Through the Storm by Lynne Spears

Synopsis
We all want our children to succeed. What happens when they do?
Britney Spears wanted to sing ever since she was a little girl. But the years of sacrifices, auditions, performances, albums, fame, and paparazzi left the little Louisiana family swept up and spun around, and nothing turned out the way anyone ever imagined or wanted. Now Lynne shares the inside story of the Spears family as only a mother can.
Through the Storm takes readers outside the narrow orbit of the Hollywood glitterati. Lynne shares how fame forever changed their family; her regrets letting managers, agents, and record companies direct the lives of her children; the challenges that shaped Lynne and Jamie's failed marriage and how they affected Bryan, Britney, and Jamie Lynn; the startling events that led to Britney's breakdown; the aftermath of Jamie Lynn's pregnancy; and how the family has tried pulling together to recapture a sense of hope and purpose.
Through the Storm, says Lynne, is "the story of one simple Southern woman whose family got caught in a tornado called fame, and who is still trying to sort through the debris scattered all over her life in the aftermath. It's who I am, warts and all, with some true confessions that took a long time to get up the nerve to discuss."

My Thoughts

I acquired this book through Thomas Nelson Book Review.
Through the Storm is Lynne Spears' account of her children's early years. Two of her daughters- Britney and Jamie Lynn have great celebrity now so Lynne Spears' book is very timely.
The book reads quite candidly and follows Lynne's life throughout her early marriage, financial hardship, divorce and the raising of her children. It does NOT trash her daughters nor does it get into every single detail that has been written about them in the tabloids although it does often refer to how her girls are popular subjects for the paparazzi.
Lynne's book has an easy reading style and I finished it in less than a day. I wouldn't say that it went into very much depth but I didn't expect it to. I was also sure that this memoir would do nothing to tarnish the image of her daughters...after all...they are her daughters and their livelihood depends upon a somewhat pristine public persona.
Lynne did speak some about Britney's emotional illness and her concern for her daughter rang true but she glossed over some details as she did while discussing Jamie Lynn's pregnancy and the ensuing publicity furor.
A pleasant read but with little depth.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosney

Synopsis:

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

My Thoughts:

I am having huge difficulty trying to express my thoughts on this book. I enjoyed the read although the characters didn't seem to be well fleshed out but I was aware that the urgency of the subject matter and the magnitude of the horrific event might have overshadowed the character development.

My opinion.

I don't often feel a need to excuse or label my blog discussions as being just my humble opinion but this is a highly sensitive book and I don't want to do it an injustice.

There is No question that the events around the roundup of Jews in Paris is a complete travesty of any war-treaties and the last 6 decades have been spent in trying war criminals in court for such heinous acts. The hardest realisation comes when you read of this event and understand that it was wholly the responsibility of the french police that children were also gathered up and imprisoned. Germany didn't ask this of the french people...they volunteered the children on their own.

I am not here to add my opinion about these unforgivable acts but just to comment on the novel that describes a fictionalised story about these events.

I found it to be an easy read but as I said about the characters...they did not feel real to me. Sometimes it works to the author's advantage, in telling a tale, to play off past events with the present but in this story I felt that it lost the emphasis of the imprisonment. I would have preferred a story just based upon Sarah's voice and her journey but I also understand that the author used the present day tie-in as a way of introducing the events of 1942 when the journalist Julia researched the story.

Spoiler:

It all felt a little contrived and trite to me when Julia ended up with Sarah's descendant.

Too convenient!

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer


Product Description

(When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?
To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.
Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life-first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?
The astonishing, breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions)

Ever since the launch of this book I have heard the controversy. Some camps decry Bella's lack of independent thought and actions...others feel that this book is a fitting end to the Cullins' story.
From the first page into this fourth 'chapter' in Bella Swan's life I was spellbound. I found the continuation of the story to be every bit as satisfying as all the three works before it and I loved all the characters.
I am not of the teenage girl demographic that this story was written for but I had heard all the hype surrounding the story and I had wondered about it. I have the enviable position of working in a high school and I can borrow the books from it's library. This often works in my favour as it tends to be easier to get my hands on a copy of a book here than the public library-less people to compete against. Last year I borrowed all three of the previous Twilight books and devoured them.
I must admit that the furor over the launch of this book made me even more curious and eager to read this last book but because of it I was prepared to be more critical of the final work. I had no reason to be hesitant at all. Breaking Dawn fulfilled all of my expectations and more.
Why is everybody so upset about it?
I understand that Bella made the choices that she did but I am confused as to why her choices are considered to be anachronistic. Since when has pledging yourself to someone you love and marrying them seen to be an anachronism? Bella proves everyday in this book how her choices continue to make her a stronger woman and at no time is she ever pressured into anything...in fact the opposite is true. She forces her will upon Edward and the rest of her new family.. She doesn't sacrifice her own wants and needs for anybody else. This life that she has chosen is the life that she wants.
I admit to being surprised by some of the story but I embraced it...it all made sense to me. Stephenie Meyer created an incredible fantasy world and she set the parameters of this world.
I may be an eclectic reader in my tastes but I am still a discerning reader and I was wholly satisfied.