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Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I enjoy reading about the lives of everyday people who lived at least 100 years ago, and this was fantastic. Surviving the Titanic was just a small footnote in a full life. Her observations of people's behavior reminded me that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and her courage in facing life was inspirational. I very highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: I Could NOT Put This Book Down!!
Review: I know that many people will buy this book for the fact alone that Miss Jessop survived the Titanic sinking. That episode, however, represents only a tiny fraction of the entire tapestry of her life, and it is that "saga", recounted here with invaluable editing and background information, that is truly riveting.Prior to reading this book, I was familiar with Miss Jessop's White Star collision and sinking experiences onboard the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic, but had NO idea of the rest of her work, background or personality. What a life! And when you finish reading this, you will be hoping that there are more memoirs hidden somewhere! I did a marathon read of this book, not being able to stop until I finished. This book is truly a winner! I am so thankful that it has been published.
Rating:
Summary: I Could NOT Put This Book Down!!
Review: I know that many people will buy this book for the fact alone that Miss Jessop survived the Titanic sinking. That episode, however, represents only a tiny fraction of the entire tapestry of her life, and it is that "saga", recounted here with invaluable editing and background information, that is truly riveting. Prior to reading this book, I was familiar with Miss Jessop's White Star collision and sinking experiences onboard the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic, but had NO idea of the rest of her work, background or personality. What a life! And when you finish reading this, you will be hoping that there are more memoirs hidden somewhere! I did a marathon read of this book, not being able to stop until I finished. This book is truly a winner! I am so thankful that it has been published.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK
Review: I LIVE IN MISSOURI AND WHILE WALKING THROUGH THE LIBRARY I WENT TO THE SHIP SECTION AND SAW THIS BOOK. I READ IT FROM FRONT TO BACK AND IT WAS ASTOUNDING. WHAT AN EXCELLENT BOOK THE WAY SHE DESCRIBED HER EXPERIENCE WAS BREATHTAKING. I WOULD RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO IS IN LOVE WITH THE TITANIC AS MUCH AS I AM. TAKE MY WORD FOR IT CHECK IT OUT OR BUY IT.
Rating: 
Summary: A working woman's life
Review: I read this book from cover to cover in one sitting. Violet Jessop survived near fatal illnesses in childhood, the loss of her father in adolecence (which meant that her mother had to work on the ships to provide a scanty income and leaving Violet as the "mother" to her siblings), and two shipwrecks. Mr. Maxtone-Graham wisely let Miss Jessop tell her story in her own words. I could almost hear the lilt in her voice. Unfortunately, Miss Jessop wrote little of the details of her shipboard duties, of her passengers, or of the Titanic and Brittanic sinkings. What she did write is priceless and naturally she would not want to dwell on painful memories of her passengers and shipmates cries for help; but I wish she had wrote more than she did. What was her daily routine? Did she clean the toilets as well as make the beds? Did the stewards have a duty room where they gathered for orders or to polish brass and shine shoes while waiting for the passengers bells? Did she act as lady's maid and if the passengers had their own servants, how did they split the work? What were her duties as a VAD nurse? What differences did she find between Olympic/Titanic as luxury liners and their sister Brittanic as a hospital ship? What was Mary Pickford like as a passenger (her photo is in the book)? What made up her uniform's 12 parts? How did she inform her family of her survival? Did she have to stay with the other crew awaiting the American Senate inquiry? If so, how did they live? Mr. Maxtone-Graham could have interviewed other steward(esse)s and people who knew Miss Jessop to write more background details that would've fleshed out her narrative. Miss Jessop was very discreet about the identities of people on paper; but she might've been more candid when describing them to her friends and family. This is a good book to read once and donate to the public library, since it is a record of a woman's work in the Edwardian era and one person's recollection of the Titanic disaster and so would be useful for study. But if you want to drench yourself in Titanic lore, the book's not for you.
Rating:
Summary: Titanic Survior The Newly Dicovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop
Review: I thought it was a very interesting story. You have to wonder how one person can survie two ship disasters. There are some really goods parts of the book. The way Violet Jessop puts her life in her words. In this story you really get a feel of how a person is treated because of where you come from. If your family is wealth and your nationalities. That really has not changed today. I really did enjoy the book. It starts out slow but as the story goes on it gets you attiontion. I am glad that I did read the book. I am glad that her family sent her manuscripts to John Maxtone-Graham to be published. It would be fun if other people from that era would do that. You really find out how they lived and survied.
Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Life....in an Unexpected Way
Review: Violet Jessop went to sea as a stewardess on an ocean liner in 1908. She continued as a stewardess through the glory days when a transatlantic ship crossing was as much a society event as a mode of transportation. She retired at age 63 in 1950, long after traveling by ship had ceased to be chic. During her career Violet Jessop lived through three ocean disasters: 1. the September 1911 collision of HMS Hawke with Olympic, 2. the sinking of Titanic in 1912, and 3. the sinking of the hospital ship Britannic during World War I. But the reader who picks up this book expecting a gripping first-person account of the sinking of Titanic will be disappointed. Jessop treats that experience in a mere two or three pages. She dismisses the sinking of Britannic in a couple of pages and doesn't even mention the collision between Hawke and Olympic. From our current historical perspective, it's easy to judge that the most important event in Violet Jessop's life was her presence on board Titanic. But for Violet the best part of her life was her early childhood, before her father's death, in South America. Her book tells in lovingly remembered detail of her days on the Pampas before her father's illness and early death sent the family back to England and into financial need. Violet went into service on a ship not because of the glamour of the work, but because it was a job that required little education. Violet, who lived from 1887 to 1971, completed this manuscript in 1934, probably for some contest that she apparently did not win. Her nieces discovered the manuscript after her death and submitted it to Sheridan House for publication in 1996. This woman who is the subject of this book should not be judged for when and where she happened to be in history, but the kind of life she led.
Rating:
Summary: The Story of a Remarkable Survivor
Review: Violet Jessup is an articulate, vital, resiliant woman who has written a thoroughly enjoyable account of her fascinating life. I read this book primarily (although not exclusively) because of its tie-in to the TITANIC disaster - Jessup being a stewardess on that ill-fated ocean liner - but I found myself enthralled by her life story from the first page. In fact, her too-brief TITANIC memories are only a part of her amazing life lived. Editor John Maxtone-Graham does a first rate job of filling in the blanks in Jessup's narrative. While I am not convinced that Jessup was a "titanic survivor" in more ways than one - the title, I'm sure, is meant to imply as much - she certainly proved herself to be a remarkable one.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: What is truly remarkable about Violet Jessop's memoirs is not simply the fact that this simple and ordinary woman survived not just the sinking of the Titanic but also that of the Britannic; what truly sets her account apart from all others is the eloquent and yet utterly straightforward manner in which she describes the events. One has the sense that those she served upon those and many other ships would have been completely devastated by the events. Yet Violet herself considers them merely two of many mishaps she she encountered in her long life at sea. Violet had a rare gift for storytelling that transports the reader back in time to the glory days of the great oceanliners. Certainly there are times at which one wishes she had delved further into some of her tales, offering up greater detail or lengthier explanation, but in the end those that come to truly appreciate this book will realize that the very brevity of her accounts of the Titanic and Britannic tragedies only adds to the charm of the matter-of-fact storytelling that marked the long and meaningful life of one truly extraordinary woman.
Rating:
Summary: Overall a good read but title is misleading.
Review: Whoever picked the title "Titanic Survivor" for this book apparently hoped to cash in on the Titanic bandwagon from the "Titanic" movie. Despite the title, the book does not devote much time to the actual story of Titanic but instead details the life of Violet Jessop, the survivor. There is more description of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, and that sinking. At times the book appears to be disjointed. It is a good read overall, especially for anyone interested in history from a personal perspective. Definitely worth recommending!
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