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Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic
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| Item Number |
95125 |
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Item Description...
Product Description
Set in Cuba, The Messenger tells the story of a pair of doomed lovers-world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso and his Chinese-Cuban mullatta mistress.In June 1920 a bomb exploded at the Teatro Nacional in Havana at the very moment that Enrico Caruso was singing Radams in the opera Ada. In a panic, he fled the theater and disappeared into the streets of Havana. What happened to him is the story imagined by Mayra Montero. As Caruso tries to escape the murderous agents of the Black Hand, he is drawn into a passionate love affair with Aida Cheng, a woman whose godfather is the powerful Afro-Cuban santero Jos de Calazn. Told by Enriqueta, the daughter born of the love affair, and by Aida herself as she lies dying many years later, The Messenger unfolds its mysteries against the rhythms of African santera and Chinese folk magic and weaves a brooding, compelling tale of love and death.
Outline Review
Here are the facts: in June of 1920 the legendary Italian tenor Enrico Caruso arrived in Havana, Cuba, on tour. During a matinee performance of Ada a bomb went off in the Teatro Nacional, and Caruso, in a panic, rushed out into the streets of the city and disappeared for several days. Taking off from this historical footnote, Cuban-born writer Mayra Montero has impressively imagined what might have occurred during the singer's "lost weekend." The Messenger is narrated by Aida Petrirena Cheng, a Chinese Cuban mulatto woman whom Caruso literally runs into just moments after the explosion. If the singer is shocked by events, Aida is not; she has already been warned by her godfather, a Santera priest, that a man "will come to crown you and tell you that you are the queen of his thoughts. Before that you will hear the thunder, the walls will fall down, there will be dust and fire." She instantly recognizes that Caruso is the man of her godfather's vision, and with that recognition comes a frisson of fear, for old Jos de Calazn Bangoch had given another warning. "On that day--listen carefully--take your protection out of your clothing and put it over your hair. Then you bring me that man, you will have to bring him to me." He picked up the kuele and hid it between his hands. "He is coming to die. But if you don't want that, bring him to me right away, he will not die. Bring him so you won't be tainted. He is not coming to die: he is already dead when he comes." Aida does as she is told, bringing Caruso to her godfather's house where she and the singer soon become lovers. As their love affair escalates, so does the danger--from the people Caruso believes are trying to kill him, but even more from the disease that is slowly consuming him. Montero tells this star-crossed tale from several perspectives: Aida, her daughter, Enriqueta, and the testimonials of several different witnesses to the events of that June day when the bomb first went off. Propelled by the rhythms of santeria, infused with folk lore and magic, The Messenger is a magical portrait of love that comes too late--and death that comes too soon. --Alix Wilber
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Item Specifications...
Pages 320
Dimensions: Length: 8.1" Width: 5.4" Height: 0.8"
Weight: 0.5 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Publisher Harper Paperbacks
ISBN 0060923288
EAN 9780060923280
UPC 099455013000
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Availability 11 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 05:16.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Good, but not great Feb 26, 2008 |
It's a good book. I know I'm not alone but it lacked in offering true advice. I was left with a "what now?" feeling.
| | | | Finally felt understood... Jan 30, 2008 |
and then more understanding.
When I began reading this book I actually felt as if someone had been watching my firstborn son and I or eavesdropping on our conversations, or reading his baby book and my exasperated, secret, momma journals. The author could have been writing about him/us, with names changed to protect the not-so innocent. Someone else has been through this? He isn't so rare? Initially, I didn't know whether to feel horrified or relieved.
He was the newborn who cried because there really was one of my long hairs wrapped around his tiny toe (thank you Dr. Sears for mentioning that in one of your books--The Fussy Baby book, you think?-- as a possibility for inconsolable crying!)...he was the creeper who arched his back and screamed because there was a particularly stiff label inside his onesie that was itching his neck (thank goodness for the new tagless clothing!)...he was the toddler who cried to me that the (lush, Kentucky blue) grass in our front yard hurt his feet...and to this day, he will complain about the seams in his socks or lament that his sleeves don't feel the same. If I commiserate or help him fix it, he beams; if I tell him to get over it, he ruminates. I'd much rather help him on his way, to go compose a song or perform a play for me! He is much more intense-- and far more intelligent-- than any other child I have known, and this book really illuminated for me the brilliant upside of knowing a wonderfully creative and spirited child. Choosing to see my son as more perceptive and sensitive (instead of more difficult or harder to work with) has been key. He's so persistent, and now I admire that in him rather than finding it frustrating that he keeps at something even though it's frustrating!
Reading this book helped me to feel so much more normal, sane and hopeful. I had a real a-ha/duh/lightbulb moment when I realized that *I* am myself a spirited person! (No wonder I adore and abhor my son all at once!) The tips on working with my own spiritedness have been priceless. It makes sense that I would understand my son more than anyone else, and now I understand why I am at times not the best at handling his meltdowns. I feel like I now have permission to allow my son to be just who he is--not to try to change him-- and I feel allowed to be myself, too. Maybe the rest of the world really is crazy and we are in touch?!
I do wish there was at least a discussion of homeschooling as a viable option in this book, since that (and even more so, unschooling) is truly the least restrictive environment for spirited children.
| | |  | A great Guide for Parents of "spirited" kids Jan 8, 2008 |
| If you are looking for books about your intense child, then you need this book. Even if you don't buy into it 100%, you will find a lot to inform you. When reading this book, you will recognize things about your child and this book will give you ideas of what you need to accept about your child and what you can realistically change. Mostly, it will give you the feeling that you are not alone, that you are not the only one with an intense child, that this is the way your child was made and that you are not to blame. REad this book and start to see your child in a different light. | | | | Strongly recommend Aug 14, 2007 |
| This book is one of the best parenting books available. It is one of the few books that actually offers substantive advice about how to deal with certain behaviors. Furthermore, it is the only book that I have read that maintains a positive outlook on "spirited" children. The book does not focus on ways to change the child and does not imply that the child has a disability. It simply teaches the parent how to deal to deal with behaviors and feelings of the spirited child. I cannot say enough about how wonderful the book is. I reread parts of it nearly every night. | | | | Saved my mind Jul 20, 2007 |
| I was so sure my son was different in so many ways that I would never be able to keep up with him. This book helped me decide which of his spirits needed extra attention from me and how to direct that spirit once I identified it. Now when he goes nuts jumping up and down on the bed, I know it's because he has a lot of pent up energy from having to be still for a long time (i.e. school). When he gets very quiet and withdraws I know he is needing special one on one attention because something has bothered him too much and he's embarrassed by that. There are so many nuances for each of our children and this book really helps figure out the particular ones that your own child is gifted with. | | | Write your own review about Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic
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