OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "From Pain to Purpose The Exodus" by Rosanne Reid.]

When people are born into or otherwise enter dysfunctional relationships, it may take years before they can identify what’s wrong. An environment of abuse or rejection can make one feel isolated and helpless. However, reading the true account of someone who overcame similar abuse can let individuals know that they are not alone in their painful experiences. In her memoir, From Pain to Purpose: The Exodus, author Rosanne Reid illustrates the roles that personal pain and faith play in helping a person discover his or her purpose in life.

In this account that she symbolically divides into nine chapters, Reid is candid about the significant trials that shaped her. She writes of the emotional and physical abuse she suffered from early childhood; an incident that nearly proved fatal in her adolescence; and the events that led to her being ostracized from her family as a young woman. The author doesn’t steep the reader in only depressing thoughts and details for a long stretch of the book, reserving all of the positive material for the end. Instead, Reid includes reflections and advice to give hope and encouragement along the way. This creates a balance between the light and dark aspects of her story.

I was intrigued by this book’s title, but I found the subtitles rather complicated. The book’s title page includes all of the following: From Pain to Purpose... The Exodus. The Importance of Pain in Discovering our Purpose. Memoirs of My Life – My Spiritual Nine Month Journey to My Purpose, The Birth. While it’s not uncommon for a nonfiction work to have a relatively long title or subtitle to describe the work’s subject, the title and subtitle should also be clear and to the point. This memoir appears to have five clauses for subtitles, as if the author is trying to describe everything about the book on its title page, making it wordy and redundant. From Pain to Purpose would likely only need one focused subtitle to make the memoir’s subject clear, and then further information about the book could be saved for the book description/blurb.

While the author has a conversational style with which readers can connect, the writing has some technical issues. Run-on sentences and the disjointed flow in places makes the writing awkward to follow at times. There are paragraphs where the dialogue runs together instead of there being a new paragraph for each new speaker. There’s also a good deal of past/present tense confusion, and the treatment of the pronouns for God is inconsistent, making the occasional capitalization of the pronouns appear random.

Nevertheless, despite its technical flaws, this is a genuine, bold, and inspirational memoir, full of personality and heart. Overall, I give From Pain to Purpose a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I’d recommend it to readers of Christian memoirs and self-help books who appreciate accounts about learning from and overcoming adversity.

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From Pain to Purpose The Exodus
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Great review. It's funny that you mentioned the complicated subtitles, as I found the title a little confusing. I thought the book was going to be about dealing with pain from an accident or diagnosed physical condition...not abuse. Still, the story seems very inspiring.

bookowlie wrote:Great review. It's funny that you mentioned the complicated subtitles, as I found the title a little confusing. I thought the book was going to be about dealing with pain from an accident or diagnosed physical condition...not abuse. Still, the story seems very inspiring.

I was a little confused as well before I buckled my seatbelt and dove on in. (Regardless of the fact that you don't wear a seatbelt when you go diving. ) Thanks, Owlie!

It does sound like a very inspiring topic. I think we need more talk about this kind of thing, but you are right, the title is WAY too long and unclear. Cute about the seatbelt and diving! Thanks for the review.

kandscreeley wrote:It does sound like a very inspiring topic. I think we need more talk about this kind of thing, but you are right, the title is WAY too long and unclear. Cute about the seatbelt and diving! Thanks for the review.

You're right--because the nature of this kind of thing leaves so many people in silent fear and shame, oftentimes even years after it's over. It takes courage to speak up for the benefit of others.

And, thanks--seems I wear a seatbelt for all kinds of non-vehicular adventures.

Thanks for the review! This does seem to be a very inspiring and helpful book. It is very difficult to overcome some of these issues. Even after you have moved on, things tend to haunt you at unexpected moments. Maybe this could be a book of the day sometime.

greenstripedgiraffe wrote:Thanks for the review! Maybe this could be a book of the day sometime.

You're welcome, and maybe so!

Sounds like an interesting and inspiring book. I'm not very comfortable reading about abuse but this book seems like something I would like. Great job on the review.

kimmyschemy06 wrote:Sounds like an interesting and inspiring book. I'm not very comfortable reading about abuse but this book seems like something I would like. Great job on the review.

Thank you! I'll admit some of the material in the book got my goat, due to negative things I've personally observed in life, but it helped that the book isn't that long.

subtitles complicated? can I go for the book. It appears like it has a message of helping the downtrodden. You have not mentioned much about her rising from more like a post ion of nothing to something or somebody in trying to show the straightforward sticking of the title of the book. Maybe I should soon pick it too for review.

Gregory Chileshe wrote:subtitles complicated? can I go for the book. It appears like it has a message of helping the downtrodden. You have not mentioned much about her rising from more like a post ion of nothing to something or somebody in trying to show the straightforward sticking of the title of the book. Maybe I should soon pick it too for review.

Yes, it's great for a book to have multiple reviews to get different readers' perspectives. In this review, I intentionally did not go into detail about the author's full story/testimony, because I believe that's for the author to tell in her own words, when people read her book. And, yes, I did take time to explain about the subtitles, since it's one of the first things that many people will look at to determine how well-written a book may be and decide if they should buy it or not.

But as I said in the review, I think it's a genuine, bold, and inspirational memoir for people who appreciate reading about overcoming adversity, and it certainly does have a message for the downtrodden. I've been sharing about this book every few weeks since I read it!

Great message about overcoming pain through faith. I like self help books like this, as one can assess themselves privately before opening up to others. It's true efficacy I guess lies in the fact that it's authorship is by someone who has gone through pain and conquered.

Thanks for a wonderful review.