Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring Survivor
Review: A must read! Simply put, Jennifer Lauck is a truly inspiring survivor! As I read "Still Waters", my admiration and respect for her as a human being, as a woman, as a writer and as a survivor grew to bursting. Her question as a young woman to her adoptive mother was such a poignant, powerful and hopefully empowering question: "What would my mother think of your treatment of me?" My heart sang "YES" to the courage and strength that it must have taken to believe enough in the truth of her experience to even formulate such a question. With such a wise internal compass, there is no need to wonder what is to become of her -- she will triumph. She is a true heroine.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and self absorbed
Review: Although I did not read "Blackbird," this book came highly recommended. I found "Still Waters" disappointing. The first decade of Lauck's life sounded unbelievably harsh and worth writing about, but her later life seems totally unremarkable. Her adolescence with friends and boys, her oppositional relationship with her adoptive parents, her college days, her career, and even getting fired are things MANY people experience. Her descriptions simply don't seem to lend any new insights.Her discussion of her brother's suicide at age 23 was reasonably well done. In our family, too, we experienced a suicide of a sibling at age 21. It seems so meaningless and hard to understand, and she conveyed that feeling well. Throughout the book, Lauck seems unusually self-absorbed. When she finally seeks professional help, her therapist calls her "normal." That is what she seems like to me as well. I'm not sure why she felt the need to write a second memoir. Then again, maybe her publisher saw dollar signs and encouraged her to pen a sequel. There are many grammatical errors (as other reviewers have pointed out). Good grammar separates compound subjects with a comma. From the first sentence of the book, it is apparent that this wasn't something she learned in J-school (where or where was her editor????)
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down ...
Review: Don't expect to get anything done while reading either Still Waters or Jennifer Lauck's first book Blackbird. I couldn't put down either of these books while reading them. Her writing style allows you to feel like you are right there with her, feeling her continued disappointments and triumphs. Still Waters and Blackbird are definitely two of the best books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: I hope Jennifer Lauck continues to write!!
Review: I absolutely love Jennifer Lauck! My only complaint and the only negative part of my review of Still Waters is that this brings us to the end of Jennifer's story (unless she writes another sequel 30 years from now to show how the rest of her life turns out!). I hope Jennifer continues writing and will perhaps try her hand at fiction. One of the things I most loved about both Blackbird and Still Waters is how they read like a novel. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough yet I was so disappointed when I was done knowing that this completed her story bringing us up to current times. You will find yourself almost disbelieving some of the things that have happened to Jennifer believing that no one could suffer such heartache and still end up as sane and normal as Jennifer is. I have seen Jennifer on Oprah (last year when Blackbird was released) and The Rosie O'Donnell show (this year with Still Waters) and she is a beautiful, intelligent, happily married mother of two (yes, she is expecting - CONGRATULATIONS!) I was able to draw strength and courage from Jennifer's words - If she could survive the horrific things that happened to her and still turn out as wonderful as she has, there's hope for us all!!! Readers of true life stories, biographies, family related issues, and fiction will all find something to lover about Still Waters. It is Jennifer's memoirs yet filled with life lessons and as I said earlier, it reads like a novel. I hope Jennifer continues to write and I will be watching for future releases from this talented, beautiful, inspiring writer.
Rating:
Summary: Go Jennifer!!
Review: I am indebted to Jennifer for what she has shared in Blackbird and Still Water. In Blackbird, Jennifer's description of moving her princess bedroom furniture from the commune to the last house with Deb blew my mind. The vision of a ten year old girl pulling dressers, mattresses, a bed, etc. across an intersection by herself, was unreal. I feel like I internalized this experience and can only imagine how it resides with Jennifer, the person who lived it. Her strength is profound and will for normalcy truly unshakable. Boy... she showed them! I am so glad her life turned out okay. I hope to read more later in life. You go Jennifer!!
Rating: 
Summary: Power from Disfunction
Review: I did not read her first book "blackbird". I will now. I think I need a basis for this book. However, i did enjoy the book. I was impressed with how the main character overcame her anger, feelings of resentment and distrust for the world. I can understand why it was so difficult. The way that poor child was shuffled from relative to relative and ended up being adopted by unloving and cold people. It was a mystery to me why so many of the relatives were so unemotional and aloof. Possibly that was explained or hinted to in the book "Blackbird". Whatever it was Jennifer had the spirit and fight in her to somehow beleive that there are honest and good people in the world. I said this before in another reveiw of a book but I also think it applies here. It is obvious to me that she discovered through her life journey that it is easier to be loving than to carry around the weight of revenge and anger. I did not put this book down until I was done the story was so riveting. I have only one complaint. I was a little put off by some of the descriptions of people. I remember this applied mostly to the men. They all had blue eyes each with their own "fantasy" type of blue. For example, one had blue eyes that were almost violet and another with gold flecks in them. I think that it a little strange. It is hard to beleive that there are that many men in the United States with these "rare" blue eyes. I have been to lots of places in the world and I have yet to run into men let alone women with this amazing feature. I do want to say that despite this, I highly recommend this book and I will be reading "Blackbird".
Rating:
Summary: As Different as Black and White
Review: I do not know if I have ever been more disappointed in a book than I was with Jennifer Lauck's Still Waters. Perhaps that is because I also do not know if I have ever been more moved by a story than Jennifer's first book, Blackbird. All of the things that I marveled in Blackbird; the charm, the brilliant symbolism, the unparalled sensory description, are applied sloppily or simply missing in this book. It is as obvious on page 4 as it is on page 204. I considered, and would have stopped reading after the second chapter had I not already fallen in love with Juniper in the first book and felt compelled to find out what became of her. It appears that the second book was written in more of a self-healing manner than in the brilliantly and innocently unbiased story-telling manner that made Blackbird great. Please understand that I loved Blackbird more than any book that I have read in years. I ran out to buy Still Waters the day after I finished its predecessor. It was a marked disappointment made more severe by the fact that this author is clearly capeable of so much more. If considering this book, read Blackbird again. It is definitely a better read, even the second time around.
Rating:
Summary: liked even more than the first one
Review: I found Still Waters to be equally as interesting as Blackbird, and better written.
Rating: 
Summary: Still Waters
Review: I had read Blackbird, and was pretty excited to see that Jennifer Lauck had written a folow-up book....The first part of the book was very good and very moving, but as it went on I felt she was wallowing in self pity. I feel that as she raises her son she may realize from a mother's point of view that she may have been a little too harsh.....I do believe she had a horrible childhood and had many problems with relationships because of it; but give herself a few more years as a mother..
Rating:
Summary: A Moving Account of a Difficult Life
Review: I have "read" both Blackbird and Still Waters, but perhaps in a non-traditional way by listening as I endure my excrutiating drive to and from work throughout the week. Blackbird moved me in ways no book I have read has done. Is that because I was listening to the author's voice - the person to whom these atrocities had been inflicted on was actually telling me about them, or would my reaction have been the same, had I read the accounts in the traditional "reading" method.
Personally, I think the audio rendition has had a more positive impact and let me explain. The book is written entirely from the perspective of the author's participation and some of the repetative phrases, such as "I say", when recounting conversation, I know would have driven me nuts if I were reading, but were totally natural in the "listening" version of reading. Does this make any sense? Bottom line, Blackbird and Still Waters are the best books I've had the pleasure of reading in a very long time! I was totally engrossed in the story, involved with Jennifer, Bryan and their challenges in life, and I wish Jennifer all the best in everything to come in her life. She presents a role model for anyone who's had difficulties in their life - inspiration to uncover what the truth is, even after years of living perceived truth.
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