A tender tribute to a too-short life.
Ingerson’s poignant debut memoir recounts the challenges and blessings of raising a terminally ill child.
Ingerson was in Okinawa with the Air Force when his fourth child, Caleb, was born. It was immediately clear the child had life-threatening defects, including fistulas and a malformed heart. Indeed, doctors expected the baby to die imminently. Over his three-and-a-half-year life span, Caleb had 10 operations, including open-heart surgery. The family was in constant flux, relocating to be close to the best hospitals. When it looked like things could not get worse, they did in a major way: Caleb contracted HIV from a tainted blood transfusion. Despite the wrenching sadness of his subject matter, Ingerson is a natural storyteller and often emphasizes the humorous side. For instance, driven by an urge to inspect his son’s backside, he was the first to notice anything wrong with Caleb: “Say, Doctor, this is curious; the garage door is closed,” he remarked; that imperforate anus was the first sign of heart problems. Later, after the HIV infection, which placed a stigma on Caleb even within their church, Ingerson appreciated the irony of the unlikely tragedy: “Caleb won the lottery!” For the Ingersons, faith in God was paramount. This is a sensitive chronicle of a journey through pain and doubt, often relying on metaphors of life-giving waves and a solid rock. However, Ingerson fully acknowledges the practical and emotional tolls. Understanding medical jargon and being his son’s advocate were draining, and Caleb’s treatment cost over $2 million. “We had no example to encourage us to have realistic expectations,” he says. “I’d go into my study and would find myself alternating between fierce anger and longing for relief from my lonely agony as well as from my son’s many sufferings.” Pondering why God allowed this suffering, Ingerson toes the interventionist line: “He could have acted to avert it—yet He did not.” Those who beg to differ theologically can still enjoy this thorough, gripping medical memoir, its narrative peppered with journal entries and email updates to friends. Photos of Caleb would be welcome.
A tender tribute to a too-short life.Pub Date: May 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-1939570147
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Word & Spirit Resources, LLC
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2014
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
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
