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A risky combination of drug addict and drug dealer, Joe Tarasuk would be expected to have had a rough life. Now rehabilitated and on the right side of the law, he shares his story in Against All Odds: A Miracle Journey of Recovery and Success (Together Bound, 2013). Readers can follow him through his troubled childhood, dangerous life on the streets, prison sentence, mental hospital stay, cultic experimentation, and family tragedy to his successful recovery and growth in Christian ministry. Tarasuk is the founder of CrossRoads Freedom Center, a residential recovery program for those struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. Although he doesn’t come out and say it, I suspect the purpose of his book is to raise awareness among Christians about the need for such places of healing and to also provide a source of comfort for readers who might be experiencing similar problems.
While I can admire an author who bravely steps out on a limb like this to share his tragic story with the public, I honestly couldn’t get into Against All Odds. Something about the overall tone made me uncomfortable, and I couldn’t sympathize with the lead character. Tarasuk illustrates perfectly why “baby Christians” (i.e., new converts) shouldn’t rush into ministry. How was he supposed to affect change in other people while he was still struggling so much himself? No, I don’t think someone has to have a perfect life before trying to help others. But I do think he got his priorities mixed up. Getting the help that he needed and that his wife desperately needed should’ve come before anyone and everything else. The way things continued to unravel in his life – personally, financially, and in business – seem to be the natural consequences of this.
Other issues: I think Against All Odds could’ve benefit from a few more drafts. The content was unbalanced: too much detail in some places and not enough in others. For example, from the CrossRoads website and the book’s dedication, a reader would get the idea that two turning points in Tarasuk’s life were being raped as a child and later meeting Charles Colson, founder of the Christian outreach program Prison Fellowship. Yet the author mentions these almost in passing. Many times it seemed like he was just reciting events instead of trying to engage the readers in a meaningful story. I really wish Tarasuk had sought the assistance of an experienced coauthor or had gone with a traditional publisher with a grouchy editor. The author has something important to share, but unfortunately it was lost on a sub-par book.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
#SpeakeasyAgainstAllOdds
The path toward financial success or financial freedom can often seem daunting. Sometimes you just need to start your morning with some encouraging words. Prosperity Every Day: A Daily Companion on Your Journey to Greater Wealth and Happiness (Tarcher/Penguin, 2015) is here to help. This devotional book gives short inspiring passages – most only a few sentences long – by artist Julia Cameron and musician Emma Lively, reflecting on the spiritual aspects of prosperity and motivating the reader to pursue a more fulfilling life.
To give you a taste, here is the entry for December 1:
Money madness takes many forms. Financial anorexia is one of them. We refuse to deal with money, so we underearn and underspend. We get “high” on our lack of money.
While this is not normally the kind of book I’d pick up, I found it parts of it inspiring and motivating, during a time of a lot of job stress and financial worry. It particularly spoke to me on the subject of procrastination, something I’ve had to struggle with for a good three decades. The authors also have a lot to say about debt, money mismanagement, dependency, and issues of pride. Lacking practical advice, the book is not an instruction manual about how to get out of debt or become rich. Rather, it encourages the reader towards those goals.
While the book isn’t “religious” per se, it is “spiritual” and freely references God, the Creator, and the Spirit. This sort of bothered me because I was constantly wondering what the author meant, but the vagueness might appeal to a large number of readers coming from many different backgrounds. Something else that I didn’t like was the amount of repetition. Because I was reading a whole year’s worth of entries (including a leap year one) in less than two months, I found myself asking, “Didn’t I just read this?” However, for someone not reviewing it but going at a normal-once a day, this might not be an issue.
I’d like to make one last comment, and it’s not related to the content. It has to do with the timing of the release (January 2, 2015). This book – like a calendar – is supposed to be bought in December, so that it can be utilized and appreciated all year long. It would’ve made a great Christmas gift. Now anyone who buys it will have to start a few pages in or wait until a new year begins again. That shows very poor marketing, and I’m puzzled as to why neither the publishing staff nor the authors noticed. It would be unfortunate for Prosperity Every Day to never have a real chance because everyone’s already gotten their daily devotionals for 2015.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy (uncorrected proof) of this book as a First Reads giveaway winner on GoodReads.com. There was no obligation to write a review.
If childbirth is known for something, it’s being painful. And many mothers give silent thanks to French obstetrician Fernand Lamaze for inventing a method to ease some of that pain. It’s pretty much a given that, if you’re having a baby, you’re doing “Lamaze.” The method is so engrained in American culture that few are aware that it has been around for less than a century…and that it has Soviet roots! (Cue scary music.)
Curious about the real origins of this popular birthing technique, historian and mother Paula A. Michaels, Senior Lecturer at Australia’s Monash University, combed archival material from four countries and even conducted personal interviews to learn more. In Lamaze: An International History (Oxford, 2014), she presents the stories behind the search for a painless delivery, from the Grantly Dick-Read method to I.Z. Vel’vovskii’s psychoprophylaxis to “Lamaze” as practiced today. There’s also much about the cyclical popularity of anesthesia, on the upswing more recently with the introduction of the epidural. What the reader will quickly discover is that these techniques didn’t materialize out of thin air, but were the products of social forces at work. Michaels’ story is not merely about obstetrics, but about Cold War tensions, political propaganda, psychology’s role in medicine, feminist movements, American consumerism, and the fads of “natural childbirth” with all its shades of meaning.
I don’t have much interest in medicine – my stomach churns when people talk about their operations – but I can honestly say I enjoyed reading Lamaze. It gave me a new understanding of and appreciation for the techniques, drugs, and machines available to new mothers today. I hope the book finds its way to the reading lists of many graduate-level history classes, particularly those in Gender History that want to discuss patriarchy, psychotherapy, and the control of women, and those covering 20th Century United States History that could benefit from an unusual perspective on Soviet-American relations. As for new mothers, I recommend only giving it to those who you know would appreciate a scholarly book. For the rest, they’ll have to wait until a PBS documentary is made.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book as a First Reads giveaway winner on GoodReads.com. There was no obligation to write a review.
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