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: thoughtful and engaging story
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this book, and I have found it to be a perfect book for late night reading. It's interesting enough that I can stay awake for an hour or so to read it, but not so riveting that I would stay up all night. This is an interesting story about a woman whose husband gets killed and then she decides to go to seminary. In short order she becomes Chaplain for the Maine Warden Service (like Fish & Game).
She recounts dealing with her grief over the loss of her husband, and how she copes with her job and her 4 children as a single working mother, who often has to come and go at weird hours if, say, a child is lost in the Maine woods.
While some of these reviews have questioned her beliefs or her understanding of theology, I think that's irrelevant to the story. I have preferred that what she believes is somewhat vague. If this book had had a proselytizing tone, I would have put it down after the first chapter. I think what's important is that she is doing the best she can with what she has, and she is trying to do some good for people who are frightened or have suffered a loss.
So if theology is your interest, this is not the book for you. But if you want to read an interesting story about a woman who cares, about her children, herself, God and helping others, then you will enjoy this book. I know very little about Christian theology but I can appreciate the anecdote and smile when I read about one of her children dragging around a stuffed toy named (by the child) Jesus, and her late husband saying something like, "I see Jesus is a good friend to you."
Book Review: Spiritually Powerful, Emotionally Devastating...and Utterly Refreshing
Summary: 4 Stars
"Where is God in this?" is that all-important question the faithful ask when tragedy occurs, and is what propels Braestrup's memoir. A Unitarian Universalist minister for the Maine Warden Service and widowed mother of 4, Braestrup's stark prose and frank descriptions of death and decay may turn some readers off, but her perspective on life, love, and loss is a new angle and hits hard.
Frustrated with church cliches (aren't we all?!) and not particularly relgious herself, writer Braestrup took up her husband's dream of becoming a minister after he lost his life while serving as a Maine state trooper. As she completes seminary and ministers to others facing trauma and loss, Braestrup clarifies her theological stance on suffering: God is love. God does not will suffering and death. To find God in tragedy, find the love--the kindness of others, the small acts, the support and empathy--which are reflections of God's nature.
Kate Braestrup is a brave woman for writing this book, and I feel somehow a bit braver after reading it.
Book Review: Vivid, moving memoir
Summary: 4 Stars
Kate Braestrup has every reason to be mad at God. Her husband, a Maine State Trooper, was killed in a car accident, leaving her widowed with four young children. Instead, she took the opposite tack and went to seminary, eventually finding herself as chaplain to the Maine Fish and Game Wardens, accompanying officers throughout the state as they patrol remote areas, arrange search and rescue efforts, and aid lost and injured hikers.
Far from being a "come to Jesus" tale of renewed spirituality, this book shares Braestrup's own struggles with spirituality (I loved the phrase, "I'm religious but not particularly spiritual.") and the dogmatism of her required courses, at the same time sharing a glimpse into the grace and beauty of the wilderness of the Northeast.
Easy to read, moving, enthralling, this book made me respect these men and women in a whole new way.
Book Review: Warm, funny, thoughtful
Summary: 4 Stars
I first picked up this book because I, too, am a widow. I was hoping for insight on someone else's life by hearing their story. This isn't the story of widowhood, it is the story of strength, love and grace. I found this to be a truly moving book about a "plucky widow" who found she had a heart to share and share she does by becoming a chaplain to the Maine Warden Service. It inspires me to be a better person and to see the good around me. Well written, full of stories, reflections and events I found it hard to put down and was sorry to come to the end. I hope she will someday write about her own personal journey in greater depth.Book Review: If God was one of us, just a slob like one of us
Summary: 4 Stars
What a sweet original story, its about a mom of 4 young children who plowed through an awful time in her life and lived her late husband's dream of becoming a Minister to the Maine Game Warden Association.
For a unitarian priest she has dark sense of humor 4 stars. I put in the same catagory as heartburn - made me want stop complaining about how hard life is and fix what is broken inside of me.