Rating: 
Summary: A good starting place
Review: Recently I heard of Lily Dale for the first time, and this book provided a good introduction. (I wonder how it happened that Lily Dale, and the great Chautauqua Institution ... so alike and yet so different .... ended up almost in the same neighborhood!)
The book is a LITTLE bit about Lily Dale history and the Spiritualist religion and a LOT about the town's inhabitants and the author's experiences over the course of her first summer there.
I had some trouble keeping all the characters straight. Chapter headings, better organization, or photos of the residents might have helped with that. Nevertheless, following the author's thinking as she kept adjusting her belief system made interesting reading.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and interesting read
Review: The central question in Lily Dale is whether or not you believe. Christine Wicker paints a picture of this spiritualist town that never fully answers that question but left me wanting to find out. I knew nothing prior of Lily Dale but had been open minded to the ideas presented within. The history of the town was very interesting as was the descriptions of the summers that the author spent there. Some of the ideas presented, especially those of Lynn Mahaffey gave me some hope for people in general. I found her viewpoint quite insightful. Any book that leaves me with a smile, a light heart and a road trip is definitely worth four stars. I would highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Open your mind to other possibilities?
Review: This book was recommended to me when I mentionned to someone I had just read a biography of Kate and Maggie Fox, 19th century spirit rappers. She said, "you must read this new book, it's all about mediums!" And she was right. This book was a record of the author's several summers among the mediums and spiritualist culture of New York enclave "Lily Dale". The voice tone of the author was one of skepticism that floundered in the face of unexplained, but then redoubled in the face of the very much explainable. Her wit and wonder and ability to portray colorful persons just as they are were very enjoyable. If you ever wondered why people believe a medium can talk to the dead, or shook your head in disbelief at new age ideas, this is a fun romp through the "what if?" Wicker focuses on what she was able to glean from the medium's own views of their lives and how that view and their actions affect the visitors to Lily Dale that come in contact with them. It is not an expose--go to works by Houdini and the Amazing Randi for that. It is not an affirmation of spiritualist faith, either. It is a candid look at her own journey through the culture of Lily Dale and the questions and sometimes answers it prompted in her own world view. Very interesting and a little mind bending!
Rating: 
Summary: A Lily Dale Medium's View: Entertaining & Educational
Review: This is an unusual book by an unusually gifted journalist. Christine Wicker has a way of approaching her material--a quirky little town in western New York, filled with people who follow the traditions of Spiritualism, first founded as a home for what were called the Free Thinkers--with curiousity, compassion and respect. (Many of us still are free thinkers--one reason we talked to a reporter, I suppose!)As a registered medium in Lily Dale, I'm one of the people Christine has written about. I still fondly remember her first visit to Lily Dale: the summer she arrived as a religion writer from the Dallas Morning News. Her photographer was baffled, and seemed a bit spooked by it all, but he was a trooper (although we never saw him again!) But Christine came back, and back again, to delve into the mysteries of what makes my odd little summer home "tick." For me, its a haven: a place where I'm one of 30-some registered mediums, rather than the only one. In Princeton, NJ, I feel at home, too--but it's in Lily Dale that I can settle in to a place that understands, no explanation required. To an outsider, though, Lily Dale must seem quite unusual, with its dilapidated Victorian charm and population of people who believe that the dead aren't dead, and that they still communicate with us, to guide us and help us journey safely through life. We'll even teach you how you can do the same. Christine Wicker manages to blend personal stories of visitors staying in the beautifully restored home of a retired college philosophy professor, Frank, and his psychologist wife Shelley. Her own story is told, too: a journey from curious observer to a woman who learns she, too, can pass on messages from the other side, with many twists and turns and funny, touching moments in between. If you're curious about people, or just want to read a nonfiction book that has the heart and soul of a novel with a bit of history tossed in, this is one book you won't want to miss. It'll touch you--much like the town itself touched the author...
Rating:
Summary: I liked this book
Review: Though I read reviews here avidly, I haven't written one myself before--I guess I'm a review lurker. I just want to say that I found this book to be a strangely accurate accounting of my own thinking and experience in becoming a Spiritualist and serving as a medium. I was raised in a religion similar to Southern Baptist, and, like the author, I wandered away from it and looked for other avenues of spirituality. The difference between the author and me is that I'm not a journalist, and I didn't come to Spiritualism demanding facts and evidence. I simply found it curious. I was more willing to trust, and, most importantly to me, it just felt right in a way I cannot explain.
Yet, strangely, here is a book that explains it. Sort of! There's no way to fully describe anyone's spiritual explorations in language, but in reading Ms. Wicker's encounters and observations in Lily Dale (humorous and otherwise), I found my own diary. I've never been to Lily Dale, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of her portrayal of the community specifically, but, based on my own experiences in Spiritualist churches, I'm betting she comes pretty close. Most of the elements of Spiritualism as it's practiced today, quirky and amazing alike, are present in the book. I liked the author's sense of humor about it. I also liked that the book ends in tone with Spiritualism's philosophy. I love the philosophy of Spiritualism, which, even in Spiritualist churches, is often upstaged by focus on messages.
A good read, I enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Our Spiritualist Heritage
Review: Though not a spiritualist, I have long been fascinated by the American birth of this religion and its influence on the intellectual and social life of 19th century America. With Christine Wicker's work contributing to our understanding with a fresh assessment of this spiritual heritage through the microcosm of the Lily Dale community. We discover the progressive movements enhanced and energized by those Victorian Spiritualists, for examples, the surprising number of Spiritualists who were active in the abolitionist movement, human rights movements, not just for anglo-saxons but all Americans regardless of race, and perhaps the progenitor in the struggle for the rights of women (no small achievement). For the first time since ancient times, women were perceived as spiritual leaders & role models rather than as silent, serving, disenfranchised members of a church congregation. Through mediumship women tasted for the first time a role of respect and leadership within their communities and there was no turning back. This book also serves as a spiritual diary of discovery for the author herself. Her chapter recounting an encounter with the Dalai Lama is extremely profound and moving. Observing the empowerment of women with low self-esteems and extremely difficult lives, that blossom through affiliation with the movement is insightful from a sociological perspective. And the comfort for the bereaved which Spiritualism has offered since its inception is well illustrated in a non-sensational manner.
As with all religious/spiritual movements, we see the sublime as well as the ridiculous of human fraility at play with petty politics, back biting, artificial hierarchies, and the desire for power. But at the conclusion of the book one comes away with a sense of the nobility of the human spirit both in this life and just maybe in the next...
Rating:
Summary: An interesting read.
Review: With all the interest in the likes of John Edward and James VanPraagh, it seemed only a matter of time before someone wrote a book about Lily Dale. I've known about Lily Dale for years, have been there lots of times. Initially I came to find a connection with a dear friend who'd recently passed. While I never experienced the kinds of connections others had with their loved ones, I did come to peace with her passing. Everyone who's ever been there has a story about their Lily Dale experience, I suspect. That's mine, and this book is Ms. Wicker's. I found nothing in the book that was demeaning of the mediums who live and work there, nor of Spiritualism. As a religion Spiritualism has long been under the microscope of those who don't understand it's pure, free-thinking nature which is rooted in natural law with an unwaivering core belief in a Divine presence. Because it does not subscribe to mainstream religious beliefs, it's legitimacy is called into question. Ms. Wicker tells that story, too. She is honest about her own skepticism, relating her own level of eye-rolling. Yes, there were some descriptions of the residents that did make me uncomfortable; in some cases I might have prefered a more balanced view. While it was not mentioned in the story, I'll bet the "richest woman in town" probably works anonymously behind the scenes to get things done. If her generosity is truly anonymous, then perhaps no one shared that with Ms. Wicker. Perhaps they don't know, or perhaps they do and don't care. Like small towns everywhere, people are often willing to dish the dirt about those of whom they're envious. It's hard to know. I can only speculate. Honestly, I found it fascinating that a writer who originally journeyed to write a single story for a major Texas newspaper would become so enthralled with the town that she returned many times over to try to discover what's really going on behind the scenes. Read between the lines. Like Lily Dale, there's more here than meets the eye. This is a book with heart and soul. Is this THE TRUE story of the town that talks to the dead? Well, no. However, it is A TRUE story, Ms. Wicker's story. It's enchanting, intriguing. Sometimes poignant, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, it chronicles her journey, talks about the people she meets. I suspect it's not the end of her journey but just a stop along the way. POSTSCRIPT: I found Ms. Wicker's previous book "God Knows My Heart" fascinating, too. A die-hard southern Baptist girl questions her beliefs and comes to a peace with a new way of knowing God.
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