Customer Reviews

A View from the Heartland: Everyday Life in America

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book showed up on the "new books" table at the bookstore so I bought it. The cover is beautiful. I took it home and started reading it. I didn't get halfwaythrough it before I found myself crying. It reminded me of the things my own family has been through. The writing is so smooth and tender. Not sure who David Chartrand is, but I think this book may make him famous. AT least he's gonna be famous around my neibhorhood. -- ML

Truly delightful and a treasure to be discovered by others! There are few things which can be said, to really encompass the warm feeling David Chartrand's book gives the reader.
A few months back I met Mr. Chartrand's neice as she returned from Australia to the city where her family had done the majority of their growing up, Omaha. She happened to pass on his book to me after a few family conversations we had. As we all know in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you don't get to sit down and enjoy a good book as often as you'd like, but when you do find one, a real gem, you can't put it down -- that's how it was with Mr. Chartrand's work. I just wanted to write a note of thanks and admiration to Mr. Chartrand for putting a piece of himself and his family out there for the world to read and relate to, and somehow find a connection they may have lost along the way of growing up.
On a personal level, due to the fact that my parents were in the military, I was born overseas, and my family has moved frequently throughout our lives, never settling in a city where there was any of our extended family, but, for most of our lives, it has been Midwestern cities none the less, cities with people and situations that are very much the heart of Mr. Chartrand's book. In reading this book, I truly remembered all of the little things that made growing up around these parts so special, and why it was so great to be a part of families from the Midwest, with Midwestern values and ideologies. Now that I am grown and on my own, I still remain in close contact with my parents and siblings. This book helped me remember the power in that family connection that sometimes is overlooked when we get too busy in our own lives, or get too overburdened with the everyday toil to notice that maybe we were a lot happier or better off when things were simpler, maybe when we had/made less money, or had less possessions, when life was "about" something else. I'd like to extend my personal regards to Mr. Chartrand, for helping a kind-hearted, laid-back, but sometimes too-caught-up in the world of being a business professional, remember that there is something that means a lot more out there, and that "something" is truly the secret to keeping the heart happy. I can very easily see why Mr. Chartran's neice has turned out to be the person she is, surrounded by a family that knows more about life at a young age and throughout, then some folks do that live for more than a century. I hope that Mr. Chartrand will come out with another work in the near future, another small slice of reality and happiness that those like myself can laugh with, cry with, and undoubtedly, always remember . . . with a smile. Thanks again!

Everyone has a friend from one of the big Catholic Midwestern families the author immerses us in within this book -- families held together by a quiet, hard-working father and a magnetic, high-strung mother and brothers and sisters with loyalties so strong that it's hard for outsiders to fully understand them, let alone penetrate the circle. Chartrand gives us a peek inside in this warm and wistful collection of essays, eschewing gross sentimentality but never concealing the fact that in spite of his welcome humor, his heart is sewn securely on his sleeve. An easy read well worth reading.

...so many thoughtful stories and so many similar connections for those of us who have grown up in the Midwest. Will probably read it again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

What a wonderful Christmas gift for my girlfriends who once lived in the Heartland and have since moved away to various parts of the US. So many stories in this book have similarities of what my life was like growing up in the Midwest. I highly recommend this book. You will love it.

I found this book to be a very accurate description of living in the heartland - and it reminded me of the values and benefits I sometimes take for granted.

Having grown up in a small town in the "HEARTLAND", and being involved in the raising of four children myself, I can identify with many of the situations described in the book. David Chartrand is one of my favorite columnists and has certainly written a great book.

A book that draws you in from the get-go. You will love the stories. You will not be able to control your emotions. This poignant telling of life in the Heartland captivates.

This is truly a wonderful and heartwarming book. I believe that it's misnamed, though. Instead of "A View From the Heartland", Mr. Chartrand's book should simply be called "A View From the Heart." Through a series of vignettes regarding his family intermixed with a number of very funny pieces, David Chartrand has the ability to have the reader crying on one page and laughing out loud just a few pages later. I'm not even remotely from the Midwest (or the Middle West, either), but I was able to relate to almost everything Mr. Chartrand writes about, and to thoroughly enjoy those things to which I could not personally relate. His love of family and traditional values transcends regional boundaries, and give us much to consider and much to strive for. Growing up in the Northeast, I knew families like the Chartrands. But, having read this book, I wish the Chartrands had been my neighbors and friends. Regardless of where you're from, Mr. Chartrand's book will evoke fond memories and raise our consciousness of the importance of family. And, when you're not waxing nostalgic, you'll be laughing out loud!

This book is a jewel. Challenging, entertaining; a feel good read. Chartrand is able to put into words what we all think and experience while growing up in America. I can't wait for his next book!