Week in Review - Books Reviews - Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training; Adam Stern - The People We Keep; Allison Larkin and Morningside Heights ; Joshua Henkin

Thank You Deb@ Reader Buzz

How was your week everyone?  Last weekend was enjoyable and we were able to change our walks up a bit and get in some nice views along the way.

The rest of the week was rather humid with some thunderstorms. I didn't even go to yoga this week but, I won't bore you with my swollen knee and icing saga.  Today our devices are powered up as Hurricane Henri is set to wreck havoc with the New England coast. Our last significant here was Hurricane Bob in 1991 (30 years ago.) This one is supposed to be slower moving but longer lasting winds and rain beginning Sunday. i'm hoping no trees come down and if power is lost it will be brief.

READING

This was a good reading week with lots of variety: I reviewed some children's books on Monday, finished a non fiction, and listened to some good fiction on audio (well except for the Harold Robbins one).

Here's what I finished this week:

1. North and South: The Tale of Two Hemispheres;  Sandra Morris - 5/5 
2. Picturing a Nation: The Great Depression's Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself; Martin Sandler - 5/5
3. Dreams Die First; Harold Robbins - 1.5/5 - Setting: CA and LasVegas, NV
4. Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training; Adam Stern - NF -  4/5
5. The People We Keep; Allison Larkin - 3.5/5 Setting: Upstate New York
6. Morningside Heights ; Joshua Henkin - 4.5/5 Setting: New York City

Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training; Adam Stern

Mariner Books - 2021

eGalley provided at no cost by Marriner Books and Edelweiss

Rating - 4/5 stars

My Thoughts - Adam Stern's memoir gives reader insight into his four years as a psychiatry resident at Harvard in 2010. He was one of fifteen residents in the program which was referred to by the faculty as "The Golden Class. "  

I thought it was interesting how a young man who had achieved so much, at times he felt like he never measured up. The memoir also provided a look at the challenges he and other residents faced and the unique issues that were not something one would learn from a medical text book.  My favorite part about the memoir were the aspects in which he shared some stories about troubled individuals who were hoping someone could relieve their mental anguish and make their life more bearable. 

I thought the memoir was very well-written and a worthwhile read.even though It wasn't exactly what I was expecting as I thought it would feature more in-depth case studies similar to those found in books like Maybe You Should Talk to Someone; Gottlieb and Good Morning, Monster; Gildiner and Burgess. 

The People We Keep; Allison Larkin

Simon & Schuster Audio - 2021

Narrator: Julia Whelan (very good)

audio download provided at no cost by Simon & Schuster Audio

Rating - 3.5/5 stars

My Thoughts: Sixteen year old April Sawicki hasn't had a happy childhood but music has always been important to her. Her mother took off leaving her with her uncaring and sometimes abusive father. They lived in a motor-less motor home he won in a poker game. April has been pretty much raised by her father's girlfriend.  One day after a fight with her father she decides she's had enough of Little River and heads for Ithaca where she hopes to find work and somehow survive and start a new life. It's at a local coffee shop that she meets some people who are kind to her and make her feel that she fits in. However, when people have disappointed you all of your life, it's difficult to learn to trust when fleeing seems what sometimes feel best. Will April ever find what she longs for?

This is a story that got off to a very slow start for me. It took me a while to connect with April who was so used to keeping people at a distance because of what she had endured. She makes some bad choices along the way but once she begins to see that there are people who really do care about her, perhaps she will get a chance for a happy life. 

Morningside Heights; Joshua Henkin

Random House Audio - 2021

Narrator: Kathe Mazur and Shane Baker (very good)

audio download from my public library

Rating - 4.5/5 stars

My Thoughts: Spence Robbins was a well-respected English professor at Columbia University. It's where he met wife Pru Steiner when she was one of his students, Pru and Spence have a daughter together who is a med student in California. Spence also has an adult son named Arlo with Linda one of his former students. Linda was about of a free spirit moving from place to place so except for two years that Arlo lived with Spence when he was a teen, the two never had much of a father-son relationship.

When Pru is 51 and Spence is 57 he is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers.  This is a story of how life can change, sometimes in the blink of an eye and how loved ones act, react and move forward. I loved this story and all of the characters from Pru and Spence to Arlo and Sarah and even the the wonderful caregiver who eventually was hired to help care for Spence. This is a story that makes readers realize that rich or poor, intelligent or average, everyone at some point has the struggles and disappointments.  The tender storyline was so well crafted. I was quite moved by both the story and the wonderful audio narration as well.  Don't miss it!

Current Reads

( good info & well organized)

                                                                                                                                            (just okay so far)

  Review coming on Monday

(this one is well-written but sad)