Book H: Fabookulous January 31, 2011

Heaven is for Real (A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back) by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

Book description:

A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “reaaally big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us.

Told by the father, but often in Colton’s own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

Recommended to me by a friend, this is the story of young Colton’s visit to heaven, as described to his parents. For those familiar with similar stories, it’s reminiscent of 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. I’ve not read that one (I was skeptical of it) but this one is a similar concept. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about this book. Let me try to explain.

On one hand I don’t think I believe the story and there are a few reasons why. First, Colton was a young three years old when this experience happened and kids like to tell stories. They’ll improvise and make up scenarios while they play and they’ll create ideas in their heads. I’m skeptical about believing one could actually GO to heaven and then come back to this Earth. Doesn’t the Bible say somewhere that no eye has seen? That it’s a beauty our minds can’t imagine? Wouldn’t that be anti-climactic to see heaven in all its glory at a young three years of age, and then have the rest of your life here on this Earth? The concept is a tough sell on me.

On the other hand, we ARE called to have minds like children. And to be frank, people didn’t believe Jesus in his day either. The things Colton describes (the gates of heaven, who he saw while there, what God looks like and that Jesus sits on the right side of Him) are all things in the Bible, but things Colton hadn’t learned yet in his Sunday school class. It’s an interesting concept, this idea of a young boy seeing heaven, and one you have to choose to believe or not…

As for the way the story was written, I got kind of frustrated. When remembering another detail Colton would share about heaven, author Burpo always had to describe the next reaction. For example, Colton says something to the effect of “I saw Pop there” (Colton’s late grandfather) and Burpo would say something about how he had a hard time driving on the road after that and he could hear the hum of the tires. I’m actually laughing out loud because I realize I’m not describing this very well. But the way Burpo explained his reactions to Colton’s revelations kind of got old after a while, making the story feel like it was dragging out (and it’s a short book!)

After all is said in done, this was book H for the year and it’s time to move on to another letter of the alphabet…

2/5 stars

Fabookulous

Up next: Decision Points by George W. Bush (at a whopping 518 pages, I’ll be taking my time through this one…stay tuned!)

Book U: Fabookulous January 18, 2011

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

“I didn’t decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier . . .”

Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work—first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn’t enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.

Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.

In this remarkable and beautifully written work, Portia shines a bright light on a dark subject. A crucial book for all those who might sometimes feel at war with themselves or their bodies, Unbearable Lightness is a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.

This year as LibraryLove and I trek our way through the alphabet in books, it would be hard to go in order from A to Z. I say this because sometimes books are available at the library out of order, such as Unbearable Lightness. Therefore, I’m starting off 2011 with Book U! That’s right– sometimes I march to the beat of my own drum.

 First of all, I have to say how good it felt to take my time with a book and slow the pace down from 2010’s challenge. I had fun reading 52 books, but I am looking forward to longer selections in 2011 as we have more time for each book. I think it will bring some of the fun back into reading that may have felt like an obligation last year.

Portia de Rossi’s memoir is, well in a word, shocking. She details a 20 year battle with eating disorders (both anorexia and bulimia) that makes it almost impossible to believe she is alive to tell this story. Getting to her lowest weight of 82 pounds, Portia did this by eating just 300 calories a day and taking up to 20 laxatives a day. This, combined with hours of relentless exercise and obsession with working out, caused her to eventually pass out and be forced to deal with things.

I chose this book after seeing it featured on (of course) The Ellen DeGeneres Show and having my curiosity piqued. A family friend’s daughter has struggled with anorexia but I do not know much of her struggle. I’ve not been up close with an eating disorder (that I know of) and I can’t imagine what pain and suffering that feels like. Eating disorders lead to an obsession of not only calories, foods in versus foods out, and obsessing over exercise. It consumes your every thought, move, meal, and minute of everyday as you find yourself hiding from those closest to you. Of course, this is only what I’ve been told based on reading Portia’s story.

In addition to Portia’s struggle with eating disorders and self image issues, she was hiding another very real part of her life while in the Hollywood eye. Her sexuality remained hidden for years as she struggled with finding herself and her confidence to live life unashamed. I can’t imagine keeping not one, but TWO huge secrets like that all while being filmed, followed, photographed, and watched constantly. Unbearable Lightness will make the reader feel compassionate yet hopeful as you are taken deep into the darkness that used to be de Rossi’s life. I admire her openness with this story, not because people want to know in the sick way that give papparazi jobs, but because I am confident her story will help countless others. If another girl, woman, boy, or man struggling with eating disorders and/or their sexual identity can feel liberated and encouraged with this story, it would make it all worth Portia’s sharing.

Bravo to Portia for finding herself, staying true to herself, and for having the heart to share it with others that may still be in the darkness. A beautifully written memoir, Unbearable Lightness is not to be missed! For those who don’t know about eating disorders and haven’t experienced it either first hand or through a loved one, let yourself be opened to this very real struggle going on all over the world.

4/5 stars.

Fabookulous

Up next: Book H! (Like I said, going out of order when the opportunity arises… Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo is in the queue!)