An earnest and ultimately uplifting personal account of overcoming misfortune through faith and self-encouragement.
A debut book focuses on taking the defeat out of everyday setbacks.
In her brief work, Boshoma urges her readers not only to be brave in the face of hardships as a matter of personal principle, but also to be brave as a strategy. B.R.A.V.E. is the author's acronym for a system of dealing with the worst difficulties that life can throw at a person. Boldness, Resilience, Authenticity, Vision, and Enthusiasm, mixed with generous helpings of Boshoma’s own fervent Christianity, form the backbone of a tactic for facing troubles of all kinds. She strongly advises her readers to become the authors of their own life stories. Toward that end, she illustrates her inspirational points with many reports from her own past and tales of her own problems, including suffering a mild stroke and being hounded out of her job by a vindictive superior, who will do stand-in duty for every reader’s worst boss. The emphasis throughout is on not only working through periods of adversity, but also using the very forces of adversity to do it. Although Boshoma frequently cites Jesus as her personal inspiration, much of the common-sense advice she dispenses should be useful to readers of any religious faith or none. She has a weakness for quoting the blandest clichés from self-help authors and other notables, as when she quotes Napoleon Hill (“Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit”) or Maya Angelou (“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated”). And she adds clichés to such bromides (when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade; with faith you can move mountains, etc.). But the main argument of this passionate book—that rough times can be made to yield new opportunities if readers stay focused and optimistic—comes through loud and clear.
An earnest and ultimately uplifting personal account of overcoming misfortune through faith and self-encouragement.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4828-7712-0
Page Count: 122
Publisher: PartridgeAfrica
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2017
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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