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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on May 12, 2009 22:23:06 GMT -5
Hi Everybody I'm sure you're aware by now there is a new book, pure fiction, coming out about Karen Carpenter - it's called Leave Yesterday Behind. It was written by a physician by the name of Dr. Leo Bonaventura. I got a very long, very nice e-mail from Leo tonight. Seems he is already writing a sequel, and may use one of my stories in it. It's quite interesting how he came to write this book, and I'll come back to share that with you. Rick, can the book be ordered through the Carpenter's Store? Dave has a copy of it through Amazon, and has already read it. He liked it quite a bit. I have not read it yet, but have found its author to be a very nice gent, who we may see here on the forum before too long. More to come. Wanted you to know the book is out there.
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Post by Rick Henry on May 12, 2009 22:49:15 GMT -5
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on May 12, 2009 23:55:32 GMT -5
I don't know what I think cause I haven't read it yet, but I'll be sure to share my thoughts about it. Thanks for letting us know we can order it through the Carpenter's Store.
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Post by Rick Henry on May 13, 2009 0:10:37 GMT -5
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Post by smoothie2 on May 27, 2009 23:22:50 GMT -5
TIM THANKS FOR THE GREAT INFO.!
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Dave
Ultra Emissary
"sleeping in the arms of the cosmos..."
Posts: 1,515
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Post by Dave on May 28, 2009 18:57:53 GMT -5
It's most certainly not "essential reading", Rick, but it is a romance novel and it is fiction. I bought it out of curiousity, and found it to be an interesting admixture of "Quantum Leap" and "The Butterfly Effect". Once you find out that there's no "deux ex machina" like a DeLorean involved, you can concentrate on how Leo resolves the minutia of time travel...things like money, communications, housing, and food. Most time travel writers don't pay close attention to these details, and end up creating paradoxes which detract from the story.
There will undoubtedly be those who feel that portraying Karen as a mere human with humanly desires is somehow patently wrong, but those people are unable to separate the woman from the mythological figure time has somehow created.
Having written my own fictional story (it's in the Different Light section, titled "A Second Chance At Forever if you haven't read it), I see Leo's story as being much more richly detailed than mine. The difference between stereo instructions and "Catch 22", if you will.
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Post by Rick Henry on May 28, 2009 21:24:03 GMT -5
It's most certainly not "essential reading", Rick, but it is a romance novel and it is fiction. I bought it out of curiousity, and found it to be an interesting admixture of "Quantum Leap" and "The Butterfly Effect". Once you find out that there's no "deux ex machina" like a DeLorean involved, you can concentrate on how Leo resolves the minutia of time travel...things like money, communications, housing, and food. Most time travel writers don't pay close attention to these details, and end up creating paradoxes which detract from the story. There will undoubtedly be those who feel that portraying Karen as a mere human with humanly desires is somehow patently wrong, but those people are unable to separate the woman from the mythological figure time has somehow created. Having written my own fictional story (it's in the Different Light section, titled "A Second Chance At Forever if you haven't read it), I see Leo's story as being much more richly detailed than mine. The difference between stereo instructions and "Catch 22", if you will.
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Post by enigma on May 29, 2009 7:54:59 GMT -5
yes I will likely pass on this effort I am not much on romance novels. It is fiction so Karen carpenter is only a character in the book just by the fact that it is fiction so even though it may be based on some of Karen's life and on Karen herself I see it for what it is a fictitious account from the authors point of view.
I more like the dark humor one would find in the superstar satire than a fiction romance novel just my opinion.
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Post by Rick Henry on May 29, 2009 10:54:56 GMT -5
yes I will likely pass on this effort I am not much on romance novels. It is fiction so Karen carpenter is only a character in the book just by the fact that it is fiction so even though it may be based on some of Karen's life and on Karen herself I see it for what it is a fictitious account from the authors point of view. I more like the dark humor one would find in the superstar satire than a fiction romance novel just my opinion.
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Dave
Ultra Emissary
"sleeping in the arms of the cosmos..."
Posts: 1,515
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Post by Dave on May 29, 2009 19:42:57 GMT -5
"For a movie starring barbie dolls it played out very well."
I never did quite get the repeated spanking scenes...perhaps there was something I missed? Explain, if you will.
The production, by today's standards, is crude. One step below animatronic, or stop-action. In that respect, it's like watching an episode of "Action League Now", a cartoon series once featured on Nickelodeon.
Todd Haynes may have come a bit too close to the mark...what was that comment that Karen said when she threatened to reveal Richard's "secret life"?
But at this point in time, nothing we do or say will change one thing. So, why bother getting ourselves upset?
If I had my druthers, I would like to see "Superstar" remade using modern rendering techniques.
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Dave
Ultra Emissary
"sleeping in the arms of the cosmos..."
Posts: 1,515
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Post by Dave on May 29, 2009 20:06:05 GMT -5
yes I will likely pass on this effort I am not much on romance novels. It is fiction so Karen carpenter is only a character in the book just by the fact that it is fiction so even though it may be based on some of Karen's life and on Karen herself I see it for what it is a fictitious account from the authors point of view. I more like the dark humor one would find in the superstar satire than a fiction romance novel just my opinion. I've always been a fan of science-fiction, and my prime interest was in the time-travel mechanism. I think that if I had to put my finger on the first, H.G. Wells' book would have been the catalyst. "The Philadelphia Experiment" was fascinating, as it has its roots in a still-classified Navy experiment aboard the USS Eldridge. The physics behind the experiment, namely that an extremely strong magnetic field has the ability to send matter through time, was the basis for Doc Brown's DeLorean. But this book seems to borrow from "The Butterfly Effect" and its use of one person having a "gift" of being able to literally click their heels together and travel through time. Like the final episode of "Quantum Leap", finding out that Sam could have leaped home any time he wanted to was a huge downer. In "The Butterfly Effect", the jumper comes to realize that what he has is not a gift, but a curse! The alternate ending has him strangling himself in the womb with the umbilical cord! Any time travel inevitably produces paradoxes. In this book, Adam and Karen "jump" ahead in time 25 years. The sheer number of paradoxes created by this is staggering. For instance...how do you explain the vanishing from the face of the Earth of three highly-visible people for 25 years? Alien abduction? Just felt like getting away from it all? What about the number of girls whose lives were saved because Karen's passing ripped the bedsheet off the elephant? Just that by itself would create huge tsunamis through the time-space continuum! Myself, I can't watch "Superstar" too often...the concept of an adult woman permitting herself to be spanked by her parents is a bit too off-center for me to wrap my arms around. The rest of the story is like "Apollo 13"...we all know how it turned out, but we watch it anyway.
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Post by Rick Henry on May 31, 2009 20:24:06 GMT -5
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ldoc8
NEW TO THE FAMILY
Posts: 6
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Post by ldoc8 on Jun 1, 2009 8:33:06 GMT -5
Hello everyone, I am the author of 'Leave Yesterday Behind.' I was directed here by another member who felt that it would be better if I answered some of the questions and or opinions. Let me try. First I am a Physician and for those of you who haven't been to the web site www.leaveyesterdaybehind.com, go there and you will see my short bio. You could go to my professional web site www.bonaventurafertility.com, and see who I am there. Secondly I will try and clear up some of the thoughts that I have read. I was not a Carpenter fan when I became inspired to write this book in December of 2007. The last time I listened to a Carpenter song was probably 1983 when I heard she died. I will say that I am an fan of Karen and their music. I feel like I was directed to write this story and I had a great time doing it. Please, I would encourage everyone who is talking about the book and what it is to read it, and then make an informed decision. When I started writing this book I didn't realize that there were so many forums and web sites dealing with the Carpenters. I got my information about her from Coleman's and Schmidt's book. I read a number of magazines and news paper articles including the Rolling Stone spread. The one thing I was able to see was the original autopsy report and pictures and what the physician signed her out as the cause of death. Again I didn't even realize that people were on line discussing her life and times until after the boo was finished. The idea for this book is mine alone and it was only influenced by the song, Leave Yesterday Behind. I have since started the sequel and I am half way through it and should be finished by the end of the summer. There have been many forums talking about my book and I am humbled by the thousands of people who have bought the book and who have commented on it's content. I feel the book is uplifting and certainly not Mother bashing. It tells a story that I feel would have played out if someone would have recognized, from the medical side, her demons. I'm very happy to answer any questions any of you have and I want to thank the administrator for his frank opinions and I would only encourage him to read the book. His opinion may not change but it would make me feel better that he had made that opinion from the entire text. Thanks to you all and as I said, I am humbled that people have taken their time to read and discuss my book Leo
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Jun 1, 2009 8:48:47 GMT -5
Hi Leo Nice post. Welcome to our world here at Karen and Richard Carpenter Avenue. I was excited to get your e-mail yesterday, and look forward to reading the section you referenced. You know, it might make more difference than you can even imagine. I am so happy you were able to work it into the sequel. My copy is on the way. I'm excited. I'll e-mail you and help you around the forum, whenever you're ready. This is a great place for good information about Carpenters, and especially Karen. Welcome aboard. Tim
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Post by wisejester7 on Jun 1, 2009 12:16:48 GMT -5
Welcome Idoc8! Your joining in this conversation should even things out some. You might be able to explain some of what you were thinking and relating to when you wrote particular passages. As for me ... I have yet to read your book. I am keeping my eye on this thread, though.
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Dave
Ultra Emissary
"sleeping in the arms of the cosmos..."
Posts: 1,515
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Post by Dave on Jun 1, 2009 15:09:52 GMT -5
Welcome aboard, Leo.
As Leo has said, his experience has been quite different than mine. As Rick mentioned, I suddenly began having dreams about Karen which began on May 29, 2004. The nightly dreams ended after Christmas Eve of that year, but they returned again during the recent Space Shuttle mission that repaired the Hubble Space Telescope.
During one of the dreams, I was told that Leo does not have the "gift", referring to the ability to dream about the dead. I inherited the gift from my late mother. I asked Leo if he'd ever had any dreams about deceased relatives, and he said no. His "initiation" into all of this was quite like mine was, except that I've never been moved enough to buy the two biographies out there...I wish I didn't know the things I know already.
When this all began for me, I had good people like Tim, Jim, and Rick to help me understand and validate that what I was dreaming was actually fact! In that respect, I have been able to help Leo understand the things he's hearing, feeling, and smelling! Smelling a deceased loved one's perfume is actually a quite common way for them to let us know that they're watching over you...ever been somewhere where you shouldn't smell Grandma's perfume but you're smelling it anyway?
Just as I was inspired to write "A Second Chance At Forever" by forces unknown, Leo has written a much larger, more complex, much fuller and richer version of the story. And KAC continues to "tweak" his writing senses.
There were others who had the dream experience...one showed up on this forum two years after I had my experience, another showed up on James Van Praagh's ("Ghost Whisperer") website. I feel blessed in that I was there to give them validation for what they were experiencing.
In the same dream where I was told that Leo does not have the gift, I was told that "you were the first". Tim and I both agree that she meant that I was either the first person she attempted to contact, of the first person who stayed with her long enough to give her what she wanted: friendship. I had to "survive" an extremely angry person in the early days, her initial "greeting" went exactly like this: "Who are you??!!! Why are you doing this to me??!!! Why do you care about me??!!!"
Imagine standing about four feet from someone screaming that at the top of their lungs! Intimidating? Certainly. Did I care about her? No...but I had to learn what was going on and why.
Leo has been spared that experience...so in effect, I was a "lightning rod"! But I have broad shoulders, and a thick skin.
It is interesting that Leo's main character is approximately my physical height and weight. A longtime friend of mine who read the book told me that somehow Leo managed to incorporate most of my personality into this character. Go figure...
Before the Internet, those of us who have had the experience would have been alone wondering if we were going insane. Having someone else validate your experiences is priceless. After all, what does a field service engineer and a reproductive endocrinologist have in common? Not much.
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Post by Rick Henry on Jun 1, 2009 19:23:28 GMT -5
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ldoc8
NEW TO THE FAMILY
Posts: 6
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Post by ldoc8 on Jun 1, 2009 21:30:08 GMT -5
Thanks all, Rick I'm not here to pitch my book. It has a life of it's own and has suprised even me. I came aboard( I was in the Navy, attached to the Marine Corps ) to try and answer any questions and to even out some of the statements made. I find the dicussions stimulating. Thanks for having the passion to do this site, and thanks for having trust, faith and love in the carpenters music and their legend. Leo
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