Product Description

This is one of those special reads that does more than entertain, it enlightens the reader about the most profound questions about being human.

War is raging throughout France. Rose is in late pregnancy and alone at the family chateau, her husband having been sent off to fight. Enemy soldiers come upon her and see her as an easy target; they rape and beat her and leave her for dead. And there in her agony, she gives birth to a boy, Alexandre. But the child will not be like other children. Warped and deformed by the kicks and punches she had suffered at the hands of her rapists, he is born with crippled legs. His doting religious mother tries to alleviate his despair as he grows older, but he is a physical and spiritual wreck, and he takes his frustrations out on his mother and God. His healthy younger brother Gustave grows up to be everything that Alex wants to be but cannot due to the limitations of his condition. They hate each other. Alex falls madly in love with his brother's lover, but will she return his feelings? Can she too overlook his crippled condition and be serious about him? This deeply moving story is one young broken man's search for physical and spiritual healing through the power of love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1150628 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 109 pages

Review
If you're looking for something new and different, read Crippled Dreams. -- --Chris Platt, award-winning author of Willow King

If you’re tired of the same old genre fiction, check out Crippled Dreams. -- --Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book Review

Mr. Rehak has a real winner on his hands with this novel to be sure! -- --Victoria Taylor Murray, former Playboy bunny turned author of Lambert series

Rehak is certainly not afraid of the big themes. -- --David Coward, professor of French and award-winning translator

From the Publisher
A lot of us want to see the good guy win. We want him to find love even if he's a hunchback. We need books about romance between real people. Real people are fat, bald, handicapped, have a nose that's too big, a butt that's too flat, or some other defect. People want to believe they will be loved and it makes them feel good inside when the hero gets the girl or vice versa, even if he is blind, or deaf, or in a wheel chair. We at JMB are tired of stories about perfect people who have tons of money, and not one defect on their body. Whether the world is ready for it or not, we are bringing out books targeted to the other people. The real people. Just My Best, Inc is an independent press whose focus lies in publishing some of the best in quality fiction from both new and established voices. David Rehak is one of our new authors and one of the few to whom we could afford to extend a standard contract. But we know there are many other would-be authors out there too who deserve a chance. Therefore, we have also begun to offer self-publishing service options through our subsidiary press Aarbooks and we plan to start publishing titles under that imprint as well. We are a small company but growing. Readers are encouraged to peruse our list of enjoyable titles and pick a book that suits them. Our head offices are located in Ohio.

About the Author
Author David Rehak is Czech-born but has lived most of his life in Canada. His first published book was A Young Girl’s Crimes, originally written at age 21. This was followed by Love and Madness and an accomplished book of poetry. Dave has recently returned to the country of his birth, where he teaches the English language while keeping up with his literary pursuits.

Customer Reviews

RUN AGROUND ON THE ROCKS OF LIFE
I was enticed into purchasing this short little book (109 pages) by David Rehak after reading the glowing reviews written by previous readers. I must admit that the book was not at all what I expected and after reading it I found myself experiencing feelings of ambivalence that I am still dealing with.

Initially, I was put off by Rehaks' brief and simplistic; one might even say naïve, writing style. This writer definitely keeps descriptive passages to a minimum (a style that is somewhat foreign to me based upon my experience with the works of other writers). On the plus side, he still manages to convey the general atmosphere of the settings and emotions of his characters while utilizing this extremely straightforward technique.

Second, most of the story takes place in France in the 1890's, however aside from explaining that an incident which took place during the war in 1870 was the reason for Alex's physical disability, there doesn't seem to be any reason for setting the story in this period. The voice of the story is mostly 20th century.

Third, although not touted as a "Christian literature", this is exactly what this book is. The overall message given to the reader is spiritual and philosophical with an overt re-telling of certain Bible stories. From the sermon delivered by Reverend Bourque on page 16, to the grand finale with Alex's arrival in Heaven the story is a tale of "no matter how many lemons life hands you, if you make enough lemonade, you will receive your just reward in the hereafter". Okay, I can accept that.

I suppose that in the final analysis, any book that can make you think and examine your belief system is a gift of sorts.....no matter how simple and unadorned the package that it arrives in.

simple and simply satisfying
too many books have too many details and boring descriptions, but rehak just focuses on the story and these books are great fast-paced gripping little stories, well-told in a clear and straightforward sort of way. i like this simple kind of writing style because it makes it easy to get into the characters and storyline. there's real depth, but it seems hidden. unhidden and very apparent are the philosophical undertones that shine through this author's work and how he tackles difficult and controversial themes. as for the writing, i think a lot of people like it. it looks deceptively simple. but isn't. it may be easy to write in this minimalistic style, but it's not easy to do it this well as a storyteller and to pull off a story this original, trust me, and this is not even mentioning the deep spiritual humanitarian philosophical ideas explored and expressed in the early parts of this book mostly. but mainly i just love these plots and characters. i'm a big fan.

chci ho poznat!
Hello! I am journalism student in final year and I would like to some day soon be critic of film, theatre and books. Amazon US and Amazon UK are great to giving me information on books I might like to buy in my country. I do not live in United States so it was harder for me to get my hands on books of this author. I have read them all but the last one I am not finished yet. I love his clear and entertaining style. A great book does not have to be complex and difficult to read. I read that he is czech-born and lives about 2 hours away from me so I would like to meet him. But I do not want to look like psycho groupie. Instead of phone call maybe I can write to him or he will read this and know! Pane Rehak, vy jste vynikajci spisovatel!!