Tree Barking: A Memoir

by Nesta Rovina

This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597140813
• ISBN13: 9781597140812
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Heyday Books
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A page turning book.

I LOVED the book. As an ex S. African, Jewish, Israeli occupational therapist (OT) I related to it on every level, so I expected to enjoy reading it, and I did - wholeheartedly! It's was a page turner for me, and deserves a reread. I also think it's a great marketing tool for OT, the most poorly marketed profession on the planet. However, when reviewing it for others, I must try to be as objective as I can when commenting on it. The book is beautifully written; the individual stories are a look into the lives of people most of us don't have a chance to meet, let alone get to know intimately; each person in the book has clearly touched Nesta; She describes these people with humor and with caring. Thus the book leaves the reader with the difficult to describe, but overwhelmingly strong feeling of the therapist/client bond. Tree Barking reads easily, more like a collection of short stories hung together with the thread of this bond and the therapist's personality. It's a VERY worth while book to read.

An Eye Opener

This elegant and sensitive memoir tells of the author's life in three countries and of her work as an occupational therapist for Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each chapter is the story of one of the patients Nesta Rovina saw during home visits. The book is both a great read and an eye opener. So very close to other populations living comfortable lives in this progressive and bountiful area are under-served immigrants, refugees, and other Americans deprived of desperately needed services due to budget cuts and staff reductions. Nesta Rovina valiantly visits them in their homes, in neighborhoods where others dare not go. Guardian angels must protect this angel of caring. The day after finishing this book, I read in an Oakland paper that a young woman had been killed in her living room by a stray bullet shot from the street outside. Tree Barking opened my eyes and made me notice this news item in a different way: A paralyzed patient in one of the chapters has learned how to roll over in her bed onto the floor on hearing gunshots.

Amazing perspective

I've lived in the Bay Area all my life and have never seen it like I did through Nesta's eyes. The descriptions of people and places hiding under our noses makes this a worthwhile read. The interaction of the care-givers, "consumers" and their worlds is priceless.

Memoir of a healer

I finished this book in awe of Nesta Rovina's ability to tell the stories of people who go unseen by most of us and have us see each person's unique self. An occupational therapist employed by county health services in the San Francisco Bay Area, she visits her patients in their homes. Seeing each person in such an a intimate setting, she learns a great deal about their lives: their challenges,triumphs and disappointments. These are people that most of us don't know and will never meet. They are mostly poor,of all racial and ethnic backgrounds; many are recent immigrants, confused and scared. Some are young men who have been victims of gang or drug-related violence. Nesta brings them more than just lessons on how to get out of bed, use a wheelchair or how to take a bath to those she visits. Her writing is a window into the depth of her compassion for her patients. A South African Jew living in that country during the years of apartheid, then moving to Israel and losing her husband in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, herself an immigrant to the U.S., she brings a unique perspective to her work. Each story is interwoven with her own story and what she learns from the patients she cares for. Her memoir is also an eye-witness account of the degradation of our healthcare delivery system that began in the early 1990's. Patients became seen as "consumers" of healthcare and focusing on the bottom line started driving down the quality of care. She continues to give her all for her patients even as her caseload goes up. As the previous reviewer stated, there is a lot of sadness in this book...and much to be inspired by.

Very moving memoir

Rovina shares her experiences as an occupational therapist in some of the most violent and impoverished neighborhoods in California. Tree Barking is fascinating, sometimes horrifying -- and often very sad. She weaves in her own experiences as a South African Jew who moved to Israel and later to the United States. She shares her personal life, including the death of her young husband during the Yom Kippur War and a later relationship gone bad, and relates them to her experiences helping people deal with their physical and emotional troubles. Rovina tells a very moving story with humor and empathy.