Still Waters

Rating:
Summary: As good as the first - Too bad this is the last!!!
Review: I loved this book just as much as I loved Blackbird. I'm only sorry that Jennifer's story stops here and the only way we can read more of her memoirs is if she writes them 30-40 years from now after she's lived an even fuller life!!!! Perhaps Jennifer can write a novel now based on her life or the people she has met along her travels. One of the things I liked about both books was that they read like novels. Several times while reading, you could easily get lost in characters and story lines and think that this story was a fascinating novel - but then you remind yourself that it's not fiction - just a story of a fascinating life!!!! Congratulations Jennifer - you are a brave, young soul who has lived enough to last three liftimes - Perhaps that what you did - you are living life not just for yourself, but for your mother, father & brother too. I deeply admire you and hope you continue to write - I'm sure it has been healing just as much reading it has made me realize how little we need today to feel fulfilled and loved. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a fascinating read - whether it be fiction or nonfiction. As I said before, it's not a typical memoir, if you don't normally read biographies or memoirs, you can easily pretend this is a novel and you will enjoy it that much more!!

Rating:
Summary: Gives real meaning to the word hope...
Review: I usually never read sequels, even in biographies. They never seem to measure up to the first book. But this is definitely not the case in "Still Waters".

Jennifer Lauck picks up right where she left off in "Blackbird". From there, she and her brother are kept apart and sent from family member to family member. Mostly following her heart, Jennifer grows up and slowly gets passed her childhood.

With a life story left unfinished in "Blackbird", Lauck once again has opened her heart and her history to share her story. What once left us in heartbreak now teaches us that following your heart and working through life, anyone can survive. If you read "Blackbird", you will not want to miss "Still Waters".

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: Just finished reading this, and I've got to say Lauck unblinkingly shares her life, and shows what an autobiography can be. I don't usually read autobiographies, but something about Lauck's story grabbed me. She shows true insight into herself and others. Occasionally I felt she (or her younger self) missed some possible insight, but that only served to emphasize that she reveals herself so clearly as to give readers a chance to truly know her, and thus reach their own conclusions. Is this great literature? No. Is this a great story? Absolutely. And that is what most readers want. I can hardly wait to "go back in time" and read "Blackbird" (her story of her younger life).

Rating:
Summary: Time, Search, Awakening
Review: Still Water is a quick, easy read like Blackbird. Blackbird is the better of the two books, although I couldn't wait to read the sequel. The lesson of Blackbird for me was the power of a dying mother's love from which Jennifer's was able to draw strength to carry her through horrible circumstances. The lesson of the Still Water is the real damage of lies, no matter how innocuous they may have seemed at the time. Both books made me cry, although the first part of Still Water was reasonably uneventful. Jennifer managed to have quite a normal adolescence, after her tragic first years. The book picked up during the last 150 pages, as many mysteries become unravelled. Many years of her life are not covered, because the ability to face the past only came when she was ready for it. There is a powerful zinger at the end -- which gives the book its true meaning. The ending leaves hope for Jennifer to continue the healing process and forgive her adoptive parents who were well meaning, but flawed people like most of us.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: This book, picks up where Blackbird left off, and follows Jennifer through the trials, and tribulations she endures, in a "home" with relatives who do not value children, or children that are not their "own". Ms. Lauck is a wonderful writer, and draws you into her story from the first page. Through it all, Jennifer Lauck shows the reader what a survivor she is, and makes you cry with her, hope with her and pray that she someday soon, gets herself out of her awful situation.I did not put "her" story down, and read until late into the morning hoping & praying that she would triumph, and come to know real love. She is not whiny or woe is me, despite reason to be, and I would recommend this book to those of us, that THINK we had it rough as a child.

Rating:
Summary: A HEART-RENDERING STORY!
Review: Those who have read "Blackbird" may wonder if Jennifer Lauck ever finds true peace and happiness in her life. The answer will be found in this book. Anyone who has been raised in a house where they felt they were never truly wanted or accepted for who they were, or never felt love or warmth as a child, will appreciate Jennifer's story. To add to her trauma, Jennifer is separated from her brother, Bryan, and what follows later in life will once again, upset her difficult, empty world. Jennifer marries but it is not a happy marriage and once again her dreams are shattered. However, she does find the courage to learn from her past tribulations, to grow and to move on. Finally, when she marries for the second time, she finds a man who provides her with the love, support and compassion she has never known, and she is at last able to truly come to terms with her past and rebuild her life. "Still Waters" is a beautifully written, dramatically moving book and most deserving of a five star rating.

Rating:
Summary: The power of anger
Review: Those who read Lauck's first memoir, Blackbird, will expect to find a continuation in Still Waters of the upbeat note on which that first book ended. They would be wrong. Life did NOT go well for Jennifer Lauck when she was picked up at the bus station by her grandfather and left eventually at the 'safe haven' of her aunt and uncle's home. Although by the conclusion of Still Waters, we are asked to believe Lauck, with the help of New Age spirituality, has at last made peace with her tragic past, one can't help believing that it wasn't the power of hope that carried her to a relatively triumphant adulthood: it was the power of rage.