Customer Reviews

Sorrowed Souls

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Sorrowed Souls has left a lasting impression on me. I spent quite a bit of the time crying, and sobbing at times too. It was horrific what the characters had to endure and how their lives were changed by cruel acts. Not once in the story did I ever feel that the characters were over reacting to their life happenings. I felt compassion that their life choices, and their pain was pretty much justified. However, sometimes I witnessed them missing their mark and they could have without a doubt avoided some or all of the pain they seemed to willingly absorb.

I cry for these people as if they are real to me, because they are real. Every day real people are suffering the way these characters suffered. The homeless are highlighted in this book with a real look at how one living on the street might have gotten there, and how they might survive. Often times in this life, it takes grand moments of fate to snap us back and to get us on track. Thankfully there are great books like 'Sorrowed Souls' and great authors like Brenda Youngerman, that we can be shown in words our mistakes before we are truly faced with the torture of ourselves.

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"Gus, ever since I've known you, the world has been at your beck and call, and you have felt like you were alone. You put yourself on a fringe when you could've stepped right into the middle at any point. When the day comes that you are finally ready to jump in, then you'll be able to move forward and get out of the rut and the 'curse' you feel that you're under. It's time to stop blaming everyone around you and start taking a personal inventory to determine what it is you need to be a better Augustus Winston Hill."
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Gus was one of my favorite characters throughout. You will soon come to realize he has a leading type of soul even as a young child. He is strong, and while his disadvantages may have actually given him that strength, he seemed to relish in them so much to the point he was unable to ever really find peace. I simply adored this character. He seemed to have been born into a self hell and lived his entire life battling that. For that reason, he simply did not learn, or know how, to 'feel' a secure happy life.

This book is filled with characters. It is a tapestry of lives, and each of them hold key factors as to the 'whys' that are asked. I will only use Gus as an example because I do not want to spoil the story. The less you know, the more powerful it will hit you. Pay attention when Gus's parents are introduced. The privileged lives lived. How often have you heard yourself say "If I were a millionaire"? For much of this book money was never the issue, and it was not exactly why people were unhappy or self destructive. What ever it is that makes us break inside seemed to flow like water in these pages and will open the reader's eyes to life and just how fragile it really is.

Sorrowed Souls
Review by John Allen

Those familiar with Grisham's The Street Lawyer will feel much at home with Brenda Youngerman's Sorrowed Souls. The plight of those less fortunate than the average citizen is well portrayed in this timely novel. It's gut-wrenchingly real.

Amy Pickens, the girl with the strawberry birthmark, endures not only a mother totally thoughtless concerning her needs, but also a vicious rape. When her father dies, she finds out that a large trust has been provided for her, and suddenly her life changes.

But not only Amy, and not always for the better - the author portrays many such human dramas, especially with mega-rich families whose heads have been turned by wealth. I found myself caught by the realism of their insensitivity, particularly with Gus. His rise from anonymity among brothers who'd spent their lives rejecting him is well portrayed, as is his decline.
It's a great relief that Youngerman doesn't moralize - she simply tells a story, recording opinions and actions without judgment. This is refreshing change from much current opinion concerning, for instance, the homeless.

If one single word can describe this moving drama, it is `hope': the main characters all seem, at times, hopeless and inadequate, run over by life's circumstances or their own inadequacy, but `hope springs eternal' in this moving account, and the way the final chapters wrap up so many conflicts and misunderstandings is well put across. Youngerman's mission of `Fiction with a Purpose' is well-served in Sorrowed Souls.

Don't let the name fool you; Sorrowed Souls by Brenda Youngerman is not unrelentingly sorrowful. Though each of the characters undergoes his or her own trial in life, this is primarily a book of hope. The characters overcome their various sorrows because they know the value of friendship and family and learn to help one another.

The main character is Bryan Tines. When we meet Bryan, he's working hard at his real estate development job. Maybe too hard; he misses his own anniversary. Workaholic Bryan quickly realizes the mistake he's made, but when he gets home, it's too late. What happens to Bryan and to his family is a mystery that hangs over much of the novel.

The next time we see Bryan, he's out on the streets. Homeless. He doesn't know what to do or where to go; he doesn't even remember his own name. He might not have survived if it weren't for the intervention of a tall, aging homeless man who goes by Gus.

Youngerman goes into great detail to describe the circumstances that brought Gus to the streets, though he was once a successful lawyer and came from a wealthy background. We get to know Gus's life story as thoroughly as we do Bryan's and that of Bryan's wife, Amber.

The exploration of what might cause homelessness is interesting, especially in this economy in which many families have lost their homes. That would be interesting enough to make this novel worth reading, but Sorrowed Souls is a richer and more complex than that. It's also a relationship story about Bryan and Amber that breaks the relationship down to its most basic building blocks. Few novelists are able to sustain a narrative this complicated while keeping the story compellingly readable. Virginia Woolf is one of them; Brenda Youngerman is another. Readers who pick up Sorrowed Souls will be richly rewarded.

What would you do if you woke up on the streets and couldn't remember who you were and how you got there? That is what Bryan wakes up to in Brenda Youngerman's Sorrowed Souls. In Sorrowed Souls Bryan wakes up on the street and Gus, the "sheriff" of the street people takes him under his wing. Youngerman takes our rose colored glasses off and gives a real-life look at what life on the streets is like. She goes a step further by showing us what transpired in the life of these people that lead them to become lost and homeless. Youngerman writes such an amazingly real story that I kept having to remind myself this is fiction. That is the mark of a truly gifted writer. She opens your eyes and makes you see street people in a whole new way. I work in a place where I pass homeless people and pan handlers several times during the day. My hear goes out to most of them, but occasionally I come across one that doesn't look obviously homeless, in fact they look like high school or college students that are looking to make a few bucks off the generousity of others. Having many homeless in our area that truly need help and goodwill from their fellow man, it always makes me angry to see the posers. After reading this book, I feel guilty about that, because I don't know their story and I shouldn't make assumptions based on appearance. Sorrowed Souls is aptly titled. It is a book filled with sorrow. It is the story of people who grow up unwanted and unloved and how they deal with and sometimes don't deal with life. It reminds us that any of us could be the one to wake up on the street. It reminds us to look past the outer appearance. It reminds us that we are not always the architects of our own lives and yet at the same time every decision we make carries with it a consequence. Youngerman's book is sad and heart wrenching. It is not an easy book to read and yet it is so well written and so compelling it is a book everyone should read. We all want to read the happy books, the adventures, the love stories and we often shy away from those that make us think and open our eyes to the world around us. We want the warm fuzzy and feel good books. Amidst the darkness in this book there is light and at the end you are left with a sense of hope, but it is a hard journey. A journey many will shy away from because it's not easy, and that is the very reason this book is a must read. It opens your mind to the human condition and the harsh realities of the world around us. The most amazing thing to me about the way Youngerman writes is that there is no judgment. Again this is one of her gifts. As humans it is our nature to judge and it's something that permeates everything we do. To write a compelling and honest look at people society wants to forget without placing any type of judgment on those characters sets a beautiful example for us all. This book gets five out of five life lessons.

"Sorrowed Souls" is the story of the interwoven lives of Gus, Bryan, and Amy. These characters' stories are woven together through tragic circumstances. Gus Hill, especially, has to lose it all until he finds his way out of the dark. However, along the way, he also becomes one of the invisible people of the streets, but through his tragedy comes redemption...for himself and others. I found him to be the pivotal character, as well as my favorite, and for his story alone, this novel is worth reading, and should be on everyone's reading list.

Sorrowed Souls is a story of several people who grew up unloved and unwanted. The story breaks off in different directions as the reader travels along through each character's life. Tragedy follows the characters as does their own self-destructive behavior. As their lives connect, the stories take some interesting twists that I never expected. Reading about that much sadness and tragedy was difficult at times, but recovery is always within reach for the characters.

Sorrowed Souls is an interesting and well-written story with interesting characters and plot lines, but can be overwhelmingly sad to read at times especially if sensitive to the suffering of others. When the stories and characters come together and connections are realized there is a satisfying and surprising conclusion.