Beyond Mud and Vines

By Jacqueline Jorgensen

A violent storm dropped Sabina into her mother's bed, according to her sister Emilia, who knew everything just because she was the oldest child in the Montalvo family. As the only child (among eight... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738864234
• ISBN13: 9780738864235
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 436 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

WOW! Bestseller quality

Started reading this book on Saturday morning and finished, (430 pages) by Sunday afternoon. I fought sleep until my eyes were so blurry I had to go to sleep, just to continue reading this amazing and heartbreaking story. The author's ability to create a visual image for the reader is superb! She is to be commended and admired for the person that emerged from an enviornment not fit for cockroaches. Her story is inspiring and interesting and I recommend it to anyone and everyone, especially those who takes for granted the luxurious lifestyle that most Americans enjoy, this book will make you appreciate all that you have and the parents that you were born to. You can read her new book, a sequel to Beyond Mud and Vines, a story that takes off were this one left, it is called Yearning to be American.

A fantastic journey!

Jacqueline Jorgensen's story about Sabina's escape from the hills of Puerto Rico left me breathless. It's a story about a courageous young girl who follows her innate intelligence and survival instinct to escape slavery and to create a better life for herself. Jacqueline's writing is crisp and quick, like the branches that whip Sabina as she runs through the jungle to freedom. Her descriptions of the hills and the towns of Puerto Rico are so vivid that I felt I had experienced what it would have been like to have lived there in the late 1940's and 1950's. Most impressive is Jacqueline's gift for capturing the personalities of her characters. She has the ability to stand back and record them, which allows them to reveal themselves. I came away with the sense that I had met each character--shook their hands and looked them in the eyes and caught glimpses into their souls--for better or for worse. In the end, Beyond Mud and Vines is a gift to the reader. It contains laughter and joy, heartache and pain, and all of the other bewildering ingredients that make human beings behave as they do. It contains that elusive and mysterious spirit that would prompt a little girl to run as fast as she could from those that abused her and then return to them to show them a better way to live and to love.

Excellent Book!

A very touching and interesting story. The book is easy to read (short chapters), but once you start you can't stop. It is a wonderful story about the strength within all of us and the desire to survive and do better for us and those we love. It is a must read for everyone. The language and imagery will captivate and take you back 50 years to a different world. I highly recommend it.

completely captivating!

From the very begining, this story had me hooked. It has nice short chapters which is perfect when you're on the go and don't have alot of time to spend at one sitting. However, once you start reading it, you just have to turn one more page! It is such an enjoyable story that I found it hard to put it down. Very well written, I found myself transported to the Puerto Rican jungle where most of the story is set and felt as if I was with the main character as she struggled and escaped to freedom. I know I will read this book again and will enjoy it as much or even more the second time around!