Customer Reviews

Miriam the Medium

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What a great book! I couldn't put this down no matter how hard I tried. The author has a way with writing, and the story was so original I found myself biting my nails waiting to see what happened next. The concept of a medium living in suburbia, doing phone readings for a living, was unique and intriguing. I loved reading about her encounters with the spirits of the customers she read, and I thought the parallels of her own life and family with her gift was wonderfully done. I loved Miriam from the first page and I was sorry to see her story end. I'll look forward to reading other books by this talented author!

Miriam the Medium is one of those books you pick up because of the title and browse through it, intending to set it back down. But chances are, you will stand there reading until the bookstore clerk gives you a dirty look. I got it as a Mother's Day present and stayed on the couch all day reading it.

The magic in this book is two-fold. Miriam, certainly, but the story itself is magical, too. It made me believe in myself as a woman even more, and I applaud the author. Great read, great present!

I read this delightful debut novel in two very busy days and I highly recommend it - take it to the beach, read it in your garden, stash it in your bag for work - I guarantee you won't regret making time for Miriam the Medium!

This lighthearted and passionate novel is a sight-for-sore-eyes gift which teaches us that the very real and the very magical can co-exist.

What do you do when your husband's business is failing, your daughter is ashamed of you & your faith in your own talents hits rock bottom?

Miriam is a distraught Long Island housewife whose grandmother taught her about the "sight". As a child Miriam rejected this skill, although now she is a phone psychic. Miriam's mother disapproved of her while she lived & is hounding her from the Other Side.

Over the phone Miriam can heal broken hearts, mend relationships & guide people to find new careers -- what she can't do is anything to assuage her family's trials. Her husband is getting antsy as his business loses money, & her daughter has become enchanted by the boy from hell, & the bills keep piling up.

What's a woman to do? If you're like Miriam, you're going to take some chances!

Rebeccasreads recommends MIRIAM THE MEDIUM as a well-written romp with something to teach about family, longing & finding your strength & learning to be proud of yourself.

A visual and moving story of Long Island surburban life. The twist is that the heroine, a modern day housewife is also a phone psychic who can help everyone except her own family. The novel is full of several subplots involving her husbands's failing business and a teenage daughter who, of course, will never take her mother's well-meaning advice. As Miriam says "things are bad but can always get worse". Of course, they do. How Miriam solves her problems is described in a amusing and haunting way with a touch of pathos. Miss Shapiro's debut novel is a winner.

Not only is this a fascinating look in the life of a medium, but it's a series of indelible portraits of Great Neck, New York, home of manicured nails and manicured lawns; of the marriage between shy pharmacist Rory who adores his wife but wants to keep church and state (i.e. her psychic ability and his scientific practice) separate; of the tense relationship between mother and daughter, in this case Miriam grappling with Cara, who falls desperately in love with the wrong boy. At turns heartbreaking and then hilarious, the book soars--especially in the moving passages about Miriam and her psychic Russian grandmother. I cannot wait to see what Ms. Shapiro might do next.

Miriam Kaminsky is a phone psychic who works out of her house in the New York area. Her husband pharmacist Rory owns Mirror Pharmacy, which is suffering financial troubles. Her teenage daughter Cara is a high school senior. Miriam actually has powers and her readings are quite accurate, but her two family members are ashamed of her work and skill. Coupled with her deceased mom feeling the same way, Miriam hides her talent.

As her trust in her gift wanes due to family reaction, Miriam goes on TV to make money. Her efforts alienate her further with her husband and daughter. When their daughter turns up missing, only Miriam can find her if she listens to her deceased grandma Bubbie and believe that her skills are real. If she fails to trust herself, Cara could die from exposure.

This is an enjoyable contemporary drama with a touch of late suspense and a ton of intriguing paranormal activity. Fans will appreciate the dilemma confronting Miriam as she so much wants her loved one, living and dead, to appreciate her talent, but when no one except Bubbie does, her confidence is impacted. Except for a final unnecessary clip showing Cara's boyfriend as a womanizing rat, this reviewer foresees that readers will take immense pleasure in following the exploits of MIRIAM THE MEDIUM

Harriet Klausner

I really enjoyed this book. It sat on my shelf for two weeks before I got a chance to pick it up and read it and when I opened to page 1, I didnt want to put it down.

The author makes it very easy for the reader to like Miriam and sympathize with her. She must have a teenage daughter in real ife because the parts of the novel where Miriams daughter are involved are spot on.

I eagerly await Rochelle Shapiros next book!

Miriam Kaminsky is a normal suburban mother and wife living on Long Island in a beautiful but old house. She's troubled by money problems, a husband who works too hard trying to breath life into his pharmacy, and a typical teen-age daughter who cringes with embarrassment at everything Miriam does. But added to everything else in Miriam's life is the very simple fact that she's a psychic with a strong gift for seeing people's auras and health problems and their future. Oh, and she sees ghosts --usually helpful spirits connected to the living.

Her childhood and her family are very important to Miriam, which is why her dearly loved grandmother Bubbie is still around her as is her father, both of whom have passed away. The hardest part of her childhood was her mother, who would order Miriam not to use her gifts. It all came from love and fear for her daughter, but Miriam still feels the shame her mother pressed on her whenever she was truly herself, using her psychic gifts to help others. More than anything Miriam would love for her mother, who also passed away, to visit her like the spirits of others do. But since, in her life her mother completely disapproved of the psychic talent, Miriam doesn't see her changing her mind in the afterlife.

But the here and now also carries hardships. Rory, her loving husband is losing money in his business. Though Miriam can't put her finger on why she doesn't trust the help in the pharmacy, Rory won't listen. He doesn't want her using her psychic gifts tell him what to do with his business. He insists that Miriam's psychic phone line is her business to do with as she sees fit, and the pharmacy is his. At the same time their daughter Cara, after trying for years to become a psychic, like her mother, finally realized that she doesn't have the gift. The disappointment has crushed her and the teenager changed overnight into a whirlwind of student perfection, studying and joining school activities, all of her thoughts concentrating on going to Cornell University. Using her gifts for her loved ones doesn't work at any rate. Miriam is too close, her heart is too wrapped up in their happiness, and that affects her ability to help them.

When out of the blue a press agent calls Miriam's psychic help line and insists that she could make Miriam a national name and wealthy, Miriam refuses. Her Bubbie always warned her not to use her gifts to make money, as if she were in a carnival. But Bubbie never had as many living expenses as Miriam does. When the house's roof springs leaks, then Rory's business begins to flounder as a new thirty thousand dollar computer system is needed to fill out the health care forms that make up his business and she knows that Cara needs money for her future, Miriam agrees to do a television appearance.

Will she lose her gift if she tries to make big bucks? Will her Bubbie and her father refuse to visit her anymore? Will Cara react even worse than she has at having a mother who now publicly dances to the beat of her own drum?

This book manages to make Miriam into the lady next door. She's not a madwoman or a charlatan, just a regular person with everyday problems but who happens to have an extra talent packed inside her likable person. I found everything about Miriam and her life believable. The author Rochelle Shapiro also managed to explain to me how a woman with her own mind and self-respect could permit her teenage daughter to treat her like dreck without losing her temper. Now that's an amazing talent!

At times funny and tearfilled, Miriam the Medium is an extremely great read. I enjoyed it thoroughly and look forward to seeing more of Miriam in the future.