Friday, May 31, 2013

An Invisible Thread...Binds this Story

"An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny" is a book that has heart.  Spoiler Alert: Please know you will cry at various chapters in this book -- male or female.

It is a story of love conquering one of the most dire and, unfortunately, a most common problem in our world -- addiction.

Maurice Mazyck was on 56th Street right around the corner from Broadway.  He was hungry.  He was 11.  He asked Laura for some change to buy food.

"Excuse me, lady, do you have any spare change?"
     This was the first thing he said to me, on 56th Street in New York City, right around the corner from Broadway, on a Sunny September day.
     And when I heard him, I didn't really hear him.  His words were part of the clatter, like a car horn or someone yelling for a cab.  They were, you could say, just noise -- the kind of nuisance New Yorkers learn to tune out.  So, I walked right by him, as if he wasn't there.
     But then, just a few yards past him, I stopped.
And then -- and I'm still not sure why I did this -- I came back.
     I came back and I looked at him, and I realized he was just a boy...he was a child -- tiny body, sticks for arms, big round eyes.



Laura decided in that moment to give him food instead of money.  In that moment, Laura Schroff unconsciously took on the adventure of her life -- sharing the love she had with someone vastly different from herself.

There's not much I can say about this story other than the meandering prose allows the reader to become fully immersed in both Laura's and Maurice's lives in a way that is uncommon.  The story is told with brutal honesty.  Nothing is spared from us.  We see the pain in both of these people's lives.  The childhoods of both Laura and Maurice was not ideal which is why, in part, Laura was open to the idea of helping someone else.  But it was more, much more than that original impetus.

The story unfolds slowly and inexorably drags you under its tow so you cannot resurface until you reach the end.  Beautifully woven between the key events in both Laura and Maurice's lives you will not view the world the same way when you finish reading An Invisible Thread.




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2 comments:

  1. Okay, I nearly cried just reading this post and fully expect to cry reading this book. LOL oh well, I'm a softy.

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  2. You and I both! However, we're not alone. The anchorwoman on NBC's Today Show teared up during their interview last December. A staffer had to hand her tissue on stage! Laura and Maurice's story is timeless.

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