<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book, because on one hand you can learn some neat stuff about the way things were in the early part of the XX century. On the other hand, this book would have greatly improved if an editor had removed the extra weight included in the story. I can see this being a very fascinating memoir for her family members, but once you take this to the general public, the array of names and places and the personal messages to all grandchildren at the end of the book become too much. Nonetheless, it was interesting to read about the trials and tribulations of this woman, married at 20 to an alcoholic. Why she continued having children (eight in total) after she discovered her husband was a drunk i'd never be able to comprehend. She tries to explain how she felt during those years, and at times she is successful and at times she cuts her thoughts short and does not go any further with her analyses. It's a pity because she does have some engaging, albeit sometimes bland, perspective on issues like alcohol, politics, the military, war, family, sex, etc. Don't expect big depths on this book, which by the way is a very easy and fast read.
Rating: 
Summary: An easy to read memoir of life as the century turned.
Review: Jessie Foveaux's spritely style makes for easy reading in this memoir of a little girl's life in the small town midwest just after the turn of the century. This courageous, articulate woman stitched together words in a literary quilt of family, friends and vistas. Any Given Day covers an era from country isolation to computer connections. With skill like she possesses with her tatting shuttle, Jessie Lee Brown Foveaux weaves an intricate, unforgettable lace stretching from times past through WWII. She dreams of becoming a teacher, a missionary. The man she loves dies a victim of the First World War. She "settles" for the handsome, persistent suitor who becomes the domineering father of her eight children. When life with him becomes unbearable, she does the unthinkable and divorces him. She rears her children and perseveres to win not only the community's respect, but her own self esteem. Some of the final chapters were so personal, addressed to her descendants, that I first thought th
Rating: 
Summary: A true inspiration to all women raising families today!
Review: Nobody who reads this book will ever feel overworked or under appreciated, in quite the same way again. We have it so much easier today; and complain MORE !! My Mother is nearing the age of this remarkable woman, and we are hoping to get her to write her memories for us too; before they fade from her mind. She has been reluctant to start, due to the fact that she is not a professional writer. For her birthday this year, Mom is getting a copy of this book; and an audio tape, to listen to, and hopefully get inspired. My Mother has been a Nanny, earned a Master's Degree in Education, driven a Taxi and Limos for Official at United States Steel(during WW II), made bombs in a munitions plant, ridden Harley-Davison motorcycles, served as a Missionary for her church (where she met and married my Father), taught elementary school, raised two daughters, and still babysits their various off spring, while making beautiful quilts. Please God, let Jessie Lee Brown Foveaux give her the courage to tell us all about her adventurous life, too!!
<< 1 >>
| 
