What Really Happened [Paperback]

Shari Caudron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2005

Guilt, envy, procrastination, and why a fully grown woman should not be forced to sleep with fifty other adults in a hostel that has communal showers are just some of the topics nationally published columnist Shari Caudron addresses in this debut essay collection. With gentle insight and self-deprecating humor, Caudron helps us understand that every experience-no matter how difficult or embarrassing-can show us something about ourselves.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Shari Caudron is a veteran freelance writer and columnist whose work has appeared in Reader's Digest, the Christian Science Monitor, Sunset Magazine, and many other publications.

She currently teaches creative writing and is a writing coach in Denver, Colorado.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Ghost Road Press (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976072912
• ISBN-13: 978-0976072911
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,960,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a Taurus, recovering business journalist, and San Francisco native who traded the California coast for the Rocky Mountains 20 years ago. I like good sheets, French Burgundy, California Cab and Steve Martin. I pretend to know about books I've never read, and I've read books I'd never admit to. Ordinary people impress me more than celebrities. I believe happy endings are worth the wait. And I'm jealous of Barbie collectors for reasons that are tough to explain here, but you'll understand if you read Who Are You People? (www.WhoAreYouPeople.com)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely delightful experience, June 10, 2005

By 

James Matej "Jim" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Really Happened (Paperback)

If you are interested in reading about life through the eye's of an honest and insightful observer of such, you will like this book. Through her inquisitive and humorous nature, Shari shows us snippets of her everyday life. Snippets that we can all identify with and after reading them, sit back and say, "Yeah, I know what she's talking about." I found myself being deeply touched one moment and the next ready to burst, out loud, into laughter.

As I progressed through the essays I also found myself realizing something of a more profound nature as to our everyday lives. It seems to me that people, as human beings, have set up all kinds of divisions between themselves. Divisions that tend to put people on different paths as we are traversing through our lives. As our human nature dictates; we all feel that the path we are on is the only right path and everyone not traveling down our specific path is wrong. Through reading Shari's essays, I was able to lift myself up over the path I am on and actually see an overview of the path others are on. Through her unabashed, personal openness with her readers I felt I was able to see a little of the big picture in life. A picture in which we see that life is just life and people are all just people - no matter what path a person takes in their individual quest of the human experience.

In reading the last two words of the last essay the first thought that came to my mind was, what an absolutely delightful experience reading this was. I think you will come to the same conclusion no matter what path you are on in this life.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughing with Shari Caudron, June 7, 2005

By 

Christine Arvidson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Really Happened (Paperback)

Shari Caudron's "What Really Happened" is like going to the bar with a friend and yakking all night. She's that friend you have who tells great stories that always have you nodding your head because you understand just what she's saying -- even if she's telling you about doing things or being places you've never been, or are ever likely to be -- like the Yangyze River boat she takes you on from the start. She's also that friend you have who is really funny and doesn't know it. Read Caudron's book and you'll instantly be transported back into that terrible summer job uniform you had to wear (the one that for sure had orange in it somewhere)and remember what it is you learned from having done so. Good stuff!