Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed for Midwest Book Review, July 2, 2008
Abused at a young age by her mother's boyfriend, Amber Cushing has lived a chaotic life, leaving home at an early age, wandering from job to job, using drugs, and working for a short time as a prostitute. Amber harbors resentment toward her mother because of the abuse and keeps her mother and grandmother at a distance, sporadically interacting with them. When she discovers she's pregnant, Amber begins a long journey to find herself and make some sense of where her place is in the world. But Amber's journey is filled with diversions and only when she comes under the gentle guidance of a former social worker who runs a boarding house does Amber begin to understand who she is and what she needs to do to have a happy, successful life.
The author, a retired social worker, offers much insight into the dynamics within families and the pressures young women face as they make their choices in today's world. Snow provides a compelling read, filled with characters revealed in great depth that readers will easily identify with, enfolded within a powerful, edifying plot. Her skill as a writer serves to enhance the important message she delivers with this wonderful story.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What a Talented Writer!, September 19, 2008
One of the most brilliant contemporary fiction writers I've read lately is Laurel-Rain Snow. She has the capability of writing a stellar book. EMBRACE THE WHIRLWIND is the kind of book that cannot be put down after a person reads a few pages.
The cover with the face of a beautiful young woman with her eyes closed and her hair blowing creates an aura that lasts throughout the book. EMBRACE THE WHIRLWIND as a title attracts the reader's attention and also speaks a part of the theme of the book. Telling the rest of the theme would spoil the plot for you. Like any highly skilled writer, she weaves her theme into her plot and withholds it until the end.
What a talented writer Laurel-Rain Snow is! With her background in social work, she understands the psychology within her characters. She places them in settings which she understands and delves into the minds of her characters, The fictional characters emerge as real people. Not only does she write as a skilled psychologist; she is a skilled woman of letters. Except for one little problem with her ellipsis construction, which is (I suspect) not her fault, the book is close to being written perfectly. She does not waste words on characterization or description of setting. With carefully crafted strokes she includes the exact details required by the writer's mind.
The use of dramatic irony adds to the pleasure of reading the book. There are times when the reader experiences a serious need to tell the characters things they don't know.
She portrays the drug culture, alcoholism, child abuse, dysfunctional relationships, adultery, child desertion, medical crises, surrogate parenthood, life's disappointments, bribery, wealth, financial hardship, effective parenting, lovely friendships, romance - all these with intensity. She shows the results of following the formula to regain a cheating husband. There's a poignant portrait of an aging hippy.
Snow is a character-driven writer, and at the same time she has marvelous control of the plot. The reader maintains the feeling throughout the book that the characters behave only as their inner beings allow them, and yet there are strong elements of mystery that make the plot strong. The use of all kinds of conflict captures the reader.
By the end of Chapter 1, the reader's curiosity is stimulated.
Questions:
--Why would a teenager who had a lovely home and loving mother run away to join the drug culture?
--To be more specific, why did this girl leave this home?
By the end of Chapter 2, there are no answers; instead there are other problems to solve.
Questions:
--Amber is pregnant. How will she manage?
--How did Amber's mother, an intelligent woman capable of higher thought processes become so vapid that she worshiped the fruit of her interior decorating efforts.
Another example of mystery is a surprise crime near the end of the story. Looking back, the reader will realize that it was the logical outcome. Snow lets the reader enjoy some delicious suspense with this one. (I won't spoil it!
Snow crafts the point of view in an intriguing way. Although she does not present the book in an omniscient point of view, she does use third person. She takes the reader into the mind of the person who is in the spotlight. Throughout the 365 pages of the book, she maintains this system.
Having said all that, I will explain why I have deducted one star. There is one aspect of EMBRACE THE WHIRLWIND that is distasteful. The author has included page after page of explicit details of people's sexual activity. This book is such a strong novel that it does not require this kind of information. Repeatedly the reader is taken into the bedrooms of the different characters.
The reader's time and pleasure could be spent enjoying intimacy without too much information about the physical sexual acts of all the different characters. If it had more strawberries and scented candles with less graphic sex, it would be one of the best books I've read lately.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Put on your seat belts. You're in for an incredible and enjoyable ride!, January 3, 2009
Laurel-Rain Snow's "Embrace the Whirlwind" could have easily been titled "Embrace the Women." This breathtaking novel follows the lives of several women who are interconnected in creative and surprising ways. There's Amber, the main protagonist, a young woman who drifts from one precarious situation to another. The only child of Hilary, an uptight attorney struggling with her own shortcomings, Amber looks for love in all the wrong places, eventually landing in the arms of a married man named Hal. Then there's Martha, Hal's wife. Martha takes no prisoners as she fights to wrench Hal from the arms of Amber. Laurel-Rain treats us to the lives of several other women such as Denise Richardson, a social worker who opens her home to Amber and other young women trying to find their way. Savannah, who grew up on the other side of the tracks finds fulfillment in becoming a surrogate mother for a therapist named Leslie who has a loving husband but because of a bout with cancer, cannot bare children. She also happens to be Amber's therapist. Then there's Denise the caretaker. She finds fulfillment in taking care of her borders. However, when she's not tending to the younger women in her house she's battling with her past, and the grave mistakes that continually haunt her. "Embrace the Whirlwind" will definitely transport you to another time and place as you become immersed in the lives of this richly written characters. Laurel-Rain has approached this story with loving care, detail and tenderness. You get the feeling as you read "Embrace the Whirlwind" that Laurel-Rain purposely took her time in crafting this story. It is so detailed and precise. Every thought, feeling and movement of the characters are portrayed in this incredibly engaging story. It is wonderfully written with carefully chosen words and imagery. Laurel-Rain's writing is seamless. She writes in such a way that allows you to float from one character and one situation to the next as she builds on the relationships and the story that comes to a dramatic end. Laurel-Rain makes you care about these characters, their lives and what happens to them. You won't want to put it down until you find out how it ends and oh what a surprising end it has. Laurel-Rain has created a masterpiece.
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