Marilyn HofferCritiques

I gave it 3 stars just for the effort of the author to come out and tell her story. Otherwise it is an ordinary story of a failed marriage (that should have ended years ago than it did), made extraordinary by the presence of big names.

The obvious fault lay with her husband's psychology but she had several chances to get out of that life. Still she kept herself entangled in that miserable relationship.
Before marriage she was warned at several occasions by his wife (at that time), still she wouldn't listen. Her sister did to her marriage what she did to her husband's previous.

Still at some level her ambivalence is understandable regarding divorce. One has to keep in mind that ours is a conservative society that rarely accepts a divorced woman. And keep in mind that this is that 70s and 80s she is talking about, social norms were ultra conservative then. But at the same time, she had a chance in London to walk out of that marriage - she missed.

After reading the book I don't know if I feel sorry for her, or pity for fer fallibility or gullible nature, fear of society, contempt for her ego which forced her to live with such a sadistic person (than going to her parents) or I laud her for telling this story.

Today, there are a lot of women in Pakistan that are suffering quitely in failed marriages. Most of them did not have the chance to walk out (like the author had quite a few) or cannot do so in fear of the future (theirs and childrens') and for the most part because the society won't support them. I hope books like these bring some respite to those poor souls.

Recounts the remarkable story of Air Canada Flight 143, which lost all power at 41,000 feet when it ran out of fuel, leaving pilot Bob Pearson the near-impossible task of landing it safely.
This is a factual, hair-raising account of a 1983 Air Canada Boeing 767 that, due to a maintenance man's mathematical error in fueling and a fuel system computer malfunction, ran out of fuel and immediately lost all electrical power while in flight at a height of 41,000 feet. Captain Bob Pearson received many accolades for successfully landing the plane at an abandoned Canadian Air Force Base. The journalist authors tell the story of the 29-minute glide and the gripping real-life terror from the perspectives of the pilot, crew, air traffic controllers, and passengers. The book is well-written and has an excellent postscript which discusses the lengthy investigation, the issue of assigning blame, and the subsequent modifications made to procedures, checklists, and equipment. William Hoffer coauthored Midnight Express (LJ 4/15/77).
- William A. McIntyre, N.H. Vocational Technical Coll. Lib., Nashua
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author was "born into one of Pakistan's most influential families". Tehmina Durrani was raised among the privileged of Lahore high society. She eventually became the sixth wife of Mustafa Khar, "the lion of the Punjab". He cut her off from the outside world, violently possessive and fiendishly jealous of others. Tehmina filed for divorce, and was forced to sign away all support, custody of her four children, disowned by pious parents, and abandoned by friends loyal to the male. She documents not only her life, but the bent virulence of the wealthy "feudal lords" against vulnerable women and the poor.

I read this book after reading Owen Bennett Jones' excellent book, Pakistan, as I felt it would be interesting to read a personal, inside-out version of many of the historical events recounted by Jones in his work, and he included a brief but interesting reference to this book. It was a good choice; Tehmina was one of the many wives of the politician known as the "Lion of the Punjab", Mustafa Khar, and therefore was witness to one of Pakistan's most colourful decades. Her "tell all" autobiography of these years reveals as much about the decadent lifestyles and behaviour of the Pakistani elite during this period as it does about Pakistani politics. Betrayals, lies and constant power scrambles seem to have been the order of the day whether by disobedient children, pummeled or pampered wives or the provinces' feudal lords.

Pakistan, 14 Jahre Ehe-Leid und Scheidung

A detailed account of the 'Gimli Glider'; a modern jet airliner that ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet on July 23, 1983. The Hoffer's cover how such a thing could happen, the events during the long glide, and some of the aftermath. An incredible non-disaster.

women needs to believe the belief of how hard we can be in times, as well how lovely we are within.

Can't believe such things happen in real life! Vivid and stays with you.

Ronald Goldman (1968- 1994) was brutally murdered by the aging ex-football player Orenthal Simpson along with Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. During the investigation and ensuring trials, media attention, publicity, and sympathy focused largely on Nicole and her relationship to “OJ” Simpson. The Goldman family wrote this memoir and historical account to give an identity to the killer’s other victim, Ron Goldman, “a real person with talents and faults, promises and disappointments, hopes and dreams.” As they state in the book’s introduction, “we cannot allow him to remain the forgotten victim.”

His Name Is Ron: Our Search For Justice is a detailed, personal account of the Goldman family’s grief and anguish over the loss of their beloved Ron, and their struggle to seek justice against the person who ended his life. The book is written in the voice of Ron’s father Fred Goldman, but includes perspectives and private thoughts of other members of his family – his sisters, his brothers, and his step- mother Patti. The account is chronologically organized, and the reader lives through the Goldmans’ experiences from the first moments they learn of their son’s death, through the funeral and their reminiscences about Ron’s life, through Simpson’s arrest, the long criminal trial, and the subsequent civil suit at which Simpson was found guilty.

Because this is such a personal account, it offers a dimension to the case that no other book has done. We experience first- hand the family’s unspeakable anguish at their loss; their anger at the cruel antics of their son’s killer as he mocks them with his behavior; the Goldmans’ anxieties at being hounded by the press; their weariness at the plodding pace of months of court proceedings; the agony of witnessing the autopsy photographs and hearing details of their son’s murder discussed day after day; their disgust at the demagoguery of the defense attorneys and revulsion at the race – baiting tactics; and then the horror of watching their son’s killer walk away free after an obscenely - short deliberation by the jury. As made evident by the book, Simpson’s actions throughout the trial were never those of an innocent man. Such a person should have been horrified at the prospect of trying on the gloves that had been worn by his wife’s killer, gloves still stained with her blood -- instead of turning it into a joke. What’s more, had he been innocent, he should have been deeply grateful that Ron Goldman died trying to save the life of his ex-wife and his children, instead of being contemptuous of his family.

The civil suit gives the reader the relief of seeing some justice being brought to bear. Here Simpson was potentially subject to monetary damages for unlawfully causing the deaths of Nicole and Ron. The trial was presided over by a no- nonsense judge who had no intention of letting his courtroom be turned into a circus. The defense was required either to accept evidence admitted to the criminal trial or to specify how it considered this evidence to have been fabricated or contaminated. Unable to do the latter, the defense was left with a weak case, as its tactics proved ineffective and its witnesses were impeached. The defense was obliged to let Simpson testify, and we watch as he is caught in lie after lie. One highlight of the trial came when 30 new photographs came to light of Simpson wearing shoes of the kind used by the killer, shoes he had bitterly denied owning. The defense was left with the ridiculous claim that all the photos were faked (including photos printed years earlier). What's more, the only witness the defense could marshall in support of this claim turned out to be a high-school educated photocopier repairman who had no expertise whatsoever. Finally, through a unanimous verdict, Orenthal Simpson is found guilty of the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson.

This book offers a unique perspective on the Simpson murder case, not only because of personal involvement by the authors, but because of the intensity of their involvement. No one other than members of the Goldman family sat through every day of both trials (even the defendant absented himself from the civil trial on some days in order to play golf). As a result, many tidbits of information are offered in this account, and for that reason (as well as for others), readers deeply interested in this case ought not overlook this book. It is at times difficult to read – much of it is heart- wrenching, and its tone is one of grief, anguish, anger, and rage. But the ending offers some catharsis, and one hopes that writing the book likewise served a cathartic function to members of the Goldman family. Ron and Nicole’s killer has been shown to be guilty, and character being what it is, Orenthal Simpson now lives in a prison cell for a related crime of armed robbery -- one that likely would not have occurred had the Goldmans not been so single-minded in their pursuit of justice.½

True story of an innocent man, with no prior criminal activity, railroaded by police and a particularly disgusting prosecutor, into a conviction of the murder of a police officer.

Toen Tehmina Durrani trouwde met Mustafa Khar, sprak heel Pakistan van een sprookjeshuwelijk: Zij was mooi, ontwikkeld en behoorde tot een van de meest invloedrijke families in Pakistan. Hij was rijk, knap en een vooraan-staand politicus. Maar prive bleek het huwelijk een hel. Mustafa Khar. de leeuw van Punjab, was ziekelijk jaloers en beestachtig tiranniek. Veertien jaar lang huilde Tejmina in stilte, terwijl zij naar buiten toe de schone schijn bleef ophouden en meewerkte aan zijn politieke campagnes.

Na haar moeizaam bevochten scheiding schreef Tehmina dit boek over de verschrikkingen van haar huwelijk. Tranen van vernedering doet westerse lezers beseffen hoe kwetsbaar de positie van vrouwen is in een gesloten islamitische samenleving, en hoe moeilijk het kan zijn zich te onttrekken aan de macht van een heerszuchtige moslim-echtgenoot.