Product Description

Beth is a spirited woman with mental retardation, who spends nearly every day riding the buses in Philadelphia. The drivers, a lively group, are her mentors; her fellow passengers are her community. When Beth asks her sister Rachel to accompany her on the buses for one year, they take a transcendent journey together that changes Rachel's life in incredible ways and leads her to accept her sister at long last-teaching her to slow down and enjoy the ride.

Full of life lessons from which any reader will profit, Riding the Bus with My Sister is "a heartwarming, life-affirming journey through both the present and the past...[that] might just change your life" (Boston Herald).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92939 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-26
• Released on: 2003-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780452284555
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
This perceptive, uplifting chronicle shows how much Simon, a creative writing professor at Bryn Mawr College, had to learn from her mentally retarded sister, Beth, about life, love and happiness. Beth lives independently and is in a long-term romantic relationship, but perhaps the most surprising thing about her, certainly to her (mostly) supportive family, is how she spends her days riding buses. Six days a week (the buses don't run on Sundays in her unnamed Pennsylvania city), all day, she cruises around, chatting up her favorite drivers, dispensing advice and holding her ground against those who find her a nuisance. Rachel joined Beth on her rides for a year, a few days every two weeks, in an attempt to mend their distanced relationship and gain some insight into Beth's daily life. She wound up learning a great deal about herself and how narrowly she'd been seeing the world. Beth's community within the transit system is a much stronger network than the one Rachel has in her hectic world, and some of the portraits of drivers and the other people in Beth's life are unforgettable. Rachel juxtaposes this with the story of their childhood, including the dissolution of their parents' marriage and the devastating abandonment by their mother, the effect of which is tied poignantly to the sisters' present relationship. Although she is honest about the frustrations of relating to her stubborn sister, Rachel comes to a new appreciation of her, and it is a pleasure for readers to share in that discovery. Agent, Anne Edelstein. (Aug. 26) Forecast: A blurb from Rosie O'Donnell and an author tour should pique women readers' interest.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-When she received an invitation to her mentally retarded sister's annual Plan of Care review, Simon realized that this was Beth's way of attempting to bring her back into her life. Beth challenged the author to give a year of her life to riding "her" buses with her. Even though Simon didn't know where it would take her, she accepted. During that time, she came to see her sister as a person in her own right with strong feelings about how she wanted to live her life, despite what others thought. Not everyone on the buses, drivers or passengers, liked or even tolerated Beth, and it shamed the author to realize that she sometimes felt the same way about her sibling. As the year passed, Simon came to the realization that "No one can be a good sister all the time. I can only try my best. Just because I am not a saint does not mean that I am a demon." The time together became a year of personal discovery, of acceptance, and of renewed sibling love and closeness. Clear writing and repeated conversations allow readers to hear the voices of both sisters. There is much to mull over, to enjoy, and to savor in this book.
Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Because Simon's adult sister, Beth, is mentally retarded, she doesn't spend her days the way most people do. Her life is a stark contrast to that of the author, whose professional responsibilities often consume so much of her time that she has virtually no personal life. While Simon spends her days and nights writing and teaching, Beth makes the best of what her limited opportunities and meager income afford her. She rides the buses all day for the sheer joy of passing through the city and interacting with various drivers and passengers. Simon spent a year riding the buses with Beth and learns about a whole new world and a way of looking at life that is completely foreign to most middle-class people. The experience allows Rachel to forge a new understanding about her sister and her own life. The year spent with Beth prompted Rachel to reexamine their upbringing and ultimately to realize that Beth taught her as much as she taught her sister. Riding the Bus with My Sister is absorbing and honest. June Pulliam
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Unflinchingly honest
This is, quite simply, a splendid earthbound book. With admirable honesty Rachel Simon details her year spent riding the buses of an unnamed Pennsylvania city with her "mentally challenged" younger sister Beth.

Unsentimental, clear-eyed, and painfully truthful, Simon interweaves scenes from the family's past into the tales of her travels with the self-named Cool Beth. We meet a series of quite remarkable drivers, some of whom display levels of wisdom and kindness that are exceptional; as well, the majority of the drivers possess philosophical attitudes and good-heartedness. It's a view from that front bench seat by the door that will undoubtedly alter every reader's perception and/or preconceived notions about the people who carry us from one point to another--in any city or town.

Everyone in this book is revealed, warts and all, with perception and, by the end, with a hard-won perspective that leads not only to the author's self-acceptance but also to a new level of respect for the wonderfully well-depicted Beth (in all her rotund, stubborn glory); for the parents and siblings who spent decades of their lives striving not only to be supportive of their sister but also their efforts to come to terms with the effects of Beth on their own lives.

This is a brave and enlightening book that leaves one filled with admiration for both Rachel and Beth, along with a heightened sense of how, so often, while we might think we're coping well with whatever life throws at us, below the surface linger effects of which we may well be unaware.
Most highly recommended.

An unforgettable journey
Rachel Simon has written a clear-eyed and inspirational memoir about life with her sister, a stubborn and resourceful woman who has mental retardation. Beth lives by herself in an unnamed Pennsylvania city where she fills her days with riding bus route after bus route, chatting with the drivers and a few of the passengers. When Beth challenges Simon, a professor and writer, to ride the buses with her for a year, Simon accepts.

Of course, Simon has a job and a life in another city, so her visits to Beth are necessarily brief and divided by days, maybe weeks. Simon isn't sure what to expect of this new time spent with her sister except for early rising (Beth rushes out of the house every morning at 5:30 am, rain or shine) and frantic sprints to public restrooms. On a superficial level, Simon understands what her sister does all day. What Simon doesn't expect is to find a richness in Beth's life that she herself lacks. This insight, gained not only through living with her sister but also through conversations with the bus drivers who have befriended Beth, leads Simon to re-evaluate her own priorities and choices.

This book is a journey of two sisters, who cover distances both geographical and emotional. Simon writes with heartfelt, no-nonsense prose that carries this story with remarkable aplomb. Her portraits of the individual drivers are filled with detail and sharp-eyed perception. Her honesty about her own misgivings and failings is refreshing, and the lack of sentimentality is a relief. What most distinguishes this book, however, is Simon's palpable affection for her sister. Both Beth and Simon are remarkable women, and I heartily thank Simon for allowing me a glimpse into their lives.

Honesty Transforms Potentially Clichéd Tale
I always try to read a book without any prejudices in regards to the author or the story's nature. But, I have to admit that I was more than a little afraid at first about Riding The Bus With My Sister. I feared that this book would be a stereotypical "feel good" story, where the mentally retarded sister was depicted as a misunderstood noble creature and the "bus rides are a journey of self-discovery" metaphor was abused.

It didn't take me long to realize that my initial fears were unfounded. They went unrealized because Simon chose to infuse her story with honesty, instead of stereotype. Nowhere is this quality better displayed than in her depiction of Beth. Simon makes a point of showing that her sister is stubborn, opinionated, and not liked by everyone. But, she also shows that Beth has qualities that make her distinctive and important. By providing this balanced portrayal, Simon gives her sister a realism that transcends the stereotypical depiction of the mentally disabled.

The only area where Simon veers dangerously close to typecast is in her portrayal of the "wise beyond their station in life" bus drivers. While she does state that not all drivers were like those she highlighted, those that were shown were portrayed as near saints. What rescues this depiction is the honesty behind the stories. Simon takes care to show how each of these drivers obtained their wisdom through their life experiences. As a result, the drivers, and their level of understanding, become believable.

While the metaphor running throughout the book had the potential to be abused, it turned out to be appropriate. Because of the truthful portrayal of her sister and the situations during that year of riding, I came to believe that Simon had discovered, changed, and grown. She shows this growth by movingly displaying the two most important points she learned: that everyone has value and that insight can be obtained from anywhere. If every book imparted such knowledge, the world would be a richer place. But, since most books don't pass along such lessons, one should grasp those, like Riding The Bus With My Sister, that do add this value to one's life.