Customer Reviews

Soraya: A Life of Music, A Legacy of Hope

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I was a fan of Soraya before I knew anything about her history with Breast Cancer. As someone attempting to learn to speak Spanish, her clear, calm, but powerful voice made it easy to discern her words and her sincerity made me want to learn their meanings.

As a lifelong musician and songwriter, her music was (and is) a revelation, with gorgeous, soaring melodies and wonderful musicianship throughout.

This book focuses on the truly heroic part of her life, from her diagnosis to her relentless work to bring education about this terrible disease to those who had never heard it.

She worked almost to the day she died toward this end, and this book is her legacy and her final gift to us.

You will be inspired by her incredible strength and spirit as you mourn her tragic passing.

Although I'm a fan of Soraya's music, I never followed the tabloids so I never knew about her breast cancer. Her death on May 10, 2006 surprised and stunned me. When her memoir was published, I bought the book; but it sat on my shelf unread. After nearly three years, I began reading it. I had very much admired Soraya as a singer and songwriter. After reading her memoir, I admire her even more as a person who was a caring daughter, a doting aunt, a loyal friend, a champion for breast cancer awareness, and as a cancer fighter.

After a famous person dies, it usually others who write about them. With this book, it's Soraya telling you about herself. It's like having a private conversation with her in which she reveals intimate details about her life, her dreams, her goals, her family, etc. She writes about the meaning and inspiration for some of her songs. Knowing the songs' background gave them entirely new meanings to me and I now better appreciate them.

While reading Soraya's memoir, I used post-it notes to mark interesting information and passages. There are post-it notes on nearly every other page. Here are a few interesting tidbits of facts about Soraya that I didn't know:

She was a classically trained violinist.

At 12 yrs old, she was a violinist for the New York City Youth Symphony Orchestra.

High school valedictorian

High school council President

High school field hockey team Captain

She was lefty but willed herself to learn to play a right-handed guitar because her parents couldn't afford to buy her another guitar.

Attended Douglass College at Rutgers on a full academic scholarship.

Named woman of the year at Rutgers.

Worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines.

"En Esta Noche" and "On Nights Like This" are about the night her mother died.

"Avalancha" was inspired by Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" when Soraya's world was falling down around her.

She was her nephew's YMCA soccer team coach while batting breast cancer.

Soraya wrote songs for Ricky Martin, Ha-Ash, and others.

What I didn't know and admired about Soraya could go on and on. What really surprised me was her determination to still write songs and perform while battling breast cancer to nearly the end of her life. I kept saying to myself "WOW!"

In our lifetime, we will know a friend or family member who will battle a terminal illness. We ourselves might find ourselves facing a terminal illness. After reading Soraya's memoir, I can now better understand those who face such illness and if I should have to face the same fate, I hope I show the same courage as Soraya.

"A hero doesnot have to win. A hero doesnot have to be larger than life. A hero can be an ordinary person who overcomes extraordinary events with dignity and grace".-Soraya. This is the introduction Soraya offers to her book. This is a book worth reading by everybody as it offers much needed advice from how to enjoy life to how to prepare for our own mortality. After Soraya's passing to breast cancer complications I have become proactive in breast cancer prevention and awareness. I hope others can recieve inspiration by reading this book.

I have always admired Soraya for her incredible songwriting ability and her book just inspired me more. Her down to earth writing is an inspiration to all humans fighting breast cancer or just trying to deal with this life that can give us so many good and bad things all at once. I recommend this book to everyone!

I am a huge fan of Sorayas music. This book is very inspirational for all, especially for those batteling cancer.

I didn't know anything about Soraya before I read this book. I must say that this book is one of the BEST I have EVER READ!! The title says it all, this woman was remarkable. Not only did I read the book but I marked the pages that had inspirational quotes. The way she expressed herself about the diease, the battle that not only her but the women in her family had to indore was exemely difficult. She was always filled with hope and love for life. This is a book that every women should read, especially now in the month of October. Trust me when I say that after reading this book you will never forget Soraya.

I'm usually into hard rock stuff, but chance attention brought me to her music, which I eventually purchased. I was impressed by her clean, angelic voice, there was something beyond the music of this gifted woman that beckoned to philosophy in life, an objective window to a soul-searching exercise to 's***' out all the nonsense in life, in our disoriented and spoilt society, and take a hard look at oneself and the world around.
I've worked in a record retail outlet in the past #1970-80s# and sold all kinds of musical genre: from classical to heavy metal - you name it, and in all honesty, if I had to place this performer in any merit category I'd have no qualms givig her a 5-star-plus grading - that's quality-wise. From the human perspective you can very well perceive that her inspiration is well-grounded in 'feeling', it's shorn from any purposeful commercialism. Her music and lyrics stem from pure talent rather than writing music for music's sake. If you are after something which is both pleasing and entertaining, then switch on to her CD's when you drive to work on any dreary morning - her melodic vocals simply soothe your 'nerves'. There's a soft blend of Latino musical fusion, and option-wise you can purchase her CD's in the English language version. Well, thank you Soraya - it's so true that 'only the good die young'... God bless you - for all you've done and stood for, especially for the breast-cancer awareness campaign which you pursued for so many years. So long..., rest in peace in the presence of God's glory and everlasting love.

I had no problems receiving this book in a timely manner-- it's a great book!