Ellen O. (ellenoakie) reviewed An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny on
Helpful Score: 3
Great true story! Very quick read. If you were fortunate enough to grow up in a fairly normal family, makes you appreciate that when you see all the obstacles Maurice faced as a young boy. Also shows it doesn't take much to make a huge difference in someone's life.
Irma S. reviewed An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very gratifying to read Laura's story of how she met and befriended Maurice in such a way that they both grew to be better people because of it. I appreciated learning about what life can be like on the "other side of the fence" . This book definately enriched my life and hopefully it will yours as well!
Candace K. reviewed An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny on + 57 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
How many times do you walk by someone that is asking for help with some extra change to buy food and you tell them that you do not have any and walk on by? Well this one day a caring soul decided to turn around and take an 11 year old boy for a lunch, and that is where the story begins...a true and wonderful story. I was enchanted by how caring the author was towards this young boy off the streets, and how wonderful the boy was who had little or nothing...with a drug addict mother and basically no place to live except what most would call a hole. This book is well worth the read and will make you think the next time someone asks you for some change to buy food.
Jill S. (brainybibliophile) -
Helpful Score: 1
There are many, many nonfiction "rags to riches" tales that inspire, and true stories of abused and/or neglected individuals who find success (think The Glass Castle and Educated and Hillbilly Elegy), but Schroff's memoir is a bit different, a bit more; it's an account of both. Her book is as much her own story as that of a young boy, Maurice Mazyck. Schroff details growing up with a kind father who turned angry, irrational, and physically abusive when drunk, which he was often as a bar owner. She weaves her family's story with that of her unusual and ongoing friendship with Maurice, whom she met on a New York City street corner when he was a panhandling child and she was a successful ad executive. He wanted change for food, she passed him by but reconsidered, she took him to McDonald's, and a friendship that continues until today was born.
The loosely chronological memoir is easy to read, with painful and heartfelt episodes throughout. Schroff reveals Maurice's troubled family life (a drug-addicted mother, absent father, ten or more people squeezed into a room or two, incarcerated uncles) as she describes their weekly gatherings and her many gifts to Maurice (outings at her sister's home, a new bicycle, cookie-baking). Along the way, she tells how their changing relationship, and others' skepticism about it, change her emotions, relationships with others, and ways of thinking.
At the end of the book, Maurice is still relatively young, so a reader will want to Google for updated information about him (which is available at the time of this review-writing).
A heart-warming, motivational, eye-opening read!
The loosely chronological memoir is easy to read, with painful and heartfelt episodes throughout. Schroff reveals Maurice's troubled family life (a drug-addicted mother, absent father, ten or more people squeezed into a room or two, incarcerated uncles) as she describes their weekly gatherings and her many gifts to Maurice (outings at her sister's home, a new bicycle, cookie-baking). Along the way, she tells how their changing relationship, and others' skepticism about it, change her emotions, relationships with others, and ways of thinking.
At the end of the book, Maurice is still relatively young, so a reader will want to Google for updated information about him (which is available at the time of this review-writing).
A heart-warming, motivational, eye-opening read!
Steven P. (ol-blue) -
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent read. A real surprise. Not usually my kind of book. A great story of compassion and empathy. What America needs to hear and claim, especially now. But I am holding onto my copy, for now. Too good to let go. Also great material for writing.
