Customer Reviews

Love Always, Hobby and Jessie

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Thanks to Sara's father, Randolph `Hobby' Robinson, and his love for photography she has plenty material to develop a truly accurate and realistic depiction of the life of her parents, Hobby and Jessie. In "Love Always, Hobby and Jessie," we take a trip to small town Elkton, Virginia during the late 1920's and the 30's to witness this life as told by their daughter.

Unlike other memoirs, "Love Always, Hobby and Jessie" takes a close, hard look at the truth of marriage and life. The author has left nothing out; we see firsthand the ups and downs, the good times and bad. We see the break ups and the make ups as Jessie and Hobby struggle to keep their union afloat while raising a little girl.

The truth can be tough at times but the no-holds barred honesty found in "Love Always, Hobby and Jessie" gives it a meaningful feel and a welcoming depth of reality. We learn, through the tales and relationship of Hobby and Jessie, that commitment back then is just as important as it is now.

From the first word, Sara Robinson's passion for the small town she was raised in and what it meant to her and her parents is evident. Instantly, we are taken back in time to a different era. With each passing page, it is virtually impossible not to relate to the people, places, and events that occurred during the life of Hobby and Jessie.

Sara's creative and colorful writing style incorporates the use of metaphors to give the story a new dimension and additional depth. Stimulating all the senses, Sara's writing creates images in the reader's mind that play like a movie reel. The textures and details invoked by the combination of all these attributes will place the reader right in the story, setting and plot.

I recommend "Love Always, Hobby and Jessie" to those who enjoy reading about small town America during the 1920's and 30's. I would also recommend this book to married couples. There is a lot to learn from the marriage of Hobby and Jessie.

No two people are a perfect match but once joined they can - love always.

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"Love Always, Hobby and Jessie" was a Christmas gift for me, and what a pleasant surprise it was. My mother grew up in Luray,VA, right next door to the location of "Love Always" and this book featured characters that she may have run into, in the 1940s and 50s. It made me feel closer to her as I read of the author's parents and their relationship in small town Elkton, VA. The author has included lots of her father's photos as well, which are really beautiful works of art, especially the portraits.

Sara Robinson's engaging memoir is proof that the simple acts of living and loving make monumental ripples through the passage of time and deserve their immortalization in ink. The book is a parfait of emotion. First Robinson expertly introduces the reader to her parents. Then the talented Robinson treats the reader to one layer after another of character, desire, disappointment, satisfaction and acceptance, all brought together in the delectable pairing of two people who learn to live with love's contentious side. Robinson expertly opens windows to the lives of America's Greatest Generation through the story's everyday activities while poignantly portraying her parent's unique hearts and minds. Through candid and vivid vignettes, Robinson lovingly reveals the who and why of Hobby and Jessie. I laughed, cried and sighed. What more can one ask of a memoir?

This book is a great read, whether one grew up in a small or a large town. I fit into the former model and found myself drawn into these stories, each written to stand alone, and wanting to devour the next one without pause, which I did.

This first-time author, Sara Robinson, has a way with words, and she applies her strong science background with vision and insight from her own life experiences to make sense of a confusing and contradictory childhood spent with parents she loved and who very much loved her. These same parents also loved one another in spite of themselves and without fully understanding or acknowledging that love was what held them together through thick and thin. Sara's conclusion about her parents and their motivation(s) hit home for me as it describes much of what I have discovered about life and many long-term relationships.

This book is even better when one knows something of life in Elkton, but this is not required - the book is universal and stands alone. I very much look forward to Ms. Robinson's upcoming, to-be-set-in-Elkton mystery series.

"Love Always, Jesse and Hobby" a memoir by Sara Robinson is my first foray into the genre of Creative Non-fiction and I'm delighted to say it was a successful outing and I'll be looking for more. Sara's tender and poignant story telling style chronicles her parent's lives, friends and acquaintances growing up in her hometown of Elkton, VA. The collection of childhood memories and stories, wonderfully told, is entertaining, easy to relate to and span a kaleidoscope of human situations and emotions. A highly recommend read to anybody enjoying true accounts about real people, from real places and finding the paths, often rocky, to coexist peacefully.

I don't normally read books about family, but the author, Sara Robinson, has captured the lives of her parents in a very unique way. This is her very first attempt at writing other than articles dealing with chemical compounds abd the like. It is a remarkable story about two people who spent years trying to make a go of their marriage and in the end, they reached a peaceful relathioship. Had there not been love, always, they would have never stayed together. Sara has a wonderful memory of the struggles of her parents, and it is only fitting that she would write a book about two people whom she loved very dearly.

The author of this gem of a memoir, Sara Robinson, ably captures the essence of small town USA, as well as the dynamics of her parents. It is a wonderful telling of confrontation and compromise, with a wry sense of humor thrown in. As the parents, Hobby and Jessie, struggle to figure out boundaries and how to care for one another, Sara observes their interactions and retells their story in this book. It is crafted with love and a keen eye into the unique personalities of these two people so important in her life. I highly recommend the reading and viewing of the special photos. You will have fun!

Sara Robinson's memories of her very social parents cuts right to the heart. Her parents owned the department store in town and her father was a photographer, so we get to meet many of the folks from "small town" Virginia. Sara's engaging writing style, and some of her Dad's photos bring all the characters to life with a somewhat Norman Rockwell kind of feeling. It's apparent that she loved them immensely despite their individual self absorptions. This is a story of love, love gone bad, and love finding itself again in a familiar comfort of old age needs. I LOVED this book!

Love always, Hobby and Jessie, written by Sara Robinson, is a wonderful read and an inspiration to those suffering through a difficult marriage. It's a story of two people, deeply in love, that somehow find a way to "make it work." The author's writing style brings the characters to life in a way that makes it difficult to put the book down. All in all, I strongly recommend this book.

Love Always, Hobby and Jessie is a wonderful book about the life of a child growing up in Virginia with her not-so-perfect parents. It brought back so many memories of my own childhood. Once I started reading the book I just couldn't put it down. The book made me smile and laugh and even shed a tear. Sara writes the book in such a way you feel like you are sitting on the front porch listening to her stories. It's one of the warmest and entertaining books I have ever read. I'm hoping there are more books to come!