[stylist] Book review of Phyllis Campbell's Friendships in the Dark: a blind woman's story of the people and pets who light up her world

[Applebutter Hill]

Hi Friends,
As many of you know, our own Phyllis Campbell has published several books.
This is a review I wrote for Goodreads of her memoir Friendships in the
Dark: a blind woman's story of the people and pets who light up her world.
The review is below the link. BTW, it's on BARD, and I gave it a 5 and have
read it 2+ times.
Donna
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1056035004
 
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When you read the subtitle of Friendships in the Dark, what do you think
you'll be  getting? Stories about great people? Great animals? If so, you
would be correct; this book has awesome dogs, cats and people in spades.
It's an excellent read on so many levels -- not the least of which is that
it gives us a glimpse into the world of America's "Greatest Generation" from
the perspective of someone who witnessed its realities as a child.

 

Each chapter begins with a quote -- always a crowd-pleaser for me. My
favorites are: 1. "No one ever gets far, unless he accomplishes the
impossible at least once a day" - Elbert Hubbard 2. "Hope against hope, and
ask till you receive." James Montgomery and 3. "Our greatest glory is not in
never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Confucius.

 

If you stumbled over the part about a "blind woman," however, you may be
wary, worried that you just don't want to read something that makes you feel
sorry for someone's problems or that, whatever compensations that may have
come into this woman's life, you would find small comfort in them. If that's
the case, my sympathies, because you are woefully off base.

 

"I have never felt cheated of the rich beauty the world has to give," writes
Campbell, who was born totally blind, "For as long as I can remember, I have
reached out to the world around me, giving and taking all the good things
life has to offer."

 

Friendships in the Dark is the story of exultant joy in the midst of life's
challenges,  the power of dedicated teachers, humor and a casual honesty
brought to life for the reader by a master writer. Campbell's prose is
playful, happy  without being sappy, poignant without being morose, a
perfectly balanced view into the best of family, community and the
triumphant splendor of the human spirit.

 

Phyllis Campbell was a child living on a Virginia farm during WWII, the
youngest of four children. It's a home filled with love, concern for A
brother going off to war and the determination of a mother that her girls
were going to be successful and independent, despite what the neighbors
think. 

 

Yes, Phyllis wasn't the first blind kid in the family. Seven years her
senior, Inez was also blind, and she teaches Phyllis Braille and awakens in
her a love of reading that would guide her throughout her life. 

 

When it's  time for Phyllis to join her sister at Virginia's residential
school for the blind, their older sister Fay gets a job there to be with
them. Six-year-old Phyllis falls ill and experiences the problems that faced
children needing procedures at a time when the doctors were overseas. Soon,
her father leaves the farm he loves and takes a job in town so the family
can be closer. The cows and horses can't come, but can her parents bring
young Phyllis's beloved dog and cat?

 

Campbell shows us dogs and cats like no one else can -- how they interact
differently with blind and deaf children, how they befriend mentally ill
patients at the hospital where her father works and how they purr and wag
their ways into even the most reluctant hearts. 

 

This is the story of a young girl growing into a mature, loving, talented
and independent woman, the story of how music, flowers and a dog bring that
woman and the love of her life together and the story of countless
improbable but true ways that dogs and cats play vital roles in the lives of
their people. It is also the story of how a guide dog named Leer gives a
woman independence even as she loses sight of its true meaning.  

 

There is sadness, but Phyllis is optimistic and confident from the
beginning, largely protected from the humiliation, despair  and isolation
many blind people experience. Her story is a reminder to those who have
experienced it and an awakening to those who haven't of the incredible joy
which is possible when we reach out to one another as equals, embrace family
and community, and are reassured that, whether or not our prayers are
answered, they are always heard.

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-- The Heart of Applebutter Hill - a novel on a mission:

http://DonnaWHill.com <blocked::blocked::http://donnawhill.com/> 

 
 

-- The Heart of Applebutter Hill - a novel on a mission:

http://DonnaWHill.com <http://donnawhill.com/>