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naomiatwater49's review
1.0
My mom gave me this book several years ago and I just got around to reading it. I feel awful rating it below, but it’s explained in my system for rating Christian nonfiction books:
1. Is the writing professional, understandable, and entertaining? No. This book is divided into many 1-3 page little sections of various things EE writes about. Many of them are repetitive, come to illogical conclusions, or are obvious conclusions with no new ideas.
2. Are the author’s ideas well organized and thought out? No. As mentioned above, the sections either just repeat one another or are totally unrelated. There is no clear structure to this book and absolutely no focus or main idea. Often she will reference a letter or email she’s received from somebody who had a legitimate question, and then go on a tangent on something only semi-related. I also struggled with MANY things that she said in her book because her theology is NOT what I agree with personally and her ideas I’ve found to be relatively toxic to Christianity. For example, she has MANY sections where she talks about marriage and homemaking being the absolute highest calling for women and the disgrace of working outside the home. She explicitly says that EVERYONE is commanded to pursue marriage (NOT TRUE) and then afterwards have children. Otherwise, they are disobeying God’s calling apparently. To women who haven’t found a husband, she gives this solution in reference to encouraging more men to get married: “I’ll tell you what would change things fast- if all women decided they would not ‘give out’, I mean give men what they’re looking for but are unwilling to make a commitment for.” Okay is that REALLY how you want to find a man? Sure, more men would get married (which according to EE is the ultimate good thing for a Christian to do) But it’d be for all the wrong reasons, and who really wants to marry someone that only marries them for those benefits!
3. Are the main points supported with scripture or reliable sources? No. If she used scripture at all, it was out of context and super americanized into the context she wanted to apply it. NOT good hermeneutics. I felt like most of her content was based on her own opinions and creates an appearance-based Christianity that does not care about the heart or the grace of God.
4. Did the content make the think critically (whether or not I agreed with it?) This is where my one star rating came in! Although I disagreed with most of the content, I would underline things and write in the margins to try to think through exactly why things didn’t sit right with me and come up with my own personal arguments and beliefs. So yes, this book made me think critically.
5. Would I reread this book or want to own it? No, I would not.
1. Is the writing professional, understandable, and entertaining? No. This book is divided into many 1-3 page little sections of various things EE writes about. Many of them are repetitive, come to illogical conclusions, or are obvious conclusions with no new ideas.
2. Are the author’s ideas well organized and thought out? No. As mentioned above, the sections either just repeat one another or are totally unrelated. There is no clear structure to this book and absolutely no focus or main idea. Often she will reference a letter or email she’s received from somebody who had a legitimate question, and then go on a tangent on something only semi-related. I also struggled with MANY things that she said in her book because her theology is NOT what I agree with personally and her ideas I’ve found to be relatively toxic to Christianity. For example, she has MANY sections where she talks about marriage and homemaking being the absolute highest calling for women and the disgrace of working outside the home. She explicitly says that EVERYONE is commanded to pursue marriage (NOT TRUE) and then afterwards have children. Otherwise, they are disobeying God’s calling apparently. To women who haven’t found a husband, she gives this solution in reference to encouraging more men to get married: “I’ll tell you what would change things fast- if all women decided they would not ‘give out’, I mean give men what they’re looking for but are unwilling to make a commitment for.” Okay is that REALLY how you want to find a man? Sure, more men would get married (which according to EE is the ultimate good thing for a Christian to do) But it’d be for all the wrong reasons, and who really wants to marry someone that only marries them for those benefits!
3. Are the main points supported with scripture or reliable sources? No. If she used scripture at all, it was out of context and super americanized into the context she wanted to apply it. NOT good hermeneutics. I felt like most of her content was based on her own opinions and creates an appearance-based Christianity that does not care about the heart or the grace of God.
4. Did the content make the think critically (whether or not I agreed with it?) This is where my one star rating came in! Although I disagreed with most of the content, I would underline things and write in the margins to try to think through exactly why things didn’t sit right with me and come up with my own personal arguments and beliefs. So yes, this book made me think critically.
5. Would I reread this book or want to own it? No, I would not.
e_clair301's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I didn’t always agree with her conclusions and the place where she was coming from, but there was a lot to glean from this book in all areas of our lives.
diadandy's review
5.0
An excellent book! I would love owning my own copy to reference back to when I felt the need.
scates26's review
5.0
I read this in conjunction with my morning quiet times, and I can't even express how blessed I was by it. Every morning I came away with a better understanding of my role in this world and, most importantly, God. I was refreshed, my heart was quieted, and my love for the Father grew. I highly recommend this for any woman at any stage of life, but particularly for married women and young mothers.
hydenseek's review
3.0
I highlighted a bit from the beginning and the middle but I barely made it through the parts on Christian family life.
geneticginger's review
5.0
This is such a lovely book. Elisabeth Elliot is such an encouragement and there are so many topics in this book that are applicable to everyday life.
bcbartuska's review
5.0
I would recommend this book to any woman in any stage of life. Elisabeth Elliot speaks wisdom learned through experience and her own study of the Scriptures. Her words read in a conversational way, sometimes deeply spiritual, and sometimes very practical (for example, lessons in parenting). I took my time with this book and savored the little "nuggets" of wisdom given. Definitely looking forward to passing this one on.
bookrecsondeck's review
3.0
Although the articles were divided into sections, it still was hard to follow how it related to theme of the chapter. It read more like a devotional to me. My favorite section was on the call and the committed, the stories were inspiring and it fit chapter's theme. It lost my interest in the chapters about children toward the end of the book, so I skipped those chapters, and stopped reading book on page 250. The most memorable story was about how God answered her daughter's prayer about letting the audience of lecture know she's an ordinary women and she messed up during the speech.