Won: An autobiography in three parts

by Oliver Tanner

Blessed and Cursed and Won  has been a project that has taken many years to come to light.  Blessed  recounted Oliver Tanner's effort to survive his abusive upbringing,  Cursed  continued his efforts to live with the after affects of a life tainted by abuse and manipulation, even while the damage was being augmented to by continued conflicts, and now  Won  concludes Oliver's journey as he seeks to not only live with, but overcome the demons and curses of the past.  Won  consolidates the most important lessons he has learned along the way and brings an effort of 23 years, began during the events detailed in Blessed, to a full conclusion. This isn't a story, it's real life and there is no sunset to ride off into. Has anything been won? If so, what? Well, that's for to you to decide.

189 pages, Paperback

Published September 16, 2022

About the author

Oliver J Tanner has had many roles in life: missionary, airman, chef, and now, author. Additionally, he is currently enrolled in the Masters in Counseling program with an emphasis on Mental Health Counseling at Mid-America Nazarene University. Blessed is his first published work and the first book in his three-part autobiography, Blessed and Cursed and Won, a work that is several years in the making. Oliver aims to take the lessons learned throughout his life, documented in this book and its forthcoming sequels, pair them with his training as a counselor, and use it all to help other survivors of trauma and abuse as well as fellow military veterans and their families. Religion and spirituality are deeply important to Oliver and have provided the framework of how he has dealt with the roller coaster of his life, from his turbulent early years down to the present day.

Reviews

[Emerson Rosewood]

This book is an emotional wrap up for the third installment of this autobiography series. The author has had a lot of struggles in his life, and just when I was hoping he could find some happiness, bad things happened over and over to devastate him. The author wraps the story up feeling as if he has not won. But he has gained a vast amount of life experience that I’m sure he can share with his children and his posterity. And he does so in one way by sharing this ingenious analogy about climbing a cliff with/without a rope.
He may not have won with his extended family, but he has won with his wife and children, and he has been a faithful latter-day saint. I am vastly impressed with the amount of temple work that he has done, taking over 500 names to the temple for all their work. The fact that he hasn’t been able to hold a steady job, thus giving him time to complete such vast amounts temple and genealogy work, and the fact that he even was in the Air Force at all so he could go overseas to achieve retrieve all those names, is what truly says he has won.

[Char]

Oliver says this is the most important of the 3 books because it includes the lessons he has learned. The lessons were very important and I agree that all 3 books need to be read. I have had someone say that they didn't like that the third book is called won, and others said that the order needs to be changed of the titles. But I have only heard that from people who had only read the first book. Each book he explains the reasoning for the titles. I am grateful that Oliver was able to share his story.

[Emma Eliza]

I did not want to finish this one I loved reading it so much having read all the books has helped me grow and be a better person there’s a lot of hard truths in them and great values and things that make you think. I loved reading about Oliver Tanner story and I respect so many things about him and I hope that his story will help you as much as it did for me and encourage you to read them.