More Reviews of A Good and Perfect Gift

Last updated on: October 14, 2011 at 9:14 am by Amy Julia Becker

More Reviews of A Good and Perfect Gift 2011-10-14T09:14:12-04:00 Amy Julia Becker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A friend remarked a number of years ago that writing a memoir has three stages–living the story, writing the story, and then sending the story out into the world. Each part contains its own risks, of course, but I’m feeling the vulnerability of part three these days. I want to defend myself against critics, even as I want to take criticism to heart and learn from it too. I want to rewrite sentences that don’t seem quite right to me now that I have some distance from the prose. And I want to explain how things have changed since I wrote the book–that I’m not nearly as defensive as I was, that people don’t need to worry about saying the wrong thing in my presence, that I’m starting to believe that people really do have Penny’s best interest at heart most of the time, that the world isn’t as scary as I had feared.

Thankfully, in the midst of feeling a need to defend myself against critics (and against myself!), I also receive the encouragement of other people–writers, mothers, friends–who have read A Good and Perfect Gift and who think it’s a story that matters. Here are three reviews, all different, all encouraging, all written by women with blogs or books of their own:

From Meriah, a woman I only know through the wonderful world of the blogosphere, and whose blog (Doozedad) I highly recommend you spend some time reading. Meriah writes as a fellow mother of a daughter with Down syndrome. From her review:

Amy Julia is an honest examiner with a clean poetic bent. She infuses the house of her Faith with huge blasts of spiritual air, gulps of (sometimes painful) self-reflection and a relentless pursuit for truth. Finding the core of the matter . . . She scrutinizes hope. Fear. Investigates the “soft bigotry of low expectation.” Mulls over concepts of beauty and our culture. Faith. Amy Julia is an analyzer and let me tell you: she takes the scalpel and dissects faith. She is a hard-thinking Christian, the kind that I (not being Christian), most thoroughlyenjoy.

Michelle Van Loon (a fellow her.meneutics writer) reviewed the book for her blog, Transforming Words. She writes:

. . . A Good And Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations and a Little Girl Named Penny (Bethany, 2011) is a shimmering, transparent look at [Amy Julia’s] journey through joy shock, grief and concern for Penny’s health. Becker had lived a life of blessing and privilege . . . Penny’s birth into this intellectual and achievement-rich environment moved Becker to consider the ways she’d thought about intelligence . . . Penny served as Becker’s tutor as the parents grieved their own expectations, dealt with the responses of the people in their world, and learned to parent their little girl . . .

Though this memoir has a natural audience among those who work with or are parents of special needs children, I believe A Good And Perfect Gift should be on the reading list of every parent, no matter what the age or I.Q of their kids. Well-written memoirs are meant to help us understand something new about our world and/or ourselves. Becker’s book does both.

Margaret (Gary) Bender is the mother of a teenager with Down syndrome. Gary has shared a guest post on this blog before (“Celebrate!”), and she writes regularly at Down Syndrome Teenager. From her review:

hrough Amy Julia’s stunning prose we share her journey and that of her family and friends. She helps us remember babies are babies first, and anything else is secondary. I loved reliving this part of our journey, as we will always grow and learn from our remarkable daughter, just as Amy Julia and her family have grown with Penny.

So it’s a little scary having the book out there in this big world. But it’s also wonderful to be in conversation with such thoughtful people. I hope you’ll join the conversation. And, as usual, if you already own a copy of A Good and Perfect Gift, please feel free to spread the word!

Previous Post

October 13, 2011

Making Mistakes

Next Post

October 17, 2011 Where Should Christians Send Their Kids to School?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Articles Books Disability Down Syndrome Faith family Perfectly Human Uncategorized

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz