[.ca] "Why Do I Love These People?": Understanding, Surviving, ... (ISBN 0812972422)

Coping with Imperfection:
Many people grew up with the happy hope that they would lead an ideal life within a loving family that was totally devoted to their best interests. Surprise! It usually doesn't work out that way. Many people feel like their chance for happiness is over when they have a setback in terms of family life. Anyone who reads Po Bronson's Why Do I Love These People? will realize that the first disappointment is only a minor hurdle along the path to having a better family life. In fact, the latest disappointment is only of middling concern . . . as long as you deal with that disappointment with integrity and love. Truth is stranger and more fascinating than fiction. Most reviewers would criticize novels based on these stories as being hard to swallow. Real people wouldn't act that way! But extraordinary people have acted in these positive ways and they provide role models and hope for the rest of us. Based on your own experiences, you'll react more or less to individual stories. But I wager that you'll find some that move you to the bottoms of your feet. I was also touched when Mr. Bronson included some of his own life story here so we wouldn't feel like he was playing the role of clinical observer. I'm sure it must have been a heavy weight to carry so much love, loss and hurt around with him. But I'll bet that the stories that provide hope felt like life preservers after a while. I felt emotionally leveled by The Promise, The Cook's Story, The Trial, Dorothy's Child, Jamaica?, The Butcher's Wife, The Unexplained and The Tornado. The last time I read a book about a series of real-life experiences that moved me so much was Studs Terkel's book, Working. If you care about having a better family life, read this book . . . and think long and hard about what you learn. Then act!