Click here to buy this book! Lulu Paul CicconeJr Category:  Inspirational Publisher: Paul Ciccone Pages: 172 Copyright: 2008 Let not memory hold dear the quantity of your accomplishments; instead let their worth be measured by the manner in which you achieved them. OH Brother   A richly layered, thought provoking philosophical text that considers numerous issues. It opens with a meta-narrative preface that considers the writing process and explores the use of words to mirror the author's opinions.   The philosophical comments, melded with short vignettes of memoir round out the manuscript and enable it's readers to personally identify with each circumstance.   Topically rich and penned with a touch of poetry, OH Brother runs the gamut. It may just be...that prescription one needs to help ease the pain of reality. Excerpt To surmise that just about everyone dreams of living neat clean lives without any unnecessary burdens is to me a very reasonable assumption, yet few (if any of us) ever do. The unexpected in life is conspicuously obvious, often it's even considered the norm, and this dirty, untidy, dis-orderly part of living is what validates the fact "life is messy!" Since the onset of reason, man with all his intellect has sought to explain "why or how come" things happen. Through conjecture, feasibility, and so-called practical thinking (not to be confused with common sense) renowned philosophers, theologians, students of religion, scientists, mathematicians, and even magicians claim to have resolved the question. However, with their intervention and fabulized theories, the only thing they succeeded in was camouflaging and confusing the truth. Still, many of these fables and much of their theory is universally accepted as appropriate and have since become indisputable answers to "the why and how come" of things. Regardless of who concludes "what as to why" or thinks themselves knowledgeable in the understanding of "how come"; all scarcely accomplish anything more than mere enhancement and further bewilderment of the entire issue. The unexpected will happen no matter what! Somewhere, in the vast unconsciousness of our minds dwells our best friend and our worst enemy. This entity knows your dreams, fantasies, wants, and desires; your weaknesses, strengths, and fears-it knows absolutely all there is to know about you! It exists to arouse doubt and induce guidance; challenging, criticizing, and encouraging every thing you do and dream about doing. Each of us knows it well too, for we have all confided with and ignored it. Unlike the shadow, that surfaces only when some form of illumination is present this unconscious thrives in not only the light but the darkness as well. It's always there, always willing and always ready to ratify what we perceive as true or add to the confusion of that which we doubt.

The Lulu Book Review
Chapter 1 of Paul Ciccone’s book is entitled “Believe It or Not,” which were my words exactly as I began reading his book for this review. I could NOT believe the tight cogent prose this author has penned! Believe it or not, I almost felt a bit under educated to even be reading this. Ciccone’s writing reads like a fine college thesis, but he has the aptitude to write theory or psychology textbooks, even speeches, for a living if he wanted to.
Chapter 1 alone almost made me feel like I was reading a textbook, but possibly a requirement for one of those surprising electives that you expect to just stumble through but find yourself being turned on to a whole new subject matter instead. I couldn’t put it down! Here are some of the words I wrote down in the margins as I continuously underlined quote after quote…essay, journalist, man, existence, sociology, psychology, theory… Sounds boring to you perhaps? Not quite. Ciccone is a genius writer and my sideline thoughts on his stories have barely touched the surface.

Undeniably, man is the dominant life form on earth, and the ugly truth is that he alone, endowed with an infinite ability to imagine can be the maker of dreams-however, when united as a civilized society he emerges the destroyer of them.

One of my few qualms with Ciccone’s writing (and there were very few) would be his thesis-like introductions to some of the fictional components. For instance, the first paragraph of a great piece called “Neither Here nor There” is the author explaining to the reader that they are about to read a fictional story “from the archive of my minds memory and not endorsed through imagination.” When reading this I was quickly reminded of Floyd M. Orr’s “Nonfiction in a fictional style” mode of writing. The author goes on to tell a beautiful and poetic story about the last moments of a baby in the womb before literally being thrust into the world. His introduction steals from the real theme of the story and makes it read more like a dissertation.
Looking back at my copy now, I found myself underlining or circling a quote on almost every page. Like I said before, this guy would be an excellent speech writer. Heck, he could sell some of this book as a self-help book or motivational piece. His words were so true and beautifully written that I consulted by book of Bartlett’s quotations to make sure I had not read them somewhere before. Although there are two many quotes to list, here are a few of my favorites…

Let not memory hold dear the quantity of your accomplishments; instead let their worth be measured by the manner in which you achieved them.

Definitely a message we’ve heard before, but Ciccone has given it a new take.
On being a parent…

Be pleased and smile as you watch the faltering of once tiny wings spread wide to catch the wind of fate as it scurries them off to the place destiny meant them to be!

Wow! Now that’s poetry.
Words on the complexity of life…

The unexpected in life is conspicuously obvious, often it’s even consider the norm, and this dirty, untidy, disorderly part of living is what validates the fact “life is messy!”

Okay, I know what you are thinking. This man should write fortune cookies!
On that note, here’s another…

Don’t be trapped by the dogma of living life within the expectations of other people’s thinking and don’t let the noise of their opinions drown out your inner voice!

The author spends much of the beginning of the book giving you lots of complex opinions on a variety of subjects to think about, but he truly starts to reveal himself in a piece called “A Glimpse Back.” Here he recalls a list of memories of people and places that left a distinct impression on his life…a trip to the beach, a fourth birthday. By the time I reached this particular chapter, I had already put the book down twice just to give myself a small break from the overwhelmingly intense, but inspirational, words of this author. So, in reading this part, it was very nice to discover who this writer really is as he reveals some of his private thoughts.
Upon completing this read, I emailed Mr. Ciccone to ask a few questions. To date, I have not yet received his reply, but would still be interested in hearing his responses. I asked what he did for a living, as this man certainly has a talent for creating some wonderful prose. I also asked what inspired him to write this book. Perhaps, he will enlighten us here by replying to the review.
OH Brother is, once again, another POD book that certainly disproves the bad opinions some may have on the self-publishing world. Paul Ciccone, in my mind, is a brilliant writer that I hope many will look into after reading this. If you enjoy a good debate on the essence and quality of life, or just need some pick-me-up motivational words from someone who isn’t trying to sell you them in an infomercial, or maybe you enjoy hearing someone else’s outlook on this great big complex world, then buy this book.

Mind Fog Reviews-Anastasia Casella_Young
OH Brother By Paul Ciccone, Jr.

The sheer poetic symmetry of "OH Brother" is truly articulate and well worded. It is true that author Paul Ciccone, Jr. loves words. The formatting of the poetry in this author's words is truly like one I have never seen and I found it completely fulfilling to read every word of it.

5 *****



RL Burton
Ciccone is an authentic New England voice, and he’s current and critical. In chapters like “Nature’s Way” he queries our common future and shared responsibilities. His writing intermixes poetry, philosophy, the honoring of nature, and spiritual intelligence. He does not limit the work in term of genre—for here is memoir, poetry, essays, and a coming of age story; there are stories within stories, framed through the lens of one man’s reflection on his life so far.
As you might savor the lines of Frost or Thoreau, you can return to “Oh Brother” and find something valuable. I gain something each time I pick it up, be it a nugget of wisdom or some wit and charm to bring a smile to my face.
“Oh Brother” can be appreciated by anyone who has a deep respect for the past. This is at once a reflective and nostalgic work with a heartfelt concern for future generations. Fundamentally moving is Ciccone’s emphasis on “inner voice.” For this book is a humble and multifaceted tribute to his own life and to those of his loved ones, as well as a reminder of everyone’s ability to find their own “inner voice.” The book demonstrates his epigraph “words are mirrors to our thoughts” and illuminates Oliver Wendell Holmes’s claim: "What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."