Ellen Marie Wiseman

The narration, by Madeleine Lambert, was a bit unnatural--the tone of the character voices seemed exaggerated, probably to distinguish them from each other, and the narrated parts seemed too fast and mechanically delivered. The story is primarily a Holocaust story, with an emphasis on the sudden descent into poverty, fear, and strife that the average compassionate German citizen experienced, being pitted against authorities, mandatory enlistment, and those neighbors who enthusiastically supported Hitler's regime.… (mais)

This was the story of Clare, committed at age 18 to an asylum for the insane by her father for rebellion. This was the 1920's and women had very few rights. She spent all of her life institutionalized in brutal conditions. This was a work of fiction, but very realistic from the non-fiction that I have read on the same subject matter. I listened to this on audio and it distracted from the story as the reader was overly dramatic, breathless in every sentence. There was a dual timeline, which was totally unnecessary, dealing with teenage angst, for the most part. 11 hours 20 mins… (mais)

This book was upsetting when reading it knowing that in some respects it was true. There really was a place Willowbrook and it was for children who had mental issues and it wasn’t a place you would want your mentally challenged child to be. The story is about Sage finding out her sister Rosemary, who is in Willowbrook, is missing and decides to go to search for her and find out why she didn’t even know she was there. Sage was told Rosemary had died. When she got to Willowbrook, administration thought she was Rosemary and no matter what Sage said they didn't believe her and they locked her up stating she was really Rosemary. The story goes on about the horrible treatment the children there are treated and Sage trying to find a way to get them to believe she really isn’t Rosemary. Sage finds a friend in a janitor who helps her escape and calls the news to report on Willowbrook but little did she know that Eddy wasn’t who she thought he was. I had so much emotion reading the book feeling sad and mad at how they were treating Sage. I enjoyed the book even though saying enjoyed doesn’t seem right with the subject background of Willowbook.… (mais)