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Summary: I finally find my guiding light!
Review: I wish I could have read this book much earlier. Not for preventing the mistakes I had made along the way, but for being wiser while taking the consequences came alone the mistakes. Coming to America at the age of 19, alone, I find the hardest thing is not trying to fit in, but not to be compromised by the circumstances and still stay alive. I didn't know exactly what I was fighting for until I read this book. Being rebellious to oneself, I think that is the goal one can achieve ultimately only in his youth. I do believe now, that choosing a different path is the adventure worth reaching for. It may not be a better life, but much more, of course.
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Summary: Looking for a sleeper hit in paperback? This IS the one.
Review: I'll admit, when a friend told me about this book and suggested that I pick it up, I was rather dubious about whether I would really enjoy a book about an American boy's youth in British boarding schools, but I was taken away with Paul Watkins' style AND stories. One aspect that at first annoyed me was that Watkins described his book as a memoir (even though he's thirty-ish), a term usually reserved for writings from someone important. But folks, a true memoir it is! Watkins' abilitiy to recount and describe with clarity tales of his youth make this book not only entertaining, but circumspect as well. I found myself searching for the detail in my own memories of youth that Watkins was so easily recreating for his reader. It is a true find, and I guess as penance for not taking the recommendation seriously at first, I try to hail and applaud whenever possible. Read this book and you'll soon be searching the corners of your own mind for more
Rating:
Summary: Listen up!
Review: If you're not convinced yet after reading the above comments, check for your pulse. They hit it on the nose why this book is so great. I gobbled it up in two days when I was fourteen, and will never forget it. His journey had echoes of my own, even though I'm a home schooled girl from the Midwest. In the course of reading it, I became conscious of my own inborn writer-nature as he became aware of his own. Most people don't know what to make of this book when I try to recommend it, but it is definitely a masterpiece. (Afterwards, I read a novel of his, "The Promise of Light," which was also good.) Rest assured, our grandchildren will be reading Paul Watkins for English class - he is a master in the making.
Rating:
Summary: A must for high school students
Review: No other book that I have read has dealt with the everday pressures of adolesence as clearly as Watkin's "Stand Before Your God." His memory of his time at the Dragon School and Eton College draws the reader in and never lets him go. He uses references that young people can relate to and language they can appreciate. This book makes you laugh out loud on one page and then cry on the next. It definitely stands as a premier piece of literature that shares with young people the common feelings and emotions associated with growing up and discovering a personal identity.
Rating:
Summary: A must for high school students
Review: No other book that I have read has dealt with the everday pressures of adolesence as clearly as Watkin's "Stand Before Your God." His memory of his time at the Dragon School and Eton College draws the reader in and never lets him go. He uses references that young people can relate to and language they can appreciate. This book makes you laugh out loud on one page and then cry on the next. It definitely stands as a premier piece of literature that shares with young people the common feelings and emotions associated with growing up and discovering a personal identity.
Rating:
Summary: A must for high school students
Review: No other book that I have read has dealt with the everday pressures of adolesence as clearly as Watkin's "Stand Before Your God." His memory of his time at the Dragon School and Eton College draws the reader in and never lets him go. He uses references that young people can relate to and language they can appreciate. This book makes you laugh out loud on one page and then cry on the next. It definitely stands as a premier piece of literature that shares with young people the common feelings and emotions associated with growing up and discovering a personal identity.
Rating:
Summary: an amazing man
Review: Paul Watkins came to my school for a poetry festival. I had never heard of him and I was planning a boring assembly. Instead I got the most compelling, hilarious, and intelligent discussion. The next day I went and picked up his book. It was amazing! There were so many different levels of depth and thought with a touch of comedy. He is an amazing writer and such an intelligent person. Keep writing!
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Summary: Melodic Memoir
Review: Paul Watkins is a terrific writer. None of his books show off his talent as this one does. It is the story of his life as an American schoolboy in England's swankiest schools. More than that it is about a boy growing up adhering to rules and recognizing that that adherence is endemic to his English life but not his American life.Best of all about this book, though, is the writing. It is clear, melodic, rhapsodic yet forceful. It is a book to sit and savor. One can only wonder and admire the construction of sentences and thoughts. A purely enjoyable experience to read.
Rating:
Summary: Melodic Memoir
Review: Paul Watkins is a terrific writer. None of his books show off his talent as this one does. It is the story of his life as an American schoolboy in England's swankiest schools. More than that it is about a boy growing up adhering to rules and recognizing that that adherence is endemic to his English life but not his American life. Best of all about this book, though, is the writing. It is clear, melodic, rhapsodic yet forceful. It is a book to sit and savor. One can only wonder and admire the construction of sentences and thoughts. A purely enjoyable experience to read.
Rating:
Summary: an amazing, heart-rending and funny memoir
Review: Paul Watkins is my favorite writer. I have read all of his books and while some are good, others are brilliant. Stand Before Your God is in the latter category. This memoir was one of the least pretentious and most moving of any I have ever read ("Mama's Girl" by Veronica Chambers is another). It is at times very funny (the gym-shoe scene) and very heart-rending (when his father is dying). Even though I am a 28-year-old American woman educated in a midwest public school system, I could identify with Watkins' desire to fit in and loneliness. It made me laugh and cry. What has always amazed me and moved me about Watkins is that he uses the most simple words to convey the deepest emotions and meanings. Few writers of his generation do that. They think bigger words are better but Watkins proves that less is often more. I had the pleasure to meet Paul at a reading for Archangel a few years ago. He was very shy and almost self-dreprecating, but very friendly. I hope that he writes for many years to come and that others will discover his writing and come to love it as much as I have.
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