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The Day Before 9/11
In Korea, a soldier's daughter is jetlagged and lost in her new school. In Germany, a military family welcomes the birth of a second child. In the aftermath of 9/11, both families - dads, moms, and kids - will fight the war on terror.
A harrowing true story that spans America's first decade post-9/11, The Day Before 9/11 portrays in riveting detail the sacrifices made by military families serving overseas and the enduring pain that accompanies the tragic loss of life.
A harrowing true story that spans America's first decade post-9/11, The Day Before 9/11 portrays in riveting detail the sacrifices made by military families serving overseas and the enduring pain that accompanies the tragic loss of life.
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 24, 2013
68 people are currently reading
491 people want to read
About the author
Tucker Elliot
47 books22 followersTucker Elliot is a former teacher for the United States Department of Defense in Korea and Germany. He has visited schools on four continents and more than twenty countries as a volunteer or an invited speaker/lecturer.
Tucker was a teacher on a military base in Korea on 9/11. His memoir titled The Day Before 9/11 was released in March 2013. The Day Before 9/11 is a harrowing true story that spans America's first decade in the war on terror, and portrays in riveting detail the sacrifices made by military families serving overseas and the enduring pain that accompanies the tragic loss of life.
Tucker's second memoir will be released Fall 2015 and is titled The Rainy Season. An e-book titled 11 Bombs will also be released in October 2015. 11 Bombs is a true story about Tony Stevens, a professional baseball player who joined the marines after 9/11.
In addition to his books, Tucker is a cowriter for the screenplays "Shedding Baggage" and "The Home Stretch."
Tucker was a teacher on a military base in Korea on 9/11. His memoir titled The Day Before 9/11 was released in March 2013. The Day Before 9/11 is a harrowing true story that spans America's first decade in the war on terror, and portrays in riveting detail the sacrifices made by military families serving overseas and the enduring pain that accompanies the tragic loss of life.
Tucker's second memoir will be released Fall 2015 and is titled The Rainy Season. An e-book titled 11 Bombs will also be released in October 2015. 11 Bombs is a true story about Tony Stevens, a professional baseball player who joined the marines after 9/11.
In addition to his books, Tucker is a cowriter for the screenplays "Shedding Baggage" and "The Home Stretch."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
May 24, 2014
I was able to finish this book so it gets higher then a 1 star...
I thought this book was more of a coping tool for the author to get over his mistakes and regrets. I thought he spent an unbearable time & great detail explaining his school and soccer matches in the 1st half of the book and then jumped around a lot in the second half where I had to re read a page or 2 to figure out who or what he was talking about.
I'll never understand why he never emailed Sami or why he would have deleted Angel's email.
I thought this book was more of a coping tool for the author to get over his mistakes and regrets. I thought he spent an unbearable time & great detail explaining his school and soccer matches in the 1st half of the book and then jumped around a lot in the second half where I had to re read a page or 2 to figure out who or what he was talking about.
I'll never understand why he never emailed Sami or why he would have deleted Angel's email.
February 3, 2014
There are just some people’s stories that need to be put into print . . . this is one of them.
There are just some books that need to be read . . . this is one of them.
9/11 is a day that none of us will never forget. It impacted each of us in different ways, and it will always be an emotional topic that is hard to read and write about.
The Day Before 9/11 is a memoir about an American teacher overseas teaching military children. He documents his experience with 9/11 and stories of military families he came to spend a lot of time with.
Tucker Elliot tells his own personal story as well as the story of two young girls Sami and Angel.
They both come from military families who are stationed overseas. He first comes into contact with Sami while he is teaching in Korea. After he moves to Germany, he becomes Angel’s teacher and Sami’s family ends up getting stationed there as well.
He expresses the pain that comes to families after tragedies occur. The same tragedy can affect different families in many different ways. War can affect different families in many different ways. It can bring pain and depression in ways that some individuals could never experience or even imagine.
Tucker Elliot’s book is a beautiful documentation about how one tragedy affected three different families in completely different ways.
It is emotional. It is thought provoking.
I thought reading through the main portion of the book was rough and hard on the heart, but the epilogue is truly just heartbreaking. There are no other words.
But, the end can really teach you that through heartbreak, you should always still have hope.
The writing in this book is really great. It never gets boring. There are no unnecessary parts to it. It was well thought out and looked over before being published.
5/5 stars.
There are just some books that need to be read . . . this is one of them.
9/11 is a day that none of us will never forget. It impacted each of us in different ways, and it will always be an emotional topic that is hard to read and write about.
The Day Before 9/11 is a memoir about an American teacher overseas teaching military children. He documents his experience with 9/11 and stories of military families he came to spend a lot of time with.
Tucker Elliot tells his own personal story as well as the story of two young girls Sami and Angel.
They both come from military families who are stationed overseas. He first comes into contact with Sami while he is teaching in Korea. After he moves to Germany, he becomes Angel’s teacher and Sami’s family ends up getting stationed there as well.
He expresses the pain that comes to families after tragedies occur. The same tragedy can affect different families in many different ways. War can affect different families in many different ways. It can bring pain and depression in ways that some individuals could never experience or even imagine.
Tucker Elliot’s book is a beautiful documentation about how one tragedy affected three different families in completely different ways.
It is emotional. It is thought provoking.
I thought reading through the main portion of the book was rough and hard on the heart, but the epilogue is truly just heartbreaking. There are no other words.
But, the end can really teach you that through heartbreak, you should always still have hope.
The writing in this book is really great. It never gets boring. There are no unnecessary parts to it. It was well thought out and looked over before being published.
5/5 stars.
April 18, 2013
The Day Before 9/11
by
Tucker Elliot
Sadly, many generations are marked by some tragedy that stains the fabric of our existence and leads good people to doubt, to question everything they thought they knew.
For most living Americans, our tragedy is 9/11, a common thread so profound that you can ask anyone where they were, or what they were doing, and without hesitation, they know the answer.
Tucker Elliot’s perspective is fresh, that of a teacher and coach, stationed overseas, educating the sons and daughters of our service members. A regular guy caught in a situation that’s far from regular.
When terror strikes, leaving confusion and doubt in the aftermath, it’s a test unlike anything Elliot had experienced. He doesn’t have time to figure it out for himself, overwhelmed though he is. No, he must be that proverbial rock for the children of those in uniform who will soon be in harm’s way.
It isn’t easy—he is plagued with questions—he doubts himself. He exhibits all of those things that make us human. Twelve years later, some of those doubts still linger. They shouldn’t, but they do, a product of our stolen innocence, no doubt.
With uncommon clarity and emotional depth, Tucker Elliot has taken the magnifying glass and given us a close, true-to-life account of military families and the confusion and triumphs and losses surrounding them after 9/11.
This is a book for everyone; however, this is the quintessential 9/11 book for military families and anyone connected to them.
I have faithfully served our country for nearly 19 years; my family serves along with me. This is our story. This is our book.
Our thanks to you, Mr. Elliot, for an incredibly moving account of 9/11…rest assured you have honored the kids!
by
Tucker Elliot
Sadly, many generations are marked by some tragedy that stains the fabric of our existence and leads good people to doubt, to question everything they thought they knew.
For most living Americans, our tragedy is 9/11, a common thread so profound that you can ask anyone where they were, or what they were doing, and without hesitation, they know the answer.
Tucker Elliot’s perspective is fresh, that of a teacher and coach, stationed overseas, educating the sons and daughters of our service members. A regular guy caught in a situation that’s far from regular.
When terror strikes, leaving confusion and doubt in the aftermath, it’s a test unlike anything Elliot had experienced. He doesn’t have time to figure it out for himself, overwhelmed though he is. No, he must be that proverbial rock for the children of those in uniform who will soon be in harm’s way.
It isn’t easy—he is plagued with questions—he doubts himself. He exhibits all of those things that make us human. Twelve years later, some of those doubts still linger. They shouldn’t, but they do, a product of our stolen innocence, no doubt.
With uncommon clarity and emotional depth, Tucker Elliot has taken the magnifying glass and given us a close, true-to-life account of military families and the confusion and triumphs and losses surrounding them after 9/11.
This is a book for everyone; however, this is the quintessential 9/11 book for military families and anyone connected to them.
I have faithfully served our country for nearly 19 years; my family serves along with me. This is our story. This is our book.
Our thanks to you, Mr. Elliot, for an incredibly moving account of 9/11…rest assured you have honored the kids!
February 25, 2014
The story of a teacher at a military base in Germany, reliving 10 years earlier when he had been at a military base in Korea when the twin towers were attacked. Good portrayal of how families felt as the base was put on high alert and various members of families sent off to different places. I didn't like the fact that in the middle of the book, all the sudden things changed. I went back a few pages to see what I had missed. Nothing. All the sudden you were reading about totally different people, with no real understanding of what had happened to the other ones. This was on my Kindle.
January 3, 2015
A moving and well-written book which draws our attention to the price of service we often don't pay enough attention to - that paid by the families of the men and women who serve in our military. An exploration of the debts we owe to each other as people and citizens, set in the shadows of the horrific events of 9/11. And lastly, and successfully, I think, an attempt to help mark some of them paid.
April 26, 2020
I thought this book had to do with 9/11 but it really didn't. It was the story of the author's time as a teacher overseas and some of the students who touched his life, kids whose parents were in the military. I found it to be average.
April 30, 2014
Powerful, poignant and not soon forgotten! Elliot has done a masterful job of relating a true story of his sojourn as a sixth grade teacher in Department of Defense overseas military schools. At the beginning of the story, Elliot has just begun his position as teacher and head coach in a military school near Seoul, Korea. He is full of hope for his students, yet he is also strangely dour. The reader learns that his father fought in Viet Nam and his uncle died there. His teaching job is Elliot’s way of serving the military in his own way. Like every good teacher, Elliot is deeply concerned with his students; the story revolves around two students named Sami and Angel, and the families they share.
Tucker paints a picture of how the world changes as the terrorist attacks unfold, the school security becomes paramount, and the students whose parents serve live in constant terror of deployment and possible death. The author befriends a nine year old girl named Sami, who loves soccer and becomes the team “stud.” He suffers with her every time her father is called away. After Elliot leaves Korea and moves to teach in Germany, he meets Sami’s best friend from the states. Her name is Angel; she seeks the support of her new teacher and brings with her a multitude of new crises as her family becomes embroiled in emotional and physical terror.
The author attempts to exert the full force of his will to sincerely help these two families, but always seems to fall short when he is needed most. Circumstances seem to conspire to prevent him from fulfilling what he believes to be his obligations. This book is a must read for teens and adults who want to experience how the world indeed changed after 911. As one who lived a few miles from the World Trade Center, I can never adequately relay the feelings of helplessness and loss while waiting to hear the news of survivors. I watched the faces of children who waited to hear if their parents made it home from Manhattan that day; and myself grieved with others who lost friends and family. I would recommend this book to all military families, teachers, and parents who are looking for a way to understand in some small part the sacrifices of all those who serve our country and protect our communities.
Tucker paints a picture of how the world changes as the terrorist attacks unfold, the school security becomes paramount, and the students whose parents serve live in constant terror of deployment and possible death. The author befriends a nine year old girl named Sami, who loves soccer and becomes the team “stud.” He suffers with her every time her father is called away. After Elliot leaves Korea and moves to teach in Germany, he meets Sami’s best friend from the states. Her name is Angel; she seeks the support of her new teacher and brings with her a multitude of new crises as her family becomes embroiled in emotional and physical terror.
The author attempts to exert the full force of his will to sincerely help these two families, but always seems to fall short when he is needed most. Circumstances seem to conspire to prevent him from fulfilling what he believes to be his obligations. This book is a must read for teens and adults who want to experience how the world indeed changed after 911. As one who lived a few miles from the World Trade Center, I can never adequately relay the feelings of helplessness and loss while waiting to hear the news of survivors. I watched the faces of children who waited to hear if their parents made it home from Manhattan that day; and myself grieved with others who lost friends and family. I would recommend this book to all military families, teachers, and parents who are looking for a way to understand in some small part the sacrifices of all those who serve our country and protect our communities.
January 3, 2016
The writing was good and sustained my interest throughout. I knew little about the world of teaching in an overseas school for military dependents and enjoyed learning more, even with sense of foreboding introduced very early on. Of course the author of a "true" story cannot change actual events or even his own reactions to them; but he can decide how to interpret those events and present them to the reader. When I finished, I wondered what the author had hoped to accomplish beyond giving vent to his own pain. I missed a sense of closure, much less any meaningful takeaway for a reader who is an outsider to the military culture. I can't say more without spoilers, and this is only my personal reaction. Obviously others found merit in the book, so consider their views too. In any case, I believe that Mr. Elliot was a good teacher and a compassionate person. I wish him well in this and future endeavors.
January 28, 2015
This is my opinion of this book. I'm glad some people enjoyed it, but I didn't. I wouldn't recommend this book under any circumstances. I was hoping this book would be about the day before 9/11 like the title states. It kind of was, at first when I began reading this I thought it was okay. But Tucker was telling just a random story about three girls and it didn’t have ANYTHING to do with 9/11. There wasn’t even a mention of what happened on 9/11 except ONCE. And in that one time all Tucker said was they watched the plane crash into the second tower. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing about the days after 9/11 and all that had happened. No number count of people who lived and died. NOTHING. He also SWORE more than I can count. If kids want to learn about 9/11, I wouldn't recommend them reading this book. I did not enjoy this book at all and I can’t believe I even finished it.
2014-Summer-Reading-Review
2014-Summer-Reading-Review
October 10, 2015
To start with this the events of 9/11 are emotional for me as it is. This book had me up and down on emotions and shedding many tears. The author touched my heart with the works of his story. I had to remove myself from reading this several times not because of the book, not because of the way it was written but because of the story itself. I recommend this book, but I recommend on it on a warning that if you are extremely an emotional person that you take caution going in.
*Received for an honest review*
*Received for an honest review*
February 11, 2014
A rambling account of post 9/11 events that will likely lose your interest after 50 pages.
May 26, 2025
Heartbreaking story. From the US, to So. Korea, to Germany and other places.
He briefly describes 9/11 as well as the days following, and the reactions of others quite well. He also alludes to the US expat experience a bit.
This teacher made clear how 9/11 and the resulting wars affected him as well as others.
The events are not all explained, and the telling of the events is a bit difficult to follow, but it's really not hard to read between the lines and understand what happened and how it affected him.
I felt a little mislead by the title, but the book was quite moving.
He briefly describes 9/11 as well as the days following, and the reactions of others quite well. He also alludes to the US expat experience a bit.
This teacher made clear how 9/11 and the resulting wars affected him as well as others.
The events are not all explained, and the telling of the events is a bit difficult to follow, but it's really not hard to read between the lines and understand what happened and how it affected him.
I felt a little mislead by the title, but the book was quite moving.
January 2, 2019
This is quite a story. Hurting children in Korea and Germany, a teacher who can't handle the stress so he turns off caring for them, and then has regrets.... His world, as so many others', changed forever on September 11, 2001--and he didn't know how to handle it.
October 21, 2019
Good read!!
There are so many stories of our military’s daily sacrifice that need to be shared....both past and present. Thank you to all our military men and women and their families!!! Job well done!!
There are so many stories of our military’s daily sacrifice that need to be shared....both past and present. Thank you to all our military men and women and their families!!! Job well done!!
January 1, 2020
What a great book? Good reminder that the terrorism of 9/11 impacted our American citizens all over the world. What a great teacher the author is! Highly recommend and will be looking for his other books on the same subject.
May 18, 2020
A must read
A heartfelt telling of a DOODS teacher and how he managed to deal the aftermath of 9/11 and what it was like the day before as well as his relationships with students changed his outlook due to their military background
A heartfelt telling of a DOODS teacher and how he managed to deal the aftermath of 9/11 and what it was like the day before as well as his relationships with students changed his outlook due to their military background
January 22, 2020
It’s more like a diary than what I was expecting. Compares how life changed due to 9/11
September 15, 2023
Hardly anything to do with 9/11
If you want to read something about 9/11 this is not the book. This has more to do with the author being a soccer coach and a teacher.
If you want to read something about 9/11 this is not the book. This has more to do with the author being a soccer coach and a teacher.
December 4, 2018
This isn't something I enjoyed attempting to read. I am totally okay with this person writing this, and feeling this. It's their view and opinion and way of seeing/remembering things. However, it's not something I want to read. I gave it a shot, but it's not for me.
November 27, 2023
Wow. I read a lot of memoirs. There are sad ones, happy ones, memorable ones, ones with a moral... this book had all of that and more. When this came in from the author with a request for a review, my first thought was, "oh man, not another 9/11 book". I admit, that while 9/11 will live with us all forever, there has been a lot of books written on the subject and I thought I had pretty much read it all.
Until now.
This book touched me deeply. As the wife of a teacher, I can promise you that every single teacher I have ever met cares about their kids (and they do call them that, "my kids" comes out of husband's mouth a lot in regards to his students). When their students hurt, they hurt. When their students feel successful, they feel successful. When their students feel stress, they feel stress. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in the world.
Teaching overseas must be an entire big ball of wax. Teaching during 9/11 overseas... well, I cannot even imagine. The author does a fabulous job of bringing us into his world during this time period, but I can honestly say that I still can't fully fathom it. Perhaps, I never will.
This guy, he's not only a hero, he's a darn good teacher, a caring individual, a gifted story-writer and one heck of a memoirist. I don't want to give away any plot points in this review, so I'm just going to tell you to read it. You'll see 9/11 in a whole other light, the children's views. The families angst. It must be overwhelming.
A must read... for pretty much everyone.
Until now.
This book touched me deeply. As the wife of a teacher, I can promise you that every single teacher I have ever met cares about their kids (and they do call them that, "my kids" comes out of husband's mouth a lot in regards to his students). When their students hurt, they hurt. When their students feel successful, they feel successful. When their students feel stress, they feel stress. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in the world.
Teaching overseas must be an entire big ball of wax. Teaching during 9/11 overseas... well, I cannot even imagine. The author does a fabulous job of bringing us into his world during this time period, but I can honestly say that I still can't fully fathom it. Perhaps, I never will.
This guy, he's not only a hero, he's a darn good teacher, a caring individual, a gifted story-writer and one heck of a memoirist. I don't want to give away any plot points in this review, so I'm just going to tell you to read it. You'll see 9/11 in a whole other light, the children's views. The families angst. It must be overwhelming.
A must read... for pretty much everyone.
October 11, 2013
I posted this review on Amazon. It doesn't exactly have a happy ending, but wow is it moving:
This story is such a moving account of a teacher's life after 9/11. It delves into a world that many Americans don't even know exists. The author was a teacher for a Department of Defense school in Korea when terrorists attacked America. His resulting emotions and experiences are a roller coaster. It seems the hopes of his high school soccer season can provide healing for both he and his students, and it does. But for the author and his life it goes so much deeper.
Alongside the soccer story is the relationships with a number of students whose parents are repeatedly deployed. The kids struggle with the separation and fear, and look for somebody to cling to. The author wants to be that somebody, and he is, but then again he isn't. He is dealing with his own struggles.
His relationship with two students, Sami and Angel, is inspiring and heartbreaking, and the ending left me in tears. I don't know who should read this book, teachers for sure, people dealing with the pain of losing loved ones should read it as well, and I guess anybody who wants to have a better understanding of the impact 9/11 and the resulting wars have had on our military families.
This book is so honest and so moving. It is going to stay with me for a long time.
This story is such a moving account of a teacher's life after 9/11. It delves into a world that many Americans don't even know exists. The author was a teacher for a Department of Defense school in Korea when terrorists attacked America. His resulting emotions and experiences are a roller coaster. It seems the hopes of his high school soccer season can provide healing for both he and his students, and it does. But for the author and his life it goes so much deeper.
Alongside the soccer story is the relationships with a number of students whose parents are repeatedly deployed. The kids struggle with the separation and fear, and look for somebody to cling to. The author wants to be that somebody, and he is, but then again he isn't. He is dealing with his own struggles.
His relationship with two students, Sami and Angel, is inspiring and heartbreaking, and the ending left me in tears. I don't know who should read this book, teachers for sure, people dealing with the pain of losing loved ones should read it as well, and I guess anybody who wants to have a better understanding of the impact 9/11 and the resulting wars have had on our military families.
This book is so honest and so moving. It is going to stay with me for a long time.
October 29, 2015
Heart Breaking
The book was a little confusing trying to figure out how the different pieces came together but I quickly became engrossed. At times I felt angry and frustrated by the choices the author said he'd made but I kept reading. Soon the story became like the hours and days after the attack on 9/11. You kept watching the news in disbelief, horror and a little bit of hope. It was so overwhelming and painful that you didn't want to watch or hear anymore about it but you continued to watch the news and reading the stories. Hoping it wasn't real. Hoping for survivors. This book, this story tells how 9/11 tragically affected those thousands of miles away from ground zero as much as those who died and those who survived the attacks that horrible day.
Like the days after 9/11 when you forced yourself to turn off the news to escape the horror I found I had to put down the book to take a break from the powerful emotions the story stirred. But by the time I got to the last few chapters I was unable to put it down.
It doesn't take long to read and it tells the story of 9/11 from an angle we never considered. I hope that in time there is healing for Sami and the author as well as our nation.
The book was a little confusing trying to figure out how the different pieces came together but I quickly became engrossed. At times I felt angry and frustrated by the choices the author said he'd made but I kept reading. Soon the story became like the hours and days after the attack on 9/11. You kept watching the news in disbelief, horror and a little bit of hope. It was so overwhelming and painful that you didn't want to watch or hear anymore about it but you continued to watch the news and reading the stories. Hoping it wasn't real. Hoping for survivors. This book, this story tells how 9/11 tragically affected those thousands of miles away from ground zero as much as those who died and those who survived the attacks that horrible day.
Like the days after 9/11 when you forced yourself to turn off the news to escape the horror I found I had to put down the book to take a break from the powerful emotions the story stirred. But by the time I got to the last few chapters I was unable to put it down.
It doesn't take long to read and it tells the story of 9/11 from an angle we never considered. I hope that in time there is healing for Sami and the author as well as our nation.
July 10, 2017
This was a good book but it was sad . But war is sad and well it did happen so that makes it even sadder . It is worth reading though
March 3, 2014
I would gladly recommend this book. I remember where I was and how it affected me. I had neglected the impact that it had on the children...the children of Military families stateside and abroad.
What I loved most is the manner in which the teacher had to dig deep within himself and how he wanted if nothing else... To instill some normalcy to his students and in his world. The question to ask is: What is normalcy and can we ever go back to that state?
For me, many things have forever changed. If it's like that for me.I imagine it is so for many other civilians ( and I cannot begin to fathom the manner in which it has affected those in uniform...yes, I see the deployments and reintegrations...but I can't fathom what it really does to those who serve, have served and will continue to deploy.
What I loved most is the manner in which the teacher had to dig deep within himself and how he wanted if nothing else... To instill some normalcy to his students and in his world. The question to ask is: What is normalcy and can we ever go back to that state?
For me, many things have forever changed. If it's like that for me.I imagine it is so for many other civilians ( and I cannot begin to fathom the manner in which it has affected those in uniform...yes, I see the deployments and reintegrations...but I can't fathom what it really does to those who serve, have served and will continue to deploy.
January 30, 2014
This is a first hand account of one man's experiences after the 9/11 attacks. He was a teacher on an American base and taught the children of parents who were soon leaving for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His particular viewpoint is what makes this book such a good book for Americans to read. While we were here in America wondering what was going on, just think what it was like for teachers, children, and military parents at military bases all over the world. This book will leave you aching in your heart for the teachers and the children. I think we were already aware of the sacrifices of the military personnel, we just managed to not always think of the others. That is the sad truth and a terrible mistake. Read this book and you will see what I mean.
February 16, 2014
How do you give a book on this subject anything but five stars? Very profound. The double edge of not caring, not being involved. Sure you don't let the bad things in, but you don't let the good in either. Yes it hurts, it hurts BECAUSE you care. You care too much. I feel bad for Tucker and Sami and of course Angel and Grace. For Sami's dad...the list goes on I'm sure. And the 3,000 other people who were innocent victims in the attacks. This story is obviously different from other accounts from 9/11. This man was halfway around the world. And it still had this effect on him. It was the best 9/11 book I have read other than people who were there in New York and Pennsylvania and Virginia (the Pentagon). I hope Sami reads it some day. I hope she understands.
June 25, 2014
A heart-wrenching book. The writing was well-done, and it was an easy story to read....until the end. Then it just....ended. No real sense of closure or even hope from the author. It was more like the book was just his therapy to help him deal with his pain and guilt. And, we didn't even get to read about the trip to Japan which seemed to be the main focus of his life in Korea. I did just discover that that story is told in his second book. What? Really? Ending the book with that story would have made more sense than just stopping where he did, and oh yeah, here's a long epilogue to explain a few other things missing from the book itself.
Still, I would recommend this book!
Still, I would recommend this book!
February 25, 2014
"Pain is the harbinger of hope. You have to be alive to feel pain. If you are alive, then you have purpose. If you have purpose, then you have hope."
"I felt so much pride, so much love. you get a handful of days like this in a lifetime. Take in every minute. They'll be over soon enough, and you never know what tomorrow will bring."
“There are more good people than bad people, and overall there’s more that’s good in the world than there is that’s bad. We just need to hear about it, we just need to see it.”
"It's not so easy, moving forward. I feel that pain every day."
"I felt so much pride, so much love. you get a handful of days like this in a lifetime. Take in every minute. They'll be over soon enough, and you never know what tomorrow will bring."
“There are more good people than bad people, and overall there’s more that’s good in the world than there is that’s bad. We just need to hear about it, we just need to see it.”
"It's not so easy, moving forward. I feel that pain every day."
February 17, 2014
This is a must read book. I found this book by absolute chance and I am so glad I did. The day before 9/11 tells a true story about a man's actions, the day before 9/11 and in the days, months and years to follow. It is moving, heartbreaking and deeply emotive.
I really hope that Sami reads this one say, and that she and the author manage to reconnect one day. It would be a lovely outcome after the tragic circumstances.
I really hope that Sami reads this one say, and that she and the author manage to reconnect one day. It would be a lovely outcome after the tragic circumstances.
October 1, 2016
What the heck? I don't get it? What happened to Sami? I would give this book a 3 or 4 for being well written and its message and appreciation for teachers and military personnel but the timeline was so disjointed between Korea and two times in Germany and why he was so angry (I get the wishing he'd helped Angel part) but the rest was too implied and I just didn't get it. Frustrated at not being able to figure out what happened in the end.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews