Status
Available
Call number
Call number
B Lau
Collection
Publication
Washington Square Press (2000)
Description
With the startling emotional immediacy of a fractured family photo album, Jennifer Lauck's incandescent memoir is the story of an ordinary girl growing up at the turn of the 1970s and the truly extraordinary circumstances of a childhood lost. Wrenching and unforgettable, Blackbird will carry your heart away. The house on Mary Street was home to Jennifer; her older brother B.J.; their hardworking father, who smelled like aftershave and read her Snow White; and their mother, who called her little daughter Sunshine and embraced Jackie Kennedy's sense of style. Through a child's eyes, the skies of Carson City were forever blue, and life was perfect -- a world of Barbies, Bewitched, and the Beatles. Even her mother's pain from her mysterious illness could be patted away with hairspray, powder, and a kiss on the cheek....But soon, everything Jennifer has come to love and rely on begins to crumble, sending her on a roller coaster of loss and loneliness. In a world unhinged by tragedy, where beautiful mothers die and families are warped by more than they can bear, a young girl must transcend a landscape of pain and mistreatment to discover her richest resource: her own unshakable will to survive.… (more)
Subjects
Original publication date
2000-09-13
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User reviews
LibraryThing member justablondemoment
This book grabbed me, shook me and when I wouldn't let go, sunk it's teeth in and devoured me. SOOO why didn't I give it 5 stars?
Well I always give 5 stars to any author that deals with abuse etc and the healing from telling their story. A bravery that goes beyond any star point system. However,
This is a Memoir/ Bio and in such terrible tales effect the other people involved in the telling of that tale. I have a really hard time with books of this caliber telling me the truth from a child of tender years as being the truth beyond a doubt. I don't remember such things at that age but then I wasn't abused either. So for me unless it is explained like diaries or court documents or another's testimony etc. it is all suspect as to how the author can recall such vivid memories from an age that one usually cannot recall.
Do not get me wrong the book was excellent and the trials the author went thru were unspeakably cruel. Read this book, weep for a little, then sing with joy that the author was able to paint a rainbow at the end. But to get a five star put in the book somewhere the "how" the memories were brought to the surface.
Well I always give 5 stars to any author that deals with abuse etc and the healing from telling their story. A bravery that goes beyond any star point system. However,
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the BOOK has to be spot on with no questions as to its accuracy. This is a Memoir/ Bio and in such terrible tales effect the other people involved in the telling of that tale. I have a really hard time with books of this caliber telling me the truth from a child of tender years as being the truth beyond a doubt. I don't remember such things at that age but then I wasn't abused either. So for me unless it is explained like diaries or court documents or another's testimony etc. it is all suspect as to how the author can recall such vivid memories from an age that one usually cannot recall.
Do not get me wrong the book was excellent and the trials the author went thru were unspeakably cruel. Read this book, weep for a little, then sing with joy that the author was able to paint a rainbow at the end. But to get a five star put in the book somewhere the "how" the memories were brought to the surface.
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LibraryThing member salander_9277
This poignant memoir about a young girl who loses her childhood, innocence and mother all too soon, touched me deeply. What a gorgeous story of this girl's journey through a neglectful and abusive childhood to emerge at the end of it shaped by her experiences. Jennifer Lauck does an incredible job
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of depicting somewhat delicate situations she experienced and telling them through the voice of a child so masterfully. Definitely a story that will stick with me for years to come. Show Less
LibraryThing member invisibleinkling
In a genre pretty well saturated by the likes of Sedaris and Burroughs (who I also love), it's refreshing to get a female voice in the mix. Go hunt out the sequel for the rest of the story.
LibraryThing member carmarie
I really was drawn to this memoir. In the beginning, it took me a while to get into it, but when I did, I didn't want to stop. Jenny was real to me. I saw a real girl. Sometimes memoirs have this fictional way to characterize the people. Jenny evolved, and you knew why and saw it. You also saw her
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brother evolve too. I'm looking forward to her follow-up memoir. Show Less
LibraryThing member suesbooks
This was a very well-written memoir written from the point of view of the 5-11 writer. There were times when she sounded too adult, but the book frequently stayed true to the protagonist's age. All events are difficult to believe, but I found it very interesting and worth reading.
LibraryThing member MrsHillReads
I don't usually like biographies--but this one is really good. This is good for the students who have read (and loved) "A Child Called It"--but this is SO much better written.
LibraryThing member caymil
This is definately a book worth checking out. It is a story about a young girl who's life is thrown totally out of control by a series of circumstances out of her control. It is a tragic story full surprises.
"Still Waters" (by the same author)is a continuation of the story and is equally
"Still Waters" (by the same author)is a continuation of the story and is equally
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worthwhile. Show Less
LibraryThing member readingrat
A moving memoir of a real-life fairy-tale gone wrong.
LibraryThing member bhowell
Jennifer Lauck has written a moving and riveting story of her traumatic childhood of abuse and neglect. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member LaurenGommert
An amazingly shocking view of the author's tumultuous childhood. Losing first her mother, and then her father, Lauck was orphaned at a young age, leaving her and her brother in the hands of a stepmother who never wanted them. Despite being tormented, teased, abused, and abandoned Lauck somehow
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manages to find her way through life, meeting a handful of characters along the way who help to make life livable. A true testament to the human spirit and a child's resistance. Show Less
LibraryThing member teeth
An excellent book about a child who is resilient and has a will to survive under hard circumstances.
LibraryThing member libraryclerk
Wow, what emotions this can bring to your heart. A 5 year old girl, Jenny, looses her momma to illness. A mean cousin reveals to her she's adopted. Her step-brother, Bryan, ignoring her. Father remarries, step kids not nice, neither is the step mother. Dad dies of heart attack. Step mother denies
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them from seeing fathers relatives, keeping them only for the SS money. Bryan holds back his anger and does what the step mother, Debb, tells him to do. Jenny tries but can't help it if she doesn't understand what is expected without instructions. So much happening to this little girl that it breaks your heart reading it. Thank goodness her grandparents come to the rescue!! Show Less
LibraryThing member mahallett
i'm not sure that this is all true but even as a novel it's good. are memoirs ever 100% true?