carry on warrior, my thoughts

recently i finished carry on warrior by glennon melton.  i am enjoying getting back into reading and thought it would be fun to start some book posts, if for no other reason than to remember what i thought about them and truths i may have come across.

let me start by saying, i wanted to like to this book, really really wanted to.  i haven't been a follower of glennon's blog but downloaded the free sample on my kindle after seeing her/the book pop up quite a bit recently and was intrigued.  and it starts off pretty good.  although not my exact brand of philosophy, i found myself identifying in part and enjoying her stories.

on amazon there is review after review about how uplifting this book is... and that is where, for me, things kinda fell apart.  she tells story after story about how frustrated/exasperated/AT THE END OF HER ROPE she is with her kids and instead of my inner monologue identifying along and being like "so true glennon, motherhood is hard!  what funny moments that let me identify with you!" i found myself wondering "does CPS know about this family? does this woman even love her kids?"*  in turn, instead of being uplifted... i was actually becoming more and more depressed.  feeling as though i was looking uncomfortably in on a "broken" family that i would just prefer not to know about.  

the other big sticking point for me was, as the book went on, i could almost feel the author's defenses rising as she answers questions/speaks to naysayers that have emailed/commented.  as someone who is preaching LOVE LOVE LOVE, the attacks against the naysayers are very thinly disguised in this love language.  and here's the thing, it is natural to raise your hackles when attacked... to bristle when a mean comment about how we look/are raising our family/food we are eating/words we are writing WHATEVER comes our way.  the whole book of carry on warrior though, seems to be speaking against this natural human reaction, but in the same breath, the author CAN'T HELP BUT DO IT, IN THE BOOK!  this left me feeling very disjointed, and it left the book feeling immediately inauthentic.

in summation, this book for me was like showing up a little late to the gold rush.  there are some good nuggets but you are sifting through a LOT of sand to find them.

*i am sure she does love her children, this is merely how i felt reading the book

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