Rating: 
Summary: Well done
Review: I read this book after a recommendation and at first, I'll admit, the story line did not interest me. However, I soon found this to be a uniquely told story of the challenges of having a mentally-challenged individual in one's life. While the main story line is about a mentally-challenged sister, the underlying story line consists of the author's revelation that her sister seems to have a more well-adjusted life than her. I enjoyed her honest revelations and the skillful way she described each bus driver and of course, her sister.
From the author of The Difference Now, A New Dish, and At the Coffee Shop.
Rating:
Summary: Well done
Review: I read this book after a recommendation and at first, I'll admit, the story line did not interest me. However, I soon found this to be a uniquely told story of the challenges of having a mentally-challenged individual in one's life. While the main story line is about a mentally-challenged sister, the underlying story line consists of the author's revelation that her sister seems to have a more well-adjusted life than her. I enjoyed her honest revelations and the skillful way she described each bus driver and of course, her sister.
From the author of The Difference Now, A New Dish, and At the Coffee Shop. (www.thedifferencenow.com).
Rating:
Summary: not a Polyanna, not a cynic
Review: I was sickened that someone who "knows" a real-life character in a book would come on line to publically slam her. That alone should make her review worthless in everyones' eyes. As for the educator who was in special education but changed majors - thank goodness for students with special needs! These two reviews showed the polar opposite of the kind of grace and kindness this world needs, and that this wonderful book illustrates!
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful ride!
Review: I was touched, moved, nourished by this extraordinary book.
All the people I encountered came alive. I wanted to meet them, talk to them, tell them how much I enjoyed sharing this journey with them.
The book has so much to recommend it.
For starters, Rachel Simon was unflinchingly honest.
Then, too, I was captivated by the way she wove the past and present without missing a beat. The moment I finshed this book I started telling others about it.
And it showed how we often find courage and strength of spirit often in the most unexpected places.
In a world when we are now, more than ever, seeking connections and enduring verities, this book is a must read.
It resonates, still, whenever I see it on my bookshelf. I suspect it always will.Howard Rice
Rating:
Summary: quick read
Review: It's a quick read but that doesn't mean it's not a good book. I would recommend it to others. She paints a realistic view of life. I especially love her comment about those who view the mentally retarded as angels.
Rating: 
Summary: Laughable!
Review: It's really sad how something can be so one-sided. I happen to know who Beth is and have lived in the same town she does, for many years. While her sister, the author of this book, makes it look like only a handful of busdrivers and fellow passengers are annoyed by Beth, it's really the other way around. The majority of drivers and passengers do NOT like her. Don't get me wrong--they sympathize with the fact that she is mentally retarded; however, that doesn't mean she's stupid. She knows full-well what she is doing and saying, and it seems she loves to irk people by boasting and bragging that she "doesn't have to work" while all the rest of us are on our way to work when we hear this on the bus. Being a witness to what Beth does, daily, it bothers me that the readers of this book will think she is some type of "hero" or that she is well-loved. Neither is true. I've witnessed an elderly man send her blocks away to buy him a soda, just so she would MISS the bus they were both waiting for. He didn't want to put up with her on the ride home. If you're into fairy tales, I guess this is the book for you!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed.
Review: Learning something about each other and ourselves while describing the world slightly poetically. I expected more from a professor at one of the best colleges in the country.
Rating:
Summary: A Special Journey
Review: Many things in this book amazed me, not the least of which was the support system of bus drivers who were such an integral part of Beth Simon's life as she rode the city buses, day after da,y in an unnamed Pennsylvania city. Rachel, spending part of the year accompanying her mildly retarded sister on her daily rounds of bus rides, intricately depicts these drivers and their(mostly) caring attitudes toward Beth. It was amazing to her that Beth actually had a better support system than she did in her so-called "normal" life. Interspered in the monthly entries are vignettes about the past shared by these two sisters and their siblings. Their total abandonment by their mother when she decided to marry an abusive convict was heart-wrenching. But this book was never whiny- rather, it showed the resilience of this family. I learned a lot about the social services, within a community, that are provided to disabled people like Beth. Her "team" seemed very caring and involved with her life. I felt Rachel's frustration as she tried to convince Beth to eat better, take better medical and dental care of herself, and to get some kind of a job. Beth's stubbornmess and willfulness were also a challenge to her sister, as was her demanding attitude. This book is perceptive, enlightening, painfully honest....and memorable. I am so glad that I read it and that Rachel Simon allowed me into her world.
Rating:
Summary: A Highly Engrossing, Nontraditional Memoir
Review: Midway through RIDING THE BUS WITH MY SISTER, Rachel Simon's engrossing, nontraditional memoir, Simon makes a startling observation: Almost all of the characters with mental retardation depicted in books come from fiction. FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, OF MICE AND MEN, THE SOUND AND THE FURY --- she ticks them off one by one but can't remember a work of significance, or even one of dubious merit, that is nonfiction. Perhaps Simon has written the first book in this cannon. RIDING THE BUS WITH MY SISTER has the insight of a literary work, the angst of a memoir, the heroes of a novel, and the page-turning sensibilities of a thriller. There is little suspense or drama, at least of the broader scale type. But for those who want to read about true life, it doesn't get any more real than dealing with a disabled member of the family --- Rachel's younger sister Beth, to be specific. She's a stubborn, independent, mildly retarded woman of 38 when Rachel agrees to take time out of her busy and mostly empty life to ride the buses with her sister. Beth, who lives alone in an assisted living facility, rides the buses in her mid-sized Pennsylvania city from dawn to dusk everyday except Sunday (no runs). She loves bright colors, brighter clothing, Top Forty radio and her boyfriend, Jesse. Beth hates mean people, vegetables, bigots and dentists. For sure, she is not your typical protagonist and neither, thank goodness, is Simon your typical narrator. She admits to many faults, to being too wrapped up in her work to spend time with people, much less her troubled and troubling sister. Rachel undertakes the year of bus riding, scrunched between daily commitments to writing, teaching and planning events at a bookstore, in order to grow closer to Beth but also to assuage her guilt at being a bad sister. She remembers a time when her father, desperate after months of a then-mid 20s Beth acting out in ways he could not control, asked her to take temporary custody of her younger sister one weekend a month. Rachel refused, as did siblings Laura and Max. Though Rachel and Beth played together when they were young, their conversations have become forced and uncomfortable --- until Rachel agrees to ride the buses. There she finds that Beth has fashioned a community for herself. Not every driver likes her. Some won't even tolerate her. Unsympathetic passengers sometimes scream at Beth, an unstoppable chatterbox. Beth feels a sense of purpose and entitlement on these buses that both amazes and frustrates her sister. Through their 12 months, Simon realizes, startlingly, that she does not know the actual definition of "mentally retarded." Her quest to learn more about her sister's disability is one of the most compelling parts of the book. Simon doesn't crusade or sugarcoat. She presents differing yet intriguing views on how those with mental retardation should be treated, eventually settling on self-determination as the imperfect right choice. No matter what, Simon never claims more knowledge than she has. We are learning right along with her. As the lacking literature on mentally disabled people shows, this is a good thing because we are mostly an uninformed audience. The only real criticism of RIDING THE BUS WITH MY SISTER may be the way Simon raises the bus drivers to pedestals, in the way that Beth herself often does. They are portrayed as wise wageworkers, dispensing penny truths that lessen white-collar guilt during their many cameos. Simon seems to acknowledge that she is at risk for demigoding these regular humans when she revisits them later in the book, explaining some flaws that may have been overlooked upon first acquaintance. Of course, that's hard to fault when some of these too-good-to-be-true drivers seem exactly that, such as Jacob, the driver who tries to teach Beth the philosophy of "do unto others" and brings the sisters to the beach on his day off. More than anything, though, it is the italicized pieces at the end of each section that bring the book to life. These are Simon's accounts of growing up with her sister, and they combine for a fascinating look at what it's like growing up in a family living with disability. No family can claim it is without distractions or the tiniest bit of dysfunction; Simon's clan has plenty of both. And yet in the end, there is a satisfactory, realistic ending. Beth will continue to ride the buses and Rachel will continue to wonder if she is doing right by her sister. But these days, at least the two understand each other slightly better. --- Reviewed by Toni Fitzgerald from Bookreporter.com
Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: My high school decided this summer that all students--including those with massive amounts of homework already--should read a book to enhance our tolerance of disabilities. When I recieved the letter in mid-July, I was, to put it bluntly, pissed off. I had enough work as it was; why did the administration feel the need to torture me further? However, all such feelings evaporated after reading just a few chapters of this book. I finished it this evening, and can honestly say I've never enjoyed a school-assigned book more than this. Ms. Simon's "dark voice" reveals her unspoken thoughts of her sister Beth, but the lack thereof shows that she is not simply a monster who refuses to accept her sister's condition. I found all of the characters wonderfully insightful, each in his or her own way. Each tells something about human nature. I absolutely adored Beth's dynamic personality, going from streetwise and sassy, to slightly shy and loving, to downright rude and anti-social, all in the space of mere seconds. She is portrayed the way all people with mental retardation should be: normally. 10 stars out of 5! Do yourself a favor and pick up this book!
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