Customer Reviews

Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
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This book is a great read of a great story. Marla's story is about courage, Gandhian strength, cocktail party dresses, Kabul's first bar, and helping innocent victims of war at a time when people were just rubbing their hands together and feeling bad. Marla gave us all a chance to feel good ~ finally, an American doing the right thing - helping innocent people - relieving their suffering and hardship by getting the American Government to rebuild the lives, houses and livelihoods of innocent victims. Before Marla, these victims of war were known simply as "Collateral Damage." Now, these people have faces and are getting new homes and access to medical care. In the terrible times of war we now live in, we must take care of those caught up in the middle of armed conflict ~ 95% of those hurt in war are innocent women and children. Marla could not stand to see them suffer without telling their stories to policymakers in Washington, DC and getting them to provide real help through government channels like US AID and the Iraqi War Victims Fund that was re-named after Marla posthumously. God bless you Marla and thank you for living such an inspiring life. Thank you to the author Jen Abrahamson for bringing Marla's story to the written page and telling it in an exciting way.

I highly recommend this book for everyone who has a heart that aches for innocents who suffer due to war.

After finishing the book, I just spent an hour online researching Marla. At first I believed it was because I found her so interesting. But I'm realizing it is because this book left me so wanting... I applaud Jennifer Abrahamson's indepth work in tying together SO many loose ends, and she certainly portrayed the manic whirlwind that Marla whipped up wherever she went. But in many ways, this feels like one of those rushed, hyped, name-droppy, quick-tell-the-story-before-it-grows-cold kind of a manuscript. Her editors would have been wise to go lighter on the overly-explained timeline details and heavier on the specifics of the more moving events and characters along her adventurous road. All the same, I'm glad I read about Marla's life and was pleased to hear that CIVIC, the relief organization she founded, is still alive and working to carry out her legacy. I also watched her CNN interview. What other under-30-year-old has such confidence, poise, conviction? She was a powerhouse and died doing what she put her entire heart and soul into. Bravo!

Just an amazing story for anyone who thinks that someone from a small town can't make an enormous change for the better in the world.

The world misses you Marla!

This book was excellent and overwhelmingly emotional for me. Marla was my college roommate when we were Freshmen at LIU Southampton - I think this book is an exceptional documentary to how she lived her life & touched every single person around her. She will be dearly missed by all...

I found about Marla Ruzicka after her death, and was eager to learn more about her. I would agree with a review written earlier that the story seemed to be "rushed" and there wasn't enough detail for me surrounding Marla's demons. The demons were mentioned and documented, but I wanted to know more details as to "why". Still, I enjoyed reading it, and to know that this young woman accomplished so much in her short life is really inspiring.

I would be delighted if I could accomplish 1/10th in my life what Marla accomplished in her short 28 years!
It is said that it is not how LONG you live but how WELL you lived, and by that benchmark, to me Marla is my true HERO.
What a wonderful Role Model for all Human Beings on this planet.
You are sorely missed Marla, although i know your feisty sparkly Spirit lives on and encourages ALL of us!

Marla was the closest thing to a real "saint" most of us will ever see. She was referred to by some that knew her in afghanistan and Iraq and through the press corps as the "Love Bomb"...... If she had been appointed as the Ambassador to the United Nations for the US, the entire world would love us !!!!!!

"I may only be one person, but I can be one person who makes a difference." -- Vadra Grancene Groce, Age 10

Marla was a young woman who changed the world....for a lot of people. Her organization, Civic Worldwide, continues helping people who have been injured or lost their homes and family members to the war in Iraq. She, almost singlehandedly, seemed to take charge of making it happen---all the way to Congress, where she enlisted help from our legislators and secured funding to the tune of $20K million to help victims of war. She herself was the tragic victim of a random carbombing. Read this book if you are pessimistic or depressed about the world and its wars. Take inspiration from a young person who devoted her life to others, and even though that life was cut short all too soon, the legacy she left and the passion with which she lived surpass anything most of us even think about, let alone attempt. I personally give thanks for her and ocntinue to support CIVIC whenever I can afford to. Read this book and have your eyes and your heart opened wide.

I read this 1 year ago and her story stays with me. What an inspiring individual Marla was and Jennifer has written an inspirational book. This is one for the book clubs!