A powerful and compassionate Christian self-help text.
A prescription for forgiveness drawn from Scripture.
The Ahithophel referenced in the title of Spencer’s nonfiction debut is an Old Testament figure whose story is intimately connected with that of King David. Ahithophel had been the king’s trusted advisor until David coveted Ahithophel’s granddaughter Bathsheba and orchestrated the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. At that point, Ahithophel turned against the king and unsuccessfully sought his military destruction, and he later hanged himself. This story presents Spencer, a lecturer at Caribbean Maritime University, with the crux of her analysis, which deals with the concept of forgiveness. Ahithophel “could either devise strategies to hurt David,” she writes, “or allow God to work on his heart and help him to forgive David.” In her view, Ahithophel drifted further and further from “his identity in God” as he focused on revenge; she identifies this as the “Ahithophel Syndrome” and lays out a faith-based program for dealing with vengeful thoughts and rediscovering “the unsurpassed pleasure that comes from showing compassion.” She uses the acronym “F.O.R.G.I.V.E.” to describe this program, which stands for “Father’s Ointment Richly Given to Invalidate Vicious Emotions.” Throughout the book, Spencer stresses that forgiveness is a key aspect of the Christian faith, and it’s one that many adherents fail to achieve: “We find that many Christians are hateful,” she writes, “lacking purity of heart and are not mindful of others’ feelings.” She clearly makes her key point that forgiveness is not just a duty to God, but also a duty to the people whom one forgives. Insights such as these are common, as are the author’s autobiographical asides; she also repeatedly demonstrates her firm command of Scripture. Each chapter reinforces the author’s disarmingly simple message: “When we put our faith in God, we have peace in God.” Christian readers who may have lost sight of the central tenet of forgiveness will find reinvigorating reminders in these pages.
A powerful and compassionate Christian self-help text.Pub Date: May 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-949343-86-1
Page Count: 108
Publisher: DayeLight Publishers
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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