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mariasimonetti's review against another edition
5.0
Long Review - Especially for the author :)
I would like to start by saying it's funny how I found this book out of the blue. I was at the Friends of the Library sale at the Southampton Library in Southampton, NY - a place I frequent on my lunch break. I saw this book in the 'locals' section and it happens to be signed as well! The title 'SHIRLEY' had me thinking of my Grandma Shirley, but also Shirley - the town that neighbors mine.
I picked this book up by chance and immediately texted a picture to my best friend Kim who grew up in Shirley, NY! She now lives in Asheville, NC, but I knew this book would interest her. We met through a book in 1999 - she had won a contest to ask the author a question and it simply read 'Kimberlyn - Shirley, NY' ... because of the town Shirley (I knew this town simply because of BNL), I immediately emailed her and mentioned that I was not too far away from her and was a huge fan of the author. For reference, the book was Thoughts' by Tionne "TBoz" Watkins (TLC!) and the year was 1999; right around the time of AOL, so we ended up communicating a lot by email). I grew up and lived roughly 15 miles west of Shirley but had no problems visiting Shirley regularly to see my friend and her friends. Fast-forward 20 years later and I moved to Manorville living just under 10 miles away from BNL. It is crazy to think about the field trips I went on with my school at the time many of these fights were going on - I just had no clue at that age...
Hearing all of these stories about how Shirley was essentially created, the bungalows, the Italian immigrants, and how strip malls and random stores just kind of exist without a real Main Street helped to better understand my neighboring town.
I think Kelly McMasters wrote an outstanding memoir, one where you could understand her life as a child, the fun of the summer on Long Island, her experiences as a teenager, and getting in that 'teenager trouble' naming many places I frequented myself.
What was so beautiful about this story, was the fight that so many folks in that area had for their community. One part that stood out for me was the trading of people's lives for the sake of research. To kind of meet these people in Kelly's life and understand all the hardships they went through with cancer was so heartbreaking. What an amazing memoir - I did not want it to end.
Kelly, please do not stop writing. You have such a beautiful gift, and I cannot wait to read your most recent book. I purchased this book for my (still) very best friend, Kim, and also have shared it with my father and my cousin. They are battling to borrow it. I plan to take it out at the Center Moriches library and read it again while my dad is borrowing it! PS - They have two copies!
I would like to start by saying it's funny how I found this book out of the blue. I was at the Friends of the Library sale at the Southampton Library in Southampton, NY - a place I frequent on my lunch break. I saw this book in the 'locals' section and it happens to be signed as well! The title 'SHIRLEY' had me thinking of my Grandma Shirley, but also Shirley - the town that neighbors mine.
I picked this book up by chance and immediately texted a picture to my best friend Kim who grew up in Shirley, NY! She now lives in Asheville, NC, but I knew this book would interest her. We met through a book in 1999 - she had won a contest to ask the author a question and it simply read 'Kimberlyn - Shirley, NY' ... because of the town Shirley (I knew this town simply because of BNL), I immediately emailed her and mentioned that I was not too far away from her and was a huge fan of the author. For reference, the book was Thoughts' by Tionne "TBoz" Watkins (TLC!) and the year was 1999; right around the time of AOL, so we ended up communicating a lot by email). I grew up and lived roughly 15 miles west of Shirley but had no problems visiting Shirley regularly to see my friend and her friends. Fast-forward 20 years later and I moved to Manorville living just under 10 miles away from BNL. It is crazy to think about the field trips I went on with my school at the time many of these fights were going on - I just had no clue at that age...
Hearing all of these stories about how Shirley was essentially created, the bungalows, the Italian immigrants, and how strip malls and random stores just kind of exist without a real Main Street helped to better understand my neighboring town.
I think Kelly McMasters wrote an outstanding memoir, one where you could understand her life as a child, the fun of the summer on Long Island, her experiences as a teenager, and getting in that 'teenager trouble' naming many places I frequented myself.
What was so beautiful about this story, was the fight that so many folks in that area had for their community. One part that stood out for me was the trading of people's lives for the sake of research. To kind of meet these people in Kelly's life and understand all the hardships they went through with cancer was so heartbreaking. What an amazing memoir - I did not want it to end.
Kelly, please do not stop writing. You have such a beautiful gift, and I cannot wait to read your most recent book. I purchased this book for my (still) very best friend, Kim, and also have shared it with my father and my cousin. They are battling to borrow it. I plan to take it out at the Center Moriches library and read it again while my dad is borrowing it! PS - They have two copies!
lady_jess_87's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book, I thought it was detailed and beautifully written. I definitely recommend it.
seest12's review against another edition
3.0
This book is kind of a memoir, but I felt the author switched back and forth between wanting to tell a fairly well written story about her life growing up in a town affected by radioactive waste and a missive about what was wrong with the federal government's national lab facility on Long Island. I wish she had interwoven the two better. It was an easy read and I was engaged throughout the book, but I felt the dots didn't quite connect.
damsorrow's review against another edition
2.0
In the early 1980s, my great-grandmother, a first-gen puerto rican who had lived in the shit parts of the Bronx all her life bought a tiny house in Shirley, NY at 10 Lafayette Drive. I remember it well. I fell through the cover to the septic tank and went up to my knee in pure cess. When my mom fished me out and ran me to the bathroom, and my great-grandmother was outside yelling, "I saved the shoe! I saved the shoe!"
I saw a reviewlet for this in Oprah and knew I had to pick it up. When I told my mother about the Brookhaven superfund situation that backdrops the personal narrative she said, "Oh, that's why all the neighbors' hair turned orange."
But I was a little disappointed with the book, to be honest. It was not gripping, despite the fascinating subject matter. Maybe too much gauzy nostalgia, not enough synthesis, I dunno.
I saw a reviewlet for this in Oprah and knew I had to pick it up. When I told my mother about the Brookhaven superfund situation that backdrops the personal narrative she said, "Oh, that's why all the neighbors' hair turned orange."
But I was a little disappointed with the book, to be honest. It was not gripping, despite the fascinating subject matter. Maybe too much gauzy nostalgia, not enough synthesis, I dunno.
ava_catherine's review
3.0
Kelly McMasters grew up in Shirley, a Long Island working class neighborhood, located in the shadow of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Much of McMasters's book is dedicated to research about the truth surrounding the atomic lab's culpability in the chemical leakage into the water supply for the town. She discovered that not only had chemicals been allowed to contaminate the area, but atomic waste had been buried on the grounds of the lab. During the years Kelly had grown up in Shirley, almost every family in the small town was touched by cancer, which the citizens always felt but could not prove was caused by the close proximity to the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The cancer death rate for the town was off the charts.
But this is more than a book about the atomic research laboratory and chemical waste which killed so many people and made so many others ill. It is the story of Kelly's beautiful childhood with four other little girls, the secrets they shared, the magical moments, the ordinary days that seemed extraordinary, and her love for her life in a special neighborhood. McMasters has a lovely voice, and I shall certainly read her next book.
But this is more than a book about the atomic research laboratory and chemical waste which killed so many people and made so many others ill. It is the story of Kelly's beautiful childhood with four other little girls, the secrets they shared, the magical moments, the ordinary days that seemed extraordinary, and her love for her life in a special neighborhood. McMasters has a lovely voice, and I shall certainly read her next book.
mmz's review
3.0
Told in the form of a personal narrative, this book contains a lot of interesting information about Long Island local history, especially the East End. There's also a lot of interesting information about nuclear pollution, which might make anyone question the water they drink. Unfortunately, much of this book also reads as an indictment of Brookhaven National Laboratory, which may or may not be justified. To be fair, McMasters credits BNL for having improved their practices in recent years, but the book still comes across as being agenda-driven and biased, which undercuts the message more than a little bit.
mayag's review against another edition
4.0
This is an absolutely wonderful book. The author perfectly combines her sweet and sentimental nostalgia for her childhood (which was idyllic in a uniquely American way) with the story of the poisoning occurring every minute in her town, to her friends and neighbors and to her and her family.
Shirley is a town abutting the Brookhaven National Laboratory and for decades toxic wastes were allowed to drain into the groundwater.
This isn't a medical book so she doesn't "prove" that the horrible cancers in her town were caused by the toxic waste, but really, I don't see how anyone could reach any other conclusion. The story of Shirley should serve as a warning to us all as to how government and money can trump concern for health; how expediency gets chosen over doing what's right.
I really recommend this book. I loved it.
Shirley is a town abutting the Brookhaven National Laboratory and for decades toxic wastes were allowed to drain into the groundwater.
This isn't a medical book so she doesn't "prove" that the horrible cancers in her town were caused by the toxic waste, but really, I don't see how anyone could reach any other conclusion. The story of Shirley should serve as a warning to us all as to how government and money can trump concern for health; how expediency gets chosen over doing what's right.
I really recommend this book. I loved it.
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