Send to KindleLife, In Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After A Fatal Choice
By: Kristen Jane Anderson, Tricia Goyer
ISBN: 9781601422538
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction
Available on Amazon
Sneak peak at Chapter One here.
Kristen struggling with the affects of sexual assault and what she perceives as the injustice of her parents feels that she has no desire to go on with life. She lays down on the railways tracks and waits to die. The train passes over her – and severs her legs!
Her attempts to run away from emotional pain have caused her to be handicapped, maimed for life. This should have led to her being even more depressed and broken. But instead she finds God and herself through this deep tragedy. With her new-found faith she reaches out to other young people struggling to cope with life and contemplating suicide.
Life, In Spite of Me is the heart-wrenching true story of Kristen Jane Anderson. It tells of the night of her tragedy and chronicles her recovery: learning to walk with prosthetic legs, dealing with depression and the normal questions that young people go through as they attempt to find their way in the world. It tells of the triumph of faith, the human spirit and the value of family and community support in helping us heal.
What I liked: The emotion with which the story is told helps the reader identify the pain and confusion Kristen felt. Her struggle to pretend that she did not attempt suicide because of the guilt that it would cause is also very real. How Kristen deals with her pain, her struggle to find meaning, her journey of faith, and her courage in turning this tragedy in to a mission of reaching out to other youngsters is deeply edifying.
What I didn’t like: The Kindle version that I received was very badly formatted and at times on chapter seemed to run in to another. It made for choppy reading. Also, while I appreciate the inclusion of Kristen’s personal appeals to others suffering with depression and suicidal tendencies, they did not seem to fit in between chapters of her story. These could have been put into a separate section.
This is a book I would recommend as reading for Christian youngsters and those working with depressed and suicidal young people.
Personally, I was deeply inspired by Kristen’s courage and faith.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for the purpose of this review.
May you be inspired – every day!
About Corinne Rodrigues
I write because I hope that my words will bring pleasure, inspire or make you question something, just as the words of so many writers do to me. I don't profess to have any answers, I just share from my own experiences and often bring you my own struggles with thoughts, ideas and situations. Today I seek to live life of that is simple, authentic and holistic. I write at Everyday Gyaan and share a blog called From 7Eight with my husband, José and our boxer dog, Pablo.
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I aprreciate Kristen’s courage to move on with life,despite facing a tragedy.She gained strength from her faith in God.This story is touching, and as you mentioned today’s youngsters can be inspired from her life. A great story of faith and courage.
@Diana Pinto Yes, it’s truly a great lesson that we can learn from her.
In the worst phases of our life sometimes we find our strongest hope – Kristen’s story just seems to reaffirm that!
@privytrifles Exactly. It’s when we’re down that we seem to truly seek answers.
Turning tragedy into triumph . . . Sounds like a great read. Thanks for the review, Corinne!
@marthaorlando I’m sure it’s a book that will be useful in your ministry with the young.
Wow Corinne… I can’t imagine at that young age already wanting to take your own life. This sounds like a very inspiring story and these are the kind of stories that some people need to read in order to realize that they’ve actually got it pretty darn good. We take so much for granted most of the time so to know that after all this young lady went through, she finally found her way and is now able to help so many other people. I just love that.
Thanks for sharing this.
Enjoy your week.
~Adrienne
@AdrienneSmith The stories of young people taking their lives for frivolous reasons seem to be getting more and more, at least in India. I’m sure Kristen’s book will inspire many. It is an amazing story in every way.
Hope your week is going well, Adrienne ♥
That sounds like an incredible story — going to have to check it out. I’ve had the same problems as you Corinne, where I buy an ebook and am disappointed to see formatting errors and the like. Always diminishes the quality of the book for me, sadly!
@annedreshfield I’m wondering why people would publish something without checking out how it looks on a Kindle. Of course, I’ve come across loads of books on Kindle with lots of spelling errors too! It’s as if people don’t want to spend the time and money needed to get a good editing job done!
@CorinneRodrigues I’ve thought the same thing! It even made me think about taking up freelance editing after college. I’m always amazed that something can go out with so many visible mistakes. Makes me cringe while I read!
@annedreshfield I’m sorry that was me responding using the wrong ID, Anne
@CorinneRodrigues I figured something like that had happened!
This sounds like the kind of book I’d like to read and share with my daughter, who is the age of Kristen.
Anything inspiring. Thanks for this great review Corinne. I’d never heard this story until now.
@elramey It is a riveting story and I’m sure will appeal to youngsters. The personal notes in between kind of spoil the flow though.
I am inspired by this young lady, I would love to read this book, thanks for sharing corinne!
@G Angela I was thinking of you when I read it – remembering your line of work. Of course, it’s a Christian book and may not be what you can give to the students without causing a problem.
Stories of great courage and faith and hope never cease to inspire me. This is a great book to read. Thanks so much Corinne! I’ll be looking out for it.
Let me know how you like it, Anne. The story of her faith journey is edifying.
I would like to read this book,Corinne! So many people suffer from depression and never get help for it.
@nelieta1 Yes that’s true. Her recovery was a combination of counseling, medication and faith.
WOW sounds like a great story..I’ll have to look it up..thanks for sharing Corinne… i love you …As always…XOXOXOXOX
@BonniePanterGayadeen Yes it’s a really edifying story. You know I love you too ♥
What I liked about this post is the honesty with which the review has been written, calling a spade a spade is what makes for a good critic @CorinneRodrigues . The book sounds like an interesting read and would help people going through similar negative emotions and thoughts.
@SulekhaRawat Thanks a lot. I would recommend it but it’s a very Christian themed book and I’m not sure that would appeal to everyone, if you know what I mean.
I’ve read several of your reviews and they’re really beneficial BS. You arouse my interest on the different themes you read and almost all of them are edifying.
Perhaps this could be an additional reference to understanding people who undergo the same kind of depression.
Thanks for sharing
@MelissaTandoc This would be a good book to give to a Christian teenager who’s having issues – if someone can accept themselves and be healed from such an experience as Kristen was, there’s hope for everyone.