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The Year Of My Miraculous Reappearance (2007)

The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance (2007)

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Genre
Rating
3.9 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0375832572 (ISBN13: 9780375832574)
Language
English
Publisher
knopf books for young readers

About book The Year Of My Miraculous Reappearance (2007)

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.comTHE YEAR OF MY MIRACULOUS REAPPEARANCE by Catherine Ryan Hyde (also the author of the well-known PAY IT FORWARD) truly illustrates the life of a young teen and her struggle with an alcoholic parent and the ripple-effect of alcoholism. Cynnie is used to taking care of herself. Not only herself, but also her little brother, Bill, and let's face it, she takes care of her mother, too. Normal life for Cynnie involves cleaning up after her alcoholic mother, making sure one of her many cigarettes doesn't set their house on fire, and tending to her little brother who has Downs Syndrome. Life isn't easy, but it works for Cynnie. Cynnie's only escape is the tree house one of her mother's many passing boyfriends helped her build. Until one day when her grandparents show up and announce that Bill will be living with them. Bill is Cynnie's only reason for living. When he leaves, she discovers the power of alcohol to erase her pain. She becomes her mother - stumbling through the day under the influence and waking the next day to do it all over again. Even through her drunken haze, Cynnie knows her only hope lies in getting Bill back into her life. She convinces her friend Snake, a victim of his own father's abuse, to help her rescue Bill so they can all escape to a better life. Unfortunately, their plan collapses when Cynnnie wrecks the car. Everyone recovers from their injuries, but Bill ends up back with their grandparents, and Cynnie finds herself on probation and back home with her drunken mother. Part of Cynnie's court-ordered punishment includes mandatory attendance at AA meetings. The meetings are at first intimidating, but as Cynnie finally discovers through the help of her sponsor, they offer her a way to push her life in a positive direction. Her goal to eventually reunite with her brother gives Cynnie the determination to overcome her fears. Hyde takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotions as Cynnie battles her mother, her grandparents, and her own personal demons. As in real life, nothing is easy and relapses make life seem hopeless at times. Cynnie's story is straightforward and inspirational.

WARNINGS: About half way through the book and all the way to the end, it was all I could do not to cry.First let me just say, I never ever expected this book to turn out the way it did. Cynnie is just a girl with a drunk for a mom and she's having to grow up faster than she should. She has to take care of her little brother Bill, too. I definitely connected with Cynnie. My dad is almost exactly like her mom. Even though, I didn't do some of the things Cynnie did, sometimes it was like I was reading about my own life. It was powerful. And that makes this book have a special place in my heart. Cynnie doesn't want to be like her mom, but falls into her worst nightmare and starts drinking too. With Cynnie going through the same things as her mom, she can sees a different side of things. Even though, it doesn't always make things any better, she gets an insight into her mom's struggles. This book seemed a little too real for me. Like I said, I was trying not to cry through the last half of the book! Every time something with my dad happens, I always think about this book. I remind myself that what he is struggling with isn't as black and white as I'd like it to be and it helps me help him.Addict's Last Words: The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance is a simple yet intense read.To Buy or To Borrow: This book made my favorites list so I'm happy with it sitting proudly on my shelf.

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4.5 StarsCynnie has an alcoholic mother, and living with her everyday, she vows that she'll never be like her. But when her brother, who has Down syndrome and whom she loves so much was taken away from her, she needs a way to dull the pain.This is a story of how a 13-year-old was introduced to being an "alcoholic". It was written in a way that Cynnie's path to addiction was gradual and kind of subtle, that somehow I find it understandable that it's okay to do whatever it is she's doing.At the same time, it was a little hard to read because she's just 13 years old! Kids that age should only be starting High School, experiencing "puberty", and not drinking off to "dull the pain". It's both saddening and surprising that reality is not far off from what the book says.I'm not alcoholic, but I do drink sometimes. And I have a lot of hope. So I think that Cynnie's "miraculous reappearance", although it may seem that everything happened too fast, or the conflict was resolved quite early, was nothing short of a miracle. It helps to have a "sponsor", someone who works the [AA program] with you, of course. But to conquer all this, they have to want it for themselves. They have to want to change.I like this book. It was a little dragging on the first few chapters, but I had a hard time letting go towards the next pages.
—Honeypie

The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance by Catherine Ryan Hyde was a wonderful book about a young girls' struggle to deal with her mothers problems with alcohol, and the problems she has with her own alcohol abuse.In thiws book the girl must overcome her dependence on alcohol and be able to not hold her mothers drinking against her.This story is a fictional account of the girl as she herself to re-emerge into the world and take control of her life, putting all of the troubles in her life into perspective.
—Jasmine

"The Year Of My Miraculous Reappearance" is about a girl named Cynnie who has basically taken over the role of the Mother in the family to take care of her brother Bill, since her Mom is an alcoholic & most of the time is too drunk to be doing anything at all. Cynnie would do anything for Bill, & has made a vow to herself that no matter what happens, she would never make as bad decisions as her Mother... which she couldn't manage to keep. Everything just started to spiral in the wrong direction, & after losing Bill, I guess the saying "curiosity killed the cat" really is true. Cynnie has now found herself stuck in a maze in which she just can't manage to find the right path to take, & each bad wrong step she takes is just getting herself trapped even deeper. If Cynnie gets a chance to see what awaits at the end of the 'maze', will it remind her why is it oh so important to regain control of her own life? I picked this book up, because the cover really confused me, so I took a look at it to read the summary of it, & found myself really intrigued into it. I generally like this type of genre as well.I finished this book, because I wasn't sure whether or not Cynnie had the inner strength to think clearly & make good decisions. She was just faced so many overwhelming obstacles, & just completely crushes her self-esteem. I wasn't sure whether or not she had the will to continue, and fight for her life to be in order. It was actually a rather harder book to read, because there were some parts in the book where I actually had to think a lot more to understand, and took a lot more time to read & continue reading, but I definitely think finishing was worth it.I would recommend this book to members of alcoholics anonymous group. It seems of a rather general meeting, but since they're in this group, it means they are ambitious to change their lives, gain their own control on it, & I think they would appreciate the opinion of a third person, how the drinking not only affects themselves, but the people around them. I think it would increase their will to stay sober.
—Michelle

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