Rating: 
Summary: Creepy
Review: I read Ms Sheehy's book and basically enjoyed her reporting.
Of course, I don't live in Northern New Jersey and so I didn't know about incorrect names of places and people that a reviewer from Rumson pointed out in another review of the book in this section. But, like her, the moment I find inconsistancies of fact in a non-fiction work, I begin to wonder about other facts, too...However, what I was left with after reading Ms Sheehy's book was the reminder of a rather tasteless joke by Joan Rivers about the men and women killed in the attacks of September 11th who were NOT mourned by their spouses as much as the those seemed to be in Ms Sheehy's reporting. Did Ms Sheehy not meet ANY one with a bad marriage who was secretly relieved when their spouse was killed? Did she meet them and not include any in her story? I realize this is a niggling question, and probably in as bad taste as was Rivers' joke, but I'd like to have read about any ambivilance on the surviving spouses. Where ALL the marriages in this suburb as perfect as she portrays? Just a small question. Other than that, the book was good reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Were there any "unmourned" spouses...?
Review: I read Ms Sheehy's book and basically enjoyed her reporting.
Of course, I don't live in Northern New Jersey and so I wasn't bothered by the incorrect names of places and people that a reviewer from Rumson pointed out in another review of the book in this section. But, like her, the moment I find inconsistancies of fact in a non-fiction work, I begin to wonder about other facts, too... However, what I was left with after reading Ms Sheehy's book was the reminder of a rather tasteless joke by Joan Rivers about the men and women who were killed in the attacks of September 11th who were NOT mourned by their spouses as much as the those seemed to be in Ms Sheehy's reporting. Did Ms Sheehy not meet ANY one with a bad marriage who was secretly relieved when their spouse was killed? Did she meet them and not include any in her story? I realize this is a niggling question, and probably in as bad taste as was Rivers' joke, but I'd like to have read about any ambivilance on the surviving spouses. Where ALL the marriages in this suburb as perfect as she portrays? Just a small question. Other than that, the book was good reading.
Rating:
Summary: From Trauma To Hope?
Review: In my opinion, this book wasn't so much about Middletown, NJ as it was about Everytown, America. The few errors Gail may have made does not even come close to disrupting the spirit in which this book was written. You see this book may have said Middletown and it may have been about Middletown's residents but its impact goes beyond the borders of that township. I also lost someone on 9/11 and this book helped greatly in the my mending process. It helped me to understand more about that awful day and about myself. That, I'm sure, was the point of her story, not the spelling of street names and town lore. To reach out to those not just in Middletown but everywhere. Thank you Gail.
Rating: 
Summary: Thank You Gail
Review: In my opinion, this book wasn't so much about Middletown, NJ as it was about Everytown, America. The few errors Gail may have made does not even come close to disrupting the spirit in which this book was written. You see this book may have said Middletown and it may have been about Middletown's residents but its impact goes beyond the borders of that township. I also lost someone on 9/11 and this book helped greatly in the my mending process. It helped me to understand more about that awful day and about myself. That, I'm sure, was the point of her story, not the spelling of street names and town lore. To reach out to those not just in Middletown but everywhere. Thank you Gail.
Rating:
Summary: Read this with a flashlight during Hurricane Isabel
Review: It was so interesting that I didn't let the electricity going off keep me from a fascinating book! I thought I knew a lot about 9-11 but learned much more reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not what you would think
Review: The book is well written as is expected of Ms. Sheehy. I have only about 50 pages left and can't wait to be finished. Two years after that hideous day one fact remains-it was 9/11-not the tragedy of Middletown, NJ. Everyone who suffered loss that day has a personal stake and all Americans suffered the loss of our daily lives as we lived them before that day. I am in no way downplaying anyone's loss-I can imagine how I would feel! The problem is that several of the people in the book who I was so upset for in the beginning became not nearly as likable as the book progressed. I think we all know that our government made some mistakes before that tragic day-the FBI, etc. But how do you value your husband or wife's life? Did the people of Oklahoma City have a Special Master appointed to help them financially? Did the survivors of the Lockerbie bombing? Are the taxpayers of this country really responsible for making sure that an upwardly mobile housewife in upper-class New Jersey maintains the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed? If you had substantial insurance and savings plans, why shouldn't you receive less than someone who did not? Is the waiter in "Windows on the World" worth less in death than the bond trader from Cantor Fitzgerald? I certainly do believe that these survivors and others from any tragedy of this sort deserve financial compensation. I just don't think that anyone's life is worth more than someone else's. The other problem I have is with people in the book who got out of the Towers and survived. Learn to live life to the fullest and be thankful that you did survive-when do you stop feeling guilty?
I sincerely hope that other Americans from all the other states do not read this book and think that Middletown, NJ suffered more than anyone else on that day who lost a loved one. It doesn't matter if a town lost 2 people or 200-they still lost lives-numbers don't matter.
Most of these people bought homes in this area because they loved the ambience of being in the "afternoon sunlight playing off the Towers and turning them bronze." If the memory is too painful, it may be time to move on.
The problem with the book, for me, is timing. We are beginning to heal and this book brings the reader back to the beginning of those fateful days following 9/11. I am ready to move on-we must never forget-but we must celebrate the lives of the victims-not give the terrorists power by continuously rehashing their deaths.
Rating:
Summary: I chose this and one other...
Review: Thinking that I really couldn't handle reading any accounts of September 11, yet knowing that I should in order to keep the memories alive, I chose to search out books that might offer more of a community perspective as well as leave me with a positive feeling. I chose well. The first one I read was Braving the Waves - Rockaway Rises... and Rises Again, by Kevin Boyle. It is the account of the community of Rockaway Beach, New York, hit hard by terrorism on September 11 only to be rocked again by tragedy on November 12 of that same year when a passenger jet nosedived into their small neighborhood. Some 260 people were killed that day - yet we hardly remember the incident. Boyle lives in Rockaway and honors his community with his thorough and loving account. Middletown is about community of a similar yet different sort. Sheehy wisely chose to live in Middletown (an edge Boyle already had in writing his book), in order to really get beyond the surface of the place and its people. An excellent view, and very much recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Altogether terrible.
Review: What a waste of time! This book is poorly written, redundant in the extreme, badly (if at all) edited, and replete with Sheehy's liberal bias. For example, all the Moslema/Arabs in Middletown are portrayed as victims of American bias--even when one of them repeats the canard about "2900 Jews staying home from work at WTC on 9/11."
Rating:
Summary: From Trauma To Hope?
Review: What was meant to be a tribute to those lost on September 11 becomes a fictitious story and those who are citizens merely characters in this tall tale. I fond this book to be quite offensive especially when falsely categorizing the members of my community, Middletown New Jersey. Gail Sheehy may have researched our community but she missed in her portrayal instead stereotyping our High School as that filled with Valley Girls and our community leaders as small minded. In the end she came up with a novel that focus only on the negative aspects of a few rather than the vast majority.
Rating:
Summary: Tasteless, Misleading, A Waste of Time
Review: With family and friends in NYC, as frequent visitors to the WTC, and most of all just as Americans, we too were devastated by 9/11. We had spent 3 hours with British friends there in August,on a beautiful clear day, perfect for countless photos. We recall they commented on how safe they felt because of the security procedures!!! Later, paying our respects at Ground Zero was necessary but painful beyond words. I thought Gail Sheehy's book would bring solace and comfort. But I soon found myself struggling to finish thinking it might get better. Don't bother. It doesn't. I was disgusted at her prying into (and psycho-analyzing!) private grief, early-on clearly from an elite-left perspective. It was disconnected, biased and just plain horrid. How unconscionable to publish this before the 9/11 report was done. The book deserves a minus star rating. I will never attempt to read Gail Sheehy again.
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