This Is My Damn Adventure

Patti Jo Ruskin
Nightengale Press (2005)
ISBN 1933449004
Reviewed by Kornelia Longoria for Reader Views (6/06)

Patti Jo Ruskin was born into traditional Irish Catholic family in a small town of Dwayne, Illinois. The book begins from her early childhood, introducing her parents and goes onto the adolescence and finally adult life. Patti grew up witnessing her father’s alcoholism and all the problems in the family arising from his addiction. However, being a girl with a lot of dreams and a double serving of ambition, she decides to make her life meaningful. When she marries a navy officer, she begins a very busy and adventurous life and travels to a lot of interesting places.

Throughout the book, the author tells us stories from her life and stories about people that were at some point very close to her. Her memories are sometimes sad and moving and sometimes very comical and funny. The whole book is very heartwarming and down to earth. I could very well feel all emotions of the author, whether it was happiness or sadness. I sympathized with the author every time she described her bitterness and sadness when talking about her father. It seems like his alcoholism and being unable to become sober, caused her a lot of pain and sorrow and the feeling stayed with her for a long time. The most moving however, was the chapter where she describes the death of her friends in a motorcycle accident. It almost made me cry.

I though the best quality of the book was the way it was written. I really liked the fact that the language is very simple and straightforward. The author is not trying to make her life look more colorful or more interesting than it is. Her candidness makes the book much more truthful and real. Also the spontaneous and optimistic way she welcomes the numerous travels and everyday adventures gives me a lot of motivation to change a few things in my life.

I think that the book will be great for all mothers, wives and daughters as it shows the reader a lot of female role models and different ways of dealing with the obstacles of everyday life.

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