Official Review: The Events Of My Life Are My Proof Of Go...
Posted: 28 Apr 2019, 18:05
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Events Of My Life Are My Proof Of God's Existence" by Brenda Elizabeth Henry.]
3 out of 4 stars
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The Events of My Life Are My Proof of God’s Existence is a novel by Brenda Elizabeth Henry. Throughout the novel, Brenda tells the story of her life and discusses how she saw God in the midst of those events.
Brenda has truly gone through a lot in her life. From the time she was in kindergarten, she knew that she was different or worth less than other students. Her African-American teacher named Miss Davidson made this clear by gushing over her “precious babies” who were “fair to light skinned with pretty, curly or straight hair” and constantly reprimanding the other students with darker skin and “nappy” hair. This entire portion of the story saddened me, especially when I learned that she had the same teacher from kindergarten through third grade. These are years where you are learning how to do basic math and how to read, learning things that you will need for the rest of your life. Brenda and her classmates had to stay on the good side of the teacher just so they would not receive abuse from her, what kind of education were they actually receiving? This teacher should have been ashamed of herself, she perpetuated racism and colorism within the black community by separating these children by the color of their skin from the time that they started their lives.
Things seem to go downhill for the author from here, as her mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor, her father leaves them, and she becomes a teenage mother. Then, she hits rock bottom by working as a drug dealer and occasionally using drugs. You would think that someone in her situation would never be able to become successful, but she refused to let her circumstances keep her down. She used her faith to pray her way out of difficult or dangerous situations and trusted God to protect her small family when she struggled to make ends meet.
What I loved the most about this book was how the author told every character’s stories. In another book, the uncle who is addicted to drugs may never be given a name. In this novel, his name was Uncle George, and he took care of Brenda by helping her make money for her baby even though he was a heroin user. Everyone had a part to play, no person was unimportant. By including everyone, it forces the reader to see each person as a human like themselves rather than just a label such as "drug addict."
Another part of this story that truly hit me hard was when Brenda spoke about working minimum wage jobs, such as a truck servicer at pit stops. Her struggle to keep up and work hard at these back-breaking jobs affected me, the way she described it made me feel as if I was there. She had to deal with abuse from her boss, her fellow coworkers, and eventually from within herself as she mentally dealt with the situation. It’s crazy to think that people are still working in these sorts of jobs day to day, stressing out so much that they become depressed, for something that truckers or other people probably don’t even notice or appreciate.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The stories were amazingly inspirational, but there were a few grammar errors and some very wordy passages that were difficult to get through. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an inspirational autobiographical novel to read. Even though this book is very religious and has a lot of Bible verses, I would still recommend this book to non-Christians so that they can experience these moving stories.
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The Events Of My Life Are My Proof Of God's Existence
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3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Events of My Life Are My Proof of God’s Existence is a novel by Brenda Elizabeth Henry. Throughout the novel, Brenda tells the story of her life and discusses how she saw God in the midst of those events.
Brenda has truly gone through a lot in her life. From the time she was in kindergarten, she knew that she was different or worth less than other students. Her African-American teacher named Miss Davidson made this clear by gushing over her “precious babies” who were “fair to light skinned with pretty, curly or straight hair” and constantly reprimanding the other students with darker skin and “nappy” hair. This entire portion of the story saddened me, especially when I learned that she had the same teacher from kindergarten through third grade. These are years where you are learning how to do basic math and how to read, learning things that you will need for the rest of your life. Brenda and her classmates had to stay on the good side of the teacher just so they would not receive abuse from her, what kind of education were they actually receiving? This teacher should have been ashamed of herself, she perpetuated racism and colorism within the black community by separating these children by the color of their skin from the time that they started their lives.
Things seem to go downhill for the author from here, as her mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor, her father leaves them, and she becomes a teenage mother. Then, she hits rock bottom by working as a drug dealer and occasionally using drugs. You would think that someone in her situation would never be able to become successful, but she refused to let her circumstances keep her down. She used her faith to pray her way out of difficult or dangerous situations and trusted God to protect her small family when she struggled to make ends meet.
What I loved the most about this book was how the author told every character’s stories. In another book, the uncle who is addicted to drugs may never be given a name. In this novel, his name was Uncle George, and he took care of Brenda by helping her make money for her baby even though he was a heroin user. Everyone had a part to play, no person was unimportant. By including everyone, it forces the reader to see each person as a human like themselves rather than just a label such as "drug addict."
Another part of this story that truly hit me hard was when Brenda spoke about working minimum wage jobs, such as a truck servicer at pit stops. Her struggle to keep up and work hard at these back-breaking jobs affected me, the way she described it made me feel as if I was there. She had to deal with abuse from her boss, her fellow coworkers, and eventually from within herself as she mentally dealt with the situation. It’s crazy to think that people are still working in these sorts of jobs day to day, stressing out so much that they become depressed, for something that truckers or other people probably don’t even notice or appreciate.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The stories were amazingly inspirational, but there were a few grammar errors and some very wordy passages that were difficult to get through. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an inspirational autobiographical novel to read. Even though this book is very religious and has a lot of Bible verses, I would still recommend this book to non-Christians so that they can experience these moving stories.
******
The Events Of My Life Are My Proof Of God's Existence
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like BriennaiJ's review? Post a comment saying so!