Judy Sandra

Reader Reviews

5-Star Reviews on Amazon.com

Reader Reviews, The Metal Girl

Mesmerizing

“An honest and mesmerizing book.”
Varda Hardy, Writer/Director
www.vardahardy.com

Intriguing Story

"The Metal Girl is an intriguing story, simply told, about a young woman's wandering in a foreign country at an age (and in an era) when every meeting or confrontation was a clue to piecing together the essential self. The book is strikingly different from much of the other memoir/fiction I've read in that there's not a single false note, not a moment of empty showmanship, self-mythologizing, or gratuitous sexuality. I notice after, not during, the writer's command of language, how skilled she is at drawing me through Copenhagen, seeing it through the narrator's eyes as I ache for her dilemmas. I think its pleasure lies in this character's exploration of truths about human nature that are not just personal, but universal. Her internal life blossoms within me as I read it."

For a moving story-within-a-story, go to the writer's website and read about The Metal Girl's resurrection in a church basement. I highly recommend this book whose time, I feel, has finally come."
Jeanne Dickey, Fiction Author
http://www.fictionaut.com/users/jeanne-dickey

Powerful

"I found myself enthralled in this powerful novel about a young woman's inner and outer journey. The Metal Girl is a magical voyage through the geography of psyche and soul...I was struck by the beauty of the language, the candor and power of the narrator's journey, and the eternal theme of a wandering artist in a foreign land."
Rev. Thomas N. Martinez
All Souls Bethlehem Church
Brooklyn, NY

(See also "The Reverend, The House Church, The Novel..." in NEWS.)

A Fantastic Novel

"Really, The Metal Girl was not at all what I had expected.

The Metal Girl is, first and foremost, a short read, told from the perspective of an unnamed adventurer (not tourist). Though it is short, the story sucks the reader in and feels like a much longer novel than it really is, putting one into the shoes of the narrator easily.

What struck me is that this woman could be anyone, and I think that that was entirely the purpose of the nameless character. Her voice is one that could belong to any number of women, American or not, and most readers would probably be able to relate easily to the nameless character in her struggles and internal thought processes...It was as though Ms. Sandra took a simple snapshot of a few days of an American woman and framed it for us to see and relate to.

No, the woman did not have a startling revelation that made her find the man of her dreams and live happily ever after. Then again, how often does pretty closure happen in real life? If Ms. Sandra's goal was to simply expose a sliver of a struggling young woman's life, she succeeded, and vibrantly. If not, well, she certainly wrote a fantastic novel."
Bethany Nicholls
Graduate Student, Library Science
UNC Greensboro, NC

Delightful!

"This book sucked me in. The author does a fantastic job of creating environment and character. From the main character to others just making "cameos", the reader gets not only a sense of who they are but that each life offers something deeper and intriguing. Sandra is a thoughtful, aware writer. I could not put the book down, and was surprisingly sad when it was over."
DJ Melissa, Radio DJ & Host
Los Angeles, CA
dj-melissa.com