An Ordinary Life

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An Ordinary Life is a domestic drama novel written by Amanda Prowse, an author who continually delivers quality story, memorable characters, and heartbreaking scenes. I've now read around a dozen of her books and will keep reading the rest until I catch up to her current total of ~25. In this one, 94-year-old Molly knows she will die soon yet she has one promise to fulfill. What could the letter she's writing be all about?

Next she has a timeline, called, “evolution of this moment,” that gives the notable dates of her life, and finally, we delve into section called “Alphabetized existence.” Molly’s life hasn’t been ordinary at all, she crammed a lot into ninety four years and she enriched many people’s lives. As a young woman she worked as an interpreter during WW II, fell in love with her best friends brother Johan, joined the resistance in France, worked as a POW liaison officer during and after WW II and her last job was working in the records department of a large English hospital. In 1980 more than 50,000 people with learning disabilities in Britain still lived in a long-stay institution, a model of care first developed in the 19th century for people seen as unfit to be a part of mainstream society. David Towell (2021) explains the social transformation that followed.It’s as if us little cars on the side of the road are cheering, Go! Go! You can do it! Go, important ambulance, go! The experience invariably leaves me feeling proud and giddy.” The remainder of the war saw Molly become an undercover operative with the French Resistance until she realised the danger before becoming a POW liaison officer for the duration of the war and beyond. Once the war was over, Molly decided a move to the countryside would be a far better life for a child and bought a cottage in Chelmsford in Essex. She decorated Joe's room in shades of blue and suspended her father's wooden airplanes from the ceiling...and prepared to welcome her son home at last. After nine months growing and blooming under Joyce's loving care, is this finally to be her's and Joe's happy ever after? So...I wouldn't read it again because it's not all about me? I suppose. At some level, I read to connect to the author, to discover alikeness, to find myself or validate the self I have already found. To discover a profound disconnect, then, is not satisfactory. With themes of PTSD, spies, societal expectations and family, Amanda Prowse has written a beautifully described story that is filled with love, danger, tension, sacrifice and heartbreak.

I read this book in small chunks, and I think it leads itself very well to that. I would recommend that you don't read it during long sittings, because the repeated entries might get a bit monotonous. It's perfect to read a few entries every night, or in between other books. Do you ever stop and look at an elderly gentleman or lady and wonder what filled their life? Was it family? A career? Did they love? Were they loved? Did they travel? We often just see a wrinkled face and rarely stop to wonder what precious moments a senior has experienced. Amanda Prowse, in her endearing novel, ’An Ordinary Life,’ writes to prove that we should never, ever judge a book by its cover. Especially when it comes to our fellow human beings. Those wrinkles are earned and there’s always a story behind them. Set in the town of Bloomsbury and Chelmsford in Essex and told through chapters from 1943 onwards and 2019, Molly's far from ordinary life is portrayed throughout the years from post-war Britain to the 60s, the decadence of the 70s, the 80s, the changes that came moving into another century, up until Molly's fall on Christmas Eve 2019. As the times change, she loses many people she has held dear, including her beloved sister, Joyce. Molly then becomes the only person remaining who carries the secret... amy krouse rosenthal writes with the exact same flair and random brilliance as every single one of my friends -- perhaps why this book wasn't as unusual and unique as i expected. though there were some passages i was compelled to read aloud to anyone who'd listen, i mostly had the nagging feeling that i already know amy from somewhere, maybe chicago where i too grew up. she mentions names of people i'm familiar with like greg allen of the neo-futurists, and the whole concept and brevity of the chapters remind me of neo-futurist plays from 'too much light..' Today – in modern versions of epic, aristocratic, or divine art – adverts and movies continually explain to us the appeal of things like sports cars, tropical island holidays, fame, first-class air travel and expansive limestone kitchens. The attractions are often perfectly real. But the cumulative effect is to instill in us the idea that a good life is built around elements that almost no one can afford. The conclusion we too easily draw is that our lives are close to worthless.I found myself laughing at and agreeing with many of Amy's entries. I worked out my Kindle's highlighter tool and even used a few of her ideas to work out some of my own, things I jotted down because I want to explore them in my own writing. I love this kind of dynamic writing. I love that she got me thinking and relating. This is the first time that I have experienced Amanda Prowse's work and I am quite surprised that I haven't tried it before. Part memoir, part journal entry, ‘Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life' is the late Amy Krause Rosenthal’s answer to the question "what if we focused on our joy?” This book was one of the most emotional books I have read. Molly lost a lot and she saw a lot of horrible things in her secret work with the government. She was blessed to have sisters and a brother that loved her and were there for her although her mother was not.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has gained quite a cult-following after a string of iconic roles in Gangs of Wasseypur, Manjhi, The Lunchbox and more recently, Manto and Sacred Games, the Netflix show that took him to iconic heights. However, this book only gave him further notoriety for all the wrong reasons. Nawaz's story is questionable, and sympathy-seeking. Even when he was writing about two-timing, he was still trying hard to win his readers' sympathy. And without the Doctor, marooned in a time and place as alien as anything they've ever encountered, Steven and Sara may well face their greatest challenge yet. To live an ordinary life. There were lots and lots of moments like that throughout the book — moments of gentle humour, moments when I saw a a tiny element of my life with fresh eyes, and moments of great poignancy when I read some of Amy’s thoughts about dying and knew I was reading the words of a woman who died at age 52 of ovarian cancer. This book seems like a PR attempt to build on Nawazuddin's newfound fame and gloss up his image. But even in this, it falls short badly. The writing is inconsistent, varying from the grammatically unsound to suddenly literary to pulpy to poetic. Then there are the problematic ideas - domestic violence, cheating, abuse, ghosting, exploitation. These are spelt out in great detail in incidents where Nawazuddin is the victim but there are several more where he's the perpetrator where the same is stated with unapologetic nonchalance.

No Greater Strength

As she lays on her hospital bed we are taken through her story, spanning from the midst of World War 2, up to the present day, Some days later, the Doctor visits the Newmans at the hospital where Joseph is being cured. He thanks the old man for his help and compliments Michael for how he resisted to the changelings and protected everyone. He says the Newmans their life will be extraordinary: they are often going to confront people as Billy Flint, but in the end, their presence will enrich England. Outside, Steven and Sara fondly remember their time here, but Steven has trouble doing it as a consequence of being copied. Sara promises she won’t let him forget what happened, and the two subconsciously intertwine their hands, just before the Doctor comes out and urges them on to the TARDIS. I love reading anything that is set during WWII and Amanda Prowse hasn't disappointed in this family drama centred around a young woman who made great sacrifices and risked her life to help end the war. By hearing the sound of an ambulance coming, Michael and the crowd of doubles depart, bringing with them the assailants. Steven leaves Joseph to Audrey's care and follows them; he sees the doubles carry their captives to a wagon belonging to the company Steven and Michael used to work for. He almost loses it but manages to grab the rope for opening the gates and is dragged away as a result. I enjoyed An Ordinary Life. Molly wormed her way into my heart as I celebrated her successes, cried with her at her heartbreak, held my breath when she was in danger, and took pleasure in her joy.