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48 reviews for:
Being Elisabeth Elliot: The Authorized Biography: Elisabeth's Later Years
Ellen Vaughn
4.43 AVERAGE
48 reviews for:
Being Elisabeth Elliot: The Authorized Biography: Elisabeth's Later Years
Ellen Vaughn
4.43 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
As an admirer of Elisabeth's Elliot's writing for years, this second volume of her biography adds depth to the "human-ness" of this woman. When you read her story (which will not be what you expect), You may feel compelled to re-read many of her written words and reflect upon them with a new viewpoint. She did not write from a lofty ivory tower, but from the gritty struggles of life that all of us can relate to.
Really interesting read - not what I was expecting to learn about Elisabeth Elliot!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
** The fact it took me 5 months to read this says something. But not sure what. Need to sit on this review for a bit. Teetering between a 4/5 star for me- the author finished this book right after her husband battled a short horrific bout with brain cancer and passed away. 🥹
** It took me about a month to finish up this review. I have thought of this book alot. It made me sad to see how much hardship and sorrow one of my heroes of the faith had gone through. Ellen Vaughn did an amazing job collecting research and piecing together a story that so many have left untold. EE is known for her first few years of life on the mission field. What really made her into the person that she became is what happened later. I appreciate this book now more than ever. Like EE I have been disallusioned with Christiany and so called Christians and great figures of the faith. What really matters is love for God and others and a determination to stay the course. She went through so much hardship in the deaths of husbands. Her last marriage was a shamble and a desperate plea for love. She saw the hypocrisy and shallowness in so many areas of her formative years- yet she kept on as much as she knew how.
I am thankful for books like this one that don't paint everything in gold but tells it as it is. The author herself went through major sorrow and grief as she was finishing up this book. I feel like I was able to pick up on that was the book was ending.
💬𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵:𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴/
** It took me about a month to finish up this review. I have thought of this book alot. It made me sad to see how much hardship and sorrow one of my heroes of the faith had gone through. Ellen Vaughn did an amazing job collecting research and piecing together a story that so many have left untold. EE is known for her first few years of life on the mission field. What really made her into the person that she became is what happened later. I appreciate this book now more than ever. Like EE I have been disallusioned with Christiany and so called Christians and great figures of the faith. What really matters is love for God and others and a determination to stay the course. She went through so much hardship in the deaths of husbands. Her last marriage was a shamble and a desperate plea for love. She saw the hypocrisy and shallowness in so many areas of her formative years- yet she kept on as much as she knew how.
I am thankful for books like this one that don't paint everything in gold but tells it as it is. The author herself went through major sorrow and grief as she was finishing up this book. I feel like I was able to pick up on that was the book was ending.
💬𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵:𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴/
Okay. I’m not sure why people don’t love this. I had always thought of Elisabeth Elliot as rather “one note”.
This book i felt was a very kind telling of someone human who God used to encourage people. No one on the stage is shiny behind the scenes. She was a sinner while living with other sinners, and complications are bound to arise. Add to that PTSD, the pressure of providing fully for a household, and having people yell at her when their faith didn’t match hers. I’m honestly amazed the journals aren’t worse. That’s a lot of pressure for one person.
I loved hearing her less guarded thoughts. She was much more nuanced than I believed based on her blunt communication style. It was beautiful to listen to her explore God outside the box, but makes sense that she spoke what she had concluded for herself.
Some have had a distaste for her sexual desire being written about… uh hello have you read “Passion and Purity” and “Quest for Love” she said as much about Jim in those books as is disclosed about Addison in this one.
It makes me so incredibly sad that her final years were highjacked by someone so controlling. That she was pushed her to preform for his profit. Ellen wondered if without that arrangement we might not have all her non-fiction. But part of me wonders what would have happened if she had been allowed to flourish.
Summed up… tragic, intelligent, and human.
This book i felt was a very kind telling of someone human who God used to encourage people. No one on the stage is shiny behind the scenes. She was a sinner while living with other sinners, and complications are bound to arise. Add to that PTSD, the pressure of providing fully for a household, and having people yell at her when their faith didn’t match hers. I’m honestly amazed the journals aren’t worse. That’s a lot of pressure for one person.
I loved hearing her less guarded thoughts. She was much more nuanced than I believed based on her blunt communication style. It was beautiful to listen to her explore God outside the box, but makes sense that she spoke what she had concluded for herself.
Some have had a distaste for her sexual desire being written about… uh hello have you read “Passion and Purity” and “Quest for Love” she said as much about Jim in those books as is disclosed about Addison in this one.
It makes me so incredibly sad that her final years were highjacked by someone so controlling. That she was pushed her to preform for his profit. Ellen wondered if without that arrangement we might not have all her non-fiction. But part of me wonders what would have happened if she had been allowed to flourish.
Summed up… tragic, intelligent, and human.
informative
inspiring
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Honest. Insightful. Lovely balance of journal entries from Elisabeth and commentary from the author. I love the person about whom this book was written and the way in which her story was told. Absolute 5 stars from me.
This second volume completes the authorized biography of Elisabeth Elliot, covering her life from 1963 to her death. I enjoyed the first book when it came out a few years ago, and I enjoyed this biography as well, appreciating Ellen Vaughn’s careful handling of complex life events. This is not a hagiography portraying Elliot to be a saint, and nor is it a tell-all that focuses on the more difficult or sensational parts of her life. Vaughn writes with grace and truth, and she portrays Elliot in an authentic, well-rounded way, drawing from Elliot’s personal journals and correspondence.
I found this book compulsively readable. Even though many chapters don’t cover anything particularly dramatic, Vaughn tells the story in a very engaging way, portraying Elliot’s private and public life with an eye for the right details to make it all feel real to the reader. Although the pacing gets shaky towards the end, with rushed revelations in the final chapters, I found this very gripping. There are a lot of ways that this could have been dry, especially in its coverage of everyday life and domestic details, but Vaughn explores deeper themes beyond daily minutiae and highlights memorable human interest elements.
This is an excellent read for people who are interested in Elisabeth Elliot's life, especially if they want a more nuanced view of her beyond her compressed, simplified public image. There was a lot here that surprised me, and Vaughn shows how Elliot chafed against the evangelical machine of her day, choosing to embrace mystery and paradoxes even when people wanted clear-cut triumphalism from her. Vaughn also does a nice job of showing all of this in historical context, providing background information for readers who may not be familiar with mid-century history. Vaughn's explanatory asides and reflections on different themes enrich the reading experience, and I never felt that she inserted her own voice too much. However, there are a number of typos that an editor should have caught, and it surprised me that there weren't any photos in the book, unlike the previous volume.
However, even though I appreciate Vaughn's forthrightness, careful explanations, and emphasis on truth, she sometimes shares too many extraneous details about sensitive topics. For example, when Vaughn writes about Elliot's second marriage, she quotes from journal entries where Elliot wrote rapturous reflections about sex. Even though Elliot preserved these entries while excising others, that doesn't mean that she wanted them shared for public consumption. These journal quotations felt like an unnecessary invasion of privacy, especially since it was already obvious how much passion and joy Elliot and her husband experienced together. The intimate details were unnecessary.
I also wish that Vaughn had been more selective when writing about that husband's declining health, cancer battle, and death. He clearly felt humiliated by his infirmities and medical struggles, so why write about them in such detail? The ravages of disease and the suffering they created are an essential part of Elliot's story, but there are whole chapters with information about her husband's symptoms, medical interventions, and struggles with physical and emotional problems. Reading this made me feel like I was intruding on someone else's private business, and it's not even a biography about him. I wish that Vaughn had glossed over some of the things she focused on here.
Being Elisabeth Elliot: Elisabeth’s Later Years is a gripping, powerful biography about a memorable Christian figure. Although people should know that this focuses on the sixties and seventies, not on Elliot's speaking and radio ministry from later in life, there's a lot of interesting material in this book. I would recommend both volumes of this authorized biography to people who are interested in Elliot's life and accomplishments, especially if they want a look into the more complicated and nuanced aspects of her life and faith. This book grapples with deep themes in a thoughtful and honest way, and I appreciate Vaughn's careful portrayal of so many complexities. This is a very well-written, engaging, and memorable biography, and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to review it.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I found this book compulsively readable. Even though many chapters don’t cover anything particularly dramatic, Vaughn tells the story in a very engaging way, portraying Elliot’s private and public life with an eye for the right details to make it all feel real to the reader. Although the pacing gets shaky towards the end, with rushed revelations in the final chapters, I found this very gripping. There are a lot of ways that this could have been dry, especially in its coverage of everyday life and domestic details, but Vaughn explores deeper themes beyond daily minutiae and highlights memorable human interest elements.
This is an excellent read for people who are interested in Elisabeth Elliot's life, especially if they want a more nuanced view of her beyond her compressed, simplified public image. There was a lot here that surprised me, and Vaughn shows how Elliot chafed against the evangelical machine of her day, choosing to embrace mystery and paradoxes even when people wanted clear-cut triumphalism from her. Vaughn also does a nice job of showing all of this in historical context, providing background information for readers who may not be familiar with mid-century history. Vaughn's explanatory asides and reflections on different themes enrich the reading experience, and I never felt that she inserted her own voice too much. However, there are a number of typos that an editor should have caught, and it surprised me that there weren't any photos in the book, unlike the previous volume.
However, even though I appreciate Vaughn's forthrightness, careful explanations, and emphasis on truth, she sometimes shares too many extraneous details about sensitive topics. For example, when Vaughn writes about Elliot's second marriage, she quotes from journal entries where Elliot wrote rapturous reflections about sex. Even though Elliot preserved these entries while excising others, that doesn't mean that she wanted them shared for public consumption. These journal quotations felt like an unnecessary invasion of privacy, especially since it was already obvious how much passion and joy Elliot and her husband experienced together. The intimate details were unnecessary.
I also wish that Vaughn had been more selective when writing about that husband's declining health, cancer battle, and death. He clearly felt humiliated by his infirmities and medical struggles, so why write about them in such detail? The ravages of disease and the suffering they created are an essential part of Elliot's story, but there are whole chapters with information about her husband's symptoms, medical interventions, and struggles with physical and emotional problems. Reading this made me feel like I was intruding on someone else's private business, and it's not even a biography about him. I wish that Vaughn had glossed over some of the things she focused on here.
Being Elisabeth Elliot: Elisabeth’s Later Years is a gripping, powerful biography about a memorable Christian figure. Although people should know that this focuses on the sixties and seventies, not on Elliot's speaking and radio ministry from later in life, there's a lot of interesting material in this book. I would recommend both volumes of this authorized biography to people who are interested in Elliot's life and accomplishments, especially if they want a look into the more complicated and nuanced aspects of her life and faith. This book grapples with deep themes in a thoughtful and honest way, and I appreciate Vaughn's careful portrayal of so many complexities. This is a very well-written, engaging, and memorable biography, and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to review it.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.