What Now? By Kaitlyn Odom Fielder: Book Review

 Rating 4.5/5

It has been a while since I last reviewed a book. Okay, let's be honest, it's been a while since I last picked up a book. I won't get into that here. When Ambassador International sent me books to review, I was in the middle of podcasting and things got to be too much with my poor health. Sadly, a few books got set aside and forgotten about. This was one of them. Now, with my writing again, I found these books. 

In What Now?, Kaitlyn opens her heart and soul for the world to see. It was honest and thoughtful. I don't normally find myself reading nonfiction books, but I am very happy that I had the opportunity to read this book. The opening line is quirky, but it works, setting the stage for the rest of what is to come. On every page you can feel the author's emotions, her grief, sorrow, and most importantly, her hope. She doesn't hide anything. I loved knowing the questions that she had about life, about her experiences, and what God had in store for her. Through reading this, I was brought back to moments of my own trauma that I had growing up. Though it was not losing someone in the way that she lost her family, but I found myself relating to her emotions and questions.

An overall theme that carries throughout, is that through faith, God brings healing. Just because we experience traumatic events, or bad things happen, it does not mean that God does not love us. God loves us very much, even through the bad, God will bring about good. I loved seeing the journey that Kaitlyn took to learnt to cope and deal with what had happened to her. She breaks it down into a step by step process. 

At some points it did feel slightly disjointed, but part of that is simply her mind processing what she went through and how it has led her to where she is now. I also found at some points my interest waned slightly, but even in those parts, I am glad that she included them. These moments have meant something to her, and readers will connect to various experiences and questions that she was faced with.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I would certainly recommend this to anyone who has been faced with trauma. Let's face it, that's most of us. 

https://www.abeautifulbelonging.com/book/

Book Review- Dave Pelzer- A Child Called “It” and The Lost Boy

Dave Pelzer- A Child Called “It” and The Lost Boy (Health Communications Inc. 1995) 4.75 Stars

For Dave Pelzer life was so perfect. They had a happy family and enjoyed fun outings, until one inexplicable day things changed. Suddenly Dave wasn’t worthy of a name, food, a proper bed, or new clothes. He became the beating child who went without food most days. His struggle to survive took all of his being and he had to learn to steal what food he got. Just getting through the day was all he could accomplish.

Before reading this my wife had warned me that it would be a really tough read and she sure was right. This kind of terrible abuse is just atrocious to think of. I studied youth care work and this book helps me understand more of their backgrounds and what they went through. I was able to see many quirks that we were trained to watch out for in our courses. Dave’s story is one that makes a body want to cry, but I also found myself wishing that his mother would die a slow and agonising death. The blame also falls on his father though for being a spineless coward who just let it all happen. It was a happy moment when Dave was taken into the foster program, which we all knew was coming through the little introductory section. Overall I have to say, a great pair of books, but not ones to pick up and read lightly.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- Bonnie Buxton- Damaged Angels

Bonnie Buxton- Damaged Angels (Knopf Canada 2004) 3 Stars

When Bonnie Buxton adopted Collette she had no idea what a life of struggles she had found. Collette always struggled in school, had weird mood swings, lied, stole, and even threatened to take her sister’s life with a knife. Going to doctors was useless as they blamed her parenting, even when she suspected what it was they still told her she was wrong. Finally, many years too late, Collette was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD). This is her story.

I loved the first hundred pages or so, it was a touching story of a family trying to make it through all odds. Having worked in group homes I have seen the effects of FASD, and understand how difficult it can be to deal with them. The family is wonderful and this couple must be patted on the back for having gotten through it with some amount of sanity. That being said this book kind of tanked off in interest in the last half. It started to focus on many different people’s stories of dealing with FASD and it got to be too difficult to focus or keep track of who was who. She also gave a lot of information, which got to be kind of tedious. If the author had focused on a few stories and gave half the information it would have been much more interesting. Overall it was not a terrible book, and if you deal with FASD children you might be interesting in reading the book.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/