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Return Not Desired
Rare is the memoir that reaches past the boundaries of the author's own mind and connects readers with the mind of the past. Church's second offering does so with delicate flashes of poignancy, bolstered by vivid images of haunted places and forgotten people. In these pages the often distant and inaccessible dreamscape of the Holocaust is brought home with striking intimacy. Church's firsthand experiences with that dark history, wrought in vulnerable honesty, are only strengthened by his considerable talent for strong prose.'Return Not Desired' is an essential volume for anyone seeking an understanding of the nature of human suffering, and the indomitable will of humanity to see the light of hope in even the most dismal of circumstances.
163 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2016
About the author
Taylor Church
3 books40 followersTaylor Church was born in Seattle, Washington, and lived in various cities growing up. He served an LDS mission in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. He played basketball in high school and has also spent time coaching at the high school level. He is an omnivorous reader and is known for his incessant documentation and categorization of his own life. He studied history in college and specializes in Holocaust studies.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 18, 2016
What a wonderful, delightful, insightful, deep book. There's nothing quite like reading a book packed with words you've never seen and consistently look up words. Church's vocabulary usage impressed in his first book and it's no different this time around.
On to the book itself. I've been waiting for and anticipating the second book by Church. I would regularly message him to ask him for an update hoping I would be lucky enough to purchase one of the first. The writing style of this book is so easy to read, yet each sentence is crafted with thoughtfulness and beauty. Return not desired has made me want to become a master of some aspect of history or some doctrine of the gospel. I want nothing more than to know so much about a particular topic that people will come to me to ask. That's how I feel about Taylor's book. He is so deeply connected with the holocaust and in tune with his feelings. He does a phenomenal job portraying that.
After thinking about the book a week after I finished I continue to think back on different applications and things I've learned from it. Nothing better than a book that you keep thinking about weeks after finishing. Do yourself and favor and help this brother out and buy yourself a copy. You won't regret it.
On to the book itself. I've been waiting for and anticipating the second book by Church. I would regularly message him to ask him for an update hoping I would be lucky enough to purchase one of the first. The writing style of this book is so easy to read, yet each sentence is crafted with thoughtfulness and beauty. Return not desired has made me want to become a master of some aspect of history or some doctrine of the gospel. I want nothing more than to know so much about a particular topic that people will come to me to ask. That's how I feel about Taylor's book. He is so deeply connected with the holocaust and in tune with his feelings. He does a phenomenal job portraying that.
After thinking about the book a week after I finished I continue to think back on different applications and things I've learned from it. Nothing better than a book that you keep thinking about weeks after finishing. Do yourself and favor and help this brother out and buy yourself a copy. You won't regret it.
May 22, 2017
The first chapters keep you engaged and are full of details that make you feel like you are right there with him in Poland. His memoir is both sincere and intimate which makes it highly relatable. I love Chapter 7 where Church explains why he enjoys tragic history like the Holocaust. My favorite quote is, “I am reminded of all these things: impossible is nothing, that hope is fleeting but real and necessary, that walls that reach the clouds can be climbed, and lakes that stretch across continents can be traversed.”
I honesty loved this book and would recommend it to anyone looking to read something which is grievous and inspirational at the same time.
I honesty loved this book and would recommend it to anyone looking to read something which is grievous and inspirational at the same time.
March 26, 2021
Beautiful, vulnerable words from a talented writer who I happen to share grandparents with. This history-memoir hybrid inspired me to read more accounts of the Holocaust and to be a little more sincere and loving in all my interactions with others.
October 29, 2016
The first half of the book described the authors experience visiting aushwitz. This part of the book was a little difficult for me to get through only because I had already seen the horrors of a nazi concentration camp at Dachau in Germany. I really enjoyed Taylor's analysis of the human experience following the description of his visit. My favorite quote is as follows, "Mass murder doesn't come about by one act of bigotry, or by the hands of a few racist individuals.... We should be worried about fostering an environment where hate and mistreatment is permissible. We should be ever concerned about a world where love is becoming less prevalent."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews