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THE MIRACLE BEFORE YOUR EYES

Name: THE MIRACLE BEFORE YOUR EYES
Author: Patrick K. McAndrew
ISBN: 978-1-4602-2502-8

by Patrick K. McAndrew ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2013

An affecting faith memoir filled with inviting personal anecdotes.

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One man’s account of his spiritual journey from confusion to a peaceful Christianity.

In his nonfiction debut, McAndrew looks back on the beginning of his spiritual journey, decades ago, when he was feeling a bit burnt out at the restaurant where he worked. Frazzled by his temperamental managers and spurred by a shocking tragedy that happened one night, he began what would become a lifelong search to understand “the invisible matrix of life that is God.” He increasingly interrogated the worldly assumptions of his life, guided by a new openness to put aside the doubts of the world and do as the Holy Spirit calls Christians to do: “walk out on the Sea of Life.” In order to do so, McAndrew writes, “we must let go of our doubts and fears, and trust the infinite oneness.” McAndrew describes this slow, sometimes-grudging process of growing spiritual freedom with a moving directness, relating family anecdotes involving his wife, Yvonne, and his wise-beyond-her-years daughter, Shavonne, with the flair of a novelist. All of it is meant to illustrate the familiar modern Christian adage, “When you get to your wit’s end, you will find God lives there.” McAndrew puts it simply, “That’s what happened to me.” The book’s confessional strengths are only slightly offset by its exegetical weaknesses. McAndrew writes, for instance, that in Genesis, “the primordial substance of the universe is light,” when the biblical text clearly states otherwise, or when he contends that a study of St. Peter’s words and actions shows that “trust in Spirit developed over time,” when precisely the opposite is the point of his sudden awakening on the night of Jesus’ arrest. But such quibbles don’t much distract from McAndrew’s larger message of surrendering worldly vanity to “the harmony of the Kingdom”; the book will provide younger Christians especially with an appealingly personal and spiritual version of the faith.

An affecting faith memoir filled with inviting personal anecdotes.

Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4602-2502-8

Page Count: 184

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.