This review is from: Guardians And Other Angels (Paperback)
Guardians and Other Angels: Linda Lee Greene
A young child is
born into a family thinking that her parents would nurture her and take
care of her at all costs. But, sometimes things happen that change a
family's dynamics as one member seems caught up in the deaths of two
loved ones, cannot handle losing children and one young child is their
replacement. Emotions run high, the child is sent to live with her
grandmother part of the time and her parents the other part of the time
as we hear her voice from the start and understand the unusual family
dynamics that she endured. Told during the span of many decades
Guardians and Other Angels is the inspirational story of two families
that lived in Southern Ohio during both the Great Depression and the
Second World War. Everyone comes here hoping to gain wealth, find their
own form of the American Dream and even more know what the true meaning
of Lady Liberty is as they come into our shores and see her holding up
her bright light. As the author describes her home, a log cabin built by
her family and her young father, Lee Greene. Imagine living in a log
cabin built from stones, sticks and similar as she states to "the
reverential structures of the early Hebrew worshipers." The security
within the walls that they built provided safety to him and enhanced
their early lives. Living in many different places with his father and
family, Lee Greene decided that he needed to set down some solid roots
of his own and his father finally understood as they bought the Cedar
Fork Property a prime piece of land. The author then relates some really
interesting memories of her life there and how special the log cabin
was for her and her family. But, things do not always remain as her
parents separated when she was in her early teens. Next she describes
the land, the trees and the scenery to help us picture more about her
life and then imagine her father buying what would now be coveted Ford
Model T.
Her father seems quite a character as he is a preacher,
gets into a heated argument with a farmer and landowner, moves on and
then we meet another family. Lena has a mind of her own and just wanted
to be a carpenter and do more than just a female's work. We learn more
about her family, the children and then we come back to Linda's family
and we learn about the younger children, Roma and her amazing way of
helping her mother, her father and Arthur who came out of nowhere and
had been with them helping in the fields and cutting down the corn, plus
the accident that costs one of the children the sight in her eye, the
hardships they face and the fears are all brought to light. As we learn
about how this family worked together when one member gets really sick
and they use some old fashioned methods to cure a serious illness. As
the family's dynamics change and Arthur leaves to join a branch of the
army and the author shares a very poignant first letter with readers as
Bob leaves along with Arthur to join the military without telling his
family. The letters are heartfelt, warm and express both a mother and
father's feelings towards their son. You can hear the pride in their
voices as they share their thoughts in this letters with readers. We
learn why Bobby went, why he did not tell his mother beforehand and we
learn that Arthur is not with him in the same camp. Wanting to know more
about where he is, what he is doing and of course as all mothers
warning him to make the right friends, this book brings to light the
struggles many families faced during the Great Depression and after the
First World War. The author brings the plot into different time periods
as she tells everyone more about Roosevelt, his Work Progress
Administration and the death of Kennedy and Hurricane Katrina each
devastating in its own way. At times by heart really goes out to Roma
who seems to have been given too much responsibility to take care of her
siblings and to poor Bussy who needs extra care.
The letters
that the author shares allows the reader to get to know the characters
in a more intimate way. You get to know the characters because what is
conveyed really happened and the experiences are not made up and the
history spans many generations.
The flood of 1937 was devastating
and took its toll on the family and the Red Cross and the U.S. Army
Corp engineers were involved in the rescue work as the family tried to
stay afloat, the children returned to school and hopes to hear from
Bobby were strong. Chapter ten shares some more letters that are really
great revealing and you get to know more about Bobby his gun collection
the war and their hopes for his return. Family news really makes a
difference to those in the service and I can see where these letters
from his sisters, brothers and parents will really bring his family
closer. As we go back to get to know A.E. and his family better and Lee
Greene. Getting to know Joshua the father of A.E. and the rest of the
family we learn more about their background their link to the Civil War
and her family's visits to Kissimmee. The author includes stories about
her grandparents, her uncles and Mommaw and Poppaw Greene or A.E. as she
thought of him. She tells about a short trip to an empty house, which
he hoped to purchase one day. Describing the trip can give you
claustrophobia as they all packed into one car and it seemed they barely
had enough room to move. Then we learn more about them in school and we
hear each voice in Chapter 12 as more letters are shared but this time
from Bobby.
The stories are strong and the times are difficult,
reliving the war, their history and the hopes that their family would
somehow survive.
With amazing and descriptive accounts of her
real life history, her maternal and paternal families, where they began
and where they wind up the time span covers many decades and the letters
focus on the years of the Great Depression and the start of WWII. Born
during the Second World War she experienced what many only read about in
history books and related her experiences first hand. As the story
flashes forward to when her parents and how they met. Chapter 14 the
author shares more letters we learn about Bussy's poor health, the
letters to family and friends and the ones shared are to a friend, to
his mother and from his father. The voices are so loud that you can
almost see and hear them as they write the letters sitting at a table or
desk and hear their every word as you read it and share their inner
most thoughts. But, the truth about the war hits hard in Chapter 16 as
Bob remains in active military service with letters coming from Africa
where he was fighting against the German General Rommel and sharing his
observations and the places he sees. Bob was handsome and looked like a
Hollywood movie star and seemed to fit the image of a German soldier as
he goes to war for America. In chapter 18 the author shares her story,
her weaknesses and the way she was able to compensate. Loving to draw
pictures she shares with the reader the many created, the photos she
took and the many albums she created of her family history.
A
mosaic picture of a two families and how their lives intertwined and
they shared their personal letters or you might say diary with us in
this outstanding novel that will keep you riveted to the printed page
until you find out where they wind up and what might be next. At times
you would think that there were special angels watching over each one of
these special people in their own way and the way they cared for each
other is more than just heartfelt you can feel it in every word as the
author remembers her past and shares it with us in the present.
In
the last few chapters we learn more about our author, her learning
difficulties and successes and her excitement to be the one to announce
breakfast when learning to speak in complete sentences. But, when she
describes how she kept vigil in her dying aunt the account reminded me
of doing the same last year for watching my sister leave this physical
world and it really brought tears to my eyes. Many deaths, sadness and
the loss of so many she cared for as the remainder of Chapter 20 shares
more letters. The final chapter or what she shares you will have to read
for yourself as she brings the story into 2007, the death of her mother
and rest read Guardians and Other Angels and if you are like me you
will read it in one day. I could not put it down. Thank you for sharing
your past in the present.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork/2013/02/15/world-of-ink-network-special
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork/2013/02/15/world-of-ink-network-special
If
anyone doubts the speed at which the epicenter of book publishing is
shifting from publishers to self-published authors, look no further than
the Apple iBookstore.