A tragic yet uplifting account of a young man’s spiritual growth despite adversity.
The inspiring true story of a beloved son taken too soon and the life he packed into his 33 years.
As devout Christians, the Chapmans don’t believe in coincidences but rather in miracles, many of which are detailed in this biographical tribute to Chad Chapman. His father, Gary, notes the many similarities between his son, born just two days shy of Christmas, and Jesus’ own challenges and triumphs from birth to death as he searched for, and found, meaning in tragedy. From the moment of his birth, Chad symbolized the miracle of birth and a difficult lesson that “[c]hildren belong to God and are given as gifts to Parents.” Chad’s family soon perceived him as a vehicle for miracles, whether he was healed suddenly and unexpectedly from a malaria-driven coma or rescued from social and spiritual difficulties in high school. Skilled in construction and eventually a successful builder, Chad married Lauren, a woman he chased from Toronto all the way to England. Together, they had two boys, Jonas and Keelan, and involved themselves extensively in the local church. But an intense stomachache in his mid-20s turned out to be cancer of the appendix that had gone undiagnosed and spread to more of his body. Burdened with a dire prognosis, Chad struggled to maintain his faith in God and a cheery disposition as life slipped away from him. He died at the same age that Jesus was crucified, and in this, and in many other ways, Chad’s father took comfort that his son carried out God’s wishes. Filled with photographs and memories, Chad’s story is one of determination, tenacity and faith. As told by his father, this account isn’t only of Chad’s accomplishments and strength of character throughout his short life; it’s also about the lessons he left behind for his family to learn. Chad’s work ethic, honesty and commitment to God inspired each of his siblings as well as his parents, and this is the legacy he left behind. By documenting Chad’s short but full life, his father allows for more than just sadness in the aftermath of his loss. Celebrating life and its challenges, the poignant collection of anecdotes and lessons paints a picture of an admirable and courageous family finding strength in the harshest of challenges.
A tragic yet uplifting account of a young man’s spiritual growth despite adversity.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499010466
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
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
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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