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Summary: My book is an attempt to capture what cannot be captured
Review: Dear Readers --I am moved that you have read Daughter of the Queen of Sheba. When I wrote it, I had no idea of readers or audiences or anyone out there. We moved in a private and elusive world in my family, seeking solidity, rarely finding it. This book is an attempt to frame something -- to have a conversation with the delusional. This is not possible in real life -- you cannot have a real conversation with someone who is intoxicated or mentally unwell or who cannot hear you. But on the page, I could capture Sheba. On the page, I could talk to her. I say often, before audiences, that I would never wish for a parent to have a mental illness, nor anyone I loved, but that I cannot deny that it has borne me incredible gifts. I spent my first eight years in a tiny town, and grew up in a town of only 5,000. No one else became a Middle East Correspondent, nor has traversed -- as far as I know -- quite so many boundaries. I credit my mother entirely for that. I am grateful to Sheba. And just as eager to let her go -- and write another book! Thank you again, Jacki Lyden
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Summary: The Queen of Sheba puts the "fun" in "disfunctional."
Review: How can a memoir about one's own mad mother be fun? When the story is told by Jacki Lyden.
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Summary: Didn't hold my attention
Review: I absolutely love books about psychology, and read them all the time, but books that are written the way this one was turn me off from them. The author's writing style is just so overdone, it got annoying for me to read and follow. I only read the first few pages, even though I was looking forward to the book arriving because it came extremely highly recommended. If you don't mind overly done writing style, I would recommend it to. It has a wonderful message, so I hear.
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Summary: Another Beautiful Mind
Review: I am saddened to find so many unfavorable reviews of this memoir. Reading it, I was reminded of "Angela's Ashes," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Growing Up." I found Lyden's prose both poetic and evocative. I thought she portrayed her own family and herself with remarkable journalistic perspective, but also with compassion. I am amazed at the extent of Lyden's success in her attempt to describe her mother's mania, as well as the author's candor about her own life. There's no self-indulgence in these pages, only a long and difficult distance bravely traveled and recounted for us, so we can see the terrain through her eyes. To the critical reviewers, I say, "Let us read your life," and to Ms. Lyden an unequivocal, "Bravo."
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Summary: Another Beautiful Mind
Review: I am saddened to find so many unfavorable reviews of this memoir. Reading it, I was reminded of "Angela's Ashes," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Growing Up." I found Lyden's prose both poetic and evocative. I thought she portrayed her own family and herself with remarkable journalistic perspective, but also with compassion. I am amazed at the extent of Lyden's success in her attempt to describe her mother's mania, as well as the author's candor about her own life. There's no self-indulgence in these pages, only a long and difficult distance bravely traveled and recounted for us, so we can see the terrain through her eyes. To the critical reviewers, I say, "Let us read your life," and to Ms. Lyden an unequivocal, "Bravo."
Rating:
Summary: Another Beautiful Mind
Review: I am saddened to find so many unfavorable reviews of this memoir. Reading it, I was reminded of "Angela's Ashes," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Growing Up." I found Lyden's prose both poetic and evocative. I thought she portrayed her own family and herself with remarkable journalistic perspective, but also with compassion. I am amazed at the extent of Lyden's success in her attempt to describe her mother's mania, as well as the author's candor about her own life. There's no self-indulgence in these pages, only a long and difficult distance bravely traveled and recounted for us, so we can see the terrain through her eyes. To the critical reviewers, I say, "Let us read your life," and to Ms. Lyden an unequivocal, "Bravo."
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Summary: disappointing
Review: I bought this book after watching Ms. Lyden's appearance on Larry King Live, in which she spoke engagingly and eloquently about her childhood, her mother's illness, and the effects it had on the family. Sadly, she speaks more effectively than she writes.Big words taste and feel good in our mouths, and it's fun to string a bunch together (this I know from personal experience), but after reading that style through a couple of chapters it got tiresome. Ms. Lyden seemed more interested in demonstrating her command of the English language than in telling her story. I was also disappointed by too-frequent and too-lengthy sidetracks into other aspects of the family's life (for instance, the whole trip to Mexico story could have been told in a couple of pages). I had the impression Ms. Lyden was trying to flesh out the book. For those interested in the subject matter, this is worth a try if you can find it second-hand or in the library, but not worth full price. I do recommend watching Ms. Lyden if you ever get a chance to see her being interviewed - she is an excellent communicator...just not on paper.
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Summary: A beautifically written book by a daughter who loved her mom
Review: I enjoyed the book and it was very fast reading-hard to put down. It got a little heavy for me at times, though. I grew up in the same town as Jacki and her mom--they went to my church, so I enjoyed figuring out what/where/who she was talking about while reading about her apparent love for her mom through her illness. I recently read that the 'Dr.' passed away in Florida. I wonder if he ever get a chance to read the book.
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Summary: Tortured prose
Review: I felt like Jacki Lyden was doing with words what her mother had done with Christmas decorations. (Mom adhered to the "more is more" or wretched excess school of thought.) Maybe that was the point, but it came across as overwrought and pretentious. One good clean word will do just as well as three fancy ones. Just ask Ernest Hemingway.
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Summary: dissapointing
Review: I found Jacki Lyden's book about her life with her bi-polar mother very dissapointing. I must give credit where credit is due, Ms. Lyden has a wonderful writing style and appears to have led a fascinating life, but I finished the book with a strong sense of dissapointment. Ms. Lyden's story did not answer the questions I had about her feelings about the real possibility that she could fall prey to the genetic disease that her mother suffered from. Nor did she leave the reader with any sense of sympathy for her. I felt that she portrayed herself as a martyred character who had an inflated sense of self. The callous description of Ms. Lyden's abortion and her endless trivial details about her "rodeo job" caused me to dislike the book even more. I had high expectations for this book, but I was left feeling unfulfilled.
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