Debra GinsbergResenhas

When you have a child that doesn't fit in, what do you do? Debra Ginsberg knew that her son, Blaze, was unique from the moment he was born in 1987. What she didn't know was that Blaze's differences would be regarded by the outside world not as gifts, but as impediments to social and academic success. Blaze never crawled. He just got up and walked when he turned one. He called his mother 'Zsa Zsa' until he was three. By kindergarten, he loved the music of Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. He fears butterflies and is fascinated by garbage trucks. With the same honesty that made "Waiting" a success, "Raising Blaze: Bringing Up an Extraordinary Son in an Ordinary World" chronicles Debra's experience in raising a child who has defied definition by the host of professionals who have sought to label his differences. Ginsberg introduces us to a remarkable child and her own unusual childhood. She writes about a family which shows us the redemptive power of faith, humour and love.½

Quick memoir about the author's life as a waitress for 2o years.
Once you read this book, you will never look at the wait staff, or restaurants, in the same light.
I learned a lot about how wait staff is treated, the jobs in the restaurants, and the whole attitude towards them.
Interesting.

My process for choosing a book is a little eclectic. If it's written by an author I know I like, I just get it, no questions asked. When looking for a new author, however, a catchy title or showy cover will grab my attention. If I like the blurb on the back, I'll give it a chance. I never open the book and read a sample before making my decision. What if I catch a glimpse of a critical moment in the book, and the whole experience is ruined because of this slip? (#booknerdproblems). This particular book was set on the shelf backwards, with the back facing out. The plot sounded interesting. I was hooked.

When I began the book, I was struck by the style of writing. It was very simple, almost juvenile compared to the poetic prose of the last few books I had read. Three pages in, and I was trying to remember the last time I put a book down without finishing it. But the blurb on the back sounded so good, so fresh and different from what I'd been reading. So I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did.

I'm not sure if the writing got better, or if it just stopped bothering me, but I suspect that the writing improved as the author hit her stride. There were several descriptions that struck me like an electric shock because they were so good. I enjoyed the story, was surprised by the twist, and felt satisfied by the ending.

Once again, I am humbled and reminded that good authors come in all genres, structures, and styles. What one author lacks in fanciful language, she make may up for in creative execution and original ideas. Four and a half stars.

I've never been a waitress but I've been served by hundreds. Debra Ginsberg has been a waitress for 20 years and chronicles her adventures in this great book. It's really fascinating. Not long ago I read [b:Kitchen Confidential|33313|Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (updated edition)|Anthony Bourdain|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168422043s/33313.jpg|4219] about what it's like to be a chef in a restaurant. Now I've got the serving point of view. I am certainly going to enjoy my restaurant adventures with new points of views from here on out.

From GR: "What happens when a pseudo psychic suddenly gets the real gift?

Marina Marks has been on the grift as a psychic since she was a child, forced into the business by a junkie mother who was always desperate for her next fix—and willing to use her solemn dark-haired daughter to peddle an extra buck. As an adult, Marina has earned a handsome living preying on the dreams and fears of her clients. She doesn’t believe there is such a thing as psychic ability, but she does believe in intuition. Her gift is the ability to gain the trust of her clients and subtly raise her fees as they become more attached to her and her readings.

But when Marina moves her “intuitive counseling” business out of muggy, cloying Florida to the milder environs of southern California, her past follows her. As she takes on new clients—a trophy wife desperate to bear a child, a gay man involved with a closeted psychiatrist, and a philandering businessman who’s smitten with her—a former client resurfaces in an eerie way. Suddenly, Marina is in love for the first time, but it is a romance whose roots lie deep in her past and threaten her efforts to reinvent herself.

As Marina’s life gets more and more entangled with those of her clients, she makes a startling discovery: she suddenly has the actual ability to see the future. After predicting a murder exactly as it happens, she becomes the sole suspect. Now she’s the desperate one—desperate to clear her name and to discover the meaning behind her visions."

Right up my alley, I read this for a tarot Card Challenge Group, however the challenge isn't until 202, and the admin. do not respond to any posts!

Did I like the characters? Not really, they were unethical and shallow with few, if any, redeeming qualities....

I did find the book interesting, so much so, I read in in less than 24 hours!½

Interesting premise. Woman works as a psychic and midway through her life, realizes she truly has a gift to see in to the future. The writing was stodgy though and sometimes I felt like I was plowing through sludge.

(This review also appears on my blog, posting in its enirety here since I won it through Goodreads First program.)

This book was depressing, uplifting, and makes you think. Isn't that the focus of most great books? There are multiple themes here -- at first the nosiness and judging of neighbors, to end with being sure to watch and know what your neighbors are about. At first sounds conflicting, but the change in perspective makes sense here. The biggest theme really seemed to be with children - through one character being alone, young and pregnant, to another woman who regrets all these years an abortion she had, to a father who never paid attention to having children, to a father who overdominates his child, and to tragic characters who lost their children due to their lifestyles. The pain of all is present through the book, the overwhelming burden of caring for a child, the aching emptiness when they're not there any longer.

You may imagine - and I would guess if hearing this description - that this book would be melodramatic. Fortunately it is not - the author Debra Ginsberg writes it in an almost detached way, yet laying out scenes which are emotionally wrenching, very deep, and very real. It's like looking inside a glass house at something played out, the real emotion of the persons mind and secret suffering played out to you.

There are secrets in the book and the back of the novel plays up on this for the sake of the story, and it's shown how devestating secrets can be, but really this takes a backstory. It's not the secrets that help doom these people, but human selfish nature, even more prevalent than keeping things hidden. While their selfishness is not villain-worthy and one-dimensional, it is realistic and biting. How things could be so different, we see as we read and as we finish the read, had they only lived less in themselves. It's ironic the book starts out with nosy people wanting to pry into others lives, while they keep so much hidden from even their own families. It ends with things exposed and healing but changes from prying for gossip sake to prying for community bonding and emotional support.

Ginsberg has created a neighborhood of characters that are very real and, even when they're not traveling moral streets, their actions make sense without having to display much backstory and reasoning. It's just the way it is. Pacing is a little slow as it's more of a character introspection type story. Despite the back blurb and the cover, this not a suspsense novel and is most definitely a top-notch drama. There is a mystery of what happens but it takes a back story to the tragedy of that mystery.

I have given four stars rather than five due to a bit too much detachment for my taste the first quarter of the book. I feel it could have grabbed more of my attention had it delved further into the characters with a unity which would befit it. The middle and end shone, however, with worthy points, extreme emotion, and the last page splashes on humans being able to change with uplifting clarity.

Definitely recommended for any reader of any genre.

I got this book because the premise was an interesting one. I actually loved this book and it is truly one of my favorites I've read this year. The book is about a psychic who thinks she can just read people and make good money pretending to be a psychic. However, when she meets a strange man, her world gets turned upside down and realizes her psychic abilities are real.

For the rest of the review, visit my blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.com/71490.html

I truly enjoy Debra Ginsberg's gift of storytelling. The Grift is the story of a woman who learned the techniques of cold reading and pretending to be a psychic to protect herself in childhood. Marina makes this her living, all the while determined to "retire" after earning enough money.

Her move to San Diego and building a client base of rich, low self-esteem, needy people goes fairly well. Until the day she meets the Mysterious Stranger (duhn duhn duhn) and things go sideways. Now she's really got the "gift" and it interferes with her ability to keep her clients happy.

Things fall apart, people go mad blaming Marina for things she has no control over. That's what needy people do. Wrap it up in one big angry scene, in which murder is revealed, Marina's life gets back on track and everyone sorta lives happily ever after.½

Quick, easy and fun read. There's some glaring grammar errors, missing words and strange spellings [eyebrow raising, considering her previous work as an editor...]. Otherwise, a very lovingly composed book about an industry we are all extremely familiar with - though maybe not as much as we thought ;)

Basic Summary: Debra Ginsberg wrote a memoir about her years in the food industry ([b:Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress|48759|Waiting The True Confessions of a Waitress|Debra Ginsberg|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1347790501s/48759.jpg|55230]). Waiting was full of spelling and grammar error; which I found funny since she stresses how she ended up working with a book packaging company and reading manuscripts/etc for a living..and this book is only slightly better in the amount of errors. As I typed this sentence, I discovered that she has actually 8 books, which is about 6 more than I thought she had.

Anyways, she had a son, named Blaze - (really?) who had a very rough entrance into the world. His umbilical cord was wrapped twice around his neck. As he got older, his school requested to place him in special-ed as, he was displaying inappropriate social behavior and a severely low academic gain. She is convinced that they're all nutbergers and her son is a genius with a unique look on life. Her and her parents think all doctors are wrong, all the time and that all test results regarding everything are wrong.

She goes as far as burying a psychiatrist's evaluation (which said that tests leaned towards something on the autism spectrum and clearly noted that they were inconclusive) in a pile of papers and not turning it into the school because she felt it was a "betrayal". Then, she decided to start the 4th grade WITH HIM. Joined his class. To sit there with him. Quit her well-paying job and went back to waitressing so she could impair her son's education. And that's where I am so far..

Final Impression: There is absolutely no denying that the author is an extremely loving and dedicated mother. I just don't think we'd get along based on her parental choices; but that's what made the book so interesting to read. She was nasty to all the teachers she met, they were nasty to her (from her perspective?), she ignored every single diagnosis and advice about her son and even pulled him out of school to homeschool him in lieu of addressing his behavioral problems.

I disagreed with just about every move she made but I've never lived it so I maintain major respect for her devout dedication to her son.

Now this is a book about being an insider that I can believe (mostly). It's about the world of publishing, and the crazy people in that world. How do people stay sane? Do they just give up after a while? Were they sane to begin with?

Blind Submission is the story of Angel who loves books and does not aspire to be a writer. When the bookshop she works for goes out of business, her boyfriend (the waiter/writer) convinces her to apply for a job with the world renowned literary agent, Lucy.

Angel gets sucked in so deeply, I actually started fretting for her. To say the place is dysfunctional would be like saying books are only good as decorations. Angel's co-workers live in fear of Lucy, and are generally paranoid about Angel.

Angel's good at her job, quick to develop good relationships with writers and their publishers. And that is highly resented. Discovering she actually likes the work, if not the hours and the pressure, she lets Lucy pile on.

And then, the Blind Submission appears in Angel's email, submitted by an anonymous author. It turns out the book is the book within the book and is about Angel's life, as can only be told by someone who is very intimate with her.

I found myself relating to Angel a lot. The crazy workplace, the exhilaration of doing something you're good at and love doing ... it's all there. Then, of course, the rug gets pulled out from under her and it's so funny, I almost cried. The hints are there and when the reveal occurs, there's the "AHA!" moment followed by the, "oh, now I see it and it makes complete sense" moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although some of the characters fell a little flat for me. It was a good, engrossing read and reinforces what I already knew about Debra Ginsberg, she's a helluva story teller.

I REALLY wanted to love this book. As another reviewer said, the characters weren't very likeable and that made it difficult to care what happened to them or care about what they did. The ending was unsatisfying. It seeme as though it was supposed to be a longer story but then the author decided to wrap it up.

A good chunk of her waiting occurred in Portland, OR, so it was interesting to read her view of her coworkers and places of employment. Always fun to learn about a facet (in this case, of eating out) that gets overlooked/taken for granted (the servers).

Got this for its subjects, liked it well enough, but at 335 pages, found it long for its lightness.

Interesting mix in this story, heart transplant and soul identification with a little suspense, mystery on the side. Definitely held my interest, something a little different but very readable.

Book Review & Giveaway: You know I’m a sucker for intriguing book covers, and What the Heart Remembers by Debra Ginsberg definitely qualifies! Add in two of my top ten favorite cities and a very interesting sounding concept, and I jumped on it with both feet. When I began reading, I thought “Hmm, I don’t know about this after all. This idea may have been done to death.” But then I got into the story and realized it had a completely new slant. What the Heart Remembers has been compared to a cross between Laura Lippman and Kate Atkinson, a dead-on comparison in my opinion. Read the rest of my review & enter to win at http://popcornreads.com/?p=4611.

What the Heart Remembers is deliciously atmospheric. I was drawn in from the start and instantly immersed myself in this world of secrets, betrayals, broken hearts and a taste of the supernatural.

Cellular memory is a main theme in the story as Eden's new heart guides her. She feels, thinks and hears what the original heart owner did.

Each character was well developed in this multi-layered novel. Different aspects of the story and the characters were slowly revealed and as the book took twists and turns, I never guessed what was just around the next corner. The heart's original owners identity surprised me.

The story is alternately narrated by Eden, Darcy and Derek. I really got to peek into each of these characters heads.
Secrets kept coming to light, there was so much revealed just underneath the surface and I kept wanting to know more.

Author Debra Ginsberg does a fantastic job and keeping you hooked as you read, she gives you just enough to tease you, but you must keep reading to find out the rest.

The story really drew me in, I enjoyed the mix of mystery, romance and suspense in this novel. I recommend What the Heart Remembers if you are looking for romance with a twist of suspense and the supernatural that will draw you in and keep you guessing until the final page is turned.

Like this author's earlier book The Grift, this one also represents an epistemological departure from the empirical realm. Normally I’m not big into the “woo-woo” side, but this author has now managed to rope me in twice!

Eden (“Edie”) Harrison has just been proposed to by her boyfriend Derek and is loving life in Portland, Oregon, when she develops heart disease bad enough to require a transplant. Just when she thought she would survive no longer, she gets a donor and has successful surgery. Afterwards, although Derek is attentive and patient during her recovery, Edie is no longer very interested in him. Nor does she even like Portland anymore, or the same colors, or music, or foods of which she used to be fond. She has troubling dreams, and feels an overwhelming compulsion to relocate to San Diego. She drops Derek, and moves.

Meanwhile, in San Diego, we meet Darcy Silver, the beautiful trophy wife of a manipulative, controlling, and rich older man. Darcy is having an affair, and desperately needs someone to talk to about everything. When Edie and Darcy meet, they feel an immediate empathic connection, and become each other’s only friend.

But a lot of things are wrong. Edie is not who she used to be. Darcy is not who she seems to be. Edie’s unbidden thoughts and dreams are getting stronger, and often involve Darcy. The tension in the book ratchets up as the suspense and danger build. And Derek still hasn’t given up on Edie, or at least the Edie he once knew. But can he help? Can anyone help?

Discussion: This story is based on the idea of “cellular memory” – the belief that, in this case, the heart is not “just a pump or a senseless lump of muscle,” but that it remembers.. Getting a transplant, according to this way of thinking, means that you get more than merely tissue; you also receive the consciousness of the donor, which then merges with your own personality. It’s a clever plot device, but you really have to suspend any scintilla of biological knowledge while you read! (Or I should say, I had to – there are many people in many professions who believe in cellular memory.) But Ginsberg manages to throw in enough suspense and interesting plot developments that it is an entertaining book no matter what your intellectual biases!

Evaluation: This is a fun summer read, by an author who is able to spin phenomenological notions into diverting suspense novels.

Didn't like it when I read it the first time -- why did they reissue it?

[Originally posted at Bookin' It.]

This book is a soap-opera beach read, full of stereotypes like "Desperate Housewives." You've got your bi-racial pregnant teen surprising her white dad and the resentful wife he compelled to have an abortion. You've got your "pillars of the community" couple with the self-righteous husband and perfectionist wife, and their troubled teenage son. You've got your lesbian couple and you've got the neighborhood slut. You've also got your foreign family that keeps to itself.

The background event is the 2007 San Diego wildfires, but I was disappointed that they actually mattered little in the plot. None of the characters was really likable, except possibly Sam, one of the lesbians.

If I hadn't had to read this for book club, I probably would not have finished it

© Amanda Pape - 2012

[This book was borrowed and returned through interlibrary loan.]½

It's a solid confessional food-book.

interesting interactions between people who wouldn't interact. A little mystery/trauma to see what will happen between people. Read this author again.

A great read about a fake psychic who finds out she really has the gift. All this while solving a mystery.

Marina Marks is a fake psychic. She developed a keen ability to read people as a method of self-preservation – it helped her survive her drug-addicted mother and the string of shady boyfriends that hung around them. Her mother stuck a deck of tarot cards in Marina’s hand and she became a revenue stream, one more way to scrape the money together for another buy. And it protected Marina:

“Her razor-sharp powers of observation and her natural talent with her mother’s worn-out set of tarot cards saved Marina from molestation on more than one occasion, because while these men were too morally impaired to see the wrong in having sex with a girl her age, they were too scared to attempt the same thing with a freaky little witch. At least, most of them felt that way.”

Marina has turned her self-preservation into a lucrative career: she provides “intuitive counseling” to rich people who need to fill up their empty lives. She has her own guiding principles – she never gets emotionally involved with her clients, she doesn’t mind taking their money but she never drains them completely – but she breaks those rules twice and she pays dearly for it. In Florida, desperate to get away, she makes a mistake with a client. Although she tries to make good, it’s already too late. But when she opens her heart to a man she meets through her work, strange things begin to happen.

One of the things I found most interesting in the book is the way we get to see the damage Marina does, without meaning to. She gives her clients what they want – she reads their body language, absorbs their subtle clues and uses her understanding of human nature (including its darker aspects) to discern their situation and point them in the direction they want to go. The problem is that she gives them sonething to cling to, tells them that the universe has endorsed their idea. So when she tells a young man that this time he has found true love, he clings to it desperately. He clings to it no matter how hard the object of his affection pushes him away, to the point of destroying himself. She gives him an excuse to follow a terribly self-destructive path.

Marina meets an unusual man and unusual things begin to happen: she finds that she’s no longer faking it. She sees things. She knows things. And she doesn’t know how to deal with it. This is unlike anything in her experience.

“That Marina was now having visions that could be considered psychic and that those visions were not only unregulated and indecipherable but ruining her business as a psychic created a kind of cognitive dissonance within Marina that was impossible to reconcile.”

But she needs to come to grips with it quickly, because suddenly there is a lot at stake.

The Grift was an engaging read – it moved quickly and drew you into Marina’s story. She is thinks of herself as damaged, but she is really a survivor. She overcame a terrible childhood and made a life for herself. When her grift becomes her gift, you really hope that she can pull herself together.