A Professor's Unforgettables
AnnieLaura M. Jaggers
(Reviewer - Dr. Alma H. Bond)
2005 Aventine Press
ISBN: 1593303246

5 out of 10,000 Students in 25 Years.

More often than not, those of us who lead an “examined life” are not at the same time inclined to share the results of that examination. But AnnieLaura Jagger's generous revealing of self illuminates the lives of all who know her. Her passionate connection with other humans, the driving force in these stories, involves readers as if they were in conversation with one who has largeness of spirit. We are grateful to know her, & are impressed with her fiction.

Sr. Associate Reviewer Dr. Alma H. Bond writes:

AnnieLaura Jaggers is the Grandma Moses of Literature. Beginning her career as a published writer late in life (she is now 87), she has taken her long service as a teacher of humanities & transformed it into a delightful book of short stories that no one who has ever loved a teacher should miss. The tales are moving, insightful into human nature, & full of the wisdom that only age combined with sensibility can bring.

My favorite story in the book is about Barbara Davis Norris Church Mailer, the wife of Norman Mailer, the only student AnnieLaura ever had who is an internationally-known celebrity. She was neither famous nor Mailer's wife when she was a student in the class, & AnnieLaura “makes no claim that (her) teaching had anything to do with her achieving celebrity” (p. 48). The description of the first meeting between Norman & Barbara is particularly noteworthy. “I distinctly remember that I was sitting between Norman and the front door when Francis ushered Barbara in and made an informal introduction,” AnnieLaura writes. “Most of us knew her, but Mailer had never seen her before. The expression on his face was unforgettable as if, one can be reasonably sure, he felt he had never seen anyone so breathtakingly beautiful before. He did not take his eyes off her for the rest of that little party.” (p. 51)

Unfortunately, Barbara developed cancer shortly after her book, Windchill Summer, was published. Annie Laura ends the chapter in a moving manner with, “Whether or not the cancer will be cured or will be taken away before old age cannot be known precisely; however I offer a judgement that Barbara's concluding episode will be as glorious as are the finishing touches of any fine work of art.” (p.61)

Another story I liked a lot was about AnnieLaura's “mystery student” John Giovanni, who had a habitual smell about him of which AnnieLaura was suspicious. She asked him, “John, are you a retired ‘hippy’ or a ‘back-to-earther’? You look like one of our hill-billy farmers.” (p. 68) John didn't answer the question, but later had a confidential talk with his teacher in which he explained the origin of the smell. I don't wish to give away the ending of the story, but I suspect you will be surprised by it. John disappeared at the end of the term. AnnieLaura writes, “I have wondered about John many a time -- where he is, how he is, and what he is doing. I think I can say that he was a student whom I truly loved.” (p. 75) I believe Annielaura was as fine a teacher as she was because of the very fact that she wasn't afraid to love her students.

A Professor's Unforgettables is a nice looking book, with a pretty jacket. The large print makes for easy reading. My only criticism is that it could have had a better editor. There were originally many typos in the book, but AnnieLaura worked very hard to clear them up. She has largely succeeded.

A Professor's Unforgettables is highly recommended for all who like a “good read” & the many people who, as children, dearly loved their teachers. It is particularly recommended to the many individuals (including your reviewer) whose lives were deepened & expanded by superlative human beings such as AnnieLaura Jaggers.

More from AnnieLaura Jaggers:
A Nude Singularity: Lily Peter of Arkansas, a Biography.
Billy Freeman, Florida Keys Sheriff.
(01/29/06)

Dr. Alma H. Bond
2006©Alma H. Bond
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

A RebeccasReads author featured in Authors & Books

Reviewer's Bio:
Dr. Alma Halbert Bond is the author of 11 published books. Her latest, Camille Claudel: a Novel, is currently in publication, & will be reviewed as soon as it comes hot off the presses!
The Deadly Jigsaw Puzzle;
The Tree That Could Fly;
Tales Of Psychology (2005);
I Married Dr. Jekyll And Woke Up Mrs. Hyde (2000);
The Autobiography Of Maria Callas, A Novel (1998);
On Becoming A Grandparent: A Diary of Family Discovery (1994);
Who Killed Virginia Woolf? A Psychobiography (1998);
Profiles of Key West (1996).

She recently recorded her new manuscript, Old Age Is A Terminal Illness, as an audio book.

She is also the author of a just published children's picture book called The Tree That Could Fly.

Dr. Bond teaches Psychology & Writing online at WriterSchool.