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(More customer reviews)Meeting Mr. James E. Martin was a recent serendipitous pleasure. I overheard him at a carft show telling someone about his old pet dachshund. Being a dachshund person myself I was overjoyed at the opportunity to chat with someone about this marvelous little dog breed. During my conversation with this lively gent he mentioned his military career and how he has written about some of it in his book, "Life on the Monkey Bus". I also picked up, "Ebbie" and he told me that book was only about his life and I would probably find it boring. Well, Mr. Martin I was far from bored with your story.
Ebbie gives it to you like it is. There is no sugar coating in this story. It is about real life and it's all too often unpleasantness. There is however briefly, moments of sunshine in an otherwise life of drudgery. He is a mere tot when surrendered into foster care during the 1920s. All through his life he only wants what all children want; to be accepted and loved. Unfortuneatly for Ebbie he is unable to hold on to it for long. After two foster families and three years in a cold orphanage where the children are treated as livestock he is fostered by a farming family. Made to pull more than his share of work for his room and board, nothing else. Ebbie is never encouraged to feel like one of the family. He is drafted into the Army in 1942 and comes back to marry his childhood sweetheart.
It is a heart wrenching story. When I met Ebbie he is entering his 87th year and you'd never know he had to carry those burdens of yesteryear. He has a kind face without a hint of bitterness in his sweet smile.
Thank you Mr. Martin for sharing your story with us.
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Ebbie is the autobiography of James E. Martin, who as an infant suffered the loss of his mother, a victim of a post-World War I influenza epidemic. For reasons never clarified, Martin's father abandoned him. The child's aunt and uncle took custody of him and planned to rear him as their own, but further family tragedy intervened which cast him upon a cruel journey of mistreatment and intrigue. A forty year saga transpired before Ebbie was able to discover his 'roots' leading him back his relatives. By telling his story of perseverance, the author does not wish himself to be perceived as a 'victim', but rather as an inspiration to many youth of today who are struggling to survive similar or worse circumstances than his own. His message to them is: Childhood is temporary. It is a time when others are in charge of your life. If your existence is dire, learn how to survive, to keep your sanity, and resolve not to allow your present conditions to wreak and sour your ultimate goal to endure and to become the kind of person which you will be proud of. It can be done. Others have done it and you can also do it.
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