Author: Helen Keller
Published: 1903
Genres: Memoirs
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review
''The Story of My Life'' was written when Helen Keller was just twenty-two years old. Keller, though she was born healthy, became deaf, mute, and blind, when she was nineteen months old, and was, as if, surrounded by darkness and despair. But then Anne Sullivan entered her life. Anne Sullivan was Helen's teacher, and it was Anne who brought Helen out of the darkness, and hopelessness. Anne Sullivan taught Helen to communicate, and Helen thus came out from the despair.
Helen worked hard to gain knowledge. She vividly describes her preparation for college at the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and her hard work at the Radcliffe College. Helen describes the people whom she met in her life, people who gave her hope and inspiration. She vividly describes her love for books and knowledge, and nature. She describes so wonderfully the days during which she first learned to speak, and the satisfaction she got after she learned how to talk to her dear family members. Helen worked hard to come out from the darkness, to communicate with the world.
Helen Keller was a great, inspirational woman. ''The Story of My Life'' was such a beautiful, memorable, thought-provoking, inspirational book!
5 out of 5
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Published: 2006
Genres: Memoir
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review
Eat, Pray, Love tells the story of author Elizabeth Gilbert's pursuit of pleasure, devotion, and the balance between pleasure and devotion. After a traumatic divorce and problematic relationship leave Gilbert heartbroken and miserable, she decides to engage a whole year traveling in Italy (for pleasure), India (for devotion) and Indonesia (for the balance between pleasure and devotion). And she does so. She becomes successful at her attempts to discover herself, find inner peace, find pleasure, and finally find the love she looks for. She enjoys the beautiful places, the beautiful food, and the beautiful language of Italy. In India, she finds the devotion and inner peace she had been looking for. In Indonesia, she helps a poor single mother and her children. And finally, she starts to fall in love again with a Brazilian man.
This book was tremendously inspirational! Gilbert's writing style and sense of humor are great. At one moment, she discusses some grave, intense and sad subject. But at the very next moment, she expresses her sense of humor in such a way that it makes us laugh out loud! I really enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed Gilbert's writing style. It is not just a travelogue, but in fact, keeping the travel stories as a background, Gilbert explains her attempt (and success) in discovering herself with great intensity, solemnity, and humor.
4 out of 5
