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Summary: Nick Traina - A Star in His Own Right...
Review: This book was powerful. I mean truly wonderfully powerful. I have always loved Danielle Steele books but this one was different and odd and REAL. The fact that THIS book was about a real person, her son no less, made it all the more intriguing and I could NOT put it down. I read it in less than 4 hours - the entire book. I loved it, every page. It makes you realize that there are so many people who are loved every day and still struggle with who and where they fit in. I believe this is definitely one of Ms. Steele's best books yet.
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Summary: editorial review corrections.
Review: Nick sang in 2 seperate bands; Link 80, which released the LP 17 Reasons, and the EP Killing Katie. After he broke a sobreity contract he had with the band, they had an amicle split. Nick continued with his new band Knowledge, who released "A Gift Before I go" All three CDs are on independant label Asian Man Records. The CDs are not, as stated in the editorial review released by the same band.
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Summary: In his bright light
Review: I am a mother who is searching for answers to my own son's problem. My son is thirteen and has struggled with behavioral issues his entire life. Nick sounds almost exactly like my son. He was a gorgeous baby. I thought he was a genious too. He could do incredible things very eary on. I believe he decoded the languages and how to read on his own. His verbal Iq was off the charts. He also began to create stories at the age of 3. He liked very adult things and he still does. He was diagnosed with adhd too. When my son started school I was surprise to find out he had learning disabilities. The easy things came hard to him, Like tying his shoes, finding his way to class. I noticed that the medication they gave to him made him worse and more angry when he took Adderal. I am just finding out now that those drugs worsen BPS. That is alarming because everyone is always putting parents down for their hard decisions they have to make. I knew the medicine was making him worse so I took my son off and I received alot criticism for it. Now I am glad I did. He has recently been diagnosed with a mood disorder. The doctor said he didn't observe depression just the manic part, but there again you know your child best. At home I see more depression than anything else. He is spiraling down hill now with his own situation. I am desperatley looking for answers. He is following the same story as Nick. Now that he is in puberty it is getting progressively worse. He was also expelled from school because of his lack of impulse control which was devasting to him. He didn't do anything serious but it was alot of little things. My son is also gifted in music and a gifted writer. It is truly amazing to read about Nick because I see my own son. Everyone is giving up on him. I refuse to. I can see him going down and it hurts. I am angry how much people are coming down on Daniele Steel because she is rich and has a career. I am a stay at home mother. I have been there every step of the way. My son was brought up going to church his whole life. He had the christian values all along the way. He has two parents that haven't been divorced. There is no dysfunction at his home. He should be soaring high but he isn't. He can not stand the children that are goody two shoes. Why? I think it is something he feels he can't attain. He struggles so much. Those children and those parents are the most harsh ad critical on him. I know it is because they don't understand. I feel like they haven't even tried. I am a mother that is desperate to help my son. He will begin on a mood disorder drug called Depacote. I am praying that this time the doctors get it right. I have experienced the same incompetence, indifference, and plain lack of real concern of the doctors. As I was reading about Nick I began to wonder, if DS couldn't get competent doctors with all her resources what is going to happen to us. It was suggested that we send our son away too. Now I feel that is the worst thing that could happen.
People who read this book and don't have a handle on what mental illness seem to pass all kind of judgment. That is the worse thing you can do to a parent or family member dealing with it. It has affected all of the other children in our family. They are hurting to. They are confused and angry. Their lives have been hard too. They are torn because they love their brother but are tired of the sacrifices they have had to make. People are real judgemental. Quite frankly I am not sure if many even care. I found myself in Daniele Steel. I know just how she felt. No one ever gave her credit for not losing it all together. When you love someone so much like your child and you can't help them it breaks your heart. It is hard to carve out any kind of life of your own when a love one is hurting. You are so connected to your child. It is easy to fall into your own deep depression. I admire Daniele Steel for still being sane so that she could be there for her other children. I would like to thank her for this book. It might mean the begining for my own son. However I did wish that she would have given some resources for the reader. I was left with so many questions. I know that I will have to do my own research because the doctors either don't care or they are too busy to spend alot of time on your child. I too feel I am racing toward time. I need to do something before it does anymore damage to my son. Readers of this book try not to be critical of Daniele Steel until you have walked in her shoes or have seen inside her heart you will never truly know her pain as I do. Thank you for your book.
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Summary: Danielle Steele did all she could but bipolar killed Nick
Review: I came across this book at work. A co-worker had it and I picked it up out of curiosity. I thought it was a celebrity story about someone who overdosed on drugs because I had heard about how Nick had overdosed prior to seeing the book. I couldn't put it down. I used all my breaks, skipped lunch and read between phone calls (I was doing telephone customer service so I wasn't neglecting my job) and finished the book that same day. You see, I have bipolar disorder and I wanted to see what I could learn from his experience, plus it just helps to know all you can about bipolar and I had never read a book from someone personally involved as a relative of someone with bipolar, although I once read a book by an actress with bipolar who told her story. It gives you a much different view when you hear the story with all of their diary as support and it's someone who knows them so intimately like a mother does and yet can see things from a different perspective. I don't know if Nick completely understood his reason for suicide. The bipolar might have clouded his mind but his mother hit it right on the head. I almost did the same thing for the same reason. It is very frustrating when you know that you have the talent to go far but your illness has limited you from utilizing your talent time after time. It can bring you to the depths of despair. At least Nick had the complete support of his family. I came to a low point when my family cut of support and refused to buy me any more medication, because they thought it wasn't doing me any good (it wasn't, but about a year later, I was finally diagnosed with bipolar and given lithium, the first medication to actually help me which still helps me). Since then, I have finished college and have begun to follow my dreams. I wish I had known Nick when he was alive with what I know now. I might have been able to stop him from committing suicide. You see, I too have been frustrated because lithium helps, but it still leaves you with limits. I was tired everyday and felt limited. I was getting frustrated when I discovered that by supplementing my lithium with vitamins and minerals, I could have a normal life for the first time in 20 years. I got my life back and the sky's the limit. Too bad I couldn't help Nick. He didn't need to feel limited by just having lithium. He could have followed all his dreams by supplementing lithium with things like Essential Fatty Acids, Coral Calcium, Niacin (the flush-free type) and HGH (I take a HGH releaser that costs a fraction of the cost for pure HGH but uses stacked amino acids to induce your gland to release HGH naturally). All of these products allow me to live life to the fullest, combined with lithium. And, I don't have to take as much lithium and thus avoid most of its side effects. Maybe I should write a book, to help people like Nick know that there is hope by combining science with nature. If anyone out there who reads this is bipolar, don't consider suicide. You don't have to be limited your whole life. There is hope for a complete return to normalcy. May God bless you, that you will not give up hope is my prayer for you.
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Summary: awsome
Review: this book was one of the best books i have ever read. you need to read it
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Summary: Disgusting Effort to Make Money and Hide Her Poor Parenting.
Review: I have never met Danielle Steele, although it is impossible to miss her house, which takes up an entire city block in San Francisco.I did, however, have the pleasure of meeting Nick Traina on a couple of occassions, and I found him to be intelligent and charming, despite his upbringing. Nick's bipolar disorder was only the framework for his unhappiness. His mother was uninvolved and disinterested, never showing any love, just throwing money at her son to keep him away from her perfect life. Nick took heroin, and eventually his own life, because he was in constant pain. The pain of bipolar is bad enough, but many survive--his pain was the horrible knowledge that neither his mother nor father cared for him. This is the saddest part. Danielle Steele sold her soul a long time ago to be able to pump out formulaic stories with no substance. By selling lies about her son in a conveniant bestseller she is merely seeking a nice seat at Satan's Bistro in the afterlife. May Nick Traina find the peace he never had in this life, and forget entirely about the woman who gave him life and little else.
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Summary: Nick Traina Will Live Long
Review: Amazingly touching story, of an amazing kid. Unfortuunatly the writer, Danielle Steel one of the world's most famous and best-selling authors is disappointing here. Her writing is simply plain. Maybe its because she is the mother telling her story of her kid. And she looses focus on the beauty of writing. I guess I can somewhat understand. On the other hand Nick Traina is an extraordinary writer, that's part of why this story is so sad. Defiantly, a much better writer then Danielle. But then again, because of the story I can understand why. If more books were written like this on those who left us, we would all be better writers, readers and have better memories. There is no feeling like the feeling of writing from pure experience. Once the loved are gone, talking, reading in my case writing will bring them back. His Bright Light is a must read, for every dreamer as a writer and or a musician, and everyone who's lost someone.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This book will make you cry. It will make you smile, laugh. It will make you groan, and feel frustrated. It will shock & surprise you. This is an amazing book. Very well written. I couldn't put the book down because I was hooked on the story--and it was a true story. I found it a very interesting look into Ms. Steel's life, which I didn't know much of, but I have been a huge fan for years. I really appreciate how candid she was. I hope writing the book brought her some satisfaction & maybe a little bit of closure- as it helped her readers understand the disease of manic depression. She did a wonderful thing by writing this book.
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Summary: One of her finest!
Review: If we could all be so fortunate to know people as talented and special as Nick. This story really does touch you in some way.
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Summary: An engrossing book that's hard to put down
Review: I absolutely love Danielle Steel after reading this book and I am so thankful to her for sharing this very sad, personal, and heartwarming story about the life of her son, Nick Traina, "an extraordinary boy." Never have I read a book that was more powerful or compelling than this one. I was deeply touched by this book. In her own words, Danielle Steel recollects her son Nick's ongoing struggle with manic depression/bipolar disease up to the point of his untimely death at the age of nineteen. She shows us not only what a person afflicted with a mental illness goes through but how the disease affects the people around them. Steel's passionate writing style makes you feel like you are living through the experience right along with her. You really get to know these people on such a personal level which makes this book so entrancing. Aside from his illness, Nick was a fun-loving boy with a brilliant mind. He was also an extremely gifted writer and talented musician. He used these talents as a way to release some of his anger and frustrations. One way he did this was through his journals. He wrote in them it seemed on a daily basis. Steel reads to you directly from these journals allowing you an in depth look inside Nick's heart, mind, and extremely tortured soul. She doesn't hold back when repeating Nick's own words exactly as he wrote them and I admire her for having the courage to share such a personal side of him with her readers. At times his expressions are dark and disturbing and sometimes full of courage and hope. Danielle tries everything humanly possible to help her son escape his deep depression. If something doesn't seem to be working in his treatment, she desperately searches for other solutions. This is a very important message the author stresses in the book. To never give up no matter what because this illness is literally a race against death. "His Bright Light" is a learning experience and a tribute to the son that Danielle Steel loved so dearly.
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