Tag: Memoir

Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man by Brian McGrory

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 8 Comments

Buddy: (How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man) by Brian McGrory
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: November 2012
Categories: Personal Memoir, Birds, Love & Romance

I received a galley copy of this book from Crown Publishing via Shelf Awareness


Description:

Award-winning journalist Brian McGrory goes head to beak in a battle royale with another male for a top-spot in his home, vying for dominance with the family’s pet rooster. 

Brian McGrory’s life changed drastically after the death of his beloved dog, Harry: he fell in love with Pam, Harry’s veterinarian. Though Brian’s only responsibility used to be his adored Harry, Pam came with accessories that could not have been more exotic to the city-loving bachelor: a home in suburbia, two young daughters, two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and a portly, snow white, red-crowned-and-wattled step-rooster named Buddy. 

While Buddy loves the women of the house, he takes Brian’s presence as an affront, doing everything he can to drive out his rival. Initially resistant to elements of his new life and to the loud, aggressive rooster (who stares menacingly, pecks threateningly, and is constantly poised to attack), Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and her two girls that he wants for himself. The rooster is what Brian needs to be – strong and content, devoted to what he has rather than what might be missing. As he learns how to live by living with animals, Buddy, Brian’s nemesis, becomes Buddy, Brian’s inspiration, in this inherently human story of love, acceptance, and change.

In the tradition of bestsellers like Marley and Me, Dewey, and The Tender Bar comes a heartwarming and wise tale of finding love in life’s second chapter – and how it means all the more when you have to fight for it.

My Thoughts:

I’ll be honest and say that I was skeptical about this book. I’ll be extra-honest and say that I decided to read it because my local library was closed for the day and I needed to READ. I’m not usually drawn to books about animals. But (even more honesty ahead!~~>) I was completely charmed by this short and sweet story.  It is entertaining, amusing and honest.

Brian McGrory’s love for his wise and faithful Golden Retriever Harry is beautiful to read about. Their bond is incredible. I read the passage of Harry’s death with very watery eyes.

Despite the tears in the beginning, most of this book is heartwarming and funny. Brian, a single city guy, ends up living in suburbia with a new wife, 2 step-daughters, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits, 2 cats and a rooster. A rooster that is loud and messy and seems to very much enjoy tormenting McGrory. The relationship between man and bird is laugh out loud funny at times.

First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 12 Comments

First They Killed My Father – A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
Harper Collins/February 2000

Description:

From a childhood survivor of Cambodia’s brutal Pol Pot regime comes an unforgettable narrative of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her family, and their triumph of spirit.

Until the age of five, Lounge Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights, and sassing her parents. While her beautiful mother worried that Loung was a troublemaker — that she stomped around like a thirsty cow — her beloved father knew Lounge was a clever girl.

When Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge army stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975, Ung’s family fled their home and moved from village to village to hide their identity, their education, their former life of privilege. Eventually, the family dispersed in order to survive.

Because Lounge was resilient and determined, she was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, while other siblings were sent to labor camps. As the Vietnamese penetrated Cambodia, destroying the Khmer Rouge, Loung and her surviving siblings were slowly reunited.

Bolstered by the shocking bravery of one brother, the vision of the others — and sustained by her sister’s gentle kindness amid brutality — Loung forged on to create for herself a courageous new life.

My Thoughts:
You may remember my review of In the Shadow of the Banyan a few weeks back. While reading Banyan I kept wishing that the author had written a memoir instead. Quixotic Magpie, a fellow blogger, suggested that I try First They Killed My Father.

This was exactly the kind of book I wanted to read about that time and place. It was brutal and unforgettable. It was awful but hopeful.

I knew it wouldn’t be an easy read but Ung’s love for her family, her honesty, her determination to make it through made this a story of redemption.

Ung tells the story in an honest and forthright matter without pulling any punches. I highly recommend this book.

Memorable Quotes:
“Kim tells me that from now on I have to watch out for myself. Not only am I never to talk to anyone about our former lives, but I’m never to trust anyone either. It is best if I just stop talking completely so I won’t unintentionally disclose information about our family. To talk is to bring danger to the family. At five years old, I am beginning to know what lonliness feels like, silent and alone and suspecting that everyone wants to hurt me.”

“I do not care why or how the Angkor plans to restore Cambodia. All I know is the constant pain of hunger in my stomach.”

“Nothing should be this beautiful. The gods are playing tricks on us. How could they be so cruel and still make the sky so lovely? I want to destroy all the beautiful things.”