CAROL D. MARSH, WRITER
  • Home +
    • About
    • Independent Publishers of Nonfiction
    • Nonfiction Chapbook Publishers
  • Publications
    • 2022 - CHAPBOOK
  • Memoir +
    • Reviews of "Nowhere Else I Want to Be"
  • Contact +
    • Pro-Democracy Newsletter
    • STORE coming soon


​
Ruminations
A blog by a writer who is passionate about social justice.

FIVE-STAR REVIEW of NOWHERE ELSE I WANT TO BE

4/18/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

Nowhere Else I Want to Be is Carol Marsh’s heart-wrenching memoir of her time living and working at Miriam’s House in Washington, D.C. She founded Miriam’s House in 1996, as a place for homeless women suffering with AIDS and addiction to receive the care, shelter, and safety that they so desperately needed. In providing for these women, who came from backgrounds incredibly different than her own, Carol had to learn to face her own shortcomings: privilege, discrimination, poor leadership skills, and an overwhelming, yet often denied, desire to be liked. In doing so, she, along with the staff and residents of Miriam’s House, transformed it into a safe haven for victims of AIDS and their families, saving dozens of lives in more ways than one. 
 
In terms of content, Nowhere Else I Want to Be is certainly not the easiest book to read. It is rife with tragedy, from abandonment to parental neglect, devastating illness to inevitable death. It weighs on the heartstrings in a manner that most books cannot achieve, largely because the stories Carol Marsh shares are all real. These “characters,” who often seem larger than life in some respects, existed once, and now, do not. It’s an awful feeling, to fall in love with each quirky, lovable woman as Carol did, only to be forced to face their eventual demise. However, the tender tone in which each woman is described is admirable and honorable, shining a spotlight of love and acceptance on an otherwise horrific life. It’s devastating, but profound, in all the best ways.  
 
Nowhere Else I Want to Be is not a book easily defined, as it balances perfectly the qualities of humor, love, sadness, disdain, and acceptance, combined into one spectacular memoir. Carol Marsh takes her readers on the same journey she once walked, alongside society’s forgotten as they struggle to better themselves, contribute to communities who continuously reject them, and just survive, at any cost. It wasn’t, and still isn’t, easy, but it is forever worth it. Nowhere Else I Want to Be is a treasure as much as it is a tragedy, if for nothing else, for Carol’s bold, dignified, and honest approach to a truth best not left forgotten.
 
Originally critiqued by a member of the Authors Talk About It team.

Link HERE to original post
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Ruminations

    This blog chronicles my work and thoughts as a writer. - Carol D. Marsh

    Archives

    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Services

* Book Talks for your organization, church or reading group.

* Discussion groups on: social justice, being in service, leadership

Click here to CONTACT ME
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home +
    • About
    • Independent Publishers of Nonfiction
    • Nonfiction Chapbook Publishers
  • Publications
    • 2022 - CHAPBOOK
  • Memoir +
    • Reviews of "Nowhere Else I Want to Be"
  • Contact +
    • Pro-Democracy Newsletter
    • STORE coming soon