I enjoyed the personal aspect of learning Irene Watson's challenges and dilemmas. The outlook she strived for attested to her out-come. The problem I had was with the meandering style of the memior. It could have been organized better perhaps with summationswith each pivotal point thereby underscoring the wisdom and redemptive issues of her journey. All in all, a personally gripping, yet somewhat floundering report on recovery. ( )

I wanted to really like this book, but I just couldn't find it in myself to 'enjoy' it. While the material was not written to 'enjoy' I missed the potential for redemption amidst the addictions, the failed marriages and the overbearing mother, the family abuse...it was heart wrenching to read, but while it comes across as an earnest story, it was too deep and depressing for me to really 'enjoy'. ( )

The sitting Swing:

I could not get into this book at all. Try as I might the relevance of what was being recorded just passed me by. “The wisdom to know the difference” , therefore escaped me. You win some, you lose some………. ( )

Irene's story is one in which most of us can relate to in one way or another. While not experiencing the same kind of abuse, there are episodes in growing up that came to mind as I read her own life experiences. Not to make light of her trauma, but I believe it is very common to be scarred in some way by our parents who normally do the best they can, right or wrong. No one is born knowing how to raise kids, and like Irene's parents most people inherit child rearing from their own parents. Unfortunately, we seem to spend a lot of our adult life reflecting on and trying to overcome our experiences in growing up.
Irene set a great example of one who not only overcame her trauma, but went on to concur it by learning forgiveness and moving beyond the boundaries her controlling mother had placed on her. ( )

I started reading this book with a genuine interest in the topic. Looking for a new perspective I was disappointed by what I read. The book offers nothing new, nothing that has not been said millions of times before. In fact it seems to gather all the typical stereotypes.
The writing style itself lacks everything that makes reading a story enjoyable. There are hard transitions and unimaginative sentences structures.
Maybe I simply lack the ground of understanding that is required to read and enjoy this book. However, I would recommend that only people with a big interest and maybe some experience of there own in the field read this book. ( )