Book reviews written by kikero

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Inkheart

by Cornelia Funke
- Rated 5 stars
“Delightful, delicious. Rollicking good fun. Written by an author who is obviously in love with books herself. ”

kikero wrote this review Friday, September 25 2009. ( reply | permalink )
The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church

by Reggie McNeal
- Rated 4 stars
“Cogent, clear-thinking, pulls-no-punches. Style is somewhat dry at times, engaging and informative at others. Points well-supported and well-taken. Offers fresh, real, and workable solutions to real deficiencies and problems. A must-read for anyone in - or rubbing elbows with - church leadership.”

kikero wrote this review Thursday, July 30 2009. ( reply | permalink )
HOME: A MEMOIR OF MY EARLY YEARS

by Julie Andrews
- Rated 4 stars
“This book was a pleasant surprise. Rich, poignant, engaging. Penned by one remarkable lady.”

kikero wrote this review Thursday, July 30 2009. ( reply | permalink )
Boy: Tales of Childhood

by Roald Dahl
- Rated 0 stars
“With five boys of my own - married to the oldest one for 26+ years - how could I resist? ”

kikero wrote this review Thursday, July 30 2009. ( reply | permalink )
The Shack

by William P. Young
- Rated 5 stars
“The Shack is one of the most extraordinary books I've ever read. Creative, intriguing, gutsy and a thoroughly engaging read, this remarkable novel addresses the age-old question of why/how a loving God can allow suffering and evil to exist in this world.

Overwhelmed by "The Great Sadness" that threatens to drown him, Mackenzie "Mack" Allen Phillips receives a cryptic note in his mailbox one winter. No return address. No postal mark. No signature. The typed note is signed, "Papa" - the word his wife, Nan, uses for God. Unbelievably, the sender asks Mack to meet him at the shack - the site of an immense tragedy.

Shortly thereafter, Mack gingerly, reluctantly finds himself on the road to the wilderness area where his young daughter, Missy, was murdered three and a half years prior. What and Who he finds at the shack helps him sort through intense rage, sorrow, confusion, disillusionment, heartache, amazement, forgiveness, and immeasurable joy and wonder - without cliches or canned answers.

Set in the Pacific Northwest, this outstanding, beautifully written story is "ghostwritten" by the author as told by Mack, whose unspeakable personal loss and tragedy leads him onto a Bunyanesque journey into eternity - and some incredible surprises.

Of the almost 200 books I've read thus far in 2008, "The Shack" is among my top three titles. This story isn't about churchianity or theology or seminary or sitting in a pew on Sundays, but about relationships (note that The Shack IS a novel, and neither purports nor pretends to be a theological treatise).

I read the entire book cover-to-cover in about 24 hours. It's THAT good. HIGHLY recommended.”

kikero wrote this review Thursday, December 11 2008. ( reply | permalink )
Grace: A Novel

by Richard Paul Evans
- Rated 4 stars
“I finished reading Richard Paul Evans’ newest release, Grace, last week. I held off on writing a review because I wanted to ruminate on the novel awhile, let it roll around in my head and “marinate” heart and soul. I also wanted to take my time because you can’t rush a review of Grace. It’s not that kind of book. Here’s why:

When I read the Author’s Note regarding the 1874 child abuse case of Mary Ellen Wilson, I almost put Grace back on the library shelf. I can’t get near that topic without one of two reactions: dissolving into a soggy heap of tears, or wanting to personally thrash the stuffing out of the perpetrators. As the mother of four boys and the Children’s Ministries Co-Director for our church, child abuse enrages me beyond words. It also rips my heart out. Frankly, I wasn’t up for either emotion the day Grace came into the library (It took awhile. I was #23 in the “On Hold” queue). Tempted to put it back, I refrained from doing so for just one reason: I own every title Evans has ever written. I’ve never been disappointed. So, on the strength of Evans’ prior work, I decided to trust him with this new book. So I stuffed Grace into my bag en route to the YMCA with my youngest. Poolside while Josiah splashed down the water slide, I gingerly withdrew Grace and started reading.

Grace opens with a recap of Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Little Match Girl" and some grandfatherly reflections from protagonist Eric Welch on Christmas Day 2006 (p.5). Told in the first person, the story unfolds in flashback fashion during Eric’s teen years and moves from October 1962 to early January 1963. Eric’s father, a construction worker, is unable to work due to Guillain Barre Syndrome. The family of four, which includes Eric’s ten year-old brother and best friend, Joel, is forced to move from southern California to a rundown, low-rent part of Utah. (I have a good friend with GBS. I’ve never seen this debilitating disease in another novel.)

We struggle with Eric through the first four chapters as he endures the slings and arrows of being “the new kid” in middle school and all the attendant traumas and woes that unhappy scenario typically includes. In Eric’s case it’s exacerbated by being poor and from out-of-state to boot.

We meet fifteen year-old Grace in Chapter Five. She’s foraging for food in a dumpster behind “McBurger Queen,” Eric’s part-time (scum bag) employer. On page 34 we find out that Grace is a runaway: “I’m not going home.” But she has no where to go. Besides, there’s something about Grace (and grace) that’s …unexplained. Mysterious. Something that causes us as well as Eric to pause…

Unwilling to leave Grace roaming the streets alone on a cold October night, Eric brings her to the “clubhouse” he and Joel built behind the family’s sprawling, dilapidated home. The next 240 pages detail the tender uncertainties of First Love, selflessness and sacrifice, courage in the face of overwhelming odds, the Cuban Missile Crisis, family and emotional struggles, and Eric’s rage at the people who “coulda, shoudla, woulda” protected young Grace from her predacious stepfather – but didn’t. The willful ignorance of neighbors, school officials and law enforcement receive a withering indictment that’s all the more effective for its understated subtlety: “I sat alone staring at the back of a pew while people who didn’t really know anything about Grace talked about her as if they suddenly cared.” (p. 292). Evans gently but unequivocally shows how any willful blindness or ignorance makes us all complicit when it comes to crimes against children:

“You killed her. You and Dad and Joel and her pathetic, worthless mother and those stupid, idiotic policemen who just couldn’t wait to be heroes. … You all killed Grace…’ (p. 295)

If the story stopped here, it would have been poignant, but Evans doesn’t let it go. Not quite. He doesn’t leave us outraged, wrung-out, hopeless and helpless. Instead, he subtly intertwines themes of God’s grace, redemption and restoration throughout this carefully crafted story of a teen runaway (see the bottom of page 296). This reaches its zenith in an Epilogue that is both hopeful and heart-wrenching. It is in these final, gripping pages that we see how tragedy transforms a painfully shy, self-conscious fourteen year-old boy “with acne and a bad hair cut” into a tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners prosecutor whose life is forever and irrevocably changed by those late autumn and winter months of 1962 and a girl named Grace:

“I have spent my life hunting down and prosecuting people like Grace’s stepfather. I carry Grace’s locket into every trial. I’ve earned a reputation as a fierce courtroom combatant who takes every case personally. What Grace saw in the candle was true of me as well. I am feared. … Today I continue my crusade. I have testified about child abuse before state lawmakers more times than I can remember. I’ve lived to see child advocacy become a public concern. I am grateful that the world finally has the courage to open its eyes. My wife asks me when we can retire, but I tell her I’ll die in the saddle. With my last breath I’ll continue to fight for these children. I cannot save them all, but I can save some of them, and that’s worth doing. There are other Graces out there.” (p. 305, 306).

I was relieved that Evans avoids any graphic details regarding Grace’s family history, relationships or the experiences that led to her running away from home. Consummate storyteller that he is, Evans drops subtle clues and hints throughout the story and allows us to fill in the blanks without assaulting us with additional traumatic narrative.

In terms of format and style, Grace features Evans’ usual short chapters and his trademark “diary entries” that preface each chapter. The style is vintage Evans, luminous and evocative, introducing us to three-dimensional characters whom we come to know, love, and miss as plot, climax, and conclusion unfold with great sensitivity and sagacity. The book closes with A Letter from Richard Paul Evans detailing practical help readers can provide via The Christmas Box Initiative and Operation Kids. Web sites and a toll-free phone number are included.

All in all, Grace is a fast – but not a light - read. I read the book cover-to-cover in an afternoon. I rate it four out of five stars. Although I love Evans' stories, Grace fell a little short for me, maybe because it seemed emotionally manipulative, pedantic and somewhat predictable at times. It isn’t as strong as either The Gift or Finding Noel. (This opinion may be due to the combined effects of sauna-like humidity, enough chlorine to choke a whale and countless interruptions from an errant beach ball – all part of trying to read beside an indoor pool.)

At any rate, I wanted to stand up at cheer at the final page of Grace. I plan on a re-read – just as soon as I restock my Kleenex stash.

”

kikero wrote this review Friday, November 7 2008. ( reply | permalink )
Diana: In Pursuit of Love

by Andrew Morton
- Rated 3 stars
“And I thought All My Children was a soap opera. Indeed, Erica Kane has nothing on the late Princess of Wales and the latter’s tumultuous, tortured relationship with the British monarchy embodied by the stiff-upper-lip stoicism and self-absorbed myopia of the House of Windsor.

This biography by acclaimed British “investigative writer” Andrew Morton, bears the unfortunate title of Diana: In Pursuit of Love (Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2004). Depending upon which side of the warring Waleses one sympathizes with, a more accurate heading may have been : Diana: Queen of Hearts?, Diana: Goddess of the Hunt, Saint Diana: The People’s Princess, or Diana: Royal Nutcase.

Whatever else may be the case regarding the late Princess, Morton’s meticulously researched and painstakingly documented account of Diana’s last five years of life is even-handed and so thorough it could choke whale. Morton tries hard not to take sides in the famous Windsor vs. Diana wars, but his affection for and admiration of the Princess is evident throughout the pages of this 302 page tome. It includes an Introduction, Prologue, and Epilogue. If the author’s name sounds familiar, it should. Hand-selected by Diana as her chosen biographer, Andrew Morton wrote the controversial Diana: Her True Story with Diana’s secret collaboration. Published in 1992, the book stood the public’s perception of both the Princess and the British monarchy on its ear.

In Diana: In Pursuit of Love, Morton offers a finely drawn portrait of an intensely complicated young woman who was both vilified and adored by those inside and outside the royal family. Morton writes as a reporter chronicling the ups and downs of the Princess’s up-and-down life. Chapters include Hard Road to Freedom, the Year of Living Dangerously, In Search of Love, a Princess to the World, Fakes, Forgeries and Secret Tapes, the Long Goodbye, The Crowning of the Queen of Hearts, The Final Odyssey, and the Curse of the Lost Princess. Writes Morton:

“She was a curious, and for many, an unsettling combination – a sophisticated woman of the world able to discuss death and dying with the Archbishop of Canterbury one minute, yet innocent of the ways of the world. A socially accomplished woman who could face a sophisticated cocktail party, she had never been to a pub on her own, and neither could she boil a pan of pasta.” (p. 73).

Numerous suggestions are made that Diana had a “sheltered upbringing” and was “very immature when she married,” but it turned out that she wasn’t as malleable as the Windsor thought. It appears that neither side in the “Warring Waleses” (as well as their supporters) understood nor knew what to do with the other, and both gave as good as they got. Even so, some characters in this royal rigmarole qualify as “stand-outs”: Paul Burrell, Diana’s former butler, who once worked for Prince Charles, comes off looking like a target for skunk spray. Prince Philip appears cold, distant, and demanding. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is conniving, two-faced and ingratiating. Prince Charles is a narcissistic, pompous stuffed-shirt with all the warmth of an Inuit igloo. The Queen Mother is positively Antarctic. The only member of the monarchy who looks like another other than an exhibit at the wax museum is the Queen, who seemed determinedly above the fray, exhibiting a dignified detachment or “ostriching” – Diana’s term.

A frequent theme throughout this tome, which includes a Timeline of Diana’s life, a Bibliography of some thirty-five additional sources and eleven=page Index, is Diana as a “woman driven by her emotions” who trusted her “instincts” more than her intellect. Diana is described as “sharp-witted, strikingly attractive and capricious” with a “superficial sociable cheeriness beneath which lay a deep-seated sadness, usually well-hidden.”

Diana reportedly bridles at attempts by the royal family to paint her as mentally and/or emotionally unstable. However, if Pursuit is accurate, they had plenty of ammo: calling male and female friends twenty times a day (or more) “in need of comfort or advice,” clandestine meetings with married men such as art dealer Oliver Hoare and rugby star Will Carling, immersing herself in the lives of men whom she was attracted to – usually married - to the point of obsession, and other behaviors that many might consider neurotic or just plain kooky. Morton is lavish in his explanation of Diana’s behaviors during the Kensington Palace in-fighting, frequently citing “royal pressure” or something similar. Justly or otherwise, Diana may have earned some of her own headlines as a “home wrecker” or descriptions as a “bored, manipulative and selfish princess” (p. 123) who “needed constant reassurances that she was loved” (p. 124).

According to Pursuit, Diana was an outsider before, during and after she left the “constraining, invasive and alienating” life of Kensington Palace. In the royal kerfuffle surrounding the Waleses collapsed marriage – and there’s plenty of blame to go around – Morton cites matters that may have made the disintegrating ties insurmountable – Charles’ adultery and the tight-lipped, manipulative, cliquishness of his family and staff.

Morton includes a sizeable chunk of Diana’s personal vision, post-divorce, as she sought to carve out a role for herself independent of Buckingham Palace, including her frequent visits to the homeless and hospices. “These visits were part of her healing process” writes Morton. “In the world she lived in, everyone’s motives were suspect; everyone had an agenda, either to influence her judgments or further their own careers and lives. On the other hand, the people she was visiting lived in a different world – one which had no hold over her.” And “The Princess’s day-to-day life was filled with rumor and hearsay of plots and counterplots. Rarely a day went by at Kensington Palace without there being some excursion and alarm” (p. 79)

A perhaps unintentional view of Diana may emerge that some readers, particularly non-British, may garner: spoiled rich kid. The sheer volume of resources Diana availed herself of as she strove to “discover herself” would stagger the average person: voice coaches, speech writers, masseurs, hair dressers, security details, press secretaries, ladies-in-waiting, therapists, interior designers, personal trainers, and chauffeurs, and so on is immense and ever-changing. Not to mention the yacht cruises, vacations in Paris, worldwide travel and life in the lap of luxury that apparently come with a Windsorian title may leave some readers shaking their heads.

The book also chronicles the “whispering campaigns” against Diana launched “from St. James’ Palace” (Prince Charles’ camp). Endless descriptions of Diana as “incredibly lonely and depressed” or “a deeply troubled young lady” prior to her separation from Charles are just that – endless. (Some may deem them tedious.) Morton also narrates Diana’s difficult relationship with her grandmother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, “a close friend of and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother.” The latter frequently referred to Diana as “that silly creature” and other pejoratives. Morton also chronicles Diana’s rekindled relationships with her once-estranged stepmother, Raine Spencer, and the “tidal relationship” with her mother, Frances Shand Kidd.

Morton also covers Diana’s official separating from Prince Charles, and her struggles to free herself from the artificiality and “flummery” of the royal family and establish her own independence. The Windsor family’s frosty hostility and her attempts to care out a niche for herself as a “goodwill ambassador to the world” via her humanitarian and charitable work are presented at length. Diana’s devastating 1995 interview with Panorama is also included and reviewed. Meanwhile, from his royal temper tantrums to extravagant eccentricities, such as carrying “his own towels and lavatory paper to every house in which he stayed,” (p. 166), Charles is painted as, well, what stinks worse than a skunk?

The book winds down with a detailed review of the Princess’s successful and perhaps brilliant “re-invention” of herself as a “semi-detached member of the royal family.” This includes Diana’s famous anti-landmine campaign, various romantic involvements, hospital visits to the sick and dying, her last days with Dodi Fayed and the ill-fated high-speed drive through the streets of Paris on the night of August 31, 1997.

If you’re into soap operas or want an honest look at a troubled, gutsy and highly complicated woman whose life was tragically cut short, Diana: In Pursuit of Love is a great read. If you tire easily of quid pro quos, ad hominems, and cloak-and-dagger palace intrigue, you’ll need No-Doze for this one.

Perhaps overlong and tedious at times, Pursuit still succeeds in capturing the essence of a remarkable woman who remains a conundrum even to those closest to her, a Princess who fought for and ultimately changed the face of the British monarchy forever.

Diana: In Pursuit of Love
By Andrew Morton
Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2004
ISBN: 1-84317-084-1
”

kikero wrote this review Saturday, September 27 2008. ( reply | permalink )
A River Runs through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition

by Norman MacLean, Joel Snyder, Barry Moser
- Rated 3 stars
“I am invariably disappointed by movies “based on” a book if I’ve read the book first. After seeing A River Runs Through It (Columbia Pictures, 1992) recently, I felt compelled to read the book by Norman Maclean upon which movie is based. Even for a clueless fly-fishing rookie like me, the book is charming in a bucolic and unpretentious sort of way. Moreover, the screenplay deliciously – and accurately – reflects the panache and élan of the print version. Prodigious chunks of the screenplay are lifted verbatim from this disarmingly simple novella of just over 100 pages, with a few minor differences.

Some Differences:
The chronology of events is slightly different. Norman’s wife Jessie appears much sooner in the book than in the movie. In fact, Norman and Jessie are married by page 9 and Norman meets his insufferable brother-in-law, Neal, at the train on page 29 well after Jessie becomes Mrs. Norman Maclean. In the movie this incident occurs before Norman and Jessie are married.

Also, Norman’s mother is a more full-bodied, three-dimensional character who makes chokecherry jelly for her boys and, along with Paul, was “the central attraction” of every family reunion (p. 78). Also receiving more attention in the book is the fishing fiasco with Neal, and how Neal got fried to a crisp under a hot Montana sun. In the movie, Paul’s pursuit and ultimate triumphant landing of the “unbelievable” fish occurs toward the end of the film. In the book, it’s Norman who catches the big fish in the Big Blackfoot River, and he does so early on – before page 22.

Additional minor differences include:

- The timeline is slightly altered from book to movie. The opening lines in which an elderly Norman recalls his father’s advice to write down his stories occurs far back in the book, which opens with, “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing….”
- No mention is made of Norman attending Dartmouth or being offered a university professorship in Chicago in the book – plot devices invented for the movie.
- Norman’s courtship of Jessie, a major movement within the movie, doesn’t appear in the book, where the couple is already married the first time we meet Jessie.
- In the movie, both brothers seem evenly matched in their fly-fishing skills. In the boo,, Paul is “a master,” his skills far superior to Norman’s (see pp. 42 and 43).
- Norman’s offer to “help” Paul, made while he’s driving an intoxicated Paul and his girlfriend home from a night on the town in the movie, is clumsily offered while the brothers are fishing in the print version.
- Rev. Maclean’s “you can love completely without complete understanding” is a comment made to Norman in the book (p. 103), not part of a church sermon, as it appears in the movie.
- Maclean’s wry wit and sandpaper humor are completely lost in the movie, probably due to its thematic focus and time constraints. In print, both are as fresh and flavorful as a stream-to-skillet Rainbow trout.

Similarities:

- Rev. Maclean’s teaching techniques for casting are directly from the book, metronome and all (pages 2-4)
- Paul vs. father in the Battle of the Oatmeal (p. 7)
- Paul’s “shadow casting” technique (p. 21)
- Norman’s clipped conversation with the Irish desk sergeant after Paul’s been jailed for a drunken fist-fight (pp. 23-25) is an abbreviated but verbatim version of what appears in the book.
- Black Jack’s Bar appears on page 30 and Old rawhide” puts in her swarthy appearance on page 31.
- Norman’s brother-in-law, Neal, spins fab fibs at the bar about tracking and trailing otters on page 33. (However, Neal doesn’t spend the night with Old Rawhide after picking her up at the bar, as implied in the movie. Instead, he wakes up at his mother’s with a hellacious hangover and a couple of annoyed brothers-in law who are raring to go fishing – and tolerate the family picnic that follows.
- Neal stores his flies in a fly box; Paul uses his hat band)
- “Three things we’re never late for” in Montana include church, work and fishing, a line delivered by Brad Pitt in the movie as Paul, appears on page 34 in the book.
- Rev. Maclean’s comment about Paul’s decision to change the spelling of the family name appears (ages 80 and 81)
- “Three more years before I can think like a fish” – Brad Pitt as Paul in the movie; p. 101 in the book.
- Rev. Maclean’s musings about how to help someone who won’t take help are recited by Tom Skerritt in the movie almost verbatim. (See p. 81)
- Events surrounding Paul’s death, narrated by Robert Redford in the move, are word-for-word from the book (pp. 102 – 104). In print context, Rev. Maclean’s subsequent question about “which hand” of Paul’s had the broken bones makes more sense in the book because the author spend more time discussing casting technique and hand strength than the movie had time to develop.

Maclean provides additional details about intricacies of fly-fishing and casting that allow the uninitiated to better understand and more fully appreciate fly fishing as an art form. Readers are “hooked” without being drowned beneath mind-numbing minutia or tangled webs of technicalities. Maclean occasionally waxes lyrical with poetic descriptions such as :

“It was a beautiful stretch of water, either to a fisherman or a photographer, although each would have focused his equipment at a different point. It was a barely submerged waterfall. The reef of rock was about two feet under the water, so the whole river rose into one wave, shook itself into spray, then fell back on itself and turned blue. After it recovered from the shock, it came back to see how it had fallen.” (pp.16, 17)…

Below him was the multitudinous river, and, where the rock had parted it around him big-grained vapor rose. The mini-molecules of water left in the wake of his line made momentary loops of gossamer, disappearing so rapidly in the rising big-grained vapor that they had to be retained in memory to be visualized as loops. The spray emanating form him was finer-grained still and enclosed him in a halo himself. … The images of himself and his line kept disappearing into the rising vapors of the river, which continually circled to the tops of the cliffs where, after becoming a wreath in the wind, they became rays of the sun. (p. 20)

The Story
Occasionally coarse, the story itself is gently nuanced with “four count rhythms,” “roll casting,” the difference between a “brook” and a “creek” or a “number four or six fly,” and “setting the hook.” The story moves along at a gracious pace, dignified without dragging. The text evinces a deep - albeit clumsy - bond of mutual affection and admiration between brothers. Maclean’s love of his Montana roots, his knowledge of the land, its people, scenery, culture, history, and fly-fishing - are keenly weft throughout the warp and woof of this narrative. It’s also clear that Norman “knew” his brother without fully understanding him.

Characterization
As in the movie, the main characters in the print version of A River Runs Through It are cleanly drawn and genuine. Drawing readers into the story like moths to a flame, each character has his or her own special kind of luminosity. These people are gracious and yet sharp, gentle but not simple. They are linked but not necessarily connected. The Maclean family is at once close and yet distant, as if they’ve breathed in some mysterious quality of spaciousness from the Montana skies. Mother, father, and elder brother all know that Paul is in some kind of trouble, yet feel helpless to help him.

The theme of “help” pops up throughout the book like an overnight mushroom. Norman’s struggle to understand and help his brother is more emphatic in the book than in the movie (pp. 37, 38, 81). But what kind of help and how to give it are questions no one can fully answer. This is summed up sagely by Rev Maclean:

“You are too young to help anybody and I am too old, he said. ‘By help I don’t mean a courtesy like serving chokecherry jelly or giving money.
“Help,” he said, “is giving part of yourself to somebody who comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly.” (p. 81)

Worthwhile Read?
A River Runs Through It is a satisfying story that’s been faithfully represented on the big screen. In both you can hear the river roar, smell the beer, feel the baking afternoon sun or the cool splash of water on a hot, thirsty day as you watch a fish rise and grab an expertly tied “general,” feel him jerk the line and run with it.

As for the book, is Norman Maclean Shakespeare? Nope. Does he need to be? Naw. Will A River Runs Through It make the NY Times bestseller list? Doubtful. Is this story worth the read? Yep. In fact, A River Runs Through It almost makes me want to “get the horse collar off my neck,” wade into the Big Blackfoot and learn how to cast myself. Almost.

”

kikero wrote this review Monday, September 15 2008. ( reply | permalink )
Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure

by Frank Arthur Worsley
- Rated 3 stars
“Endurance: an Epic of Polar Adventure
By F.A. Worsley
W.W. Norton & Company, 1931
ISBN: 0-393-04684-2

They say truth is stranger than fiction. Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure is a sterling example. This riveting first-person narrative of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 – 1916 recounts an extraordinary survival story replete with close calls, near misses, imminent disaster, and harrowing escapes. It’s a true story “of invincible endurance and irrepressible humor through hardship and danger” in the face of overwhelming odds.

Sir Ernest Shackleton set off to cross Antarctica, a journey of more than 2,000 miles. Although his ship Endurance was wrecked before he set foot on the “most desolate, storm-swept place on earth,” Shackleton and his men pulled off the greatest escape in the history of polar expedition. I’ve read and seen several accounts of this “bottom-of-the world” adventure, but none so detailed or compelling as the account of author Frank Arthur Worsley, commander of the doomed HMS Endurance.

Shackleton and his crew leave South Georgia, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, in December 1914. While the ship makes good progress initially and pushes her way through thick pack ice off Antarctica, the wind shifts and closes the narrow channels or "leads", packing ice floes around the ship until she’s stuck like a fly in honey. During the long winter the pack ice carries the Endurance almost 600 miles north.

In July 1915 Shackleton conferences with Worsley and Frank Wild, Shackleton’s second in command. “The Boss” prophesies of the Endurance: “She’s pretty near her end.” He’s right. A “splendid little ship,” the plucky Endurance eventually succumbs to the enormous pressure of thousands of tons of ice and hoves onto her side. The crew salvages what supplies and stores they can just before she goes under, along with three life boats. The ship finally shatters and sinks, leaving twenty-eight members of the Expedition shelterless in the one of the harshest, most inhospitable regions imaginable.

At Shackleton’s direction, the crew initially camps on drifting ice floes dubbed “Ocean Camp” and “Patience Camp” and allows the current to carry them north to safety. During this time Worsley recounts encounters with sea leopards, Emperor penguins, and deprivation – “we had been living for some weeks principally on seals and penguins” and when these migrated away, the men were reduced to “fourteen ounces of food a day” - which resulted not only in physical weakness but also a significantly reduced ability to fight the intense cold. Worsley recalls the “sad day” when all of the dogs, save one team, “had to be destroyed, to save food.” Despite the omnipresent threat of exposure, frostbite, thirst, starvation and other adversities, Worsley dubs “the dreaded monotony” as the expedition’s worst enemy. They are saved from starvation by a flock of migrating Adelie penguins.

After five months of drifting and countless dangers on the floes, the crew sights the Antarctic Continent in March 1916. Shackleton has brought them safely through two thousand miles of pack ice (p. 65). Deciding upon a safer but longer route to the nearest island to avoid more deadly pack ice, Shackleton orders the men to prepare to sail for the forbidding Elephant Island.
Worsley narrates the crew’s reaction to Shackleton’s decision, “… for most of us, I think our former lives had receded to that dim and shadowy vagueness usually associated with drams… I was unable to picture an existence in which a desert of ice and snow, battles with sea leopards, the dread killer whales, and a regard for penguins as almost personal friends did not play a part.”
The floe cracks and the crew hurriedly launches the boats and embarks upon a hair-raising journey across the Southern Ocean to Elephant Island. On the stormy crossing the crews of the three boats – the Stancomb Wills, Dudley Docker and the James Caird – fight to stay together against blizzards, contrary currents, starvation, exhaustion and a voracious ocean that constantly threatens to swamp the small boats. Only the thinnest sliver of hope and a huge chunk of confidence in Sir Ernest keep his men going. Worsley describes the journey through “white hills of ice-clad sea, capricious currents, constant, unrelenting cold,” sleep deprivation, exhaustion and exposure in an orderly, almost calm narrative without a trace of self-pity, panic, or despair. The men had such faith in their leader that the thought of failure never took hold. (See pages 83, 84, 86 and 88.)

Separated from the two other boats, Worsley and his men endure a hellacious night in the Dudley Docker before finally sighting the forbidding the coast of Elephant Island. Worsley and his crew eventually land on “a low, rocky beach” and are overjoyed to find the two other boats at the same location, which Worsley describes as “a gigantic mass of rock, carrying on its back a vast sheet of ice.”

The full weight of responsibility for the safety and well-being of his men falls solely and wholly on Shackleton, whose self-sacrificing devotion to his men was legendary: “He was not only the leader of a great expedition but a true brother and shipmate to each one of us, thinking of us always before himself.” In the wild, inhospitable, inaccessible environment of Elephant Island, this responsibility would have crushed a lesser man than the indomitable Shackleton:

- “It was due solely to Shackleton’s care of the men in preparing … hot meals and drinks every four hours day and night, and his general watchfulness in everything concerning the men’s comfort, that no one died during the journey (to South Georgia).”

- “Shackleton’s popularity among those he led was due to the fact that he was not the sort of man who could do only big and spectacular things. When occasion demanded he would attend personally to the smallest details, and he had unending patience and persistence which he would apply to all matters concerning the well-being of his men.”

- “Shackleton had always insisted that the ultimate responsibility for anything that befell us was his and his only. … My view was that we were all grown men, going of our own free wills on this expedition, and that it was up to us to bear whatever was coming to us. Not so Shackleton. His view was that we had trusted him, that we had placed ourselves in his hands, and that should anything happen to any one of us, he was morally responsible. His attitude was almost patriarchal. True, this may have accounted in some measure for the men’s unquestioning devotion to him, and it always seemed to me that they bore toward him the love of sons for a singularly noble father…”

In the chapter entitled On Elephant Island, Worsley describes Shackleton’s extraordinary leadership abilities. The Boss quickly discerns that a severe food shortage is imminent on Elephant Island. The consummate commander, Sir Ernest acts swiftly and decisively. He readies a twenty-two foot boot for the “forlorn hope” of sailing across “the most treacherous seas in the world” in the dead of an Antarctic winter to South Georgia Island, some eight hundred miles away. The odds of success are staggeringly slim, but Shackleton and five others remain undaunted and resolute. Reaching South Georgia Island and launching a rescue effort is the expedition’s sole hope of survival.

Leaving Frank Wild in charge on Elephant Island, Worsley and Shackleton and five others set out. Worsley describes the scene the night before the leave: “It is a dreadful thing to face your shipmates, men who have been through thick and thin with you, and to realize that in all probability it is for the last time; nor does it add to your serenity of mind to know that if you fail to come back they will starve to death.”

Worsley concludes On Elephant Island with thoughts of the men left behind: “…I felt that whatever hardships we might be called upon to face, we were the fortunate ones. Inactivity and uncertainty would come harder to men of the type of my shipmates than the unknown adventure that was before us.” He adds pointedly, “We had in fact started on the greatest adventure of our career.”

In chapter VI, The Boat Journey Begins, Worsley chronicles some of the challenges facing the determined little crew of the James Caird in their desperate attempt to sail north:

- Finding a way of breaking through the encircling line of pack-ice to north of Elephant Island so they can make for the open water
-Constant risk of being smashed by sea ice
-Being constantly wet for the duration of the journey
- Frozen reindeer skin sleeping bags
- Contaminated fresh water
- Being battered by blizzards and ferocious storms

Deciding upon the best point to make for, Shackleton emphasizes getting north as quickly as possible, “even though the route might be lengthened, so as to avoid all danger of ice and to relieve us from the almost overwhelming cold”:

“What do you think of Cape Horn?” he asked, adding, “it’s the nearest.”
“Yes,” I replied, “but we can never reach it. The westerly gales would blow us away. With luck, though, we might fetch the Falkland Islands.”
“I am afraid that, although it is the longest run,” he remarked, “we shall have to make for South Georgia, as you originally suggested. The gales will drive us leeward.” And do they do, but not without incident on what Worsley understates as an”eventful and truly dreadful journey.”
They finally land on South Georgia, but on the opposite side of the Norwegian whaling station and help. The boats isn’t safe to put to sea again, nor are some members of the crew, who are too weak to continue. So Shackleton, Worsley and Tom Crean “rope up” and set out to cross the uncharted “impassable” interior of South Georgia Island. Worsley later records:

Without sleep, halting only for meals, we had crossed South Georgia in thirty six hours. Incidentally, he continues, “I learnt afterwards that we had crossed the island during the only interval of fine weather that occurred that winter. There was no doubt that Providence had been with us. There was indeed one curious thing about our crossing South Georgia… which I have never been able to explain. Whenever I reviewed the incidents of that march I had the sub-conscious feeling that there were four of us, instead of three. Moreover, this impression was shared by both Shackleton and Crean.

The exhausted trio stumbles into the whaling station on South Georgia on May 20. Three days later Shackleton and Worsley leave the island aboard a whaler bound for Elephant Island, determined to rescue their marooned shipmates. Weather forces them to turn back within sixty miles of Elephant Island. Heroic efforts to secure another vessel and safe passage finally pay off – on their fourth attempt. The strain of Shackleton and concern for his men is recorded by Worsley, who writes: “Lines scored themselves on his face more deeply day by day; his thick, dark, wavy hair was becoming silver. He had not a grey hair when we had started out to rescue our men the first time. Now, on the third return journey, he was grey-headed.”

It is August 30, 1916. “One hundred and twenty-eight days since we had left them” writes Worsley, “days covering the worse of the Antarctic winter.” One of the most poignant passages in this narrative appears on page 179 as Shackleton, on his fourth attempt at rescue, peers “with almost painful intensity through his binoculars” at the near coast of Elephant Island. He’s counting: “There are only two, Skipper!” Then, `No, four!’ A short pause followed and he exclaimed, `I see six-eight-‘ and at last, in a voice ringing with joy he cried, `They are all there! Every one of them! They are all saved!””

A boat is lowered and Shackleton leaps into it. “And as he drew close into the shore I hear him shout: `Are you all well?’ Back came their answering yell, `All well!’ followed by his wholehearted `Thank God!’

It is an historical fact that not a single man was ever lost in any expedition headed by Ernest Shackleton.

The narrative drops off precipitously following the Elephant Island rescue, but picks up steam on page 251, Southwards Again, when Worsley rejoins his old friend for another assault on the Antarctic. The year is 1922. Sadly, the return expedition isn’t meant to be. The author’s “best friend” dies of a massive heart attack in his cabin on South Georgia Island on January 5, days before his return to most desolate, storm-swept place on earth” that proved his mettle and made him a hero. Shackleton is buried on South Georgia Island.

Worsley’s final chapter, The Death of A Hero, sensitively records the final scene with affection and admiration that shine through in every paragraph. “He had a way of compelling loyalty” writes one who sailed with him. “We would have gone anywhere without question just on his order.” Asks Worsley rhetorically, “What more glowing tribute could any man wish for?”

Indeed, Endurance isn't just “a tale of unrelenting high adventure,” but a tribute “to one of the most inspiring and courageous leaders of men in the history of exploration.” This book is a compelling look into the heart and soul of a man whose extraordinary sagacity, capability, kindliness, courage and “wonderful capacity for self-sacrifice” set a standard for Leadership that still makes the world sit back and wonder. An outstanding read.”

kikero wrote this review Monday, August 18 2008. ( reply | permalink )
Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be: A 90-Day Guide to Living the Proverbs 31 Life

by Donna Partow
- Rated 2 stars
“"Becoming the Woman God Wants Me To Be" (Revell, 2008) is a mixed bag. It has definite strengths and some distinct weaknesses.

On the plus side is Becoming’s readability, style, tone and format. Author Donna Partow’s style is brisk and engaging. Her tone is warm, congenial and passionate. Becoming offers readers numerous strategies for change in different areas including physical health, family relationships, finances and spiritual growth in an easy to follow format.

Chapters average three to five pages in length and are easily digested. Also included is a daily Scripture to memorize, a Bible passage, and a guided prayer, followed by Personal and Practical sections. Each week wraps up with a Weekly Check-Up, a Practical Checklist, and a Weekly Reflection and Evaluation.

Sound or Silly?
There is much to commend in Week One, Faith Foundations, and Week Two, Godly Habits. However, bits and pieces of “excuse me?” seep in occasionally. Some readers may file the recommendations on Day 11, Sleep in Peace (p. 56), and Day 12, Be Diligent (p. 59), under Micro-Managing Minutia or Just Plain Silly:

“I’m sure the snooze button was inspired by the devil. It’s his secret weapon against Christians… if he can get you to snooze away the thirty minutes you would have, could have, should have spent with God, the devil has the upper hand against you for the rest of the day.” (p. 61). (Side note: Many sources attribute the "snooze button" to Gen. Lew Wallace, the penned who penned "Ben Hur.")

Insufficient and Curious?
Becoming the Woman God Wants You to Be stumbles in two areas: sourcing and biblical exegesis. Support from credible sources and/or credentialed experts within this work is insufficient or M.I.A. It also offers some curious biblical exegesis. Since it is beyond the scope of this review to undertake an intensive page-by-page analysis of this book, we’ll focus primarily on these two areas.

Sources?
Take a look at Week Three, Healthy Eating (pp. 68 – 88). Some great ideas and guidelines here, but a fair amount of this material is either attributed to sources with questionable or unlikely credentials, or not sourced at all. In this week the author lays out what foods to eat and avoid, urges a ten-day vegetable and water only diet, and lands at Day 17, Limit Your Sugar Intake (pp. 74 – 77).

Day 17 references data from www.drbob4health.com/FoodsToAvoid. The information on this site is credited to Dr. Robert F. DeMaria, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic) of “Drugless Healthcare Solutions.” The site focuses primarily on “correcting the spine and aiding the nervous system… so the body will draw upon its own ability to heal itself” – not on nutrition or healthy eating specifically.

Wouldn’t a registered dietician or nutritionist make a more credible source here? Additionally, declarative statements such as the following cite dubious sources or appear to be unsourced (further information may be available in other Partow books or resources, but we’re not reviewing the gamut here – just the single title noted.):

-- “The up and down motion of rebounding stimulates the lymphatic system, promoting more efficient cell-cleansing processes.” (p. 101)
-- “In addition to eating right, one of the kindest things you can for yourself… is taking time to bathe. Did you know that bathing is important for your physical well-being? A shower may be convenient, but it doesn’t accomplish the same degree of cleansing a bath can.” (p. 104)
-- “A cleansing bath can purify your body from the toxins that have built up in your body. This is especially important when you start to exercise and eat foods that promote detoxification.” (p. 104)
-- “Furthermore, if toxins are not rapidly eliminated from the body, they can become reassimilated.” (p. 105)

“Points to Ponder”
Week Six, Financial Planning (p.134-155) is perhaps the weakest part of this book. The author makes huge assumptions regarding income level, homeowner status, assets and liabilities, investments and the like. Partow tosses dollar amounts - often in the ten of thousands - which may leave some readers shaking their heads. Others may detect a sneering attitude toward “the poor and middle class” (see p. 139). The number of times the word “millionaire” appears borders on rapacious. This reviewer also questions the numerous “become a millionaire” schemes or proponents referenced. Again, sources such as Allen, Brach and Kiyosaki are problematic.

A quick “Google” of Robert Allen shows why he’s earned the title of “con artist,” “snake oil salesman,” “fraud,” and “scammer,” among others. (Check out the Business Program Reviewer for one example.)

“Financial guru” David Bach, author of The Automatic Millionaire, is noted in Days 40 and 79 and elsewhere. Click here for some feedback on Bach’s figures and techniques: http://www.thetaoofmakingmoney.com/2007/05/31/383.html.

What’s Ringing?
“Scam”, “fraud” and “one of the worst” are linked with Robert Kiyosaki (Days 37 and 51. Also see p. 139, etc.). Kiyosaki’s 'Rich Dad' organization recently joined with the Russ Whitney Information Network, “a provider of postsecondary education focused on individual wealth creation and personal success.” This organization’s marketing activities came under grand jury investigation by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2006. (http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/226/RipOff0226341.htm.)
Does this ring any warning bells? If sources are dubious, marginally credible/ethical and possibly illegal, how sound are the principles and practices they promote?

Direct What?
In Day 52, Try Direct Marketing, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Pampered Chef and Creative Memories are mentioned (p. 193). Not mentioned is that each company requires a start-up fee or a similar capital investment, some of them hefty. Consultants for these companies typically offer credit and payment plan options to potential clients unable to pay cash for their purchases, contradicting Partow’s advice in Days 38 and 39, Reduce Your Debt (pp. 141 – 144) and Pay Cash (pp. 144 – 147).

Look Before You Leap
The section on “Home Enterprises” (pp. 184-201) may be risky. Legitimate “work from home” businesses can be hard to find. Look before you leap – or invest. (As noted above, Robert Allen and Robert Kiyosaki-isms referenced here may give cause for pause.)

Hmmmm…
In addition to dubious sourcing, alert readers may wonder about some of Partow’s biblical exegeses/applications. In Day 16, Resolve to Control Your Eating Habits, Partow uses Daniel 1:11-15 as a basis for taking “the ten-day vegetable-and-water-resolve challenge.” (p. 74a).

In its historical-cultural context, the Israelites were in Babylonian captivity at this time. They avoided food from King Nebuchadnezzar’s table because it was considered contaminated, having first been offered to idols. Likewise a portion of the wine was poured out on a pagan altar. Daniel and his young comrades avoided meat from the king’s table because ceremonially unclean animals were used and were neither slaughtered nor prepared according to the regulations of the law. Daniel “resolved not to defile himself with royal food and wine” (vs. 8) because of religious convictions. Coupled with Proverbs 31: 14-15, Day 16 seems to miss the point of this passage. (See Romans 14:2 for another view on eating vegetables.)

Also consider this statement from pages 75 - 76 (under Week Three: Healthy Eating):

“I find it fascinating that Adam and Eve both needed new outfits after demonstrating their inability to resist food temptations.”

Is she trying to be funny? Apparently this is a reference to Genesis 3:21, where God provided clothing for Adam and Eve to cover their shame, post-Fall (cf. v.7 and 10). Healthy eating is one thing, but attributing God’s clothing Adam and Eve to a mere “inability to resist food temptations” is curious. It also trivializes the context and consequences of the Fall and Original Sin.

Real Routines?
Check out some of the suggested routines, such Day 26 (p. 104-105). Here Partow urges readers to Purify Body and Soul by eating “cleansing foods.” This includes a breakfast of “two eggs scrambled with vegetables (for example, broccoli, onion, garlic, pepper) or a protein shake made with one cup cranwater, one cup frozen blueberries, one-quarter cup frozen cranberries, one tablespoon flax oil, and one scoop of protein powder” (p. 104).

Can you just see a young mom with small children sitting down to a breakfast like that? “Not now, kids, Mommy’s eating her cleansing breakfast!”

Yea or Nay?
Some women may find "Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be" a useful guide or tool. If fill-in-the-blank exercises, check lists, and step-by-step programs appeal to you, this is your book. Ditto those who need help with how to dress, choose colors, accessorize, eat, exercise, live within their means, and “implement the universal 80/20 rule.”

On the other hand, readers may find dubious sourcing, flimsy or unsubstantiated claims and curious application(s) sufficient cause for pause. They may also take issue with matters of opinion, personal preference or taste which this book sometimes raises to the level of religious dogma.

Finally….
I’ve taken several Old Testament Literature and Inductive Bible Study courses on Proverbs 31 at the graduate level and elsewhere. I’ve also read a dozen-plus titles and numerous Bible studies on this passage. "Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be" may be better than most, but it also has some distinct weaknesses. Be advised and take it with a grain of salt.”

kikero wrote this review Saturday, July 19 2008. ( reply | permalink )