A Note to the First Look Group

[Paige_K]

What a tremendous pleasure this book is.  I have to MAKE myself put it down so I don't get too far ahead.  Thank you for the opportunity to among the first to read your book. 

[mgorbatjuk]

Thank you for sharing this book with us. This book hits home with me because my father and his family came over from the Ukraine also. My grandmother came to the United States and 2 out of 9 brothers made it to Canada the rest were sent to labor camps in the Ukraine. I don't know much about what happened with my family as it's almost a taboo subject. I knew the times had to be hard but this opens my eyes to exactly how hard. Thanks again.

[bud12]

Dear Shandi, to give you a glimpse of what one reader did. I started your book before going on a family vacation to Cape Cod. I realized that I wanted to stay with the book even if this meant isolating myself from family for almost a complete day of my four day stay there. I just couldn't put it down, and read constantly during the other days as well. When I returned I kept at it and found the images toward the end so vivid and sad that they have remained with me even after completing the book. The sadness of the book is haunting. The characters are depicted with such depth that I can imagine this book as a movie. But that is not the point, this is literature at its best. Thank you so much for writing one of the most affecting and sad books that I have ever read, and one of the most beautiful.    

[patfayo]

Dear Ms. Mitchell,

I did not start my book until after the discussion opens because I am not disciplined enough to put it down when I should, to be able to participate in the discussions on a timely manner.  Though I swore to myself I woudl stay on track, I could not.  I got up three mornings in a row while on vacation at the beach at 5:30 to be able to read my book with my morning coffee before my family woke up.  I have always had an interest in history.  Not the history they teach you in school but the actual histories of families and the trials and tribulations they have faced when immigrating to this country.  You did an absolutley marvelous job of drawing the emotions, fear, and the art of survival from the characters in your book and enabling the reader to feel the exact same things.  Though the ending surprised me, I do not know if how I perceived it was the perception you were trying to portray.  I saw a man who felt beaten down no matter how hard he tried that was betrayed by his sister and the system.  When he chose to end his life, I believe he took her life also because he realized how unhappy she was and that she could not take care of herself.  I think he realized that when she fed her infant child to the wolves, that she was capable of doing anything to herself and also to her other children.  He knew she needed to be in a better place because no one would be there to look after his sister and her children.  Though his wife would probably have tried, she was going to have enough burden and crosses to bear with hid death.  Was this you thought when you wrote this book?

Thanks again for such a remarkable history lesson.

[Coral50]

I did feel different--He killed his sister out of revolution from her betrayal and distaste of feeding her child to the coyotes. It was enough to put a man over the edge.

This ending was unexpected, and powerful. I do see it becoming a movie.

Cora

---

patfayo wrote:

Dear Ms. Mitchell,

I did not start my book until after the discussion opens because I am not disciplined enough to put it down when I should, to be able to participate in the discussions on a timely manner.  Though I swore to myself I woudl stay on track, I could not.  I got up three mornings in a row while on vacation at the beach at 5:30 to be able to read my book with my morning coffee before my family woke up.  I have always had an interest in history.  Not the history they teach you in school but the actual histories of families and the trials and tribulations they have faced when immigrating to this country.  You did an absolutley marvelous job of drawing the emotions, fear, and the art of survival from the characters in your book and enabling the reader to feel the exact same things.  Though the ending surprised me, I do not know if how I perceived it was the perception you were trying to portray.  I saw a man who felt beaten down no matter how hard he tried that was betrayed by his sister and the system.  When he chose to end his life, I believe he took her life also because he realized how unhappy she was and that she could not take care of herself.  I think he realized that when she fed her infant child to the wolves, that she was capable of doing anything to herself and also to her other children.  He knew she needed to be in a better place because no one would be there to look after his sister and her children.  Though his wife would probably have tried, she was going to have enough burden and crosses to bear with hid death.  Was this you thought when you wrote this book?

Thanks again for such a remarkable history lesson.

---

[scuddednimbus]

Ms. Mitchell, I also want to add my thanks for sharing such a wonderful story with us. It is beautifully written and a difficult book to put down. I look forward to your future works. (:

[gmfuhlman]

I wanted to thank Ms. Mitchell, for such a great read I enjoyed the story and I really do thank you for letting us be one of the first to read your book. Hope that you do continue to write, I can not wait to read your next book. I am so very thankful that First Look, is here for us, because we get to read books that we might have missed otherwise. 

[melisndav]

Dear Ms. Mitchell:

Thank you for taking the time to post your note.  You should have no reason to feel nervous about anyone reading your book.  Your first book was an exceptional read.  The storyline flowed perfectly.  You had an individual personality for each one of your characters, making them each stand out in their own way.  You managed to show hope, tragedy, love, jealously, hate, and faith each on its own merit.  I liked the fact that you added in the price list of items from that time.  I am a younger reader and liked that you incorporated that in your story.  It made it easier to understand just how hard this family really had it, when they did not have much to get by on in the first place, which runs a parallel to life right now as we know with the economy failing.  Kudos to you and your first book.  People at my office always ask for my opinions of books as I read a great deal and I put this book on the list!!  Congratulations on your first book!  May it be a great success. 

[gmfuhlman]

I was reading your post and I so agree with you.  Love reading about other people lives and all of the twist and turns that happen in this story.  And I had the same problem of being disciplined and then I would go online and read other post and wished that I had said that etc.  Once I start reading a book I forget that I am suppose to go online to put my thought down.  

[Darbys_Closet]

MY PLEASURE! 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

Darby