Lynda Fishman

When you suffer a significant loss as a child - particularly the death of a parent or a sibling - that loss stays with you for your entire life. For people who haven't endured such tragedy, it's hard to explain why and how just thinking about those who are gone can still cause the surviving loved ones to still break down many years, and even decades, later.

Such is the story of Lynda Weinberg Fishman, whose mother and two sisters were killed on July 5, 1970 in an Air Canada plane crash. (The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error.) Lynda was only 13. Up until that point, Lynda and her sisters Carla and Wendy had what is described in her memoir as a very happy, peaceful, almost idyllic childhood.

Repairing Rainbows is, by all accounts, a very heartbreaking and personal story. But it is also a story about hope and choices. After such a devastating loss, it would be easy to give up and not go on with one's life - and that's essentially what Lynda's father did. On the other hand, as difficult as it was, Lynda chose to live and move forward. That spirit moved her forward through her teenage years, through her father's breakdown and remarriage, and to her relationship with her husband Barry who was like a kindred spirit to Lynda, as he had suffered his own losses and family heartbreak. (He was orphaned at age 17 and left to care for a brother with special needs.)

I want to be very careful and clear here in separating Lynda's story and personal losses from the actual writing and construction of the memoir. In no way do I want my criticisms of the actual writing to be interpreted as a criticism on the actual story itself or to be conveyed as anything less than respectful of the tragedy that Lynda and her family have suffered. That being said, I had a little bit of a hard time with the writing because it struck me as very perfunctory. In many parts, it feels like a basic recitation of events (this happened, then this happened, and then this happened.)

There are also a lot of details provided. I mean ... a lot. There's more than one instance of repetition and some details are simply extraneous. The reader doesn't need to know, for example, the details of the fixtures in the office where Lynda's father worked alongside her uncle. ("They shared a metal pencil sharpener that was screwed onto the wall between their two desks. Black phones with extra-long, curly black cords were mounted throughout the store. The phones had dirt-stained buttons that lit up when someone was using one of the three phone lines." pg. 26). Such details are unnecessary to the reader (even though they may hold some part in one's memories) and could have benefited from another round of edits.

By the same token, there are endearing, poignant details about the family that make them so real to the reader. Ketchup was on the table for every meal, regardless of what was served, simply because they loved ketchup. Lynda's mother held to the belief that you never went to bed before cleaning the kitchen - and the image of Lynda scrubbing the kitchen in the days after her mother was killed in the plane crash is a heartbreaking one. Carla, one of Lynda's sisters, had a pet cat named Tiger and she left detailed instructions about caring for Tiger before they left on their ill-fated trip. And you can see a grieving Lynda hiding in the bathroom clutching Tiger and her heartbreak on having to give him away, under her stepmother's orders, is crushing.

I have much admiration for Lynda, for the courage and inner strength it must have taken to tell her story. As someone who also lost a parent as teenager, I could identify with so very much of what she shared in her memoir (everything from the inane comments that people made at the funeral, to the special meaning that extended family takes on when you lose a parent, to the signs that the spirit of our deceased loved ones are still with us.) She's an example of how to move on from what would seem to be an insurmountable tragedy and use one's life to give back to others in need.

FTC disclosure: I was provided a copy of Repairing Rainbows by Tribute Books for the purpose of reading it in exchange for my honest review and for participating in the Repairing Rainbows blog tour. I was not compensated in any way besides a free book and my opinions and thoughts expressed here are solely my own.… (altro)

At thirteen years of age Lynda alone with her grandparents, parents and two younger sisters were preparing for a trip by plane. The father had to wait a week before he could go and she went first with her grandparents to get the apartment ready for the family to vacation in. Her mother and two younger sisters Carla and Wendy were coming the next day.

After they had arrived and had the apartment cleaned a phone call came and they were told that the plane Lynda's Mother and sisters were on had crashed. They later learned that they all were dead. What a sad time for them all, had to believed as they could not even do a funeral until some part of the remains were found and identified. Soon the youngest little girl was identified and then the very sad thing of the Jewish funeral for precious little Wendy. They when the mother and Carla were identified another round of a Jewish funeral. This would stay with Lynda all her life.

Her father was never the same and years later he remarried but as the storybooks say, Lynda had a bad step-mom. She was rich but had to have everything her way and Lynda's father just went alone as he was still so broken and not his self.

This story was so touching and so sad to me, I just wanted to cry alone with Lynda. I can relate to her in some ways as my dad died when I was eight but my Mother didn't re-marry but we had a hard life. There were ten of us but I am the youngest and now have had to watch eight of them and my Mother die.

Thanks so much to Tribute Books for sending me this book to read and review.… (altro)

This is the story of a family torn apart by a tragedy that affected hundreds if not thousands of lives and the fallout experienced everyday as a result. This is also the story of how one young girl made a choice to do everything she could to escape the cloud of despair that followed her (at times successfully) and found true friends, true family, and herself along the way.

'Repairing Rainbows' isn't simply a title, it's a belief. It's that visual lesson on a stormy day that things will be bright once again, given time. In short, it's a tale of a personal tragedy that strikes to the core, but also a reminder that things can and will change if we both allow ourselves time to grieve and welcome those into our lives that will make us better for having known them. People come and people go whether of their own will or snatched away by time. It's what we do while they are here in our lives that truly counts...no matter how brief.

Recommended for anyone who has had tragedy touch their own lives as a means of sharing the experience, but also for those looking for the inspiration that comes from having found that silver lining in the dark clouds. One side note as many have expressed curiosity as to the cover of this book....it is actually a photo from one of the newsclippings regarding the crash. The doll taking center stage in this heart wrenching display belonged to one of her sister's...an unfortunate visual confirmation/reminder of the tragedy that took place.… (altro)

I have read a few memoirs in my life but this is the first one I've reviewed. I find it hard because how can you review someones life experiences? I decided to review this one because Lynda Fishman's story sounded so compelling, I couldn't help myself. This was a well written, heartbreakingly inspired book. In this book Lynda Fishman lays all her cards on the table and shares the tragic story of the loss of her mother and two younger sisters in a plane crash. I found myself tearing up as she recalled these painful moments in her life and I was inspired by her strength and determination to succeed and overcome this major loss. Lynda Fishman recalls many details of her life and peppers this book with many precious photographs of her loved ones. I think in life we all take things and people for granted. People that we should be more grateful for but we're not, because we just expect or assume that they are always going to be there. Lynda Fishman reminds us that life is precious and it can change in the blink of an eye. I really liked this book and am recommending it to you. First call your family and tell them that you love them and then read this book.… (altro)