Naomi B. (tripleguess) reviewed Same Life, New Story: Change Your Perspective to Change Your Life on + 48 more book reviews
Not as strong as the rest of her books. I find the "what might have been doesn't exist, so don't go there!" concept frustrating. God DOES go there (Psalm 81), and in Joel 2:25 He says rather, And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." See also Isaiah chapters 49 and 54. I believe the Resurrection is the ultimate answer to all our disappointments and heartbreaks, not the concept that we can imagine -- but not obtain -- a better happy ending than God will give us.
EDIT:
Some further thoughts on the book, several months after I read it.
-Rachael and Leah. Silvious makes the point that after Leah basically accepted her lot and named Judah, saying "Now I will praise the LORD," her life got a lot better and that's right when she had the son whose line would be the Messianic one.
However, if you keep reading about the sisters, you find that they resume squabbling shortly afterward -- they just did it by proxy, via handmaids, and over mandrakes. But perhaps Leah's life did get a lot better -- after Rachael died. Even then, Joseph said, "You know my wife bore me two sons." (His "real" wife, his favorite wife, the one Leah may have realized she could never replace?) Either way, I don't think it's a happy feel-good story with a nice clean ending. Sometimes life hands you a messy set of circumstances, and you have to deal with it, and that's that. That does NOT mean you should dope up on Prozac and shriek, "Life is good! It doesn't get any better than this!" That's just... insanity.
-The poor European girl who was gang raped by Russian soldiers and then forced to become a military officer's mistress if she wanted to protect the Jews she'd been hiding under his roof. Silvious quotes her as saying later, "I would do it again if I had to."
Really, what lessons are we supposed to draw from this? I'm not trying to judge someone who was forced into hideous circumstances. But would you really advise your daughter, "Become someone's mistress if it will save lives"? The poor girl probably felt like she had no choice and that she had already been abused so who cared what else happened to her body, but personally I think it would have been less morally reprehensible to have killed the officer. I know that statement will shock somebody, but the man was doing nothing less than threatening to kill those Jews -- directly or indirectly, it makes no difference; he might as well have been holding a gun to their heads.
I was really disappointed by this book because this author has delivered some good solid titles in the past, such as "Foolproofing Your Life" and "Moving Beyond the Myths" and "Big Girls Don't Whine" and "Smart Girls Think Twice," all of which have helped me greatly in my Christian walk. "Same Life, New Story" is not nearly on the same level.
EDIT:
Some further thoughts on the book, several months after I read it.
-Rachael and Leah. Silvious makes the point that after Leah basically accepted her lot and named Judah, saying "Now I will praise the LORD," her life got a lot better and that's right when she had the son whose line would be the Messianic one.
However, if you keep reading about the sisters, you find that they resume squabbling shortly afterward -- they just did it by proxy, via handmaids, and over mandrakes. But perhaps Leah's life did get a lot better -- after Rachael died. Even then, Joseph said, "You know my wife bore me two sons." (His "real" wife, his favorite wife, the one Leah may have realized she could never replace?) Either way, I don't think it's a happy feel-good story with a nice clean ending. Sometimes life hands you a messy set of circumstances, and you have to deal with it, and that's that. That does NOT mean you should dope up on Prozac and shriek, "Life is good! It doesn't get any better than this!" That's just... insanity.
-The poor European girl who was gang raped by Russian soldiers and then forced to become a military officer's mistress if she wanted to protect the Jews she'd been hiding under his roof. Silvious quotes her as saying later, "I would do it again if I had to."
Really, what lessons are we supposed to draw from this? I'm not trying to judge someone who was forced into hideous circumstances. But would you really advise your daughter, "Become someone's mistress if it will save lives"? The poor girl probably felt like she had no choice and that she had already been abused so who cared what else happened to her body, but personally I think it would have been less morally reprehensible to have killed the officer. I know that statement will shock somebody, but the man was doing nothing less than threatening to kill those Jews -- directly or indirectly, it makes no difference; he might as well have been holding a gun to their heads.
I was really disappointed by this book because this author has delivered some good solid titles in the past, such as "Foolproofing Your Life" and "Moving Beyond the Myths" and "Big Girls Don't Whine" and "Smart Girls Think Twice," all of which have helped me greatly in my Christian walk. "Same Life, New Story" is not nearly on the same level.
