An earnest, if occasionally redundant, description of one woman’s rocky spiritual path.
Read offers her personal tale of religious awakening, including her experiences with people whom she says were falsely serving Jesus Christ.
The author tells of how she joined a small Bible study and prayer group led by a man named Bill, and goes on to explain the ways in which her relationship with the group soured before she finally left in the 1990s. She states at the outset that she “was able to be deceived into thinking that I was walking with followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, when in truth, I was walking with the enemy.” She relates her journey of discovery in this memoir, in which she makes allegations regarding the group’s leader; for example, in a 1993 statement, she said, “He pursued the ladies in the group in a sexual way if they would have it.” Her account makes frequent use of such primary sources, including letters, diary entries, and transcriptions of tape-recorded conversations. She compares her own struggle with that of the infamous Branch Davidians, led by the charismatic David Koresh, and she makes clear that Koresh was “of the same ‘antichrist spirit’ as the man sent to try to destroy me, and my family!” Although Read’s account doesn’t end in fiery government intervention, it does contain stories of demonic attacks, the author’s ruminations on the nature of evil, and the recurring question of whom one can trust when committing to follow Jesus Christ. Debut author Read’s story is clearly heartfelt. However, it’s somewhat repetitive, with frequent declarations on such subjects as the power of God (“God is all-powerful! God is in control! And it doesn’t matter whether men believe it or not”), which don’t make for the most engaging prose. Readers will likely be convinced of the author’s devoutness early on, which she bolsters with many biblical references, so subsequent mentions of her devotion often seem extraneous. Nevertheless, her memoir delivers a quick, highly personalized account of her life’s journey.
An earnest, if occasionally redundant, description of one woman’s rocky spiritual path.Pub Date: June 5, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: True Light Publications
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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