Author: Blaise Winter
Enjoyment Rating: 4/10
Referral: I searched for cleft lip/cleft palate memoirs on Amazon, and this was the only thing I found
Source: Ordered used (and autographed!) from Amazon
Books I've read this year: 141
I often talk to people who want to write, but who say to me, "I could never be a writer." As a writing teacher and a wannabe writer myself, my advice is, "Anyone can be a writer who has the desire and works hard enough." Blaise Winter obviously had the drive, he obviously worked hard, and he even had a co-author to help him along, but this book is making me rethink my advice. I had high hopes for this book, because it was basically the only book I could find where someone with a cleft lip and palate wrote about their experience in a memoir (why is there such a dearth of books written about this?), but Winter, despite his protestations to the contrary, tended to write about his life in a way that it was obvious that he had a "woe is me" attitude about life. His dad was abusive. His brother accused his wife of being money-grubbing. His mom was nice, but weak. His coaches didn't believe in him. His teachers held him back. People treated him like he was mentally retarded because of his speech problems. Teams cut him when he didn't deserve it. He seems to say that inner strength and Angie made him the powerhouse of a man he is today. Maybe someone who liked Winter as a football player may enjoy the story, but it didn't do much for me in providing insight on cleft lip and palate.
2 comments:
Congratulations on your referral! I've been a lurker for about a year now and love your reviews on books, comments about LDS writing, and tales about your everyday life.
We adopted a little girl from China with cleft lip/palate and found a great book told from the viewpoint of a cleft affected child/teen/young adult. It is on the juvenile side, but we have found it educational to us as parents and a great way to explain to our daughter and her siblings about her issues, upcoming surgeries, etc.
It is titled "Making Faces" by Logan and Sonja Bristow. I believe my husband ordered from the aboutface.ca website.
Good luck with the adoption! It is such a great experience.
Thanks so much for your comment! It sounds like we have a lot in common. I hope that your daughter is adjusting well and thank you so much for the book recommendation. I will be sure to get my hands on it. :)
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