Customer Reviews

A Bear Called Charlie: A Memoir

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"A Bear called Charlie" is warm and imaginative, and will make you feel wonderful- just the medicine we all need in these tough economic times. It will also make you nostalgic for days past when things like charm, gentility, grace and tenderness were valued commodities. The voice of our bear Charlie, is so developed he becomes your inner voice. When you finish the book, this charismatic bear will remain with you. It is a lovely story, told from the heart of talented storytellers.

I loved this book! I had the opportunity to meet the daughter, Peg and she is a delight. I can only imagine what Isabel was like in person! The book is an adventure and it does make you happy too. Thanks, Peg for making sure that this book was published.
Martha

Isabel Crane Goldberg was one of Owen County's oldest and most beloved citizens in Spencer, Indiana. Throughout her lifetime of 92 years, countless abandoned and abused animals were fortunate to find their way to her family's doorstep, ultimately resulting in the creation of the Owen County Humane Society.

A BEAR CALLED CHARLIE: A MEMOIR is the work of a creative and poetic mind choosing to tell her own story through the lens of the antique teddy bear she rescues from a box of items bought at an auction.

In the process of revealing Charlie's story, this author, with the helpful editing of her daughter, Peg Goldberg Longstreth, offers a poignant and funny story of life and humanity.

You will laugh and cry as you read A BEAR CALLED CHARLIE: A MEMOIR. It is the perfect book to give as a gift, and to suggest for the next good discussion at your book club.

A Bear Called Charlie: A MemoirA bear called Charlie was an interesting read. Slowing oneself down, till you become the author with the snap shot experiences. It reads like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Simple on the outside but thought provoking the more you delve in.

A BEAR CALLED CHARLIE: A MEMOIR is one of those fascinating books that too often slips between the cracks of agents and reviewers. The reason? Books like A Bear Called Charlie defy the tidy categories that simplify doing business in the book trade. The trouble is, not every book can be classified as a mystery, or romance, or even as memoir.

Case in point: A Bear Called Charlie. Written by extraordinary 92-year-old Isabel Goldberg and edited by her daughter, this "memoir" is presented through the point of view of both Goldberg and Charlie, the antique teddy bear she rescues from a box of castoff items at an auction. Since World War II, Charlie's been waiting for his small mistress to come get him out of her grandmother's attic. No one appears until 50 years later, when a nice lady buys the box of odds and ends that Charlie has occupied since 1943. Finding himself rescued and riding home on the back seat of Goldberg's car, the bear starts talking. Goldberg almost wrecks the car.

Given these few details, already it should be apparent that no convenient pigeonhole or category can serve to classify this delightful and imaginative idea: a teddy bear's memoir.

But A Bear Called Charlie shouldn't be thought of as just one more cozy, feel-good story of sentiment, or as the eccentric impulse of a lovable senior citizen who decided to write a book. Goldberg proves to be both sharp and thoughtful in this unique work, one that not only tells the story of how Charlie comes to enrich and befriend the Goldberg family, but that offers up real wisdom in his many sage observations about the human condition.

The funny-beautiful photos are an added bonus in this altogether delightful work. Highly recommended.

If you listen, you'll hear the most complex problems of the 20th century through the ears of a teddy bear. You'll see through the eyes of a mother, and feel a living history pulsing from a loving heart.

When I saw the title of the book, "A BEAR CALLED CHARLIE, A MEMOIR" I thought, "yeah right, another teddy bear kids story". But I was wrong. This book is not really for kids, it is more for adults, helping us to stay young. Very whimsical and funny, with something to think about. Amazing book.

I read "Charlie" on vacation and really enjoyed it..reading it at many different levels. It can be light and entertaining and at the same time thought provoking with much to say about life. I highly recommend it!