4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A NEW STAR ON THE HORIZON, August 10, 2002
A GIRL FROM THE HOME is a remarkable memoir which tells the story of a precocious seven year old who, against all convention, preferred the orphanage to the several foster homes she was sent to. It is also remarkable for how the now mature author manages to maintain the voice of her childhood experience throughout the narrative.
This was a child wise beyond her years with a mind of her own and a strong will that would not accept anything that was thrust at her unless she was able to think it through and found it intelligible. The opening chapter is a humdinger and is followed by one memorable scene after another. This is a book to warm the hearts of all readers, men and women, as well as children.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GIrl from the Home., August 24, 2002
This book was very special to me.Muriel and I were considered "sisters" as we lived in the 'Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum".She writes through the mind of achild.Her style is most engaging.She illustrates so intmately her harrowing experiencs in foster homes and the joys of the orphan home.Because I was a fellow inmate I can attest to the TRUTH of her narritive. It's a "Can't put it down book".Her tale is quite dramatic and VERY unusual.I opine this is a MUST read book.Esther Gerber
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Most Important Book, January 17, 2006
This review is from: Girl from the Home (Hardcover)
I cannot be objective about this book. From the moment that I held it in my hands, I knew it would be one of the most important books I would ever read. A Girl From The Home, written by Muriel Fox, is about her childhood in the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the same orphanage that my mother lived in. With a few changes, my mother could have written this book. The situations, events, names, and details are so recognizable, as though I have heard them before. I have heard them in my mother's telling of the story.
Muriel writes from the perspective of a child. She doesn't editorialize or judge, but rather tells her story the way she remembers experiencing it. I had the wonderful good fortune of meeting Muriel. She told me that her research for the book revealed facts that, of course, she was not aware of as a child. Because those facts were not part of her childhood awareness, she left them out of her memoirs. This writing device creates a profound and engaging experience for the reader. We are drawn a simple picture, like a child's line drawing, and from that we are compelled to feel so deeply, protectively, and sympathetically for that child.
Muriel describes in detail the orphanage, the people who ran it, the children she was friends with, and what life was like for her. Each short chapter depicts with clarity and simplicity an aspect of life in the home. Each aspect helped to shape Muriel's life, and illuminate my mother's.
A heart wrenching section of the book deals with Muriel's experiences in foster homes. Muriel is placed with eight different families in a two-year period. The quality of care in these homes is varied: some good, some very bad. At age twelve, Muriel is brought back to the orphanage and allowed to present her case for her permanent return. She proceeds to present one of the clearest, most thought provoking, and compelling arguments for the orphanage system versus foster care. It is an impassioned plea from a child desperate for the sense of belonging and family that the orphanage offers. After speaking with Muriel at some length on this issue, it is clear that she feels our children could be better served if we revisit the potential benefits of the orphanage.
I didn't want this book to end. I wanted to keep reading until I got every detail of everyday of life in the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum. In a sense, I got my wish when I met Muriel in Brooklyn. Her vivid first hand accounts of a world seven decades old brought that world to life for me. Reading A Girl from the Home helped to bring my mother's childhood into clearer focus. I will always be grateful to Muriel Fox for that precious gift.
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