Official Review: God & Hip Hop by Ayanna Mills Gallow
Posted: 18 Mar 2020, 13:57
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "God & Hip Hop" by Ayanna Mills Gallow.]
God & Hip Hop by Ayanna Mills Gallow is a 21-day devotional covering some of the biggest issues that people, especially African Americans, face in life today. The author includes devotionals on topics like surrounding yourself with positive people, controlling your feelings, comparing yourself to others, judging others, and dealing with authorities like the police. Each daily devotional includes a short message with interwoven Bible verses and reflective questions for the reader to consider.
I was surprised that this book didn’t include more hip-hop, considering that it is in the title. I expected the author to integrate song lyrics or stories about famous artists into the devotionals. With that being said, the author did include many personal stories that reflect the narrative style of hip-hop and rap and help her convey different points about life. For example, she shares about her mother’s teen pregnancy in the chapter about why we shouldn’t judge others. She includes information about how she tells her sons to deal with policemen in the chapter about authority figures. These stories encompass the culture of hip-hop in a more honest way than simply throwing in lyrics from rap music would have, and I found this to be a pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, my experience with this book was not entirely positive. I found a variety of errors in the book, making me believe that it was not professionally edited. Although I enjoyed the personal stories that the author included, I occasionally felt like she would begin the story because it related to the topic of the devotional but end up on a tangent because she was too caught up in telling her story. This issue was especially prominent in the chapter about the author’s vow renewal and subsequent separation from her husband. The author spends most of the chapter telling the story (in more detail than is necessary for the reader to understand the situation) and only includes a few Bible verses near the end. The chapter ends with the author encouraging the reader to give their problems to God, as she did when her husband left her, but the majority of the chapter is focused on her story, not on helping the reader grow closer to God.
Overall, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the way the author used her personal stories to help the reader grow, though they sometimes stole the spotlight from her message. Considering the errors I found and the vagueness and generality of some of the devotionals, I felt that I couldn’t give this book four stars. However, I chose to give it three stars instead of two because I liked that this book uses real-life stories to give specific advice to the African American community.
I would recommend this book to anyone hoping to grow closer to God, but I think it would be especially useful for African Americans who have children. The author has had difficult experiences and uses them to show how people can rely on God to help them improve their lives no matter where they started, and this is a message that I think many readers could benefit from hearing.
******
God & Hip Hop
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
God & Hip Hop by Ayanna Mills Gallow is a 21-day devotional covering some of the biggest issues that people, especially African Americans, face in life today. The author includes devotionals on topics like surrounding yourself with positive people, controlling your feelings, comparing yourself to others, judging others, and dealing with authorities like the police. Each daily devotional includes a short message with interwoven Bible verses and reflective questions for the reader to consider.
I was surprised that this book didn’t include more hip-hop, considering that it is in the title. I expected the author to integrate song lyrics or stories about famous artists into the devotionals. With that being said, the author did include many personal stories that reflect the narrative style of hip-hop and rap and help her convey different points about life. For example, she shares about her mother’s teen pregnancy in the chapter about why we shouldn’t judge others. She includes information about how she tells her sons to deal with policemen in the chapter about authority figures. These stories encompass the culture of hip-hop in a more honest way than simply throwing in lyrics from rap music would have, and I found this to be a pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, my experience with this book was not entirely positive. I found a variety of errors in the book, making me believe that it was not professionally edited. Although I enjoyed the personal stories that the author included, I occasionally felt like she would begin the story because it related to the topic of the devotional but end up on a tangent because she was too caught up in telling her story. This issue was especially prominent in the chapter about the author’s vow renewal and subsequent separation from her husband. The author spends most of the chapter telling the story (in more detail than is necessary for the reader to understand the situation) and only includes a few Bible verses near the end. The chapter ends with the author encouraging the reader to give their problems to God, as she did when her husband left her, but the majority of the chapter is focused on her story, not on helping the reader grow closer to God.
Overall, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the way the author used her personal stories to help the reader grow, though they sometimes stole the spotlight from her message. Considering the errors I found and the vagueness and generality of some of the devotionals, I felt that I couldn’t give this book four stars. However, I chose to give it three stars instead of two because I liked that this book uses real-life stories to give specific advice to the African American community.
I would recommend this book to anyone hoping to grow closer to God, but I think it would be especially useful for African Americans who have children. The author has had difficult experiences and uses them to show how people can rely on God to help them improve their lives no matter where they started, and this is a message that I think many readers could benefit from hearing.
******
God & Hip Hop
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon