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A review by blendedbydesignreads
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee
2.0
I'm about to cast a very unpopular review, unfortunately there is just no way around it. "Mighty Be Our Powers", was simply unmotivational.
I must first give credit to Leymah Gbowee for her personal account of the Liberian war. The atrocities are unimaginable, unfortunately there in lies my issue with her recount of this devastating piece of African history. The majority of this novel is an introduction of how she felt throughout a good 10 years. Every moment, memory, challenge is simply a glimpse. I would like to have had more of an in depth view of three or four major events that she'd witnessed and lived to tell, rather then a paragraph or two of dozens of memories. So many stories and memories went unresolved.
Where I feel she could have gone more in-depth, I feel she the time was spent on acronyms of programs that quite honestly bog down the heart of the story. With each acronym, some type of name dropping was sure to follow. The book would have been better titled if it commented on how "Program Reform Changed a Nation at War."
I desperately longed to learn more about the people in her life, and how they overcame the suffering together. I wonder if this kind of commitment to character is lacking because she herself doesn't really know the people who carried her. The brief passing about her children was a little shocking to say the least, considering she'd been surrounded by people who'd allowed her to abdicate her role as mother to do things that needed to be done.
I find many of her challenges and need to overcome, come from a selfish place. A place where she does it because she feels the need to prove something, and compensate for the things she felt were taken from her. Her accomplishments seemed to be more like personal victories versus community movements. They say a great leader is the one who gives praise to others. There is no praising others in this retelling.
I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge her ability to move mountains in a country where the devil himself sat looking at her from his power-seat. There is no doubt that she performed a modern day miracle. I just wish more time was spent on developing characters and story. Name dropping, and organization hoping was ineffective, and wasted valuable content space. The lives she saved are immeasurable, I'm sure. It just kinda feels like she makes every effort to ensure we don't forget it .
Great piece of sociology, just feels more like a lecture then a lesson. I was really hoping I would feel inspired and moved to do something.
I must first give credit to Leymah Gbowee for her personal account of the Liberian war. The atrocities are unimaginable, unfortunately there in lies my issue with her recount of this devastating piece of African history. The majority of this novel is an introduction of how she felt throughout a good 10 years. Every moment, memory, challenge is simply a glimpse. I would like to have had more of an in depth view of three or four major events that she'd witnessed and lived to tell, rather then a paragraph or two of dozens of memories. So many stories and memories went unresolved.
Where I feel she could have gone more in-depth, I feel she the time was spent on acronyms of programs that quite honestly bog down the heart of the story. With each acronym, some type of name dropping was sure to follow. The book would have been better titled if it commented on how "Program Reform Changed a Nation at War."
I desperately longed to learn more about the people in her life, and how they overcame the suffering together. I wonder if this kind of commitment to character is lacking because she herself doesn't really know the people who carried her. The brief passing about her children was a little shocking to say the least, considering she'd been surrounded by people who'd allowed her to abdicate her role as mother to do things that needed to be done.
I find many of her challenges and need to overcome, come from a selfish place. A place where she does it because she feels the need to prove something, and compensate for the things she felt were taken from her. Her accomplishments seemed to be more like personal victories versus community movements. They say a great leader is the one who gives praise to others. There is no praising others in this retelling.
I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge her ability to move mountains in a country where the devil himself sat looking at her from his power-seat. There is no doubt that she performed a modern day miracle. I just wish more time was spent on developing characters and story. Name dropping, and organization hoping was ineffective, and wasted valuable content space. The lives she saved are immeasurable, I'm sure. It just kinda feels like she makes every effort to ensure we don't forget it .
Great piece of sociology, just feels more like a lecture then a lesson. I was really hoping I would feel inspired and moved to do something.