Will I love My Grandfather's Blessings?

Rachel Naomi Remen's wise, compassionate stories teach without preaching, infallibly human and real.

I love the stories presented in Dr. Remen’s book. They are simple yet profound.

Her stories are centered on the concepts of healing, kindness, compassion, love, and living which she learned from her grandfather. She emphasizes the value of helping others as a way to help ourselves and find meaning in the world.

This book is filled with gems of description and of insight into the human condition. Presented as wisdom passed down lovingly by the author’s grandfather, these stand alone stories build up to a book of thoughtfulness. She writes movingly of herself as a little girl who learns faithfulness through watering a paper cup of soil and seeds until they sprout. Equally movingly she writes as a doctor about a patient, a “man of vision” who does not fit into any existing mold and is thereby isolated by his “deep sense of difference” from others.