What do You think about The Year Of My Miraculous Reappearance (2007)?
4.5 StarsCynnie has an alcoholic mother, and living with her everyday, she vows that she'll never be like her. But when her brother, who has Down syndrome and whom she loves so much was taken away from her, she needs a way to dull the pain.This is a story of how a 13-year-old was introduced to being an "alcoholic". It was written in a way that Cynnie's path to addiction was gradual and kind of subtle, that somehow I find it understandable that it's okay to do whatever it is she's doing.At the same time, it was a little hard to read because she's just 13 years old! Kids that age should only be starting High School, experiencing "puberty", and not drinking off to "dull the pain". It's both saddening and surprising that reality is not far off from what the book says.I'm not alcoholic, but I do drink sometimes. And I have a lot of hope. So I think that Cynnie's "miraculous reappearance", although it may seem that everything happened too fast, or the conflict was resolved quite early, was nothing short of a miracle. It helps to have a "sponsor", someone who works the [AA program] with you, of course. But to conquer all this, they have to want it for themselves. They have to want to change.I like this book. It was a little dragging on the first few chapters, but I had a hard time letting go towards the next pages.
—Honeypie
The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance by Catherine Ryan Hyde was a wonderful book about a young girls' struggle to deal with her mothers problems with alcohol, and the problems she has with her own alcohol abuse.In thiws book the girl must overcome her dependence on alcohol and be able to not hold her mothers drinking against her.This story is a fictional account of the girl as she herself to re-emerge into the world and take control of her life, putting all of the troubles in her life into perspective.
—Jasmine
"The Year Of My Miraculous Reappearance" is about a girl named Cynnie who has basically taken over the role of the Mother in the family to take care of her brother Bill, since her Mom is an alcoholic & most of the time is too drunk to be doing anything at all. Cynnie would do anything for Bill, & has made a vow to herself that no matter what happens, she would never make as bad decisions as her Mother... which she couldn't manage to keep. Everything just started to spiral in the wrong direction, & after losing Bill, I guess the saying "curiosity killed the cat" really is true. Cynnie has now found herself stuck in a maze in which she just can't manage to find the right path to take, & each bad wrong step she takes is just getting herself trapped even deeper. If Cynnie gets a chance to see what awaits at the end of the 'maze', will it remind her why is it oh so important to regain control of her own life? I picked this book up, because the cover really confused me, so I took a look at it to read the summary of it, & found myself really intrigued into it. I generally like this type of genre as well.I finished this book, because I wasn't sure whether or not Cynnie had the inner strength to think clearly & make good decisions. She was just faced so many overwhelming obstacles, & just completely crushes her self-esteem. I wasn't sure whether or not she had the will to continue, and fight for her life to be in order. It was actually a rather harder book to read, because there were some parts in the book where I actually had to think a lot more to understand, and took a lot more time to read & continue reading, but I definitely think finishing was worth it.I would recommend this book to members of alcoholics anonymous group. It seems of a rather general meeting, but since they're in this group, it means they are ambitious to change their lives, gain their own control on it, & I think they would appreciate the opinion of a third person, how the drinking not only affects themselves, but the people around them. I think it would increase their will to stay sober.
—Michelle
