- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: PublishAmerica (January 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1588514374
- ISBN-13: 978-1588514370
- Product Dimensions: 20.7 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Tom Wedderburn's Life is the story of a simple man born into an isolated community where he is filled with the values and mores of the nineteenth century. It is Tom's misfortune that the century he must live in is the chaotic twentieth. He lives to see the end of his isolated world. He falls in love with a modern woman he does not understand. As a young man, he endures the hell of World War II.. Left disillusioned and alone in his old age, Tom holds on to his peculiar sense of dignity and even finds a measure of happiness.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tom Wedderbum's Life (Paperback)
Tom Wedderburn has every opportunity to have a full life. Although he is born into a poor family and grows up in the early 20th-century Wyoming wilderness, his early ambitions take him to other parts of the world. He fights in World War II as a Marine Raider on Guadalcanal, leads men during the invasion of Iwo Jima, captures the heart of a beautiful nurse, and becomes a wealthy man in his later years. Yet Tom Wedderburn dies an unmarried, childless, and nearly penniless man.Why? Because Tom Wedderburn is a pessimistic man. He contends that early in his life, he "over emphasized the power of thinking positive thoughts." He believed that "to admit a single moment of doubt and to see an alternative future in which the worst occurred was to bring the full catastrophe." During the war, he refuses to show any measure of friendship toward the men who serve with him after witnessing the deaths of several members of his first troop. He does not want to suffer any grief just in case any of them are killed in action. While in the hospital recovering from injuries he suffers in the war, he becomes attracted to a young nurse who eventually lets him know she has feelings for him. But just when the relationship turns serious, he runs away for no other reason than fear. The nurse offers him everything he wants in life, yet his doubts make him believe the worst will somehow come of it. Tom's other lifetime problem is a girl named Julia. He falls in love with her when they are just children. But just like Forrest Gump's Jenny, Julia doesn't even consider spending her adult life with a small-town boy. Still, Julia also returns to Tom as a down-and-out adult, but where Jenny gave Forrest a son, Julia only gives Tom more reasons to remain a doubtful man. Author Theodore Judson creates a character who is unfortunately believable. Unfortunate because, like so many of us, Tom lives a life of missed opportunities and bad decisions. Tom's story is told in his own voice, a wise decision on Judson's part since simply relaying the highlights of such an unproductive life without offering up personal reflections would border on the humdrum. Much like Tom's life, the book Tom Wedderburn's Life is a so-so story that leaves the reader shaking his head, quite sure that given the opportunity he would do things differently. But perhaps that's the whole point author Judson is trying to make. We make the decisions in our lives based on our own beliefs and situations. We also judge others accordingly. So who are we to say that Tom Wedderburn did not live a full life? If a full life means having a family and money in the end, than Tom's life doesn't measure up to one. But, if like Tom, we live a life honest to our nature, then we can go to our graves with some measure of satisfaction. by April Galt for Curl up with a Good Book, 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
A man's experience and also of the pursuit of happiness,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tom Wedderbum's Life (Paperback)
Adroitly written by Theodore Judson, Tom Wedderburn's Life is the story of a rural man who grew up with traditional nineteenth-century values, only to find himself thrust into a continually conflicting twentieth century world. From lost love with a woman he cannot understand, to enduring the hell and horror that was the World War II battlefield, to facing the ravages of old age alone with little more than his dignity, Tom Wedderburn's Life is the memorable and highly recommended saga of a man's experience and also of the pursuit of happiness, a chase that is not necessarily futile.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting Memories,
By M Kay Jacoby (Dubois, Wyoming United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tom Wedderbum's Life (Paperback)
In "Tom Wedderburn's Life" you can hear the bright song of the meadowlark, smell the tang of the sage brush and see the fat sheep grazing on a Wyoming hillside. You can also hear the screams of the dieing on Iwo Jima, smell the fear and see the look of horror in their eyes. The ability of this author to paint pictures with words and to draw you into Tom's life is true poetry. The accounts of life in early Wyoming are funny and sad and true. An innocent time when many were poor in worldly goods but rich in family, friends and love of the land. It is also the story of young men and war and of a generation that came home maimed in body and mind. Having recently returned to live in the Valley of the Wind, in the shadow of "the lady's right arm", I understand Tom's driving need to return regardless of the cost. This is a haunting first novel that touches close to your heart, it awakens old memories and opens new insights. I look forward to more from this excellent author. On still nights, when the Wyoming sky is alive with stars, I can almost hear the sweet notes from Tom's violin.
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