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Summary: This book could save many women from domestic abuse
Review: Michele Weldon is an incredible writer. Each word, sentence, and thought was so rich and clear that I could see the picture, and know the depths of her inner experience. Throughout the book she composes the story of her life in such an interesting way that I was often left awestruck. Anyone could benefit from this book, whether or not they have survived abuse. She demonstrates how her life was changed in the aftermath of domestic violence and divorce.
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Summary: Looks Are Very Deceiving
Review: Ms. Weldon wrote a column for a number of years. I remember thinking how this woman had it all: a loving husband, three adorable boys and a neat career.Life is stranger than fiction. I applaud the courage it took for Michele to finally say enough is enough. I have never been abused - but it doesn't stop me from feeling the anger that's directed at us women. I hope fervently, that God willing, Michele meets someone who will cherish her and her boys. Then it would be a storybook ending. Thank you Michele for sharing your life and your courage to stop it. I pity your ex.
Rating:
Summary: Looks Are Very Deceiving
Review: Ms. Weldon wrote a column for a number of years. I remember thinking how this woman had it all: a loving husband, three adorable boys and a neat career. Life is stranger than fiction. I applaud the courage it took for Michele to finally say enough is enough. I have never been abused - but it doesn't stop me from feeling the anger that's directed at us women. I hope fervently, that God willing, Michele meets someone who will cherish her and her boys. Then it would be a storybook ending. Thank you Michele for sharing your life and your courage to stop it. I pity your ex.
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Summary: A well-written book by a strong woman
Review: Overall, this book is very well written, and it is an important book in terms of understanding domestic violence because it is true. I read this right after reading Black & Blue by Anna Quindlen, and I have to say that this was much better -- the writing was more vibrant and, although I don't know what it's like to be in an abusive relationship, it seemed more real -- her fear was so much more real than Frannie's fear in Black & Blue -- Frannie who moved away and seemed to forget so quickly about the intense fear she had felt for so long. Michele's account is so honest and compelling, so much so that you feel you're there with her painting the walls and going to Sarah's Inn, realizing that the fear doesn't just go away and that it takes an awful lot of work to feel comfortable in yourself again. Toward the end of the book her writing focused more on what she was thinking than what was happening, and at times I wanted to know more about what was happening -- on the one hand, I applaud Michele for moving on and discussing what was going on in her mind and life -- but on the other hand, and I hate to admit this, I wanted to know more about the ex and what was going on with him. I continually felt shock and anger after hearing about his abusive acts, and in a way I wanted to hold onto that anger a little bit more, although I think that overall, it probably was better for this book to end on the more positive note. I loved the way each chapter started with a letter from him. The only thing that frustrated me, though, was that the letters seemed like such a huge red flag -- I thought the guy sounded pretty screwey right from the start, when he seemed to want to cut her off from her family and have her all to himself -- his words in the letters seemed so calculated -- like he read a book about how to cast a spell over women and make them powerless to resist his manly charms, and he wrote these letters with that in mind. I think the letters are there to show a contrast between these supposedly beautiful things he said and how horribly he acted, but I really think that the letters are just creepy. I can understand, though, how easy it is to get caught up in a new relationship with a slick, attractive man, and how easy it is to brush aside any concerns that maybe he's not as wonderful as he seems at first glance. Concerns aside, this is a wonderful book. I read it over the course of one evening and the next day -- I read all day, hardly stopping at all, because I got so sucked into this book I really couldn't put it down. And when I finally did, I wasn't depressed -- I felt good.
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Summary: I am grateful for all the feedback from readers.
Review: Since the book has been in bookstores and on-line, the response from readers has been remarkably empowering and overwhlemingly positive. It was not only difficult to write the truth, but to know that it would be read and I could n o longer hide what happened. But I have been embraced by so many readers who offer encouragement and support and who share their similar stories that it makes me feel bold and whole. I hope they know that a woman who is a victim of domstic violence needs to speak out and tell the truth, and that shame has no place in her life. Many women say they are afraid they would die of embarrassment to let anyone know they have been battered. What I tell them is that in domestic violence, it is never the embarassment that kills you.
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Summary: Great for a woman who has left an abusive marriage
Review: Thank you Michele Weldon for writing your journey through living and leaving an abusive husband. --- Her writing is encouraging and honest. The writing style kept me reading. The way she put into words the joy of leaving the cycle of abuse despite the hardship that it may bring is just great!
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Summary: An important, powerful story, full of truth and hope
Review: This book needs to be on the shelves of every battered women's program in America. Weldon has done what other authors have tried to do, and has done it better. This book touches the reader, and hurts where it touches, but not without a clear message of hope and deliverance. This book is a gift to all battered women everywhere. Read it.
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Summary: a poignant book from a woman who "had it all" yet was abused
Review: This is a beautifully written book. Particularly if you are an abused person, or if you know someone who is trying to find the courage to leave an abusive relationship, Weldon's book may tread where words cannot. She is neither vindictive or cruel. She tells a tale of a marriage that was picture perfect on the outside and violent on the inside. Weldon writes of her Attorney husband, a Sunday school teacher and pillar of the community who secretly and violently abuses her. It took Weldon years to find the courage to escape the violence and tell her story. Her writing is clear, beautiful and heartbreaking. Yet in the telling of her wrenching story one feels her strength and courage. I didn't feel sorry for Weldon in the end. I was sorry she had to experience such violence in her and her children's lives. What comes through in her story is her courage and her strength. An excellent memoir.
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Summary: It is crucial to open your heart and tell the truth.
Review: This is not a vindictive, tell-all tale. Mine is a story of coming to terms with the truth of the life I kept secret. In speaking the unspeakable,I hope to help the millions of women who share my history. I was the victim of domestic violence and my story of survival will hopefully help to explode the myths about women who are battered. I am a successful, educated woman from a loving, happy family. Yet, I was a victim of domestic violence. I wrote this book to explain this enigma to myself and to explain it to others. I pray my words help others heal and understand.
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Summary: Superb Book, Invaluable Resource
Review: This personal account of an abusive marital relationship and the healing, transforming journeying out of it is beautifully written and deeply moving. It is all at once heart-wrenching, inspiring, and empowering, and it offers a message of courage, hope, faith, and love. Michele Weldon effectively puts to rest the many fallacies surrounding domestic violence in our culture, and her story illustrates the fact that willingness/ability to respond to domestic violence and abuse continues to be a major challenge for the church in 2000. I CLOSED MY EYES is an invaluable resource for a variety of contexts today, e.g., in seminary pastoral care & counseling courses, clinical social work degree programs. It should be on the bookshelves of our churches and synagogues, domestic abuse shelters, and public libraries. It would be an enormously good read for medical students and interns in our teaching hospitals across the country who, sadly, get little education and training regarding the complex family and societal issues surrounding domestic violence and abuse. All who minister to or care for people caught in the cycle of domestic violence and abuse will learn from this book.
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