A memoir filled with biblical references and concise, helpful passages on traversing difficulty.
A debut memoir about relying on faith to care for a loved one with dementia.
In her memoir, Blakely describes herself as “a nurse by profession, a daughter by birth, and caregiver for a loved one by destiny.” After her mother was diagnosed with dementia, Blakely became her primary caregiver, and she writes about the experience by revisiting the trials and doubts that accompanied the difficult task. When a loved one suffers from dementia, it leads caretakers to “mourn the loss of that person while he or she is living,” Blakely explains as she discusses the stages of grief, writing about how she experienced them even as her mother was still alive. Blakely returns often to the subject of dignity. For her, it was important to maintain her mother’s sense of self, making sure her hair was washed and curled and that she even had a bit of lipstick on “so that when she looked in the mirror she would see the beautiful person she was.” As her mother’s condition worsened, she hardly recognized her own daughter. Blakely writes about her frustration, constant worry, fatigue, and exasperation. She covers the gamut of emotions felt as a caregiver, including Bible verses and bits of Christian wisdom that helped her get through each day. Blakely clearly wants to help others grappling with dementia, and as such, she organizes her story in succinct chapters that address a particular emotion or theme rather than through a chronological narrative. She also includes advice, writing directly to the reader concerning the problem of denial: “You can remain in a state of denial far longer when dementia is involved.…[But] you are depriving yourself and your loved one of much-needed help.” Some of the Bible verses Blakely offers feel tacked on—passages from Isaiah loosely related to stress or finding guidance are thrown into her stories, for example—but Christian readers will still appreciate her insistence on faith for overcoming this challenge.
A memoir filled with biblical references and concise, helpful passages on traversing difficulty.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5127-5577-0
Page Count: 108
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2019
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
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