Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey
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.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.