Facing the Wind, Julie Salamon
Facing the Wind, Julie Salamon
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Facing the Wind
A True Story of Tragedy and Reconciliation

Author: Julie Salamon

Narrator: Sandra Burr

Unabridged: 10 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 05/16/2017


Synopsis

Bob Rowe and his wife Mary worked hard to build their American dream. A suburban home, barbecues in the summer, and a fast track corporate job made their life look ideal to outsiders. Yet they faced one of the most difficult challenges for a couple: their son Christopher was born severely handicapped and disabled. As a family, they managed to navigate through the tough times by being hands-on parents. Their efforts were emboldened by a group of extraordinary women - all of whom also had disabled children - who acted as a support system for one another. Yet something slowly began to happen to Rowe . . . His deceased mother's voice started to reverberate in his head instructing him to murder his family; reality disintegrated and a new job was lost when it proved too overwhelming. Finally a short stay in a psychiatric hospital did nothing to quell his sudden volatility . . . In a horribly violent act, he killed his wife and children. Seen through the eyes and thoughts of Rowe's friends and second wife (whom he married on release from the psychiatric hospital where he spent just a few years for the murder of his family), Salamon braids the story of a man's roller coaster life (from ideal family man to murderer to someone struggling for redemption) with the touching and heroic tales of the mothers who were left looking on in shock at the tragedy no one ever could have anticipated.

About Julie Salamon

Julie Salamon was a film critic and a reporter for The Wall Street Journal for sixteen years and was recently appointed as a television critic for The New York Times. She is the author of The Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood, White Lies, The Net of Dreams, and the New York Times bestseller The Christmas Tree.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rachelle on September 06, 2011

TMI. (Too much information.) The story is gripping, but Salamon's approach to the telling is tedious. It made me wish for a straightforward newspaper article - one that Salamon herself could have written beautifully. She's a fine journalist (with a law degree from NYU, a detail she never includes in......more

Goodreads review by Rochelle on April 01, 2008

This book is very disturbing but also fascinating. Unfortunately, it is totally uneven. The parts that discuss the Rowe family and the support group for mothers of disabled children are gripping. I loved reading about the different mothers and how they handled raising their children. On the other ha......more

Goodreads review by Emily on March 28, 2021

I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about this book and I’m not sure where to begin. This story was interesting, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that I liked the book or would recommend it to others. 1) This book was clearly very well researched and while all of the details helped me better understa......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on December 29, 2012

What a sad story, even more so because it's true. Bob and Mary have three children, the middle of which suffers from neurologic deficits secondary to Mary contracting rubella during pregnancy. The initial portion of the story details how this family during the late 60's/early 70's manages to deal wi......more

Goodreads review by David on February 27, 2011

This story isn't for everyone but I found it riveting.......more