A spiritual account that’s too idiosyncratic to resonate with many readers.
In this debut memoir, Hunt, a teacher, describes direct communication with God.
The author, who states that she doesn’t belong to any organized church, considers herself an ordinary person who has an extraordinary relationship with God. Ever since her father’s sudden death when she was 7, she says, God has taken on a paternal role in her life. The connection is unconventional, as she describes it, because it involves God sending the author personal messages. Often, she says, these messages are delivered in “fantastically vivid” dreams that furnish Hunt with “premonitions.” She asserts that she was able to foretell the deaths of her mother and aunt; in her mother’s case, Hunt says that she heard a voice in a dream that disclosed the timing of her passing. Occasionally, she says, a message from God gently reminds her to take better care of herself; she writes that once, after hours of reading traumatic news stories online, she saw a message flash across her screen: “Lisa, stop. Don’t go any further.” The author also states her belief that God personally intervened when she needed help; for example, when she experienced car trouble, an unfamiliar woman pulled over to offer assistance and encouragement, and Hunt was certain that had God sent her: “At a time when I was feeling fearful and helpless, I sincerely believe God sent one of his angels to stand with me during this uncomfortable time.” Hunt’s memoir seems like more of an extended essay than a full-length monograph, and it focuses singularly on her spiritual experience. Her prose is unfailingly clear and its tone is as casual as a friendly chat. The story that she tells is unlikely to convince a large number of readers, but her professed aim is to bear witness, not to persuade. To that end, she successfully conveys her message that God is involved in every aspect of her life: “No matter how small or insignificant the events seem, the circumstances surrounding the events allowed me to see God’s hand in what was happening.”
A spiritual account that’s too idiosyncratic to resonate with many readers.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-7294-4
Page Count: 108
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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