Here If You Need Me: A True Story by Kate Braestrup
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Book Reviews of Here If You Need Me: A True Story
Book Review: Gifts of service
Summary: 5 Stars
My mom is a pastor, not a chaplain (they are related, but not identical), and I see her do a lot of this work, the work of sitting with someone and not knowing the answers. It's hard. There are no good answers.
This was a really hard book to read. Bad things happen to lots of nice people, especially children. As someone who had to give up on some shows (Cold Case and SVU, I'm looking at you) because now that I have kids, they are just too scary. and as you might expect, sometimes little kids die in the woods. Not always -- there are stories in here where no one dies, or is hurt. There are little bits of her life (I am amazed at her ability to be a single parent AND be on-call.)
Interestingly, the author's faith journey, while evident, is not explicated. She doesn't talk about how she came to believe, or even what she believes. The most significant story about faith was about her realization that she hadn't had a religious epiphany, that her scientific faith had not been taken from her by an involuntary mystical experience. I liked that. I appreciate stories where love and humanity are marks of the Divine. Her journey is not road-to-Emmaeus, although it is full of roads.
Read this if: you wish people of faith were more humble, if you want a non-Jodi-Picoult view of widowhood, if you've never thought about who fishes unlucky snowmobilers out of the water
Do not read: without a sufficient supply of kleenex, if your faith is threatened by a chaplain who doesn't believe in an afterlife, if you can't handle people dying
Book Review: A Treasure
Summary: 5 Stars
Sometimes Unitarians can be so colorless, so rational, but Braestrup gives them gravitas, a seriousness of heart that touched me. This little memoir helped me understand how a Unitarian minister can work with compassion and love to be there when needed.
More than that, this book is superbly written--its pacing, its images, and the living characters. I found it engaging throughout because Braestrup knows how to write in ways that capture and live in memory. I loved the Maine setting too, evoked here by a master.
In part, this book reminds me of the mystery novels of Julia Spencer-Fleming whose main character is a woman cleric and the setting is Maine. These two writers should meet.
I'm an ordained Congregational minister still searching for reasons why I do ministry, what it all means, and how to serve. This memoir is the best handbook I've read on those matters. I highly recommend it!
Elaine Greensmith Jordan
Book Review: Trying to See the Forest for the Trees
Summary: 5 Stars
Ms. Braestrup's memoir about the sudden death of her husband, Drew, and her subsequent journey toward recovery thru spiritual altruism is uplifting. This is not a book about someone who becomes a religious zealot and follows a certain hardcore doctrine of my-way-or-the-highway to holy salvation. Many unanswerable questions dealing with death, life and the randomness of fate permeate Ms. Braestrup's book. An extremely honest introspection on life and her unique position in the Maine Warden Service. Her observations about calamities which occur in the state's forests are highly informative and sometimes unsettling. The halfwitted wilderness escapades carried out by some of the victims calls into question our bragging rights about being a highly evolved life form. This memoir is well written, non-sarcastic, illuminating, and an all-too-human journey of hope. A beautiful narrative that has quickly become one of my favorites.Book Review: Surprising Reality - I couldn't lay this book down
Summary: 5 Stars
I stumbled on this book at the bookstore as I was looking for a good non-fiction book that was easy to read. Kate's story is about a wife and mother of four whose life is turned upside down when her policeman/husband dies suddenly in an auto accident. She finds an outlet for her own grief by following her husband's dream of becoming a chaplain. Her journey leads her to theology school and instead of being a police chaplain, she becomes a chaplain to the game wardens in Maine as they search for missing persons. Kate uses a few Bible stories in such a refreshing way. My favorite is the story of the ten lepers and what a real miracle is. You will be amazed at the answer! I thought the audio version was a different story when I ordered it but was not disappointed in getting the same story as the author, Kate Braestrup, reads it ... her voice was so soothing and expressive! I recommend both the book and the audio book.Book Review: Braestrup tells true stories of love the emerge from loss. tragedy and fear
Summary: 5 Stars
Kate Braestrup decided to become an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, after her husband suddenly died in a car accident. With humor, she portrays herself as "The Plucky Widow," as she completes her seminary training and accepts the position of chaplain to the Maine Warden Service. She is chaplain to game wardens, not prison wardens. Her role is assisting victims and families during search and rescue missions in Maine. She relates detailed stories of these missions, and the varying spiritual needs of families, game wardens, police officers and search victims. There are tales of lost children and found children, bereaved families and families that curse the newly dead. With vivid detail, empathy, and occasional wit, she examines loss, tragedy, hope and meaning especially through difficult times. Her stories are powerful testimony to ordinary people giving and receiving love during times of loss and tragedy.