and politician. 

"I want everybody to know that this terrorist did not win. He wanted to invoke terror and fear. But we aren't for that. We are standing up together, arm in arm, or on our knees, with our faces to the rising sun, praying to our Lord and telling him that we will not bow down, but we will stand up." -Bakari Sellers-

Wendy

Book Review: No Time Like The Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox-Memoir

 Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox.

Title: No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Memoir

Author: Michael J. Fox

Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: November 17, 2020

Language: English

Hardcover: 256 pages
Meet the Author: Michael J. Fox
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A moving account of resilience, hope, fear and mortality, and how these things resonate in our lives, by actor and advocate Michael J. Fox.

The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future; as Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties; as Mike Flaherty in Spin City; and through numerous other movie roles and guest appearances on shows such as The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Diagnosed at age 29, Michael is equally engaged in Parkinson’s advocacy work, raising global awareness of the disease and helping find a cure through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the world’s leading non-profit funder of PD science. His two previous bestselling memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, dealt with how he came to terms with the illness, all the while exhibiting his iconic optimism. His new memoir reassesses this outlook, as events in the past decade presented additional challenges.

In No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, Michael shares personal stories and observations about illness and health, aging, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. Thoughtful and moving, but with Fox’s trademark sense of humor, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, and our losses.

Running through the narrative is the drama of the medical madness Fox recently experienced, that included his daily negotiations with the Parkinson’s disease he’s had since 1991, and a spinal cord issue that necessitated immediate surgery. His challenge to learn how to walk again, only to suffer a devastating fall, nearly caused him to ditch his trademark optimism and “get out of the lemonade business altogether.”

Does he make it all of the way back? Read the book.

My Thoughts

What a delight was to listen to this audiobook. For someone who has gone through so much, dealing with Parkinson's disease for most of his adult life, Michael J. Fox can definitely still transmit hope, positivism, and optimism. 

The stories told on this memoir, about him, his family, the struggles of being ill, but also, some humor and familiarity. I believe people, families going through the same things, can relate to his story, his journey. This book is a gift understanding and hope , for the ones living it, and for the rest of us, a gift of learning, and knowing that no matter what, we can still live up to our purpose and overcome difficulties. 

"I have taken my time. Time has not taken me." - Michael J. Fox.

Wendy

Book Review: The Wife Upstairs: A Novel by Rachel Hawkins-Mystery/Thriller

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of The Wife Upstairs: A Novel by Rachel Hawkins.

Title: The Wife Upstairs: A Novel

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: January 05, 2021

Language: English

Hardcover: 304 pages
Meet the Author: Rachel Hawkins
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins's The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

My Thoughts

The Wife Upstairs. A retelling of the classic Jane Eyre, which I have not read yet. A very enjoyable read. A good thriller/mystery to start off the new reading year.

Set in Alabama, The Wife Upstairs tells us the story of Jane, her past, her current life working as a dog-walker in a very fancy neighborhood, up until she meets Eddie, one of the residents at Thornfield Estates, and she gets involve in Eddie's life and learns more of the mysterious disappearance of Eddie's wife Bea, and her best friend Blanche. 

Unexpected twists, and intriguing characters, fast-paced, and a well worked setting. The Wife Upstairs has all the good elements expected in works of this genre, however, for me, it lacked that intense ending I was hoping for. A good proposition in plot, but the hype did not go high enough for me. Something else missing for me was more on the back story of Jane's past in Arizona and what she did to her foster dad, and also more on Eddie's past.

Overall, I enjoyed The Wife Upstairs, kept me entertained, the writing was engaging, and it was an easy and fast read. 

Thank you to the Publisher St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the Advanced Free Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy