Jewel

Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: Bret Lott centers his story around a woman named Jewel who is orphaned at age 11, sent to a girls boarding school of sorts by her grandmother, a punishment for teaching the slaves on her plantation how to read. She becomes a teacher eventually and marries at a young age a man with whom she will mother six children. The last of these children, Brenda Kay, is diagnosed as a Mongolian Idiot shorly after she is born, a diagnosis that will change Jewel's life forever. Lott traces the next fory years of her life, as a mother first and foremost, but also as a wife, a teacher and a woman. She is laden with choices, where to bring Brenda Kay for help, how to care for the other five children just as attentively, how to support and follow a husband who does not always understand the direct needs of his family. I found it a book that took more than a few days to read, the intensity requiring more concentration and energy. A good book, all-in-all, creating a window into the lives of mentally-disabled children and the lives that lay before them and their families as a result of their condition.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and difficult to maintain interest
Review: I have been reading this book for about 4-5 days now and I'm still struggling to get through it. It's not a difficult book to read nor comprehend, it's just dull and cumbersome. I'm 1/2 way through and I'm debating whether or not I will finish. I keep thinking, "The next page will be more interesting." It has nothing to do with the subject matter, as a matter of fact, I was looking forward to reading about a family coping with a Down's Syndrome child. Mr. Lott has unfortunately turned this topic into something boring, which is so unfair. I have worked with the mentally retarded, both children and adults, and I grew up with a Down's Syndrome family member. I have a great deal of love and respect for these special people and those who care for them. This story had so much potential and the author blew it. The author certainly could have brought more humor into the story, as well. Despite the pitfalls of life, and maybe because of them, we need to laugh at ourselves and the situation, plus be in costant communication with those around us, something Jewel doesn't seem to do. I almost never set a book down until I'm finished but this may be one of those rare times. I have read about 5 or 6 of Oprah's books and I'm so tired of reading about dark, depressing situations that seem hopeless. Oprah, have you thought about anything by Francine Rivers or the utterly delight Mitford series? These books deal with wonderfully developed characters and difficult topics, but you are left with a sense of hope and laughter. I'll think long and hard before I read another Oprah selection.

Rating:
Summary: How Does He Know?
Review: I love this book. As the mother of a developmentally disabled young man, I am touched that someone, a man at that, understands the amazing variety of thoughts, motivations, and experiences of mothers like Jewel. I've been through so much of that. The worrisome sweetheart crush and hand-holding, the "child" who doesn't grow up, the feeling of having let your other children down, after they're grown and it's too late. Even Jewel's helplessness when Lester moves them back to the South. She's fought so hard for Brenda Kay's education, she just couldn't stand up for one more battle.I'm grateful we live in this time and not Jewel's, but as parents of special children, we STILL do battle with the school system to get our children recognized so that they can be all they can be. Now our kids are on school grounds, but in the oldest leaky portable way in the back, despite the richness they bring to the school environment. Jewel has let the world know of the importance of the struggle to gain equality for the Brenda Kays of our world. Like Jewel's ability to drop the use of the N word, the world now needs to stop treating the disabled as if they had little to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Moving but tough
Review: I stuck with this book until the end,and I'm glad I did. Jewel offers readers the chance to look into the lives of ordinary people in an extraordinary situation-- caring for a Down's Syndrome child. The plot and the story were intriguing.
However, as a main character, I found Jewel extremely annoying. It seemed like she had children to satisfy her own ego, not to give out unconditional love. I thought she was very selfish. It was terrible the way she abandoned her other five kids. Bret Lott makes it seem like she had no other choice, that taking care of Brenda Kay was so hard that giving up the five others was inevitable. I couldn't get the warm fuzzies about Brenda Kay and jewel's mother/child relationship because I don't think Jewel WAS a good mother. Controlling and demanding, yes. Caring, no.
Also, this book was so heavy, weighed down with long descriptive phrases, renderings that made no sense, Jewel repeating herself again and again. There was not enough dialogue, and the action (or lack thereof) was insipid and SLOW. The first thing we learned in fiction writing in college is "SHOW, DON'T TELL." I ate up the few action scenes, as well as the family's backgrounds, like a greedy crack addict, dying for something out of Jewel's head.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece-- powerful, moving and beautifully written.
Review: The first couple chapters were a little hard to get into, but after that the book swept me away-- I couldn't put it down. I think it is wonderful both as "literature" and simply as a good read, and I was very moved (and changed) by it. This book has further convinced me that it is possible for a man to write with deep understanding and realism from the viewpoint of a woman, even across the span of a woman's entire lifetime, which is what Bret Lott accomplishes with Jewel. I do not think there is anything superficial (or overly "family-values"-ish/wholesome) about this book-- to me it falls on the opposite side of the spectrum. Jewel herself sometimes has a limited perspective, but any realistic narrator is an "unreliable narrator"-- she doesn't see/understand everything which the reader can see in/learn from the book (which in this case is a tremendous amount). Bret Lott examines the intricacies of family relationships (as well as the lives of people in the south and in Los Angeles, in different time periods) with an amazing degree of insight and compassion (and in my opinion, without any sugarcoating or triteness). There is much in this story that is sad and painful, but it left me above all with a feeling of hope. It is a beautifully written, imaginative, moving story, and a totally fulfilling read.

Rating:
Summary: A JEWEL OF A NOVEL...
Review: This is a wonderful, luminous book about families. It focuses on one family, in particular. The novel centers around a poor, undereducated woman named Jewel who began her life in the backwoods of rural Mississippi. It takes us on her life journey and, consequently, that of family. It shows us how Jewel dealt with a situation that can often make or break a family, and the impact that this issue had on that same family.

Beautifully written in the voice of a poor, ill educated, southern woman, the author gives life to a three dimensional character, Jewel. Born in 1904, her parents died when she was young. She then lived with her maternal grandmother who simply did not treat her with affection, as she had disapproved of her daughter's marriage to Jewel's father. While Jewel's grandmother did her duty by her, Jewel lived a life devoid of familial love and affection.

Consequently, when Jewel up and married, she was determined to have a household filled with love. She and her devoted husband, Leston, made a life. They had five children. Life was good, though hard. Then they had a sixth child, Brenda Kay, when Jewel was pushing forty. They loved her dearly. It soon, however, became apparent that Brenda Kay was not like their other children. Jewel's worst fears were realized, when she was told that her youngest daughter had Down Syndrome.

How Jewel coped and how this event affected each member of the family is the crux of this wonderfully written novel. Brenda Kay's birth is the catalyst for a journey that would take this family in search of a better life for its newest member. It would be a test of the measure of the love that they had for one another. It is a story of perseverance and survival. It is a story of familial love and acceptance. It is a story of a mother's struggle to make sure that her child reaches her full potential, no matter what the cost.

Rating:
Summary: A mother's love
Review: This was a great book. I loved the way the author showed the connections each family member had with Brenda Kay. It shows that people with disabilities really do have feelings and can love you just as much as anyone else can. I don't have any children of my own yet, but the book gave me the sense of being there and feeling the struggles that Jewel had with her children. I could really feel the love that she had for them and could tell it was unconditional. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who want to know what family life can be like with a disabled child.