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33 reviews for:
Marriage and Other Acts of Charity: A Memoir (Large Type / Large Print)
Kate Braestrup
3.66 AVERAGE
33 reviews for:
Marriage and Other Acts of Charity: A Memoir (Large Type / Large Print)
Kate Braestrup
3.66 AVERAGE
rjleamon11's review against another edition
4.0
Chose this one to get me through what I knew would be a stressful week with the election. . . Didn't know how much I would need a sane, loving, trusting voice discussing setbacks, loss, disappointments, and hope. I have read Braestrup's other two memoir/non-fiction books, and I deeply enjoyed this one as well. It would make a great wedding present, and I'm going to copy out some parts of it for sharing later. Also great to encounter Oscar Remick, a stalwart member of the church A. and I joined 20+ years ago, in the pages of the book.
Suggested for readers needing sensible, honest uplift and good writing.
Suggested for readers needing sensible, honest uplift and good writing.
lauraecase's review against another edition
I just don't like her writing style. Tried two books and nope.
kcronin18's review against another edition
5.0
Such a cool woman. I loved her thoughts on life, death, hardships, hope and marriage. It was a lovely read to turn to during this particular time.
revsqueeze's review against another edition
4.0
I found this to be quite readable, and often moving. The style is similar to her first book, “Here if You Need Me.” I read it as my dad was dying, so many of my thoughts were centered on my parents and their long and loving marriage. One of her lines that really struck home was the idea that for a marriage to end with the death of one partner is a success story — that ultimately, on the day the vows are said, the stated goal of the couple is to eventually face the grief of being parted by death. Somehow even though I’m a minister and a hospice chaplain, having officiated at many weddings and funerals, I had never hit upon that particular realization.
marthaspong's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a big fan of Kate Braestrup's. We both live in Maine, but we've never met, despite some near misses and one email exchange. I'm looking forward to hearing her speak at a panel on marriage offered by Bangor Theological Seminary this fall. She'll present alongside Marvin Ellison, professor of Christian Ethics and author of "Same-Sex Marriage," which is on my "to read" list.
Not surprisingly, I approached a book on marriage cautiously. I've just been burned, and I must admit to feeling like a pretty massive failure after being divorced for the second time. I used to say I could grant anyone *one* mistake...but here I am after two, reading the book of a woman who loved and adored her late first husband and who has an apparently happy second marriage. And I recognize how hard I worked to tell the story of my second marriage as a happy one. Blog readers saw me doing it and if you caught the underlying angst, you were more honest about my life than I was with myself.
Braestrup's book, like "Here If You Need Me," weaves her personal story with her work as Chaplain for the Maine Warden Service along with stories from the Bible. I remember reading "Here" with delight in the summer of 2008, loving the way these pieces came together. Despite my initial qualms about the topic, I had similar feelings of delight reading this book.
I will say, it's pretty heteronormative. You have to wait to page 186 to get any mention of the relationships between same-sex couples. I guess that surprises me, because while she's living in the law enforcement world, she's also a Unitarian Universalist, and I would have expected her experiences to be a little broader. Perhaps because it's outside her experience, she doesn't feel she has the expertise? To be clear, she does speak in favor of gay marriage, although that explicit endorsement comes not in the body of the book but in a few questions she answers after even the Postlude.
Despite that caveat, which is really about my interest in what will happen around marriage equality here in Maine in the coming year (there's a hope to get it back on the ballot or in the legislature in 2012), I'm an enthusiast about Braestrup and highly recommend this funny, touching, readable book.
Not surprisingly, I approached a book on marriage cautiously. I've just been burned, and I must admit to feeling like a pretty massive failure after being divorced for the second time. I used to say I could grant anyone *one* mistake...but here I am after two, reading the book of a woman who loved and adored her late first husband and who has an apparently happy second marriage. And I recognize how hard I worked to tell the story of my second marriage as a happy one. Blog readers saw me doing it and if you caught the underlying angst, you were more honest about my life than I was with myself.
Braestrup's book, like "Here If You Need Me," weaves her personal story with her work as Chaplain for the Maine Warden Service along with stories from the Bible. I remember reading "Here" with delight in the summer of 2008, loving the way these pieces came together. Despite my initial qualms about the topic, I had similar feelings of delight reading this book.
I will say, it's pretty heteronormative. You have to wait to page 186 to get any mention of the relationships between same-sex couples. I guess that surprises me, because while she's living in the law enforcement world, she's also a Unitarian Universalist, and I would have expected her experiences to be a little broader. Perhaps because it's outside her experience, she doesn't feel she has the expertise? To be clear, she does speak in favor of gay marriage, although that explicit endorsement comes not in the body of the book but in a few questions she answers after even the Postlude.
Despite that caveat, which is really about my interest in what will happen around marriage equality here in Maine in the coming year (there's a hope to get it back on the ballot or in the legislature in 2012), I'm an enthusiast about Braestrup and highly recommend this funny, touching, readable book.
sedeara's review against another edition
3.0
Around the Year Reading Challenge Item #28: A biography, autobiography or memoir
If this was classified as a book of essays rather than a memoir, I might have enjoyed it more.
As a memoir, it just felt so all-over-the-place. Braestrup is a good writer, but there was no clear through-line, and there did not seem to be much of any organizing principles guiding when and how she told her stories -- it was just a jumble of experiences and thoughts related to the subject of marriage -- sometimes very tangentially. I listened to the audio version, and I'd often find myself in the middle of a new scene wondering how the heck we got there, or how it was supposed to relate to what came before, or what it was doing in the book at all.
While I enjoyed a lot of the stories individually, as a whole it was just too ADD for me. I had no trouble believing after reading this that this woman frequently lets kettles melt on the stove because she forgets about them or allows the bathtub to runneth over -- that same sense of distraction was applied to the way this book was put together. Maybe if I had read this rather than listened to it I would have had an easier time; as it was, I kept being like, "Wait, what are we talking about now?"
I liked Braestrup's "take" on spirituality so I might still be open to reading something else by her in the future -- but my brain needs a little recovery time first.
If this was classified as a book of essays rather than a memoir, I might have enjoyed it more.
As a memoir, it just felt so all-over-the-place. Braestrup is a good writer, but there was no clear through-line, and there did not seem to be much of any organizing principles guiding when and how she told her stories -- it was just a jumble of experiences and thoughts related to the subject of marriage -- sometimes very tangentially. I listened to the audio version, and I'd often find myself in the middle of a new scene wondering how the heck we got there, or how it was supposed to relate to what came before, or what it was doing in the book at all.
While I enjoyed a lot of the stories individually, as a whole it was just too ADD for me. I had no trouble believing after reading this that this woman frequently lets kettles melt on the stove because she forgets about them or allows the bathtub to runneth over -- that same sense of distraction was applied to the way this book was put together. Maybe if I had read this rather than listened to it I would have had an easier time; as it was, I kept being like, "Wait, what are we talking about now?"
I liked Braestrup's "take" on spirituality so I might still be open to reading something else by her in the future -- but my brain needs a little recovery time first.
inthecommonhours's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to love this. Braestrup's Here If You Need Me is now a favorite of mine, and was the book I gave friends because I wanted everyone to have read it.
I can't help wondering if this one was rushed by her publisher/agent to follow the success of the first...it has great moments, great potential, and I can't even say where exactly it fell short.
She's wonderfully honest and still writes so well. But it seemed disjointed to me, and her moments with the young couple preparing for marriage just didn't work for me. They seemed contrived and slightly smug, something I never felt in her first book.
I did enjoy the part where her child's teacher recruits her to present during their unit on sexual health. "Nothing is more important than..." will stay with me.
I can't help wondering if this one was rushed by her publisher/agent to follow the success of the first...it has great moments, great potential, and I can't even say where exactly it fell short.
She's wonderfully honest and still writes so well. But it seemed disjointed to me, and her moments with the young couple preparing for marriage just didn't work for me. They seemed contrived and slightly smug, something I never felt in her first book.
I did enjoy the part where her child's teacher recruits her to present during their unit on sexual health. "Nothing is more important than..." will stay with me.
gadrake's review against another edition
4.0
There is nothing particularly theological about this memoir. Rather it is a series of observations about a young woman's experience in wrestling with faith, marriage strains, widowhood, remarriage, dating, and other normal life events. It reads almost like a conversation. Like most long conversations the topics change, but there is a flow to it. Easy to put down and then resume again. Probably would not appeal to mainline Christian readers.
jdybs's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my gosh, I love Kate Braestrup. This is the second of her books I've read, both very personal, humorous, and serious reflections upon her life and those around her. She is a chaplain for the Maine Game Wardens (what??) To get to know her, start with her book "Here If You Need Me" which is a collection of stories about her life and her chaplaincy. Her writing has the perfect mix of intellectual depth and humble humor, and I find myself wanting to race on to the next story at the same time that I want to stop to savor and contemplate the one I just read.
As its title suggests, "Marriage and Other Acts of Charity" is about love and marriage - hers and those of friends and people she has worked with. I come away with an awareness of the precariousness of happiness and life, but with a sense of hopeful energy.
Write on, Kate Braestrup! I'll be continuing to follow your works.
04/2023 - Just re-read this book, listening to the author's recorded version this time. Again I'll say that I love, love, LOVE this book. I highly recommend it to thoughtful adults who are interested in meaningful relationships and a meaningful life....dished up with irreverent, caring humor!
As its title suggests, "Marriage and Other Acts of Charity" is about love and marriage - hers and those of friends and people she has worked with. I come away with an awareness of the precariousness of happiness and life, but with a sense of hopeful energy.
Write on, Kate Braestrup! I'll be continuing to follow your works.
04/2023 - Just re-read this book, listening to the author's recorded version this time. Again I'll say that I love, love, LOVE this book. I highly recommend it to thoughtful adults who are interested in meaningful relationships and a meaningful life....dished up with irreverent, caring humor!
dimcc's review against another edition
5.0
I checked this out because I was feeling bitchy (and the title seemed bitchy, too), but God's warped sense of humor has struck again-- it's written by a chaplain, and is a book on faith and love.