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Be Happy With Being You Love Your Flaws Own Your Quirks And Know That You Are Just As Perfect As Anyone Else Exactly As You Are
Download Be Happy With Being You Love Your Flaws Own Your Quirks And Know That You Are Just As Perfect As Anyone Else Exactly As You Are full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Be Happy With Being You Love Your Flaws Own Your Quirks And Know That You Are Just As Perfect As Anyone Else Exactly As You Are ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!
Download or read book Simply Happy written by Shrestha Kundu and published by Shrestha Kundu. This book was released on 2018-07-29 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Happiness is one word, one emotion, and one aim of life. Everyone wants to be happy. We keep searching for it in the world outside of ourselves, but never within. happiness is not a rare event, it's life. so learn its easy-to-follow happiness techniques to add joy in everyday life. Design your own happiness with it. change your mind, look the world around you transform, be a part of the 'positive world' with these happiness-adding techniques. These techniques are a blend of ancient knowledge and modern scientific works. In a world of stress, sadness and complications, let's find a beautiful way to life with happiness as your companion. This book is for you. happiness begin's with you. 'Simply Happy' is written by the author as an effort to make a change in this world, share the happiness message with the world.
Book Synopsis The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by : Sean Covey
Download or read book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens written by Sean Covey and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-05-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 3 million copies sold. Over 800 positive reviews. Adapted from the New York Times bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is the ultimate teenage success guide—now updated for the digital age. Imagine you had a roadmap—a step-by-step guide to help you get from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future. Your goals, your dreams, your plans…they’re all within reach. You just need the tools to help you get there. That’s what Sean Covey’s landmark book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, has been to millions of teens: a handbook to self-esteem and success. Now updated for the digital age, this classic book applies the timeless principles of 7 Habits to the tough issues and life-changing decisions teens face. Covey provides a simple approach to help teens improve self-image, build friendships, resist peer pressure, achieve their goals, and appreciate their parents, as well as tackle the new challenges of our time, like cyberbullying and social media. In addition, this book is stuffed with cartoons, clever ideas, great quotes, and incredible stories about real teens from all over the world. Endorsed by high-achievers such as former 49ers quarterback Steve Young and 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens has become the last word on surviving and thriving as a teen.
Download or read book The 4 Word Answer written by Rob Shuter and published by Post Hill Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Working for the biggest stars in the world—Jennifer Lopez, P. Diddy, Alicia Keys, and Jessica Simpson, officially as a publicist but in reality, as a confidante—Rob Shuter has seen it all. In fifteen years as a celebrity publicist, Rob has been privileged to have a front-row seat to the most successful people in the world. Before Jessica Simpson told then-husband Nick Lachey that they were getting divorced, she called Rob. Jon Bon Jovi flew Rob to each of his shows on a private jet for the primary purpose of escorting out press before his fabulous hair flopped. Rob was responsible for making sure an Asian pear was within feet of Jennifer Lopez at any given moment, per her very specific demands. Being involved in the lives of the best and the brightest, Rob quickly discovered it wasn’t talent all his super successful clients had in common. Rather, what all these extraordinary people share is they know exactly who they are—in just four words.
Book Synopsis "Being Weird Is a Wonderful Thing" by : Kathryn Petras
Download or read book "Being Weird Is a Wonderful Thing" written by Kathryn Petras and published by Workman Publishing. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new, impulse-friendly collection of quotes from Kathy and Ross Petras, that celebrates our individuality and embracing and praises the imperfections that make us who we are. A gift that says: You be YOU, and you're great!
Download or read book You Go, Girl! written by Scholastic and published by Scholastic UK. This book was released on 2020-01-02 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A celebration of talent, friendship and girl power! Want to know how Ariana Grande is challenging double standards, why Yara Shahidi thinks it's so important to be yourself or how Millie Bobby Brown follows her dreams each and every day, You Go, Girl! is the perfect guide to the lives of your fave feminist icons from around the world. Packed with 30 profiles, quizzes and fill-in fun, be inspired by these amazing girls and discover their top tips for achieving your own dreams.
Book Synopsis What Makes Us Stronger by : Freya Lewis
Download or read book What Makes Us Stronger written by Freya Lewis and published by Seven Dials. This book was released on 2020-05-07 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Freya Lewis is extraordinary' Katie Piper 'A love letter to the NHS' Lorraine Kelly 'A poignant story of courage and pain but, most of all, it is a striking testament to friendship.' Daily Express 'A candid account of the terrorist attack and the effect it has had on her life.' The i 'An unflinching story of grief, survival and love' YOU Magazine The Manchester Arena attack nearly destroyed her. Love and courage saved her. Freya Lewis was just three metres away from the terrorist who detonated the bomb at the Manchester arena on the night of 22nd May 2017. Her best friend Nell was tragically killed, but Freya - thrown forwards by the blast - somehow survived. She suffered 29 separate injuries, was in a coma for five days, and wheelchair-bound for three months. Yet just 12 months later, she was on her feet, running the Junior Great Manchester Run and raising £60,000 for the hospital that saved her. From her darkest moment, she found the determination to live life to the fullest, for herself, and for those who lost their lives. This is Freya's courageous story. But it is also the story of the amazing community that surrounded her, uplifted her, and ultimately saved her life. What Makes Us Stronger is a testament to the power of hope and positivity.
Book Synopsis What’s in Your Hand? by : Karen Reed
Download or read book What’s in Your Hand? written by Karen Reed and published by Christian Living Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2023 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s all in how we play the hand we’re dealt. When you look on social media, in magazines, and on TV, does everyone’s life seem better than yours? Do they seem prettier, smarter, wealthier, and happier? Do you wish you could be someone else, have a different home, family―a brand-new life? Why didn’t you get the winning hand? The game of life can seem unfair, especially when your cards include heartbreak, poverty, abandonment, depression, being bullied, and trauma. And when you compare your life to others, it creates the perfect storm that leaves deep wounds and scars. Discover how to turn the odds of everyday life in your favor by reading this exciting compilation of stories you will instantly relate to. Without pretense, What’s in Your Hands deals with the real issues teens struggle with every day in their homes, schools, churches, social settings, and the deep crevices of their souls. Understanding the trials of the teenage years, the author reaches out, especially to teenage girls, to impart godly wisdom that will help them avoid destructive decisions, find inner strength, identify deception, know who they are, build self-esteem, and succeed. You may not be able to switch the deck, but you can surely play and win, regardless of the hand you have been dealt!
Book Synopsis JETSET LIFE HACKS by JetSet (Josh King Madrid) by : Josh King "JetSet" Madrid
Download or read book JETSET LIFE HACKS by JetSet (Josh King Madrid) written by Josh King "JetSet" Madrid and published by Self-Employed Tax Credit: SETC.me. This book was released on 2021-12-31 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you want more money, success, love, influence, confidence, joy, emotional intelligence, clarity, focus, momentum and motivation? Could it be simpler than you think? Josh King Madrid has devoted the last five years of his life to learning, practicing, and teaching others about the success patterns that millionaires, professional athletes, celebrities, and geniuses all share. Josh has condensed these patterns into a single set of 33 JETSET LIFE HACKS so that anyone that desires more in life can use them to achieve similar high-performance results.If you one of those individuals who want more in their life. Then this book is for you right now! Most people live difficult lives filled with hardships, difficulties, uncertainty, excruciating stress, occasional hopelessness, and poverty. Most people are doing the best they can, yet it is still not good enough which is why most people's lives are like this. They don't know any better. If they knew better, they would do better. NO! This is not another traditional 'positive thinking' book, trying to constantly tell yourself that everything is OK, no matter the circumstances. That stuff doesn't work. There is now irrefutable scientific evidence that shows that the power is a result of the particular ways of thinking and acting, which are consequences of one's particular level of consciousness. In JetSet Life Hacks, author Josh King Madrid shares 33 proven methods, that Madrid calls JETSET Life Hacks, that you can use to consistently create real tangible positive results and effortlessly overcome all challenges, create real-lasting generational wealth and improve your overall quality of life. The research also shows that the 33 life hacks can be learned quickly as an automatic consequence of raising one's level of consciousness which is merely simply guaranteed by just becoming aware of these 33 life hacks shared to you by reading this book. And that is why this book is a tactical yet simple guide to quantum leaping to the next level of your life. Josh Madrid talks about money, success, mindset, EQ, consciousness and applying NLP frame control. If you're ready to experience the same levels of accomplishment, confidence, mindset and business success as the world's top super-achievers, let this book help you. Soon you'll be seeing the world in an entirely new way, living with more freedom, money, joy and an internal burning fire full of passion like never-before.
Book Synopsis JETSET LIFE HACKS by : JetSet (Josh King Madrid)
Download or read book JETSET LIFE HACKS written by JetSet (Josh King Madrid) and published by GigWorkerSolutionsSETC.com. This book was released on 2022-08-05 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you want more money, success, love, influence, confidence, joy, emotional intelligence, clarity, focus, momentum and motivation? Could it be simpler than you think? Josh King Madrid has devoted the last five years of his life to learning, practicing, and teaching others about the success patterns that millionaires, professional athletes, celebrities, and geniuses all share. Josh has condensed these patterns into a single set of 33 JETSET LIFE HACKS so that anyone that desires more in life can use them to achieve similar high-performance results.If you one of those individuals who want more in their life. Then this book is for you right now! Most people live difficult lives filled with hardships, difficulties, uncertainty, excruciating stress, occasional hopelessness, and poverty. Most people are doing the best they can, yet it is still not good enough which is why most people's lives are like this. They don't know any better. If they knew better, they would do better. NO! This is not another traditional 'positive thinking' book, trying to constantly tell yourself that everything is OK, no matter the circumstances. That stuff doesn't work. There is now irrefutable scientific evidence that shows that the power is a result of the particular ways of thinking and acting, which are consequences of one's particular level of consciousness. In JetSet Life Hacks, author Josh King Madrid shares 33 proven methods, that Madrid calls JETSET Life Hacks, that you can use to consistently create real tangible positive results and effortlessly overcome all challenges, create real-lasting generational wealth and improve your overall quality of life. The research also shows that the 33 life hacks can be learned quickly as an automatic consequence of raising one's level of consciousness which is merely simply guaranteed by just becoming aware of these 33 life hacks shared to you by reading this book. And that is why this book is a tactical yet simple guide to quantum leaping to the next level of your life. Josh Madrid talks about money, success, mindset, EQ, consciousness and applying NLP frame control. If you're ready to experience the same levels of accomplishment, confidence, mindset and business success as the world's top super-achievers, let this book help you. Soon you'll be seeing the world in an entirely new way, living with more freedom, money, joy and an internal burning fire full of passion like never-before. MEET THE AUTHOR OF JETSET LIFE HACKS: Josh King Madrid, better known as JetSet is an American internet celebrity, author, entrepreneur, podcast host, recording artist, filmmaker and public speaker. - Author Josh King Madrid's first book, JETSET LIFE HACKS: 33 Life Hacks Millionaires, Athletes, Celebrities, & Geniuses Have In Common, was published in August 2022. JetSet regularly contributes and publishes articles on NLP (neuro linguistic programming), neuromarketing, personal branding, internet marketing and NFTs inside leading business publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Rolling Stone and NFT Magazine. Book: JETSET LIFE HACKS: 33 Life Hacks Millionaires, Athletes, Celebrities, & Geniuses Have In Common In JetSet Life Hacks, author Josh King Madrid shares 33 proven methods, that Madrid calls JETSET Life Hacks, that you can use to consistently create real tangible positive results and effortlessly overcome all challenges, create real-lasting generational wealth and improve your overall quality of life. - Public Speaker As a public speaker JetSet has shared stages with Eric Thomas, Andy Frisella, Tai Lopez and Naveen Jain, Peter Voogd, Alex Morton, Jason Capital and more. He has hosted and/or co-hosted over 100 in-person events in my career. Just to name a few: JetSetFly's M3 Accelerator Summit, Cole Hatter's THRIVE: Make Money Matter Conference & Dan Fleyshman's Elevator Nights. - Podcast host By Josh King Madrid - The Dropout Degree Show is hosted by the JETSET LIFE HACKS author himself. Josh King Madrid's The Dropout Degree Show, has been ranked as a world famous Top 10 Business Podcast on iTunes for more than two consecutive years (2017-2019) and has over 1M+ downloads. By Josh King Madrid - The Dropout Degree Show: The goal of The Dropout Degree Show (2022 Edition) by Josh King Madrid is to share my experience as a young up-and-coming entrepreneur, share inspiring stories from the most relentless business moguls and influencers, and educate you on anything and everything that you would never be able to learn in an academic classroom; to help you find out what it really to takes win BIG as an ENTREPRENEUR and exceed the normal expectations set by society regardless of your age, education or financial background. The Guests: The podcast has featured dozens of amazing guests including Jason Capital, Peter Voogd, Casey Adams, Forbes Riley, Marshall Sylver, Vince Reed, Booty King and one of Tai Lopez's greatest student success stories, Jaiden Gross The Topics: From how to network effectively to the psychology of marketing, from how to make millions of dollars as an affiliate marketer or personal brand to talking about picking up instagram models, from reprogramming the subconscious mind to sales success & copywriting and on and on and on! The Host: Josh King Madrid hosts the series, but he is also the writer and producer! Josh (aka JetSet) has worked in internet marketing for over 6 years. Read more here https://joshkingmadrid.com - Recording artist Better known as JetSetFly in his music career, Josh's newest single is 'Millionaire Dropout (24 Remix)' which is a story of his own life. - Backstory: Josh King Madrid began internet marketing in 2016. He was previously known on Instagram as jetsetfly. Family Life: Growing up, he helped his parents build an e-commerce business by fulfilling orders and packaging products. A constant businessman, he started his first business when he was seven years old - buying beanies from Alibaba and then selling them to his kindergarten classmates. His brother is TheBlondeJon, Tiktok star, musician and entrepreneur) is his brother. He has 1 sister. - Why does Josh call himself JetSet? I changed my username to JetSet when I was in 10th grade because I wanted to live a life where I can go wherever I want, do whatever I want, with whoever I want, whenever I want. - Education Highschool: Did my freshman year at Vista Murrieta Highschool in Murrieta, CA. Highschool: Graduated Paloma Valley High School in Menifee, CA in 2016. College: Dropped out of University of California, Irvine in early 2017. - Josh King Madrid in the News Josh King Madrid has 2 pseudonyms he is known by, which are "JetSet" and/or "JetSetFly" and he has been featured in many major publications using different variations of his name and pseudonyms. Those publications include RollingStone.com, The Sun News, Fast Company, Muck Rack, Entrepreneur.com, Forbes, Apple News, HipHopSince1987, TheSource, Thisis50, CollegeFix, Huff Post, Star Magazine, OK Magazine, Men's Journal, Life and Style Magazine, InTouchWeekly, Village Voice, Yahoo Finance, Flaunt, Addicted2Success, Thrive Global, Startups, Influencive, NFT Magazine & many more. - Josh King Madrid is Known For: JetSet was born on March 8th, 1998, in Orange, California is arguably the most influential Gen Z internet entrepreneur the world has ever known being one of the world's highest-paid internet marketers for more than half a decade. He is known for The Dropout, JetSet Life Hacks, Forbes 20 Under 25: Young, Rich and Famous, Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch, Fast Company Innovation Festival, I'm from Rolling Stone, Paper Boyz by NFTMagazine.com: The Original Hustler Returns, Young, Famous & African, Floribama Shore and the Rich Kids Of Instagram. - Josh Madrid around the web Better known as JetSet, Josh Madrid is an American internet celebrity, author, entrepreneur, podcast host, NLP coach, neuromarketer, filmmaker and public speaker. https://www.joshkingmadrid.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jetsetfly https://www.twitter.com/jetsetfIy www.instagram.com/jetset www.facebook.com/jetset www.youtube.com/jetset https://www.imdb.me/king
Book Synopsis Social Work Research and Evaluation by : Richard M. Grinnell Jr
Download or read book Social Work Research and Evaluation written by Richard M. Grinnell Jr and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-14 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the first edition in 1981,Social Work Research and Evaluation has provided graduate-level social work students with basic research and evaluation concepts to help them become successful evidence-based practitioners, evidence-informed practitioners and practitioners who are implementing evidence-based programs. Students will gain a thorough understanding and appreciation for how the three dominant research methodologies--quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods--will help them achieve their professional goals, regardless of their area of specialization. Written in clear, everyday language, this edition also includes the pedagogical features that will make it easy and effective for classroom use.
Book Synopsis Ariana Grande by : Heather E. Schwartz
Download or read book Ariana Grande written by Heather E. Schwartz and published by Millbrook Press. This book was released on 2020-08-01 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ariana Grande always wanted to be a star. After honing her voice in community theater, Grande landed her first big role in a Broadway musical. On the Nickelodeon show Victorious, her dream of singing before a national audience came true. Soon Grande's music career was ready to soar. Her albums sold millions of copies, and fans from around the world flocked to see her perform. When tragedy struck her concert in Manchester, England, Grande responded with care and support for her fans. Trace Grande's journey from local talent to global superstar and see how she rocks the stage, advocates for mental health, and speaks up for women everywhere.
Book Synopsis Life Without A Centre by : Jeff Foster
Download or read book Life Without A Centre written by Jeff Foster and published by Non Duality Press. This book was released on 2006-12-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We try to escape from the play of life and the suffering that being "a person in the world" entails. Our efforts to find spiritual enlightenment have the opposite effect and reinforce an underlying feeling of lack, of separation. In Life Without a Centre, Jeff Foster suggests that there is only ever the present appearance of life, with no individual at its core who could ever escape even if they wanted to. The entire spiritual search is nothing more than a game we play with ourselves, the cosmic entertainment. Jeff cuts through the confusion and frustration surrounding the search for escape through spiritual enlightenment, by pointing to the utterly obvious: This moment, and everything that arises in it, is already the liberation that is sought. Life, just as it is, is already what we've been searching for our entire lives. Jeff Foster graduated in astrophysics from Cambridge University. Soon after graduation, life events propelled him onto an intense two-year spiritual search, culminating in the realisation that there was never anything to find in the first place. He currently writes and talks on what some people have called "non-duality," but which he just refers to as "the utterly, utterly obvious."
Book Synopsis How to Be Perfectly Imperfect by : Candi Williams
Download or read book How to Be Perfectly Imperfect written by Candi Williams and published by Vie. This book was released on 2020-01-09 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Break free from the clutches of perfectionism and start loving yourself a little more Do you feel social pressure to have the “perfect” life, the “perfect” job and the “perfect” body? Do you magnify your flaws and play down your strengths? Then this book is for you. Bursting with thought-provoking tips, tricks and affirmations, it’ll help you quieten your inner critic, squash your self-doubt and be kinder to yourself. Because you are more than “good enough” – and it’s time you recognized it.
Book Synopsis The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by : Mark Manson
Download or read book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck written by Mark Manson and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times Bestseller Over 10 million copies sold In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
Download or read book Models written by Mark Manson and published by Pan Australia. This book was released on 2017-09-11 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "You can become irresistibly attractive to women without changing who you are." So says Mark Manson, superstar blogger and author of the international bestseller, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a self help book that packs a punch. Mark brings the same approach to teaching men what they need to know about attracting women. In Models he shows us how much it sucks trying to attract women using the tricks and tactics recommended by other books. Instead, he says, men need to focus on seduction as an emotional process not a physical or social one. What matters is the intention, the motivation, the authenticity. To improve your dating life you must improve your emotional life - how you feel about yourself and how you express yourself to others. Funny, irreverent and confronting, Models is a mature and honest guide on how a man can attract women by giving up the bullsh*t and becoming an honest broker. "A detailed guide to modern sexual ethics" Sydney Morning Herald "There's nothing subtle about Mark Manson. He's crude and vulgar and doesn't give a f*ck . . . He's as painfully honest as he is outrageously funny" Huffington Post
Book Synopsis The Sense of an Ending by : Julian Barnes
Download or read book The Sense of an Ending written by Julian Barnes and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.
Book Synopsis I Know This Much Is True by : Wally Lamb
Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
