Nonfiction mini-reviews: Born a Crime and The Broken Way

Trevor Noah is known to many as a comedian and the host of The Daily Show. But his childhood certainly did not suggest that he would have international fame--in fact, Noah's very existence was illegal as a bi-racial child in South Africa. He writes about his upbringing with a strong and devout mother, a large extended family, and infrequent visits with his white father. Reading this book confirms that Noah's humor is not confined to a tv studio and gives us insight into the difficulties of growing up in South Africa during apartheid.

A lot of readers talk about books that actually make them laugh out loud, but I don't experience that very often. This was a rare exception, and I often found myself laughing and then reading a passage out loud to my husband. Noah strikes a careful balance here as the hilarious stories are often a result of the poverty and discrimination he faced as a child and young man. While you might laugh at his youthful attempts to persuade his mother that they really didn't need to attend a third church service, things become a bit more serious when his mother throws him out of a moving taxi on the way to said service because their lives were in danger. While the stories are arranged somewhat haphazardly, I loved reading them and perhaps the loveliest thing is that there are no stories about his success as a comedian and television personality. Instead, readers are treated to the highs and lows of a bi-racial boy in South Africa who could be anyone facing similar problems; we just happened to get the hilarious and thoughtful stories of Trevor Noah.

Born a Crime
by Trevor Noah
Spiegel and Grau November 2016
304 pages
Read via Netgalley

"Who doesn't know what it's like to smile thinly and say you're fine when you're not, when you're almost faint with pain? There isn't one of us not bearing the wounds from our own bloody battles. There isn't one of us who isn't cut right from the beginning." Ann Voskamp opens this book with the discovery that one of her children is suffering from the same demons that haunts her: the need to cut open her arms and let out the pain. Slowly, carefully, and with grace and beauty, she wonders if there is something beautiful and worthwhile to be found right in the midst of our greatest pain.

So often, we are tempted to hide the difficulties we are struggling with at that moment. It just seems so incredibly vulnerable to give voice to the things that are breaking our heart. In The Broken Way, Ann Voskamp invites us to follow in Christ's brokenness and asks if maybe we find true community when we share exactly those moments of heartbreak. When we embrace other's brokenness as well as our own, we find healing together. It sounds simple in theory, but it's tough to actually carry out. I think this book is one I will be reading and thinking about for a long time.

The Broken Way
A Daring Path Forward into the Abundant Life
By Ann Voskamp
Zondervan October 2016
288 pages
From the library

Review: One Thousand Gifts

One Thousand Gifts

By Ann Voskamp

Zondervan 2010

227 pages

From my bookshelves

Ann Voskamp is a mother living with her husband on their farm in Canada. As she went about her daily routines, she noticed a lack of joy in her life and the everyday presence of fear.  She realized that the root of joy was in eucharisto, in giving thanks through all circumstances. She began a personal challenge to record 1001 gifts, carrying a small notebook with her to write down each blessing. One Thousand Gifts is Voskamp’s record of her journey and the ways in which counting blessings brought her closer to God and changed her life forever.

I received this book as a gift, but let it sit on my shelf for months. I really regret this in retrospect because as soon as I finished this incredible book, I wanted to start it all over again. Voskamp is an incredible writer – her style is distinctive and lyrical. You have to let yourself go with the words, since she does not particularly respect grammar and tends to write in stream of consciousness. But her observations of the everyday routine amid painful loss and exultant joy are stunning.

“I’m reluctant to untether from the moon. The world I live in is loud and blaring and toilets plug and I get speeding tickets and the dog gets sick all over the back step and I forget everything and these six kids lean hard into me all day to reach and raise and lead and I fail hard and there are real souls that are at stake and how long do I really have to figure out how to live full of grace, full of joy – before these six beautiful children fly the coop and my mothering days fold up quiet? How do you open the eyes to see how to take the daily, domestic, workday vortex and invert it into the dome of an everyday cathedral? Could I go back to my life and pray with eyes wide open?”

Voskamp begins with the seemingly simple concept of giving thanks. She proposes a counting of gifts, noting the sunshine in the morning, her child’s smile, or an unexpected kindness. However, she realizes that making the list is not as simple as it seems. Her own stories of losing faith amid devastating loss are shared throughout the pages, along with her search for God in the minutiae of trying to keep up with six children, a house, and a farm. She confronts the deep fears that we all share - that God’s promises will fail us or that we will be unable to give thanks in times of trouble.

Ann Voskamp’s book has the potential to radically change the way you view everyday life and the ways in which you seek God’s presence. This is a book you will want to savor, but will instead find yourself racing through the pages in a search for further insight. One Thousand Gifts is a book I can see myself picking up again and again, searching for new insight and new glimpses of beauty.