The Deafening Silence: A Memoir

By Rosemarie Manes

Eleven-year old Rosemary lives in south Philadelphia.? She plays hop- scotch, jacks and ball, and visits her father's produce store, called Mike's.? Rosemary loves to watch him tease women, argue with... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1410732053
• ISBN13: 9781410732057
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: 1st Book Library
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The Deafening Silence

This is a poignant memoir about the effects of suicide on a family, and the final resolution.

Touching Memoir.

I met Rosemarie about seven years ago and heard her story. After reading this book I feel like I know her and her simblings and some of what they went through to keep the family together. It starts out from her point of view as an 11 year old and the death of her father. It follows the twelve children and their mother as they struggle to make sense of his suicide and their grief. Each one of them has their own way of bearing (or not) the pain. The stigma of suicide isolates them from their friends and neighbors and forces them to move from their neighborhood. She concluded the book on a positive note although they never found out what really caused her father to take his life. They have their theories, but nothing can be proved. I highly recommend this story, it is very real to the reader, obviously - since she lived it.

A riveting Story

I have read many books dealing with suicide loss, but The Deafening Silence is unique because it portrays the effects of a father's suicide on his young daughter. Through the eyes, ears and memoiries of an eleven year old daughter we are given an opportunity to participate in this most incomprehensible tragedy. The Deafening Silence is both riveting and emotionally intense. My tears covered almost every page. It is powerful, forthright and to the point.

A MUST READ for everyone who has a father

This is a real life experience of an eleven year old girl who was forced to reconcile her feelings toward her father who killed himself with rat poison and a knife to his chest, causing her and her eleven brothers and sisters to live a life of deafening silence about the reason for their father's suicide. She did not learn the reason until her wedding day, ten years later, when she courageously forced the truth out of her mother. This is an easy read and a story that contains no fiction. It is a real life story about real life people using all their real names. One of the author's sisters is my best friend. I now can appreciate why she has done the things she has done at age 67. The book covers ten years of their lives and began in 1955 in Phily, PA. May 19th of this year celebrates 50 years since that terrible day in their lives. If you have ever had hurt feelings against your father (and who hasn't), this book is a MUST READ. Somehow it softens those feelings and your life will never be the same regarding your relationship with your father.

The Deafening Silence: A memoir

I found the story powerfully told. It is a story about eleven-year old Rosemary who lives in south Philadelphia. She plasy hop-scotch, jacks and ball, and visits her father's produce store, called Mike's. Rosemary loves to watch him tease women, argue with men and give produce to nuns.His store bustles with the force of his personality-except when the gangster looking men arrive. They register as unimportant until Rosemary's father plunges a knife into his chest.He dies leaving Rosemary's mother with twelve chidren, youngest age three. As word spreads of his suicide the neighborhood, even Blind Man Joe betrays Rosemary saying they can no longer be friends.The family moves to an Irish Catholic neighborhood where the name, Pasquarello, becomes another obstacle to overcome. Against this background is rage at her father, also mother demanding The Deafening Silence surrounding his suicide. Rosemary navigates realities such as going to bed hungry, a teenager forced out to work.As the young woman's heart emerges and with the encouragement of her fiance she challenges The Deafening Silence. On Rosemary's wedding day, her mother reveals family secrets.The Deafening Silence: A father's suicide, a mother's indomitable strength, a daughter's odyssey through the mire of rage and abandonment into a young woman's triumph of love.