Mary Strasky: All the Way to Cooperstown: A Story of One Family's Coming to America

By Dorothy Murphy

An immigrant family struggles to make a new life in America after years of poverty in Poland. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967850487
• ISBN13: 9780967850481
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: ReadToMe.com
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Mary Strasky: All the Way to Cooperstown

This happens to be the life story of my grandmother. I loved it for the obvious reasons but also for some less obvious ones. The story confirmed many things and events that I remembered from childhood but it also brought to light other things I had never heard about. My mother often referred to her mother as a "tough old bird" and I defy anyone who reads this book to disagree. This truly is the story of every immigrant family and it reminds us of how tough life was for them and how incredibly easy it is for us nowdays. I suspect many younger readers will not believe many of the stories related but I can vouch for the autenticity of most of them. I was often told how my great-grandfather left Poland because he was going to have to serve time in jail for picking up wood in the forest. Now I know the rest of the story! Everyone I have given the book to has loved it. Bravo Aunt Dottie!

"Mary Strasky: All the Way to Cooperstown"

I was unable to put this book, written about Dorothy's mother and family, down. From the opening paragraph to the epilogue, this story was exciting, engrossing and best of all true. I found myself laughing in one chapter and crying for the Strasky family in the next. This is not only the story of one family's struggle, it is the story of all families. It relates the happiness, the sadness, the births, the deaths, the everyday encounters that we all must deal with. Dorothy Murphy tells this story in an upbeat positive manner that gives the reader hope and inspiration for their own life, and what better tribute could there be to her mother. Well done, Mrs. Murphy. My hat is off to you.

Well-crafted biographical novel

"Mary Strasky: All the Way to Cooperstown" is Dorothy Murphy's second major work. It is a fictionalized account of the life of her own mother, whose family immigrated to the United States at the turn of the Twentieth Century. It examines the events in her mother's life, and also the cultural and economic clashes experienced by immigrants arriving in America, after having set out from their homes in search of a better life in a far away land. In that sense, this book tells the story not just of one woman, but of every immigrant in America. Since the vast majority of us are ourselves immigrants, or are descended from immigrant families, this book tells us, on a deeply personal level, what our parents and our grandparents went through as they started their journeys, arrived here, confronted their own fears and weaknesses in the face of enormous demands placed upon them, and then set about building new lives for themselves and their children. Dorothy's knack for natural dialog and realistic speech rhythms make this tale intensely real. Her sense of humor will often surprise you, and there are many places you may find yourself laughing out loud. But her sensitivity to the depth of these characters' struggles is also strong, and there are other places you may find it hard to fight back the tears. Laugh or cry, you will be deeply moved by this book.I loved it.