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Summary: Awesome and a goosebump-maker...
Review: A friend gave this book to me and I did not think much about it until I started to read it. It is a book to savor and not read straight through because each section makes a powerful impact on the spirit and the mind. After each "read", I could not help but stop and relect on what I had just read, so beautifully conveyed were the thoughts that I felt mesmerized by this author's writing and writing style. She gets you not only in the heart but in the gut. Although I finished it a few months ago, I keep it near my desk just in case I have a few minutes to review one of my best loved chapters. Incredibly thought-provoking. So if you want goosebumps as well as a soul-full book, this is a must read! It is timeless.
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Summary: Wisdom makes her rounds in Remen's work
Review: A grandfather's blessings have evoked in Rachel Naomi Remen a wisdom in the service of life. This book is filled with stories, anecdotes and reflections which will help readers to recognize and bless the wisdom in themselves and in others. At a time when Orthodox Judaism is in the news, this book will go a long way to dispel cliches and to advance a positive appreciation of the spiritual wisdom at the heart of all authentic religious traditions and personal experience.
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Summary: This book was "balm for my soul."
Review: Although I have lived for over half a century, I thoroughly enjoy the wit, the wisdom, and the sage advice of "elder" people. I could relate to so many things in "My Grandfather's Blessings" for I, too, had an adored grandfather who taught me by example the virtues of compassion, tenderness,love, who taught me it is OK to cry, to hurt, to feel, to be afraid, and who offered loving advice through very difficult times after the death of my mother when I was quite young. I learned so much from him--things that carried me through trying times as I became a caretaker for my father. I wish there had been a book like this during that challenging time!My Grandfather's Blessings is a touching, poignant book that'll reach into the depths of the soul and help us connect (and cope) with our fragility, our "humanness."
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Summary: My Grandfathers Blessings : Stories of Strength, Refuge, and
Review: As a Cancer Survivor and a Servant of God, to a GOD that calls me to life, this is a great book to help on my journey and battles of life. It has short stories (which during and after receiving treatments this was just what I could handle). The wonderful stories of "Strength, Refuge and Belonging", and also for me a call to living life with God, even as I battle cancer. It is one to "chew on" again and again. IT really filled my heart with stories that I could truly understand and was able to hold in my heart as I walk with cancer. Hearing them from a beautiful lady that walked with other cancer folks just made it that more potent and healing for me! Thanks Rachel for writing this Blessed Book.
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Summary: A new respect for the life process...we are all connected
Review: As a hospice caretaker and HIV prevention professional I experience the brickwalls of the system and of losing client/patients and colleagues. I read this book and felt so connected to each story. I feel that my empathy gets battered by the daily battles I fight. This book gave me release in the evening to understand the life process from a different perspective. I always thought that an individuals actions can make a difference. These stories reinforced this belief. This book made me reflect at the end of each day about what I did that day to make a difference in one person's life. It made me see the brickwall as separate bricks instead of the overwhelming high blockade to services. I also have a different perspective on healthcare clinicians. These individuals sometimes become the barrier to my clients/patients access and progress. I had tended to lump them all into one negative category and distrust and second guess their actions. I try to give them more of a chance now before I judge. I met the author at a reading an was surprised at how much her voice sounded the way I expected! I would suggest this book as a good read and support for anyone working in a large health education or healthcare system. The frustruations of the system can get one down. This book will help soothe battered empathy.
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Summary: Inspirational and heartwarming: a must read for clinicians
Review: As a physician educator committed to proving and promoting patient-centered care, I was deeply moved and inspired by My Grandfather's Blessings. Rachel's deeply compassionate and heartwarming stories provide extremely valuable lessons for all readers. Her teachings about the importance of listening, appreciating, honoring, respecting and serving others are expecially valuable for health professionals seeking to enhance their capacity to heal their patients.....and themselves.
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Summary: Change of life
Review: Change of life does not always mean hormonal changes. After life threatening illnesses which are now considered chronic, I broused Amazon and have purchased many books which spoke of the nature of illness and the changes which occur during their life in your body. The books spoke little of the soul. They spoke little of being dependent on others, feeling awful most of the time, asking questions of the gods which went unanswered and so on and so on. Very boring stuff. Then this book. Rachel Naomi Remen: you have answered my questions. You have polished my soul. You have taught me the lessons which meditation could not, soothed me when food could not, enlivened me when wine could not. Sitting in my doctor's waiting room, crying just reading your introduction to your Grandfather, I was called into the examining room and while having a PAP smear, read a portion of your book to my internist. I am blessed with a doctor who not only is a fine diagnostician, but a man of great humor. He said this was a first for him. Me, too. There is no time in life when reading a chapter of that book is not in perfect accordance with the rules of medicine, both physical and emotional. Thank you does not say it. I thought I was beyond words. Obviously, not. I recommend this book to everyone, sick or well....but especially to those for whom illness is a constant companion. There are many road to healing. I read somewhere: "My illness is a friend who brings me great truths." It brought me your book as well. I bless you.
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Summary: A gift during a time of need
Review: Dealing long distance with the terminal illness of a loved one, I have begun to feel depleated and inpotent. I picked up this book at the reccomendation of a friend. At first, I was not sure it would do me any good. As I kept reading it found I was soothed and encouraged by the stories within. I even felt myself being gently chided, for I had been looking at the illness through the protective ( and emotionally safer) eyes of the health care professional I am. It allowed me to open an area that I had kept shut, the feelings I had about the illness and the potential loss. I found the book to be a comfort and a blessing. I have kept it at my bedside and have turned to portions which I need for that day. It is divided into several areas speaking of both receiving and giving and how they are intertwined. I cannot put into words the comfort and encouragement these pages gave me.
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Summary: Wisdom combined with love
Review: Dr. Remen doesn't need another 5-star review, but these stories are so wonderful. Just as strong as Kitchen Table Wisdom. I have to admit to bias, because Dr. Remen wrote a beautiful blurb for the back of my book The Art of Getting Well. But I would have loved her anyway. David Spero RN www.art-of-getting-well.com
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Summary: A Master Story-teller
Review: Dr. Remen doesn't need another 5-star review, but these stories are so wonderful. Just as strong as Kitchen Table Wisdom. I have to admit to bias, because Dr. Remen wrote a beautiful blurb for the back of my book The Art of Getting Well. But I would have loved her anyway. David Spero RN www.art-of-getting-well.com
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