Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven (Hardcover)

by Susan Richards Shreve (Author)
Key Phrases: little maria, sanitary belt, paralytic polio, Warm Springs, Father James, Miss Riley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Novelist Shreve recollects her years spent from ages 11 to 13 at Warm Springs Polio Foundation in Georgia: "Traces are little whispers of life in muscles destroyed by the polio virus." The traces of this eloquently written memoir, however, are not merely physical; they are the whispers of the time, brief glimpses into the social climate of the 1950s, into the religious longing of a lonely young girl hoping for a connection, into the mindset of the president who led the country despite a debilitating handicap. While the events take place as Shreve recovers from surgeries that would allow her to walk better, polio becomes a minor character; her friendships with the others in the facility, her innocent romance with a fellow patient and her growing attraction to the priest take center stage as she tries to make herself into a "good" girl: "I remember reading once," she writes, "about the strange attractor, a star that unsettles planetary balance, which was the role I seemed to play in our family life." The writing of this beautifully told story is delicate and precise, even as she calls into question her own memories: "we lived in a kind of maze, a finely spun fairy tale created by my parents in which some things were clear and some were fuzzy.... I assumed that what I saw was true. I didn't realize until I was older that seeing is a matter of choice." (June)
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From Booklist
It's hard to tell whether Shreve's affecting book on her two years at the Warm Springs Polio Foundation is more memoir of adolescence or agonizing confession. But no matter. What is clear is that, when she entered the facility at age 11, she got off to a running start at teenage rebellion. From developing a prohibited friendship with the daughter of a black cleaning woman to sneaking into the boys' wing to, finally, the stunt that triggered her swift removal from Warm Springs, Shreve proved that a wheelchair was no hindrance to preadolescent high jinks. Despite her precipitous departure, she maintains vivid and mostly fond memories of the place and, especially, of partner-in-crime Joey Buckley and of Father James, on whom she developed a serious crush. Her recollections of the period, the facility, and its staff evoke a time when the U.S. was desperate for solutions to the raging polio pandemic. An appealing memoir and a significant snapshot of an era. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co; 1 edition (June 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061865853X
• ISBN-13: 978-0618658534
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #498,349 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read for pleasure, but also had a life lesson , June 12, 2007

By	Mona L. Roth "Life Lover" (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had no interest in Polio, or FDR. I just read the book because it was recommended, and boy, I was glad that I did. I learned about the dreadful disease, the hardships of FDR, and the outlook of one amazing girl, Susan.
Just why do some have to suffer like she did? And why do those that have to undertake such an ordeal have such a positive attitude? I think about the book often, and share my new knowledge to anyone that will listen.
Enjoy.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt, June 8, 2007

By	James Hiller (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Yesterday, after listening to Susan Shreve speak on NPR's Talk of the Nation, I immediately ran out to get a copy of her new book, "Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven". A longtime "history buff" of FDR, and of particular interest in the history of Warm Springs, I hoped that Shreve's memoir would add to my knowledge of the camp through the eyes of her own experience. What I found was a deeping moving story of a girl, struggling with her condition, all the while learning about others, which in turn, she learns about herself.

Susan Shreve was diagnosed with polio at quite a young age. She is moved to Warm Springs at the tender age of 11, in which her hijinx ensues. What comes across in the book quite quickly that dear young Susan is quite an imp, impressionable, and very much a part of the scene. She engages in several adventures that had me laughing outloud, and some that were serious and reflective.

Shreve manages, in like so many memoirs, to recover a time and a place that has long since passed, but to do so in such eloquence that I found myself reading and rereading pages and paragraphs from their simple beauty of words.

To wit: "Muscle to muscle, trace to trace, I am looking for a sign of possibility. At Warm Springs, traces is the word for hope. When I think of the word "traces" now, it is as a footprint or a shadow or a verb, like "unearth" or "expose" or "reveal." I've been looking for traces in my childhood that will bring the years I spent in Warm Springs into some kind of focus. In its intention, the process is very much the same as it was when I lived there and turned my attention to discovering what remained."

The sheer elegance of her writing is precious, exact. It is reminscient of the cleverness of Michael Cunningham, or the beauty of Grief by Andrew Holleran. In a couple of months, perhaps in the midst of summer, I may revisit this book, and spend time again at Warm Springs, just to bask in the glow of her words.

This would be an excellent book for any reading group, a gift for a mother or sister, or someone facing a time of trial in their lives. Thanks to Susan Sherve for crafting such an excellent portrait of her times at Warm Springs!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreakingly Honest , August 17, 2008

By	Kiki (Birmingham, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven (Paperback)

This is a beautiful book, a perfect memoir. Susan Richards was stricken with polio as a baby, and her devoted mother(and father) sent her to Warm Springs, GA to try and help her walk normally again. Certainly not the sickest child at the haven created by FDR, Susan was by far the most spirited.

This is her very honest recollection of her time spent at Warm Springs from age 11 to 12. She details in heartbreaking detail the relationship between herself and her mother, and between herself and the other "characters" at Warm Springs; Father James, Joey Buckley, Caroline Slover, Magnolia, Paisley Jean, Rosie. She also paints a self portrait of a brave yet fearful girl trying to find her way in the world despite her disability.

I have given this book to my 12 year old daughter to read. It is a lovely book that changes the way you see the world.