Rating: 
Summary: Life is so Good...is so good!
Review: George Dawson and Richard Glaubman's Life is so Good is an "assisted autobiagraphy" in which Glaubman assisted Dawson in writing about his life. Although George Dawson is listed as an Author, Glaubman acctually wrote the novel.
The book begins as George, a young African American goes into the town of Marshall, Tx, just before the turn of the twentieth century. Immediately, racism is brought up as a key in this story as George begins to notice the "better off" white people and their methods of abusing he and his family. Goerge's family lives on a small farm, and his father does what he can on their own land. However, the family relies on George to find work at other land-owner's houses to supply the family with their needs. George is not in school and is completely illiterate. When George reaches the age of about fifteen, he leaves home and hops rides on freight trains and visits cities in the United states as well as Mexico. When George falls in love and has children around the age of twenty-one, he settles back down in Marshall where he would spend the rest of his life. At this point on, not much detail is given into Goerge's life. Finally, when George enters his nineties, he begins to attend reading classes to learn how to read where he meets Richard Glaubman--his life is changed forever.
One very effective style that Glaubman uses is his method of introducing chapters. Each chapter begins with an article from a newspaper about an important event, such as World War I or The Great Depression, then introduces George's recallection of this event and leads to George telling about his life during the times. This allows the reader to picture the time and have an accurate grasp on what life at that time might have required or been like. Another device Glaubman employs is the dialect in the African American community. Through the dialect, the reader is inveloped in the friendly and warm African language of the time and really helps to add to the warm-heartedness of the novel.
The major theme of this novel is self-evident by the title--Life is so Good. The author shows this through George's dealing with racsim. George has absolutely nothing going for him. He grows up in accute poverty as a basic slave, he is illiterate, and he lives most of his life in the most racist areas of the nation. However, George overcomes these troubles and lives a good life which many would be envious of. He never has much, but he is never lacking in the basic needs of a happy life. The theme is summed up when George says, "I wouldn't change a thing about my life. Some people would say that my life was bad, that I experienced many bad things. But I have accomplished more than they would have in three lives. I've seen more and done more dispite the things that would set most people back. I tell you, Life is so good, and it gets better every day" (Glaubman 410).
This warm-hearted novel is a "must read" for all. Its warm harted view of life can teach all a lesson and inspire many to do the unimaginable. George's character who starts with nothing yet gains so much can teach us all a valuable lesson. This novel is an easy reading level, but may have ideas and history that younger students would not understand to the fullest therefore, I recommend it to the high school level and above.
A more interesting point of the novel though is its contradictory view of racism. In most works, racism is seen as an evil. However, in this novel, racism is seen through an innocent young boys eyes. The reader sees that racism is something that is delt with and almost a part of life for George. The most important factor however is that he never views it as a set back and in the end overcomes it.
Through his view of racism and George's triumph over it, Glaubman is able to tie together the overlying theme that life is good and that no matter the harships of life, in the end everything will be alright. This book is a wonderful, easy to read but very enjoyable work.This warm-hearted novel is a "must read" for all. Its warm harted view of life can teach all a lesson and enspire many to do the unimaginable. George's character who starts with nothing yet gains so much can teach us all a valuable lesson. This novel is an easy reading level, but may have ideas and history that younger students would not understand to the fullest therefore, I recommend it to the high school level and above. I think we can all learn something from George, so try it out and see if your life can be changed by reading about another man's difficult but triumphant life.
Rating:
Summary: Life Is So Good . . . And So Is This Book
Review: Sometimes boredom can lead to the most amazing things. You wouldn't think that, but it's true. A person can just get so restless that he or she will read any old book or watch any old movie just for the sake of doing something. In this case, I stole . . . er, borrowed my roommate's copy of "Life is So Good" and proceeded to kill some time. What started out as filling up a few minutes that day turned into filling up a few minutes every day over the course of the next two weeks.George Dawson, a 103-year-old slave's grandson who learned to read at age 98(!), is quite the remarkable man. He is a decent, honest man; he is one of very high character; and sheesh, he sure has lived a long time. Longer than all but two of his seven kids, for example! This story starts with a jolt. Dawson, eleven years old at the time, and his father are in the general store. Dawson is being rewarded for doing a "man's work" that year in the form of a penny with which he can select one piece of candy. Now that is mind-boggling in itself. One-cent candy? Boy, those must have been the days. Suddenly, there is a commotion outside. A boy Dawson knows, 17-year-old Pete, is being accused of raping a white girl. Dawson can only look on helplessly as one of his friends is lynched, and more than likely having committed no crime. "After we got home, I found my peppermint was still in my pocket. I scraped off the lint and the dirt. I gave it to one of my little sisters. My taste for it has disappeared. Ninety year later, I still don't like peppermint." I won't divulge anymore of Dawson's tale here. It is such a rich story, and one can only imagine what other things he has seen and done that are not touched upon in the book. Richard Glaubman collaborates with Dawson on this book, and one feels that he is only scratching the surface of the mild-mannered George Dawson. This is a wonderful story, folks. And to think that I never would have stumbled upon it if I hadn't been bored. Out of boredom came a great book. Imagine that.
Rating:
Summary: Life is So Good
Review: This book is memorable and inspiring. Two years later I still recall this amazingly peaceful, wonderful man -- his simple and cheerful view of life, and his inconquerable spirit. This book has enriched my life.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS CAPTIVATING PAGE TURNER!
Review: I am an avid reader, and I must say that this book is one of the best that I ever read in my life. I bought it because the old man on the cover intrigued me and I like to read autobiographies. In the first chapter he relives a memory of witnessing a lynching in his rural hometown. It was so powerful, it just totally sucks you in. I felt like George and I were sitting across from one another on an old front porch with George recollecting tales of his life. He has a phenomenal memory and remembers things as if they happened yesterday. This man has alot to tell as he has been alive during three centuries. He talks about being poor, working hard to make $.25 cents, going through life not being able to read or write, dealing with racial issues, and things many of us have taken for granted or just never really thought about. I read this book in four days and walked away from it as if I had known Mr. George Dawson. He is an extraordinary person that I came to love. I am thankful to Richard Glaubman for his work in making this book a reality. Even though George is no longer with us, I will always remember him and value the lessons that he taught me.
Rating:
Summary: What A Wonderful World
Review: What a Wonderful World
-Charlotte Rice
,
"This if the life of George Dawson, who worked for more than seven decades. Some of his jobs included breaking horses, driving spikes on railroads, building levees on the Mississippi, and laboring on farms and in a sawmill. This is the story of his extraordinary journey through the 20th century and how he learned to read at the age of 98. Now 103, he is currently a full-time student in Texas." Having published a second-printing of Shreveport octogenarian Tom Murrell's book The Life and Times of a Son-of-A Cowman last year, I was interested in hearing a story about another man's journey through the 20th century...someone who could tell me vividly, the way things used to be.
"Cotton wasn't afraid of poor soil...my grandmas cleaned, spun, and wove it. With more farm work, I couldn't help them so much. I was always there to help them dye the cotton, though. There was a big old tub that we filled with water. Then we added some bark from oak trees. I would help them fill it with water and would keep adding bark until Grandma Charity nodded to stop. We let it soak for two or three days. Grandma always knew how much bark to use and how long to soak the cotton. There was no recipe, but she taught me and I can still do it today. The white cloth came out as a nice reddish-brown color." Dawson's book is full of anecdotes about life in the early 20th century. He was born in a log cabin in Marshall, Texas January 19, 1898, the grandson of a slave. He illustrated doing work that would lay most of us in hospital beds today, but has a way of story-telling that is neither boastful of the things he's done, nor bitter over the racism under which he suffered.
"There were a lot of men who left building the levee after two or three days. The work was just too hard. [But I felt] I was about the luckiest man alive to be able to build a levee on the great Mississippi River. Of course, there was hundreds and hundreds of [other] men working along the river, too. But right then, if you had asked me to build the levee all by myself, I wouldn't have seen it as a problem. I felt that good."
His one dream of learning to read is also a major theme of the autobiography. Having to sign his name with an X, not being able to read a menu, and not being able to read the names of cities on a map plagued Dawson through his travels and through his life. The only words he knew how to read were the "Colored Only" signs he was too afraid not to know the meaning of. It wasn't until 1996, when a recruiter for the Adult Basic Education Program at the Lincoln Instructional Center associated with the Dallas County Adult Literacy Council knocked on his door, he realized his time had finally come. Upon being asked why he would want to enroll in school at 98, he said, "I can drive a spike as good as any man. I can cook as good as any woman. I figured that if everybody else could learn how to read then I could too."
And he would author Life Is So Good at 102 with the assistance of Richard Glaubman, an elementary school teacher from Washington State.
Dawson has outlived four wives, four siblings, and two of his seven children. Marshall now celebrates "George Dawson Day" at the town library, celebrating the accomplishments of this man who has had the opportunity of living in three centuries. And I, who finished the book this sunny Sunday morning, I decided I had to interview Dawson for Forum News. I had to make more people aware of his book and his life.
Rating:
Summary: Life is so good and too short.
Review: This was one of the most wonderful books I have read. I will keep this on my book shelf forever. This book really puts things into perspective and helps you realize what's really important. It also helps you live in the now. One of the hardes things to do in the lives that we lead nowadays.
Rating:
Summary: My very dear friend
Review: This is the finest book I've ever read! I first 'met' George on CBS Sunday Morning several months ago. I was so moved by his story that I went out that same afternoon and purchased his book. After I finished it and told everyone I know about it, it was cycled through my family. The book is written just the same way as he talks, which really makes it very personal. After reading the book, I felt that I had been sitting with him on his porch, listening as he told me his life story. No other book has ever come close to making me feel so inspired, so moved or so good as did 'Life is so Good.' It has really changed my life. I now know that there is nothing that I can't accomplish, nothing that I can't overcome. As I watched CBS Sunday Morning this past weekend, they had a little feature on role models. They mentioned two. Baseball great, Cal Ripken Jr. and of course my friend, George Dawson. They commented on how the two really have nothing in common, which just proves that role models can come from anywhere. At the end of the feature, I was sad to learn that my very good friend had passed away the previous week at the grand young age of 103. Though I never got to shake hands with my dear friend, I feel as though I have been left with a much greater gift, the wisdom and friendship of a very sincere, honest and inspiring man, my very dear friend George Dawson.
Rating: 
Summary: INSPIRING AND POIGNANT
Review: The reader will soon see the similarity between "Life Is So Good" and "Roots," and we all know what a success the latter book became. George Dawson will inspire and motivate readers to contemplate, not what they do not have but, the simple blessings life has bestowed upon them. George learned first hand that education goes far beyond school books and educational facilities; he takes us on a quest for knowledge in the real world. The majority of his education came from the "school of hard knocks" and his desire to gain more knowledge never ceased. How many of us would have the energy and commitment to learn to read at the age of 98? The story dates back to recollections George has of his family, to the days of his grandmother who was a slave during her childhood. The book and George's life are a ray of hope for anyone who feels they are restricted by the barriers of their past of their lack of formal eduation. The only flaw in the book was the conclusion. Most of the pertinent information was presented to the reader during the first half of the book; here the reader is kept absorbed by captivating events in George's life. In the second half, the book wound down rather quickly and lost momentum and zest in the final pages. It almost appeared the authors were in a hurry to finalize the pages, and the book is relatively short for such an interesting life story. "Life Is So Good" is still deserving of a four-star rating for George's incredible determination and his understanding that education is a life-long process. The book should definitely be an inspiration to others who feel they are restricted by certain limitations, whatever they may be.
Rating:
Summary: A Book For Students and Teachers of All ages
Review: George Dawson is a remarkable man. He was the son of a slave and grew up in Texas. At the age of four he began working the family farm. At twelve he was sent out as a hired hand to help earn money for his family. He left home at twenty-one and traveled the country by rail. He worked hard all his life and encountered many hardships but there is no bitterness in this book as there is in so many memoirs today. This book is like a mini lesson in American history from a black respective. I loved this book because it showed so much perserverance and determination. George Dawson never was able to go to school as a child because he always had to work but at the age of 98 he learned to read! At 103 he was working on his G.E.D. He died in June of 2001. I read part of his story to my first grade class this year and they were fascinated. It shows how it is never too late to learn. This is the best book I have read all year.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't live up to its potential
Review: This book had such an interesting premise - the life of someone who lived through the entire 20th century. And the opening chapter is a riveting story of observing a lynching. But from there the book tends to be a mundane list of places George lives. How about some theme to tie it together? Also large pieces of time are just missing. OK, but could have been a lot better.
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