Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories

Deborah Ellis
Fitzhenry & Whiteside (2008)
ISBN 9781554551057
Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (2/09)

“Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories” is a very moving collection of the fall-out of drugs.  The emotional depth with which Deborah Ellis writes will fill you with hate and bring you to tears, rejoice for your own children and pray for those children affected by the ill-effects of drug and their addictions.   These stories are real, she writes; “From the cactus villages in Bolivia, the riverside in Manila, to the boot camp in New York, these stories reflect the lives of people I’ve met and have been able to learn from.” Deborah Ellis shares her experience and we are given a gift.  An inside look at the havoc children’s lives are turned into.  I have heard it said more than once “They don’t stand a chance” – you really want to think it isn’t so.  But it is!  If we, as a people, do not do something about this tragic unjust pain-in-the-ass epidemic more and more children will be lost.  Children cannot raise themselves to be productive adults it takes a community.  And, the community cannot be a bunch of drugged up addicts or co-dependent people who think they can reform the addict. 

“Deborah Ellis is a peace activist and humanitarian, Deborah has traveled the world to meet with and hear the stories of children marginalized by poverty, war, and illness.”  This multi-award winning writer has a strong hold on what life is like for these children who see no hope.  With her diligence in bringing this epidemic to the fore-front of the readers conscious we can make a difference.  I would encourage you to recommend “Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories” to everyone – everyone you know.  Together we can make a difference.



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