Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
26 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling, October 8, 2007
This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn more about Natalee Holloway and her disappearance, and also for those who have followed the case all along. After reading this book, I am amazed that people continue to question Beth's recollections and her sincerity. I found her notes on events to be extremely compelling and coherent - especially considering the trauma she was experiencing at the time. This is a beautiful story of faith & resilience in the midst of some truly ugly events.
|
|
|
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 Stars... The call no parent should ever have to get, April 1, 2008
Who doesn't remember the mysterious disappearance of the Alabama HS senior while on vacation with her high school friends in Aruba, now almost 3 years to the date. When I saw this book, I simply had to pick it up and read it for myself. One may think that you know the whole story, but until you read this book, you really don't.
In "Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith" (255 pages), Beth Holloway, the mother of Natalee, brings us in brutal details what she experienced as a mother when her daughter went missing (and is now presumed dead). Holloway kicks off the Preface of the book with "I am the parent who got the dreaded call. The parent no one wants to be." Right then and there, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, and indeed this is no easy book to read, as Holloway describes the nightmare she and her family and loved ones went through upon arriving on Aruba, and try and find Natalee. The utter incompetence, if not outright unwillingness to assist and underlying corruptness, of the Aruba police authorities is beyond comprehension, even as it is clear that 3 young men are directly involved in Natalee's disappearance. Just sickening.
What keeps Beth Holloway going is her strong faith. I am deeply saddened by what she has had to go through, and (being a parent of a HS senior myself) can only hope and pray that I will never have to go through this. As to the culprits who did this to Natalee, they will receive their due, be in in this life, or in the next when they sit in judgment of our Lord. My prayers are with Beth Holloway and her family.
|
|
|
38 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Important message for young travelers, but book lacks substance by not correcting her public false statements. , October 4, 2007
What an interesting story Beth tells in her book. The problem I am having is based on some of what I know; her stories differed in many instances from what she has told previously. That is what has plagued this case, so many stories, what to believe? Most people however, will read this and feel her pain. And there is nothing wrong with that. Because, after reading this book, I do believe that the Aruban authorities in many instances were not doing all they could for Natalee's family. If even half of the incidents are true that Beth writes about, regarding those first few days, it is really a sad tale for any parent to have to deal with, if their child is missing. I certainly came away from certain parts of the book quite unsettled over what they faced down there. So, from that part of the book, I will give Beth the benefit of the doubt, in relation to the law enforcement. About that, Beth and Dave have many good reasons to be outraged! Everyone has to be careful though where we allow our precious young people to travel. Many, many places, not just Aruba, are also incapable of handling such a disappearance. When anyone travels out of the United States, they have to realize that they are beyond the protection of our government, so that decision should be made before the trip and prior to trouble arising.
There is so much about the book that just does not seem to ring quite true to the Beth we saw nightly on TV. It makes you wonder, what she is up to now? I have a feeling, based on the way this book was written, she does have some deviously, interesting plans in her future (perhaps a new religious career). I think those plans are much more grandiose than her hastily created "safe travels" organization.
For me though, she really offers nothing for what she thinks happened to Natalee, other than the rehash of those statements, which she has been referencing for years now. And what do we know for sure about them? Were they signed, were they legit, what were the questions asked to get the answers stated, do we know anything about any of that? No, and neither does Beth, for sure. She is still going down the same road that has led to nothing so far; same old "original perpetrators" and the "going in and out of consciousness," (a phrase she made up out of whole cloth) that we have been hearing forever! She also fails to mention the Skeeters recordings and explain how she heard things that clearly were not there to be heard. In my opinion, she needed to deal with some of that, since it was what she seemed so outraged about for almost a year. So, no revelations at all regarding the case! In the summer of 2005, she said she had information that "would shock the world." I am still waiting!
And Beth still does not seem to want to deal with her daughter's own partying in Aruba, which at this stage has been well documented by the other Mountain Brook teens. Does Beth still not understand that when Natalee began the day with Red Fires for breakfast, that she didn't need to have Joran or the Kalpoes to force strange drinks laced with anything down her throat, fourteen or more hours later? She showed that she was totally capable of that on her own. Beth, of course, knows all of this (it is well documented). And based on the the way she wrote this book, it is apparent, she still does not wish for the whole truth, as far as Natalee goes, to be told. That does not however, mean that Natalee deserved anything bad to happen to her! I have always felt very badly for the loss of Natalee, as a parent we all should. It is very sad.
I cannot say whether people should read this book or not. I did, because I have been following this case since day one and I needed to see with my own eyes what Beth now thinks. I was surprised to see that Beth didn't mention boycotting Aruba, although she has called for it publicly. Her public tactic lately has been not to mention it... maybe she has been advised not to (that's not forgiving enough, I guess, for her new religious tactic). I would have like to have seen her disavow her support for a boycott rather than just be silent in the book about something she previously promoted on the air.
Like one of the previous reviewers stated, this book should probably be read by parents of teens and the teens themselves, prior to booking an all-inclusive drinking senior trip, or a spring break drinking trip. Just like my generation was shocked by the movie, "Midnight Express," perhaps this book can be that for this generation, and that would not be a bad thing. So read the book, but not because you will learn much about what happened to Natalee Holloway, but, perhaps, so your own young child won't suffer the same fate.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Andrew G. Hodges
by Isaac Chin
by Sharon Rocha
by Janet Pelasara
by Donna M. Greene
