An account that should easily resonate with Christian readers who have experienced trauma.
A debut author recalls his family’s struggles with poverty and his alcoholic father as well as the personal relationship with God that lent him guidance in times of hardship.
Simmons’ salad days are tied to being 6 years old and growing up in his family’s eponymous “Blue House” in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, in the latter half of the 1950s, a simpler time when life’s greatest questions could be answered by his mother while she worked at her ironing board. His father’s heavy drinking and inability to hold a regular job cost the boy this innocence, leaving the family nearly destitute, constantly moving to new, small, sometimes-unfinished, sometimes-decrepit homes. With little support, Simmons’ mother was forced to weather these adversities and disappointments in order to provide for her five children, often buying groceries on never-to-be-repaid credit and once resorting to picking cotton just to give the family a Christmas celebration. Through the intervention of active pastors and a short time with a loving, devout woman named Mrs. Tompkins, the reserved Simmons was able to cultivate a relationship with God that stayed with him throughout his life, granting him the support and answers he needed in a world far more complicated than his early days in the Blue House. Highly personal, much of the memoir reads like a Christian testimonial, as Simmons shares intimate conversations he had with God, not just concerning his problematic father, but also his mother’s and siblings’ safety in the face of abuse. Over the course of his life, he received similar protections and directions as he joined the National Guard, worked for General Electric, dipped a toe in politics, and started a family of his own, often advocating to friends and family about the word of the Lord. This is no casual religious text—it’s anti-abortion and concentrates regularly on Bible passages, with each chapter accompanied by pointed “Life Lessons” by Middlebrooks, using Simmons’ experiences as opportunities to introduce guide questions for Bible study. These emphatic lessons will likely appeal to Christian audiences with similar views. They are a mix of metaphors, Proverbs, and Scripture, with a focus on self-reflection and individual responsibility, both spiritual and secular.
An account that should easily resonate with Christian readers who have experienced trauma.Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5320-2161-9
Page Count: 248
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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