Journal Entry 1 by alsgal from Lewes, Delaware USA on Wednesday, November 14, 2007

From Publishers Weekly
This perceptive, uplifting chronicle shows how much Simon, a creative writing professor at Bryn Mawr College, had to learn from her mentally retarded sister, Beth, about life, love and happiness. Beth lives independently and is in a long-term romantic relationship, but perhaps the most surprising thing about her, certainly to her (mostly) supportive family, is how she spends her days riding buses. Six days a week (the buses don't run on Sundays in her unnamed Pennsylvania city), all day, she cruises around, chatting up her favorite drivers, dispensing advice and holding her ground against those who find her a nuisance. Rachel joined Beth on her rides for a year, a few days every two weeks, in an attempt to mend their distanced relationship and gain some insight into Beth's daily life. She wound up learning a great deal about herself and how narrowly she'd been seeing the world. Beth's community within the transit system is a much stronger network than the one Rachel has in her hectic world, and some of the portraits of drivers and the other people in Beth's life are unforgettable. Rachel juxtaposes this with the story of their childhood, including the dissolution of their parents' marriage and the devastating abandonment by their mother, the effect of which is tied poignantly to the sisters' present relationship. Although she is honest about the frustrations of relating to her stubborn sister, Rachel comes to a new appreciation of her, and it is a pleasure for readers to share in that discovery. Agent, Anne Edelstein. (Aug. 26) Forecast: A blurb from Rosie O'Donnell and an author tour should pique women readers' interest.
 

Journal Entry 2 by alsgal from Lewes, Delaware USA on Thursday, November 15, 2007

Sending off to momx3lovesbooks 

Journal Entry 3 by momx3lovesbooks on Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thanks so much alsgal! I know I am going to love this book!

Beth is a spirited woman with mental retardation who spends nearly ever day riding the buses in her pPennsylvania city. The drivers, a lively group, are her mentors, her fellow passengers are her community. Beth, who lives independently and has a boyfriend, is a joyful, enduring, and feisty individual. HEr single sister, Rachel, a writer and professor, masks her emotional isolation and loneliness behind her hyperbusy schedule. When Beth asks Rachel to accompany her on the buses for one year, they take a transcendent journey that changes Rache's life in incredible ways, leads her to accept her sister at long last-and teaches her to slow down adn enjoy the ride.

I finished this book last night and I really enjoyed it! I loved the way Rachel Simon really let her true feelings about her sister in the book. She could of sugar coated it by saying "Oh she's my sister, I know she talks a lot and gets on other peoples nerves but I love her because she is who she is." But she didn't. She talked in real deep human emotions about the "black voice" inside her head yelling at her sister. Rachel openly and honestly says she is embarassed by her sister and she goes through the emotions on how to deal with that. That takes guts and honesty.

12/15-sending to MIL
07/09-returned from MIL

reserved for teachie for Marlene's b-day swap 

Journal Entry 4 by teachie from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire United Kingdom on Thursday, January 29, 2009

Thanks so much arrived today. 

Journal Entry 5 by teachie from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What a wonderful book. Rachel learned so much and turned her life around by taking a year out to spend time with her mentally disabled sister. I am not sure I could spend all day riding on buses - maybe the fumes aren't as bad on the buses in the USA! The drivers were in the main such lovely people and all so helpful to their passengers.
I sympathised with Rachel, it must have been hard to listen to the same conversation over and over from her sister, I know what it is like talking to my grandson(he has cerebral palsy) for a couple of hours - not easy.
This is now off to Jillbe who won it in a TBR swap. 

Journal Entry 6 by jillbe from Dorchester, Dorset United Kingdom on Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Received today, thanks very much. Looks a good one, going onto mount TBR etc. 

Journal Entry 7 by jillbe from Dorchester, Dorset United Kingdom on Saturday, February 20, 2010

This was a good read and very thought-provoking, so glad to have had the opportunity to read it. Now reserved to send on etc. 

Journal Entry 8 by jillbe at Passed to another BookCrosser, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Thursday, February 25, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (2/26/2010 UTC) at Passed to another BookCrosser, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending onto candy-is-dandy, BCUK Extra Deja Vu Swap, enjoy:0) 

Journal Entry 9 by candy-is-dandy at Braintree, Essex United Kingdom on Friday, July 09, 2010

One of my favourite books so far this year. I thought I might find it rather self-righteous but it was quite the opposite. Informative, warm and eye-opening. Rachel's relationship with her sister, Beth had cooled since their childhood but the experience of spending time with her over the course of a year brought understanding and love, with plenty of frustration and impatience.
This was an honest portrayal of the relationship between Beth and the rest of her family. Great snippets of their childhhood and teen years too.

I have recommended this to my book group. 

Journal Entry 10 by candy-is-dandy at A Bookcrosser, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Thursday, August 05, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (8/5/2010 UTC) at A Bookcrosser, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

To Potok-fan who won it in a non-fiction book-swap on Bookobsessed. 

Journal Entry 11 by potok-fan at Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Thursday, August 12, 2010

This book was on my wishlist, so I was really pleased to win it in a swap game! I've already dived into it and suddenly was struck that it has hit home in way I never expected when I first put it on my wishlist.

A friend from childhood, who has mild mental retardation, recently got in touch with me on Facebook. My first thought was that it was fun to be reconnected after many years, but almost immediately she started posting tons of stuff on my wall - badly punctuated, repetitious, simultaneously fun and sickly-sweet. It was so over-the-top that I was almost distressed. I still don't know quite how to respond, but now I see a parallel with Beth's letters: "two or three multicapitalized sentences sprawlying down the page... flamboyantly tattooed with stickers ... whole colonies arriving in a single day".

I'm looking forward to carrying on with Beth's (AND Rachel's) story.  

Journal Entry 12 by potok-fan at Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Friday, November 05, 2010

Finished this a while back and forgot to journal again. It was fascinating to read the author's honest frustration about aspects of Beth's life and personality that just were not going to change. It's probably a good lesson for dealing with our own difficult family members, retarded or not, that we really do have to accept that they are the way they are.