ON FOLLY
BEACH By: Karen White 4 Stars
Karen White
is a personal favorite of mine. She authors the entertaining Tradd Street
series, as well as other books, which I have yet to read. From the books I have
been able to read by White, she seems to focus a lot on the relationships
between groups of people. Many of these relationships deal with multiple
generations, as is the case in On Folly
Beach.
There are
two storylines, one starting in 1942 and another starting in 2009. Both of
these stories have similar plots and characters, yet you are never bored by the
similarities. We originally start with Emmy in 2009, whose husband just died in
Afghanistan. She is devastated and is finally convinced by her mom, as well as
a mysterious note in a book margin, to head to Folly Beach, South Carolina to start
over. She purchases Folly Finds, a book store her mother frequented as a child,
and who was the original owner the book with the message.
In 1942 we
are introduced to Maggie, the original owner of Folly Finds. Maggie has a much
younger sister, Lulu, and a cousin, Catherine. Cat is also a recent widow due
to Pearl Harbor. Cat is a little bit of a wild child and as both her parents
are gone, Maggie promised her own dead parents that she would take care of Cat
and Lulu. The problem is both Maggie and Lulu loved Cat’s husband and it is because
of Cat’s sabotage that Maggie didn’t end up as Jim’s widow instead.
As the plots
thicken you will find more sabotage, betrayal, love, secrets, and of course,
bravery. Emmy is told multiple times that she is brave. Her bravery comes in
the form of staying home while her brave husband fights for our nation. Other brave acts are presented in this
historical novel that might throw a few surprises your way. Whether you are surprised
or not, you will still enjoy the storylines and how they all come together at
the end.
OVERCOME:
Burned, Blind, Blessed By:
Carmen Blandin Tarleton 4
Stars
Overcome was recommended to me by a random
patron one day while working. I checked
it out soon after, but didn’t have a chance to read it for quite a while. In
fact, while reading MSN (or some other news site) one day, I ran across a
slideshow of face transplants. Imagine my surprise when I saw a story that sounded
familiar. I had to check the author name to make sure it really was the same
person. I did see Carmen’s new face and she looks beautiful.
To be
honest, I had to skim some of the book because of time issues. However, the
portions I did get to were worth the read. Carmen deals with a lot of
heartbreak from her relationship with Herb. Eventually the relationship is
terminated and Herb ends up dousing Carmen with industrial strength lye. She
was burned around 80% of her body and left blind. I found it difficult to read
her descriptions of gaining some vision, losing it and so much more.
Some of
Herb’s issues are presented in the book, but I imagine most of it goes beyond
what Carmen even knew or laid out for the reader. At one point in the book Herb
said he was looking for a reason not to harm Carmen, but never received it.
Carmen was attacked early in the morning, just a few hours after Herb’s
birthday. Carmen did feel an impression to call him, but never did. However,
nobody knows if a simple birthday wish would have prolonged the horrible
situation, or prevented it altogether.
Who knew if
that simple call would have even been the sign Herb was waiting for, or if he
would have comprehend the call as a sign either. What could have been didn’t
change reality. The reality: Herb’s 15 minute attack on Carmen changed
countless lives forever.
Carmen
experienced things that no one ever should have to, but as we all learn from
our trials, Carmen learned a level of healing that would be hard to achieve
without going through the process. Carmen commented on how she was called
brave. She was brave. She sat in court with Herb so he could see what he had
done. More importantly, she rose above her situation and learned to become a
motivational speaker, even speaking about forgiveness.
When Carmen
first testified in court, images of her were presented on the news. Before her
story was given, a warning was provided that graphic images would be displayed.
The realization that Carmen was the graphic image was detrimental to her
healing process. With time Carmen was able to overcome her “Disfigurement
Challenge” and accept herself for what she was. Once Carmen’s outlook of
herself changed, miraculously others changed as well. Instead of scaring
children in public, they were coming over to her for a hug. As pivotal as this
was, it was not as important as her ability to forgive.
Carmen was
not only able to forgive Herb for his well-being, but for herself as well. When
Carmen was first attacked, she had a vision of sorts. She distinctly saw the
words like a movie screen: “CHOICE. Life. Is. A. Choice.” Carmen chose to press
on with life and forgiveness. She did not want to have anger and hurt. She
didn’t want those 15 minutes to define her. She made the choice to forgive.
With that forgiveness she has set out to tell her story so others can realize
the same healing in their lives. She is counteracting Herb’s negativity by
replacing it with positivity.
At one point
Carmen spoke at the Vermont State Prison during their National Crime Victims’
Rights Week. This was a prison where Herb had been incarcerated at some point
(yet he had been transferred previous to the event). During the Q & A
portion of the event, a prisoner asked Carmen if she had forgiven her attacker.
Carmen replied by stating that she was not the only victim. Herb too was a
victim.
Carmen
remarked that victims are merely just victims of victims. Another inmate said
he never forgave his perpetrator and he treated his victim the same way he had
been treated. He didn’t forgive, he just repeated the cycle. However, Carmen
made it clear that even without the victim’s forgiveness (which you have no
control over) you need to focus on your own forgiveness.
Carmen
wanted others to realize that selfishness shouldn’t be this horrible word in
society. In reality, if we are all taking care of ourselves, we are better able
to take care of others. In order to stop the vicious cycle we need to learn to
love and forgive ourselves, that way we can love others instead of hurting
them. By taking care of ourselves we are able to become better parents,
spouses, friends, siblings, and more.
The idea of
forgiveness happened in a most profound way when Carmen mentioned her mother’s
healing. Her mother was consumed with revenge for the first few weeks. Luckily,
while talking to a neighbor at a grocery store they said everyone in town
wanted Herb dead and wanted to cause him pain if they had the chance. Carmen’s
mom realized how absurd this idea was. They wanted to react to violence by
causing more violence. She had seen the pain Carmen and others were going
through. It was senseless to think that the same acts of violence would solve
the problem. She didn’t understand how anyone would want to be as inhumane as
Herb had been at that moment. From that point on Carmen’s mom started her own
healing and forgiveness, her own road back to sanity.
At the end
of the book, Carmen was only beginning her journey to receive a face
transplant. As mentioned above we now know that the transplant has been
complete. Not only that, but Carmen is moving on and thriving in her new life.
She is now in a new relationship, one with a man who loved her even before she
had a face transplant. She has been burned and blinded, yet she has overcome
and is now reaping the blessings associated with her bravery and forgiveness.
Here are
some stories I found about Carmen:
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/about_bwh/publicaffairs/news/facetransplant/default.aspx This is the hospital who have
completed face transplants, in addition to Carmen.
As sad as
this is to say after understanding how it hurt Carmen to hear…Graphic Images
are found on this slideshow. It is before and after pictures of those who have
been blessed enough to receive face transplants… http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR2DG2I#a=1
There are
many more that can be found with a little research.
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