A haunting tale of molestation, murder, and the power of faith that will appeal to Christian readers.
A debut memoir recounts the shocking cycle of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse a woman suffers as a young child and details her road to recovery.
Marshall’s early childhood abuse was so extensive that she buried the memories of it for many years: “Skeletons in my past include rape, incest, physical abuse, murder, scandal.” Not until her late 20s did the author begin having “back flashes of past sexual abuse.” While working with a therapist on her anxiety and depression, she recalled being raped when she was 3 years old by John, a neighborhood boy. She also became ensnared in doctor-nurse games with her older brother and a couple of his friends. Referring to herself as “Victim,” she remembers “the first time…between just her and Brother,” who told her his penis wouldn’t hurt her. Decades after the fact, she recalled a murder. Her maternal grandfather, who the family knew was a pedophile, hit her brother’s friend with a garden tool during a fight. The friend had stopped the older man from raping his sister. According to the author, her mother and brother, both of whom had been sexually molested by Marshall’s grandfather, actively participated in the crime’s coverup. Her mother told her father: “I’m not letting” him “go to jail.” Although both parents “physically abused” Marshall with beatings, her mother “didn’t need a reason to strike.” A section of “recovery Scriptures” that helped the author is included in the engrossing book along with forgiveness letters she addressed to everyone involved, including herself and God. Readers will quickly realize that Marshall, who is deeply religious, perceives the world within the confines of her Christian faith. At times, this view approaches proselytizing, as when she writes of her father, who was adopted, that she was “grateful his biological parents” didn’t abort him. Still, while therapy helped her recall the mistreatment she endured, the author deftly shows that her religious convictions enabled her to put her demons to rest through forgiveness of herself and her assailants. This is a moving story of abuse, homicide, and deceit that is most likely to strike a responsive chord among Christian believers.
A haunting tale of molestation, murder, and the power of faith that will appeal to Christian readers.Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4624-1255-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Inspiring Voices
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 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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