Holiday Sale! Get an annual membership for 20% off!

Read advance reader review of Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt, page 2 of 4

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt

Making Toast

A Family Story

by Roger Rosenblatt
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 2010, 176 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2011, 128 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Reviews


Page 2 of 4
There are currently 27 member reviews
for Making Toast
Order Reviews by:
  • Kim B. (Arlington, TX)
    Singing The Boppo Anthem!
    Don't be misled -- this tiny book packs a huge punch; right to your heart. The author's simplistic and authentic voice gives those of us who've not walked through the dark valley of grief a true sense of the enormity of his loss. It's not often you find a book that lets you shed a tear and a smile on the same turn of a page. I'm recommending this book to friends, but hanging onto my copy!
  • Nancy S. (Independence, MO)
    Making Toast
    A lovely memoir about a family that must deal with the sudden death of a beloved daughter. I loved this book from beginning to end. It gave me a clearer understanding of what is important in life. Thank you Mr. Rosenblatt for writing this heartwarming book.
  • Patricia S. (New Canaan, CT)
    A love letter to a daughter and her family
    This book should be published on Feb 14th, not the 16th as it is truly a testament to love within the Rosenblatt family. I did shed a few tears reading this book from cover to cover in one sitting. As a grandmother of 3 boys, ages 1,3 and 5 and having just finished babysitting for them for 5 days, I was totally exhausted by dinnertime and raised a glass of wine to Ginny (and to Roger) for being able to step into the shoes of the children's mother without collapsing, either physically or mentally.. The writing is such that the reader feels they are a part of the family, not an outsider. Truly a masterful piece dealing with the loss of a daughter, yet preserving her memory through everyday tasks. I'll look forward to recommending this for our bookclub in Maine.
  • Beatrice D. (Floral Park, New York)
    Death out of Order
    One of life's greatest tragedies occurs when parents have to stand at the graveside of a child, no matter her age. This is what happened to Roger Rosenblatt and his wife Ginny whose daughter's sudden death at the age of 38, forced them to transition into the role of surrogate parents to three children under the age of seven simultaneous with their natural roles as grandparents. By no means treacly with sentiment, the book takes us through the ordinary along with the extra-ordinary events in the life of this family as they struggle to regain their center and go on with their lives. Not a memoir in the usual sense, rather a series of journal-like entries that make us a part of the day to day struggles and triumphs the family experiences
  • Leslie W. (Burlingame, CA)
    Making Toast
    Wonderfully written story of how a family deals with the untimely loss of a loved one. Making Toast shares all of the emotions and difficulties that a family must go through in order to go on with life after the tragedy of death.

    This book is a must read for all. It will inspire you to look at life differently.
  • Marissa P. (Tarrytown, NY)
    Heartbreaking & Endearing
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The author who lost his daughter to a rare heart disorder chronicles his and his wife's journey with their late daughter's children and her husband. The grandparents move in with Harris, Amy's husband and James, Sammy and Jessica, their children. Although Amy is gone in a physical sense she never leaves their lives and her parent's thoughts. They struggle with helping to raise the children and find comfort and joy in the process. It is a bittersweet tale that leaves you laughing and crying. Although happiness abounds in this book you are always bought back to the reality of the profound loss and it's meaning to each of the characters.
  • Mary G. (River Forest, IL)
    No answers - I love it!
    Finally - a self help book that doesn't offer answers. No preaching, yoga, religious practices, emotional dietary props, no deep breathing. Rosenblatt tells it like it is - and is helpful in spite of himself.

    Having lost a daughter, survived by a daughter of her own in mid-teens, I have empathy for the author's sudden transformation from grandparent to parent in the midst of untold grief. And his message is one it took me longer to discover, but which I've found to be true. His book is deeply personal, telling the day after day meaningful moments (like "making toast!") that make surviving grief possible. My daily circumstances - and yours - are different from his, but it doesn't matter. His own "moments" somehow blend with my own, and they make me smile.

    Having read "Making Toast," I feel better about death - and I can still eat chocolate and don't have to go to the gym to do it!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Everything We Never Had
    Everything We Never Had
    by Randy Ribay
    Francisco Maghabol has recently arrived in California from the Philippines, eager to earn money to ...
  • Book Jacket: The Demon of Unrest
    The Demon of Unrest
    by Erik Larson
    In the aftermath of the 1860 presidential election, the divided United States began to collapse as ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket
    The Avian Hourglass
    by Lindsey Drager
    It would be easy to describe The Avian Hourglass as "haunting" or even "dystopian," but neither of ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.