Customer Reviews

Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am one of the bus drivers mentioned in the book and can testify to the fact that this book tells the truth about how Beth, the handicaped sister, acts on the bus and how others treat her. It also addresses the fact that people like to belittle her. People do struggle with the rather new fact that the handicaped are more free than in the past. This book addresses that. The book is a great light for all of us to follow. Beth's sister is led to the path of acceptance and love and out of the darkness of misunderstanding. Reading this book will do the same for anyone with an open heart. Highly recomended.

this book teaches a great deal about self-determination in everyone's lives it is one of the best memoirs I ever read in my 12 years of living ~Rachel touches our hearts with the true words of her life with what she once overcame with her sister Beth~ She teaches and learns herself to be more open in the world around her as I did learn to ~This is one book you should neve regret reading, as I did once but came to enjoy it~ Through her book you reach the sad ends where it makes you cry, the happy ends where it makes you smile and the funny ends where it makes you laugh...this book touched my heart dearly~

My mother mentioned this book to me after hearing the author interviewed on NPR. I thought she'd read it. She's usually read everything. I found it at the library, took it home, and read it in one sitting. I am the oldest of three sisters. The second oldest is MMR and wasn't actually diagnosed until the age of 18. I was four when Mom brought her home from the hospital and I remember wondering if we could send her back.
Working in the transportation industry along with having a sister who is developmentally disabled, I was bound to like this book. My favorite part was Rachel's realization of what self-determination actually means. My family and I struggle with this in regards to my sister and her choices.
I plan to buy this book for my boss as my one year anniversary present to myself. Every bus driver who drives the public and/or the disabled should be required to read it.
This book showed me that as a sibling of a woman with developmental disabilities I am not alone. Thanks Rachel!

I read this book after a recommendation and at first, I'll admit, the story line did not interest me. However, I soon found this to be a uniquely told story of the challenges of having a mentally-challenged individual in one's life. While the main story line is about a mentally-challenged sister, the underlying story line consists of the author's revelation that her sister seems to have a more well-adjusted life than her. I enjoyed her honest revelations and the skillful way she described each bus driver and of course, her sister.

From the author of The Difference Now.

Rachel Simon is a woman in her late 30's to early 40's, living alone. She is unhappy with herself and lifestyle, which consists of writing and teaching all day long in Philadelphia. Beth, her sister with mental retardation, invites Rachel to attend her "Plan of Care" meeting, just after Rachel writes an article about riding the bus with sister, Beth. Just after this scheduled meeting, Beth challenges Rachel to ride the bus with her for a year, but they agree to two times a week for a year. This also meant sleeping over at Beth's apartment on sofa cushions that were set up on the floor. On these bus rides, Rachel learns little "facts of life" lessons from each of the bus drivers that Beth shares her rides with. Rachel is soon to realize and accepts just who her sister and herself truly is. She understands and learns to be content, to work at her faults to make them better, and not to be afraid of what leads her to happiness.
A few things I didn't like about this book was that it was slow at times. The book's progress in dialog could have been hindered by my lack of understanding at the beginning of the book and because it was confusing. Another possibility could be because I was confused by one of the extra books changing of tense from present to past childhood memories. I didn't like the fact that Rachel was shallow at times. Rachel also had a hard time accepting her sister for who she was and was too afraid of everyone else's thoughts.
There are much more positives, than I had dislikes about. This book ends with a happy note and Rachel changes. Rachel learns how to be happy, and camas's to find out that she wasn't the only one with siblings that have mental disabilities. Beth Also changes, she learns that she words can hurt more than she thinks they will. Beth sees how being difficult and stubborn pushes her family away. In conclusion, I liked this book a lot and would recommend it to family with a disabled person.

I was sickened that someone who "knows" a real-life character in a book would come on line to publically slam her. That alone should make her review worthless in everyones' eyes. As for the educator who was in special education but changed majors - thank goodness for students with special needs! These two reviews showed the polar opposite of the kind of grace and kindness this world needs, and that this wonderful book illustrates!

Profound

This is a hugely profound look at the life of children that live within a dysfunctional family. It is easy to read and matter of fact. The storyline and time line excellently done.
Other memoirs to look for: Nightmares Echo and Running With Scissors

While I will agree that Rachel Simon has a definite flair for prose, I have to say that I honestly could not buy into the notion that this book is a "memoir". It may be based on a real person, but if that's the case, it seems highly fictionalized. For one thing, I highly doubt that so many drivers-seat philosophers work for the same bus line (if, in fact, there are any at all). It seemed ridiculous to me that so many of these drivers were able to spout off the true meaning of life answers that elude the rest of us mere mortals. That is not to imply that bus drivers are by nature or profession uneducated or unable to think profoundly; I just found it a bit odd that so many of them had remarkably similary hard-life-but-I-found-the-light-and-that-is-why-I-have-all-the-answers points of view. It would have seemed more realistic if just one (or possibly two) thought so deeply, but I laughed this "memoir" off as fiction the second the third "wise and learned" driver showed up.

Further, I found the character of Beth to be unbelievably obnoxious. I read a review in which one person claims to know who Beth is and has ridden the bus with her. If that is true (and, obviously, someone has ridden the bus with her), then I can understand her frustration with Beth being portrayed as some sort of saint. She's rude, plain and simple, and the author makes it clear that she certainly knows better. If I were on my way to work and someone, disabled or not, started causing a ruckus, I would be one of those people who said something. Heck, I would complain to the bus company. No one has the right to behave that way and it chafed me throughout this book that Beth seemed to think it was okay for her to do whatever she pleased but that it wasn't all right for others to disagree with her behavior.

I found myself sympathizing mostly with those who hated having Beth on the bus. I studied special education in college before switching majors and I have a definite sympathy for and patience with disabled individuals. I do not, however, have any sympathy whatsoever for an able bodied individual who can and should be working to flat out refuse to do so. Sorry, but if I suddenly decided not to work, I wouldn't get other taxpayers' money (darn - no self-determination here) and the book makes it crystal clear that Beth is able to work but won't. A person like that is no hero - she's a drain on society and an insult to those who would love to be able to work and can't, and if Beth's social worker.

There are also a few editorial errors, but nothing that made me too ready to toss the book across the room. For example, on the first page, Rachel is waking up in her sister's apartment in order to ride the bus - just this one time - for her article. When she starts her year of riding, she comments that she has never slept there overnight. Minor glitches such as that appear throughout the book.

Overall a well-written, but ultimately unbelievable book.

I always try to read a book without any prejudices in regards to the author or the story's nature. But, I have to admit that I was more than a little afraid at first about Riding The Bus With My Sister. I feared that this book would be a stereotypical "feel good" story, where the mentally retarded sister was depicted as a misunderstood noble creature and the "bus rides are a journey of self-discovery" metaphor was abused.

It didn't take me long to realize that my initial fears were unfounded. They went unrealized because Simon chose to infuse her story with honesty, instead of stereotype. Nowhere is this quality better displayed than in her depiction of Beth. Simon makes a point of showing that her sister is stubborn, opinionated, and not liked by everyone. But, she also shows that Beth has qualities that make her distinctive and important. By providing this balanced portrayal, Simon gives her sister a realism that transcends the stereotypical depiction of the mentally disabled.

The only area where Simon veers dangerously close to typecast is in her portrayal of the "wise beyond their station in life" bus drivers. While she does state that not all drivers were like those she highlighted, those that were shown were portrayed as near saints. What rescues this depiction is the honesty behind the stories. Simon takes care to show how each of these drivers obtained their wisdom through their life experiences. As a result, the drivers, and their level of understanding, become believable.

While the metaphor running throughout the book had the potential to be abused, it turned out to be appropriate. Because of the truthful portrayal of her sister and the situations during that year of riding, I came to believe that Simon had discovered, changed, and grown. She shows this growth by movingly displaying the two most important points she learned: that everyone has value and that insight can be obtained from anywhere. If every book imparted such knowledge, the world would be a richer place. But, since most books don't pass along such lessons, one should grasp those, like Riding The Bus With My Sister, that do add this value to one's life.

This is an amazing book. What appears at first to be a deceptively simple book about the day to day life of a woman with mental retardation turns out to also contain an astonishing family memoir. Simon could have written a riveting book about her own youth, or her mother's struggle with depression and domestic violence, but instead manages to tell those stories in brief asides without ever taking the book's focus from her sister. Simon, and her sister, have a lot to teach us about mental retardation, self-determination, and the satisfaction work does, or does not, bring to our lives. Highly recommended.