Well-written memoir covering the founding of an unconventional church that might not appeal to the majority of Christian...
Cornell’s debut memoir recalls her and her husband opening their home while finding their own ways to worship and spread the Gospel.
Born to unconventional parents in London, Cornell grew up with a love of the dramatic arts and surrounded by a world of séances and spiritualism. As a young woman, she rushed into marriage with an equally unconventional young man, only to see it end in disaster. “How could I have been so foolish as to ignore good advice from wise people or even to ignore the truth in my own heart?” she says of that first marriage. But from that moment, she found herself drawn to the church in a new way. Soon, a friend introduced her to handsome Tony, and she was once again caught in a whirlwind engagement, this one with much better results. After Cornell experienced the presence of Jesus in her room, Tony also felt personally moved by the Holy Spirit, leading the two on a search for more charismatic and interdenominational experiences than those provided by the Anglican Church. They extended these more “Spirit-filled ministries” and philosophies into their own home by opening it up to an unmarried pregnant woman, a struggling teenager, and a nurse’s family. Finding fulfillment in such openness, they soon purchased a larger abode, Sunbury House, which they opened to a variety of those in need. “In Sunbury House,” Cornell writes, “supernatural answers to prayer became the norm.” However, it was not until tragedy struck with the death of Cornell’s oldest son, Philip, that Sunbury House began to expand into a full-fledged ministry, taking them abroad and touching more people in need. Just as their particular style of worship and biblical interpretation stirred up controversy with locals accustomed to Anglican teachings, some Christian readers might take issue with Cornell’s experiences and stances. Her belief that her own sin, and perhaps even inviting her parents into her home, led to the death of her son may be a difficult idea to relate to or understand. Additionally, the many divine experiences might seem a bit too easy; God sometimes responds to her questions out loud and plainly, which can feel far-fetched rather than spiritual. Nevertheless, the book’s prose is clear and elegant, and in the end, readers will appreciate the couple’s dedication to their religion and to helping others.
Well-written memoir covering the founding of an unconventional church that might not appeal to the majority of Christian readers.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4525-8401-0
Page Count: 274
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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