Description
“This story is a treasure. Its value of family, knowledge, and spirituality touch the foundations of day-to-day life despite the dire circumstances within which it is set. The rich narrative plows a field that grows the reader into belonging to a distressed family and follows the author’s lead in his quest to understand his tragic predicament.
Dr. Moss’s guilt, from which he refuses to absolve himself, or even allow his mother to absolve him as the offended party, has Shakespearean qualities. Flashback scenes provide a rich tapestry in understanding the matriarch’s specialness. The doctor’s mother soon becomes the reader’s mother.
The author’s use of dialogue is often pure genius. Not only Shakespeare, it has Woody Allen written all over it. The prose is extremely literate, and some scenes are great literature. The autobiographical nature gives fundamental credibility to the son and his mother who are more than victims of a stroke — they are every mother and every son.”
— John F.X. Ryan, Jr., Former Managing Director,
Sovran Limited and Pac West Distributing, Inc.
Executive Assistant, Lieutenant Governor, State of Indiana
“I rate Matilda’s Triumph a 10++! What a beautiful tribute to a mother’s legacy. I appreciate the author’s openness and willingness to share so much. Matilda’s strength of character as shown throughout will have her among the timeless matriarchs studied and compared in circles for years to come. What makes this book good is the context – stories of childhood, stories of Dr. Moss with his own children, and the story of his mother. But what make this book brilliant are the elements it contains that render it indispensable to literature as a whole.
Matilda’s struggles tightened her grip on the Jewish faith as the backbone to her legacy. She was unapologetic in her stand for Jewish devotion being noble and focused. It was her only constant other than the love of her children. Moss’s complex, seemingly effortless ability to write – painting pictures with poetic language mixed with medical terminology is fascinating.”
— Tiffany Moncrief
Editor of Renew Partnerships, Freelance Christian Writer
“I was swept into the story from the beginning. The tale was sweet, poignant, and heartwarming. At times, it was very heart wrenching and funny. The glimpse into the life of a colleague who I have known for years was both welcome and enlightening. The depth of feeling that was so apparent in his words and thoughts about his mother helped me to become immersed in the story. I shared many laughs and tears through the course of my reading. I would highly recommend this as a must read for anyone who has loved and lost.”
— Lori Johnson, RN, Administrator,
Memorial Hospital Outpatient Surgery Center
“Dr. Richard Moss is a respected political and social columnist in southwest Indiana. In his memoir, he turns the focus from the culture to his inner landscape and a description of his search for meaning in this very secular culture.
Dr. Moss’ search began with the needless murder of his teenage babysitter, his mother’s critical illness, and the need to create or reclaim his own religious heritage. His journey becomes a struggle between inevitable fate and an emergent faith in the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
His brother’s fight with drug addiction and his mother’s debilitating stroke both bring to a head a religious crisis. In the end, he discovers that love is our inevitable destiny, if life is to have any meaning. Through faith and grace, we can become more than just a narrative of our past.”
— Rev. Deacon Thomas E. Holsworth, Ph.D., HSSP
Clinical Psychologist, Ph.D. from Purdue
M.S.T. St. Meinrad Seminary 2000
“This book will inspire people of all faiths and walks of life. Matilda, raising five boys in the Bronx proves to be entertaining; her amazing character shines through. She gracefully deals with all of the challenges life deals her. What a lady and what a story. You won’t be able to put this book down.”
— Nancy Blessinger Registered Respiratory Therapist, Christian mother
“Unlike highly touted and highly varnished autobiographies of politicos who’ve done nothing, Rick’s new book is an unvarnished bio of people who’ve done quite a lot, focused on two such: on Dr. Moss himself, a skilled surgeon who after years of pro bono volunteering in Asia, established a conventional ENT practice in deepest Indiana; and on the life – soon following a major stroke – of his mother Matilda. She was an Indiana native, but a first-generation American born to a humble Sephardic family from the Balkans. The writing is fluid, compelling, informative and in the end genuinely uplifting and moving.
“Rick’s childhood in the 1950s/1960s Bronx was nothing short of Dickensian, almost unimaginable to a taken-for-granted middle class reader like myself (also with solid Bronx and Brooklyn roots). Rick recounts his spiritual evolution from a six year old convinced he’s born to be a prophet, literally, through the conventional irreligious radicalism of his university milieu, through a productive and respectful engagement with the Eastern traditions, and his continuing marriage to and professional partnership with Ying, a Sino-Thai nurse.”
— Alan Potkin, Ph.D., Team Leader
Digital Conservation Facility, Laos Center for Southeastern Asian Studies
Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, IL
“I was greatly blessed as I read this book. Richard Moss is transparent as he writes about his beloved mother and family. As a son, brother, husband, father and a trusting friend, he is an inspiration to many others and me. He is honest as he reports his mother’s struggles to live. He explains his frustrations, hopes and guilt in the course of her illness. It is a story of faith, suffering, and redemption. I recommend it.”
— Pastor Judith Branam, Jasper, Indiana
Apostolic United Pentecostal Church International
