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Summary: A Wonderful book
Review: The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio is an absolute gem of a book. Terry Ryan has written a lovely and loving tribute to her inspirational and inventive mother, Evelyn Ryan,who managed to keep her family out of poverty's reach because of her uncanny knack for winning contests. The book is in turn funny and poignant and stays with you long,long after the final page has been read. Beautifully written, this book is just plain wonderful. Highly recommended. It would make a lovely Mother's Day gift.
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Summary: This Book Will Make You Grateful......
Review: This book is a terrific read and it should make anyone grateful for all the good things he had in his youth, OR if his life was like this book's author's life, he will identify wholly! This book shows how the mother's gutsy work led to survival under hardest conditions!!
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Summary: The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio
Review: In this charming memoir, Terry Ryan details the life of a busy household, growing up as one of 10 children in Defiance, Ohio. Raised by a mother who has a knack with words and jingles, and a father who is an alcoholic, Terry Ryan lets us in to her family life and how her mother struggled to make ends meet by entering contests and winning prizes for her family.Not only is the book jam packed with old contests and jingles, it is laced with heartfelt humor and triumph. Terry's mother is a woman, who after reading this story, you can't help but love, admire and respect. The Ryan family will stay with you, and there are a lot of laugh out loud moments. A great, wholesome read~
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Summary: Reads fast but leaves a long memory
Review: You know how sometimes you read a book, and then a year or two later you can't remember much of anything about it?
Not so with this one. I would bet a lotta money that anyone who has read this book will never, ever forget it. It doesn't hurt that it's one of the best titles of all times, helping make the book unforgettable.
How Mrs. Ryan triumphed and managed to support 10 kids and a weak, alcholic husband by winning jingle-writing contests will go down in literary history. And the book's not saccharine; it doesn't preach; and it doesn't damn. Others among us may damn the 50s, the Catholic church, Mr. Ryan...But Terry Ryan does not.
Besides all those virtues, it's just very, very funny.
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Summary: What an amazing woman!
Review: This was a quick, very interesting read. Evelyn Ryan was a remarkable woman. I hope "contesting" makes a comeback. This book inspired me. :o)
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Summary: Mrs. Ryan is an Inspiration
Review: This is a daughter's wonderful tribute to a remarkable woman; very well-written. It is, at times, quite sad. Evelyn Ryan was such a remarkable woman, with an amazing story. You just have to read it. She is very inspiring. It says a lot for the skill of Terry Ryan as an author, for the reader to be able to feel so close to the people she writes about. You are right there while you read, you feel the emotion right along with everyone else. While I read, I felt as though I was growing up alongside the other kids, and felt as much sadness as a grown child left home as the younger kids. I was completely immersed in the Ryan family. I highly recommend this book. When so many biographies are of the rich and (in)famous, it was lovely to read about an ordinary woman who was far from ordinary. She is an inspiration to her children, and she will be to you.
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Summary: I would give more stars if I could!
Review: I absolutely LOVED this book; I originally checked it out from the library but have since purchased my own copy. A wonderful memoir from the 1950s, showing that women didn't necessarily have to be in the corporate world to be creative and successful. I think the abusive father was treated a bit too kindly in print, but then again, he wasn't the focus of the story -- it's about how a mother finds a way to provide for her children by using her imagination and wit. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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Summary: Defiantly wonderful
Review: There is finally another book I MUST have on my bookshelf next to Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Tuffy Ryan brings us the story of her mother Evelyn, who teaches us all that the only place poverty truly exists is in the mind. During these difficult economic times, Evelyn Ryan's example gave me the courage and strength I needed after my husband lost his job to move beyond fear and in to action, finding strength I didn't know I had, talents I didn't think I possessed, and the faith I thought I'd lost as a child. I think only an Oscar winner could do justice to this incredibe woman when this book is turned into a film. Susan Sarandon, Brenda Fricker and Kathy Bates get my vote to play Evelyn.
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Summary: Prizewinner Indeed
Review: This is a great book. I was introduced to it through a magazine and reread the exerpt at least five times before purchasing the book itself. Ms. Ryan is a teriffic story teller with an eye for detail and a gift of dialogue. Even though I knew it was a true story, it read like a great work of fiction. Ms. Ryan brought all the characters to life and also painted a nice portrait of a time gone by. I would highly recommend this to anyone. It would be a great tool in a college writing class to help students know how to write personal narratives.
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Summary: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
Review: A paean to a housewife in a small Midwestern town who saved her ten children from homelessness by winning hundreds of jingle-writing contests during the 1950s and '60s. San Francisco Chronicle contributor Ryan describes her impoverished childhood in a close-knit Irish Catholic family, revealing how her mother Evelyn's optimistic spirit counterbalanced her father's reign of terror. A talented writer, Evelyn sacrificed her promising career when she married Kelly, an alcoholic who squandered his wages while denying his ten children the basic necessities of life. As a result, the family finances depended on Evelyn submitting witty prose to product promotions contests and winning grocery shopping sprees or expensive appliances (which were then sold) to stave off hunger. (Ryan cites some of her mother's epigrams, which sing the praises of Pepsodent, Sealy, and Paper Mate, throughout her fast-paced narrative.) Evelyn made researching contests part of her daily routine and managed to win pretty much anything the family needed-including money for health insurance. Her grueling life, full of housework and devoid of friends, was redeemed mainly by the love of her children, who worshipped her. Although this has all the ingredients of a sob story, Ryan balances her tales of childhood trauma with humorous anecdotes about babysitting accident-prone children and wrestling irascible chickens. She also recalls how her mother finally developed a social life with other housewives who, although not as financially unfortunate as Evelyn, also managed to fill their cookie jars with the proceeds of advertising contests. An uplifting tale of domestic martyrdom, told with a remarkable lack of self-pity, that forces us to put our own sorrows into perspective.
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