What do you think?
A Prayer for Orion: A Son's Addiction and a Mother's Love
It's always somebody else's kid--until it's yours. When Katherine James and her husband found out their son was using heroin, their responses ran the gamut: disbelief, anger, helplessness, guilt. As they struggled to come to grips with their son's addiction and decide how best to help him, their home became a refuge for an unlikely assortment of their son's friends, each with their own story, drawn by the simple love and acceptance they found there--"the Lost Boys," James calls them. In this sensitive, vulnerable memoir, award-winning novelist James turns her lush prose to a new purpose: to tell her family's story through the twists and turns of her son's addiction, overdose, and slow recovery. The result is not just a look at the phenomenon of drug abuse in suburban America, but also a meditation on the particular anguish of loving a wayward child and clinging to a desperate trust in God's providence through it all.
224 pages, Paperback
Published January 28, 2020
About the author
Katherine James
11 books34 followersKatherine James has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University where she received the Felipe P. De Alba Fellowship and taught undergraduate fiction. She also writes narrative non-fiction as well as poetry, and has work published in various journals and anthologies. One of her short stories was recently a finalist for a Narrative Spring Prize.
Can You See Anything Now? is her debut novel, and was a semi-finalist for the Doris Bakwin Prize. She also has a memoir, Notes On Orion about heroin in the suburbs of Philadelphia, that follows one particular year when it affected her family. It will be released in the spring of 2018.
Can You See Anything Now? is her debut novel, and was a semi-finalist for the Doris Bakwin Prize. She also has a memoir, Notes On Orion about heroin in the suburbs of Philadelphia, that follows one particular year when it affected her family. It will be released in the spring of 2018.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
January 13, 2020
I got an ARC from the publisher on Friday, and will be writing a formal review for a publication, and finished the book in two days; it's been a long time since I was this drawn into a book. The writing is beautiful and honest, not in the faux authenticity that seems to drive so many books written by moms about their children. I also appreciate the--and felt like I could trust--James's faith and the ways her son's addiction challenged and shaped her faith. So well done, al the way around.
September 16, 2019
Wow! Powerful, heart-wrenching story of addiction.
Addiction: Most of us don’t know what we don’t know. Katherine lets us learn with her on a journey of drugs and overdose with Sweetboy. A story filled with joy, fear, pain, deception, despair, hope, hope dashed, hope restored. So many tears. And a God who comforts and sustains, who seems to disappear, then reappear. I wept, I held my breath, I turned the page—how can a mother endure? If you love a druggie or know someone who does, you will want to read this book.
Addiction: Most of us don’t know what we don’t know. Katherine lets us learn with her on a journey of drugs and overdose with Sweetboy. A story filled with joy, fear, pain, deception, despair, hope, hope dashed, hope restored. So many tears. And a God who comforts and sustains, who seems to disappear, then reappear. I wept, I held my breath, I turned the page—how can a mother endure? If you love a druggie or know someone who does, you will want to read this book.
January 27, 2020
Powerful memoir, beautifully written. James is a rare author who can combine dry humor, aching vulnerability, and literary punch all in the same sentence.
December 5, 2019
Beautifully written book on the opioid crisis. Honest, vulnerable and a needed voice on this topic.
June 15, 2021
If hard stories can be beautifully written, Katherine James has done the very thing. A mother's tender and honest reflection of a hard reality. The story that James shares is not told in any kind of shock value tone; rather it's as if the reader were inside her head as she lived through, thought out, observed, prayed, learned, and experienced the slow grip/power of narcotics in her son's life. This was a hard read emotionally, but well done Mrs. James. To God be the glory.
February 6, 2020
Heart-breaking. Poignant. Moving. James writing is lyrical and cuts straight to the bone. I can't recommend this book enough.
February 3, 2020
I have lived a version of the author's story so its message hit me deeply. This book is a story of grace for the loved ones who blame themselves (even a little) for another person's addiction. It's a story of love and deliverance for the prodigal. It's full of fact and relevance so we can all understand the epidemic we're facing. I want to personally thank the offer for her willingness to share a most tender story.
September 20, 2019
Brilliant and heartbreaking. Given the opioid crisis in the US, this book really should be a must read. Watching your child become addicted is every parent's nightmare. Through her dexterity as an author and her wisdom as a mother, James offers us an incredibly vulnerable view into how her family successfully navigated this crisis.
March 4, 2020
From the moment Katherine James learned her son was using heroin, the cloud of addiction hovered over their home. Her family’s story is peppered with wild ambulance rides and wild hope; the long wait for answers and the slow arrival of joy. A Prayer for Orion: A Son’s Addiction and a Mother’s Love is a prayer for all our children, for there’s not a one who’s invulnerable to a slow slide into some darkness, and those who remain in the light are there by grace alone.
As James gazed out her living room sky light at Orion’s belt in the night sky, the three stars were celestial prayer beads for her three children. Her story underscores the tension we all experience as praying parents–earnestly offering up our children’s names before God, knowing full well that we are untrustworthy intercessors; pleading for straight paths and still waters even though the map of our own spiritual journey shows greatest growth in the wilderness.
Struggling to come to grips with her son’s addiction, James reached the searing conclusion that “seeking God is always better than not seeking God no matter what the circumstances.” (123) With that in mind, our most healthful stance and fruitful takeaway from the James family story is to “practice not judging, practice not blaming.” And to pray for our children. Will you join me now?
God, will you shield our children from the evil of addiction?
Will you protect them from the allure of escape?
Please cultivate in them (and in us) an acceptance of the natural and God-designed emotional responses that are hardwired into all of us. Guide us as we help them to learn to own their emotions, to give them a name, and then to enter into the practice of feeling their feelings rather than trying to handle them in ways you never intended.
Strengthen us, Lord, to model emotional health and a sinewy commitment to real life and all the challenges and disappointments that might entail. As families, may we comprehend your three-dimensional love. May its depth, width, and height transform us, enliven us, comfort us, protect us.
May we serve you alone,
Crave you alone,
Long for you most of all.
In your great and merciful name,
Amen.
Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.
As James gazed out her living room sky light at Orion’s belt in the night sky, the three stars were celestial prayer beads for her three children. Her story underscores the tension we all experience as praying parents–earnestly offering up our children’s names before God, knowing full well that we are untrustworthy intercessors; pleading for straight paths and still waters even though the map of our own spiritual journey shows greatest growth in the wilderness.
Struggling to come to grips with her son’s addiction, James reached the searing conclusion that “seeking God is always better than not seeking God no matter what the circumstances.” (123) With that in mind, our most healthful stance and fruitful takeaway from the James family story is to “practice not judging, practice not blaming.” And to pray for our children. Will you join me now?
God, will you shield our children from the evil of addiction?
Will you protect them from the allure of escape?
Please cultivate in them (and in us) an acceptance of the natural and God-designed emotional responses that are hardwired into all of us. Guide us as we help them to learn to own their emotions, to give them a name, and then to enter into the practice of feeling their feelings rather than trying to handle them in ways you never intended.
Strengthen us, Lord, to model emotional health and a sinewy commitment to real life and all the challenges and disappointments that might entail. As families, may we comprehend your three-dimensional love. May its depth, width, and height transform us, enliven us, comfort us, protect us.
May we serve you alone,
Crave you alone,
Long for you most of all.
In your great and merciful name,
Amen.
Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.
December 19, 2020
Touch this book carefully, readers. It may burn you.
Receive it tenderly. It’s made of mother heart.
Hold it with both hands. It bucks.
Read it with full attention. It’s a radiant witness to the grace and nearness of the living God.
The story is a nightmare. A testimony. A guide.
And author Katherine James weaves you through all three in this harrowing, redemptive memoir: A Prayer for Orion. In raw, limber prose she tells how her third child, Sweetboy, slid into the crevasse of heroin addiction. How she and her husband responded. How they felt. What happened next.
You may be tempted to escape the pain of this heart-rending story with judgment. I know, I know. It’s easier to stomach a terrible tale if you imagine you’d have avoided it all, had it been you. If you believe you could have controlled your child to safety with a new location or better friends or wiser parenting or more insight or deeper faith or a healthier diet . . . or . . . or . . . or . . .
Really?
If you disappear into rational, formula-driven solutions in order to dodge the book’s ugliness and sorrow, you’ll miss the rescue, the holy intervention, the healing. You’ll miss the humbling wonder of lives transformed by the only Rope long enough to pull Sweetboy from darkness and resuscitate him—and his parents.
I suggest you read it with mercy, instead. With a recognition that there, but for God’s grace—or in the midst of it—you and your child could have been. As I could have been with mine.
Receive it tenderly. It’s made of mother heart.
Hold it with both hands. It bucks.
Read it with full attention. It’s a radiant witness to the grace and nearness of the living God.
The story is a nightmare. A testimony. A guide.
And author Katherine James weaves you through all three in this harrowing, redemptive memoir: A Prayer for Orion. In raw, limber prose she tells how her third child, Sweetboy, slid into the crevasse of heroin addiction. How she and her husband responded. How they felt. What happened next.
You may be tempted to escape the pain of this heart-rending story with judgment. I know, I know. It’s easier to stomach a terrible tale if you imagine you’d have avoided it all, had it been you. If you believe you could have controlled your child to safety with a new location or better friends or wiser parenting or more insight or deeper faith or a healthier diet . . . or . . . or . . . or . . .
Really?
If you disappear into rational, formula-driven solutions in order to dodge the book’s ugliness and sorrow, you’ll miss the rescue, the holy intervention, the healing. You’ll miss the humbling wonder of lives transformed by the only Rope long enough to pull Sweetboy from darkness and resuscitate him—and his parents.
I suggest you read it with mercy, instead. With a recognition that there, but for God’s grace—or in the midst of it—you and your child could have been. As I could have been with mine.
February 4, 2020
I’ve read a lot of Christian books over the years, but few achieve “literary” status like this one. In fact, I’d place this memoir in the same class as books by Dani Shapiro and Anne Lamott. This is not a “how-to” book. You will not discover the secret for preventing your child from heroin addiction or learn the perfect plan for helping your loved one (or yourself) recover from addiction.
As a literary memoir, this book is not meant to be prescriptive. In fact, the empty spaces and scenes that go unspoken seem intentional—like feng shui in a minimalist home. Instead, Katherine James displays the nuances of being human, displayed through her complex fears, emotions, and questions. Her transparency is refreshing and authentic. Her descriptions, imagery, and vocabulary make this book stand out among other Christian books, though I believe even the non-religious will glean from her wisdom.
If you’re looking for answers and solutions, this book may not be for you. But if you’re looking for a page-turner with a hopeful message written in gorgeous prose, then this book is definitely worth your time and money.
As a literary memoir, this book is not meant to be prescriptive. In fact, the empty spaces and scenes that go unspoken seem intentional—like feng shui in a minimalist home. Instead, Katherine James displays the nuances of being human, displayed through her complex fears, emotions, and questions. Her transparency is refreshing and authentic. Her descriptions, imagery, and vocabulary make this book stand out among other Christian books, though I believe even the non-religious will glean from her wisdom.
If you’re looking for answers and solutions, this book may not be for you. But if you’re looking for a page-turner with a hopeful message written in gorgeous prose, then this book is definitely worth your time and money.
February 4, 2020
I can’t remember another book I’ve read that has so expertly taught me about a pressing nationwide issue that feels separate from my personal life while also meeting me right where I am in my stage of “momhood” and encouraging me over and over that the choices my children make do not define my success or failure as a parent.
Katherine James is like a poet/professor/mom-friend all wrapped up in one in the pages of this book. I learned oh so much about the opiod crisis, probably more than I want to know if I’m being honest. But I also learned that if we trust in him, Jesus is right with us moms every single step of the way, whether our kids are shooting heroin, failing in school or struggling with anxiety and depression. And he isn’t keeping score. My mind goes to “if onlys” when my children make bad decisions, trying to find the “if-then” statement like a math problem. But life doesn't work like that. It is not how God created us. He gave our children free will. And sometimes that free will allows for bad decisions.
James says, “When we mess around with “if onlys” and “what ifs,” oddly and irrationally, we’re trying to stamp our present knowledge onto our past ignorance, as though what we know now can retroactively heal all things.”
In another place she says, “Left unchecked, our lives can become a procession of “if onlys.” Like some kind of inverted vision, our “if onlys” will choke out every prayer and verse or hug from a friend. If only I hadn’t let Sweetboy stay out late when he was too young. If only I didn’t let him use the car that night. Silly. I began to view his first needle as God’s retribution for every wrong I’d committed as a parent and back even further, to my sins of long ago, all the way back to when I was a kid myself. Silly.”
If you are a parent, read this book for the encouragement it brings, and read it so you can learn about the seriousness of opiod addiction. (Man, I had no idea. . .) Maybe, like me it will help you change your perspective on drug addiction. You will begin to look for the name and the person behind the phrase “drug addict.” As James says, “Referring to someone as an addict is like hiding a beautiful person behind a pee test and a dose of Suboxone. They aren’t addicts, they’re Jason, or Becca or Nathan. They are the kids who pop ollies on skateboards, draw that huge tree in your backyard, and burn up the soccer field.”
This is a good one. I promise you will be both educated and blessed by reading "A Prayer for Orion."
Katherine James is like a poet/professor/mom-friend all wrapped up in one in the pages of this book. I learned oh so much about the opiod crisis, probably more than I want to know if I’m being honest. But I also learned that if we trust in him, Jesus is right with us moms every single step of the way, whether our kids are shooting heroin, failing in school or struggling with anxiety and depression. And he isn’t keeping score. My mind goes to “if onlys” when my children make bad decisions, trying to find the “if-then” statement like a math problem. But life doesn't work like that. It is not how God created us. He gave our children free will. And sometimes that free will allows for bad decisions.
James says, “When we mess around with “if onlys” and “what ifs,” oddly and irrationally, we’re trying to stamp our present knowledge onto our past ignorance, as though what we know now can retroactively heal all things.”
In another place she says, “Left unchecked, our lives can become a procession of “if onlys.” Like some kind of inverted vision, our “if onlys” will choke out every prayer and verse or hug from a friend. If only I hadn’t let Sweetboy stay out late when he was too young. If only I didn’t let him use the car that night. Silly. I began to view his first needle as God’s retribution for every wrong I’d committed as a parent and back even further, to my sins of long ago, all the way back to when I was a kid myself. Silly.”
If you are a parent, read this book for the encouragement it brings, and read it so you can learn about the seriousness of opiod addiction. (Man, I had no idea. . .) Maybe, like me it will help you change your perspective on drug addiction. You will begin to look for the name and the person behind the phrase “drug addict.” As James says, “Referring to someone as an addict is like hiding a beautiful person behind a pee test and a dose of Suboxone. They aren’t addicts, they’re Jason, or Becca or Nathan. They are the kids who pop ollies on skateboards, draw that huge tree in your backyard, and burn up the soccer field.”
This is a good one. I promise you will be both educated and blessed by reading "A Prayer for Orion."
March 21, 2020
What a brave, heartbreaking, honest, hopeful book.
June 2, 2026
Such a deeply painful reality, though with hope
February 3, 2020
Kate James is an exquisite storyteller. I was completely captivated by the audible version of this book, and found myself running extra errands to listen to it longer in the car. She tells the whole, hard truth with beauty and grace.
I didn’t know what to expect in a book about “a son’s addiction and a mother’s love.” Maybe a long Newsweek article mixed with a sappy Hallmark movie? It’s neither. It’s more true than both those things. This author and artist doesn’t offer any happy endings, fixes, or formulas. She invites you to sit next to her in her living room and look out the window at the stars while talks about her kids with pride, humility, necessary swears, and relevant scripture.
I don’t know what hit me harder- the gruesome reality of the insidious opioid epidemic, or the vast, wide, generous, desperate love Kate has for her son, and all his friends. There is a passion, authenticity, and grace here that is so uncommon in “Christian” books.
Often in addiction books the reader can get some voyeuristic thrills watching the main character’s iinevitable descent. If there is anything “voyeuristic” about reading A Song For Orion, it’s watching how a mom keeps on ascending in love despite her broken, broken heart.
I was inspired. I don’t have the words to articulate how deeply this resonated with me (I don’t have a child struggling with addiction, but I do have kids that make poor choices, like every other parent.)
I highly recommend it.
I didn’t know what to expect in a book about “a son’s addiction and a mother’s love.” Maybe a long Newsweek article mixed with a sappy Hallmark movie? It’s neither. It’s more true than both those things. This author and artist doesn’t offer any happy endings, fixes, or formulas. She invites you to sit next to her in her living room and look out the window at the stars while talks about her kids with pride, humility, necessary swears, and relevant scripture.
I don’t know what hit me harder- the gruesome reality of the insidious opioid epidemic, or the vast, wide, generous, desperate love Kate has for her son, and all his friends. There is a passion, authenticity, and grace here that is so uncommon in “Christian” books.
Often in addiction books the reader can get some voyeuristic thrills watching the main character’s iinevitable descent. If there is anything “voyeuristic” about reading A Song For Orion, it’s watching how a mom keeps on ascending in love despite her broken, broken heart.
I was inspired. I don’t have the words to articulate how deeply this resonated with me (I don’t have a child struggling with addiction, but I do have kids that make poor choices, like every other parent.)
I highly recommend it.
February 4, 2020
A Prayer for Orion is a powerful book written by a talented writer who happens to be a profoundly loving and engaged mother. Katherine James writes about the ugly topic of heroin addiction, The Evil, she calls it, but does so with beautifully insightful words and abundant wisdom. As she ponders the depth of her own pain and fears, readers can’t help but find words that apply to our own relationships and lives, whether or not you have a child fighting a drug addiction. This story will speak broadly to any parent dealing with a wayward son or daughter as they wait for their kids to heal and come home. Expressed here we find appropriate grief, love, guilt, and regret—but with a large dose of hope. And parents waiting for their kids to leave destructive behavior desperately need this hope.
Because she introduces faith into this gritty and ugly story, that faith feels all the more authentic and loving because of its willingness to venture into the recesses of darkness and get very dirty while pursuing a loved one. I highly recommend this book and plan to give it as a gift to others struggling with lost kids.
Because she introduces faith into this gritty and ugly story, that faith feels all the more authentic and loving because of its willingness to venture into the recesses of darkness and get very dirty while pursuing a loved one. I highly recommend this book and plan to give it as a gift to others struggling with lost kids.
February 3, 2020
The experience of reading this book was fundamentally disturbing, despite its "happy ending," and I'm not sure why. It might have been the author's ethereal symbolism and constantly drawing every tiny, innocuous moment from the past into a divine, supernatural web that had profound secret meanings for her and her son. It really felt, for some reason, like a book I could not trust.
The author loves her son. That comes through clearly. Sometimes she sounds very much like an average Christian mom with her instinctive revulsion from texting acronyms ("yo, ima, city words") to saying "if I were a swearing type of girl" and then sort-of-but-not-really writing down swears. Sometimes she sounds like Joan of Arc, seeing visions and God's messages in dreams. I am not at all surprised that she writes poetry.
I tried to "practice not judging," like she says, but I did not succeed. It is not something I am good at doing, even though I keep trying. I don't understand. I don't think I will ever understand.
The author loves her son. That comes through clearly. Sometimes she sounds very much like an average Christian mom with her instinctive revulsion from texting acronyms ("yo, ima, city words") to saying "if I were a swearing type of girl" and then sort-of-but-not-really writing down swears. Sometimes she sounds like Joan of Arc, seeing visions and God's messages in dreams. I am not at all surprised that she writes poetry.
I tried to "practice not judging," like she says, but I did not succeed. It is not something I am good at doing, even though I keep trying. I don't understand. I don't think I will ever understand.
January 29, 2020
Truly a heart-wrenchingly beautiful story. I'm thankful Katherine shared it with us.
February 5, 2020
A Prayer for Orion is a memoir of sobering truth. James's incisive prose unflinchingly cuts to the core and reveals an incandescent, searing, heartbreaking--yet---tender story that will touch lives, especially those impacted by addiction. This book tells the truth, and in doing so it allows others to both hope and heal. Katherine James is a brilliant writer whose work is stunning.
February 5, 2020
From another mom who loves her addicted son...
If you love an addict or know someone who does, this is a must read. She puts into words the thoughts and feelings that are beyond words... hurts so deep and fears so real, it seems impossible that a mom could survive... and yet we not only survive, we continue to pray, believe, and hope for our kids.
If you love an addict or know someone who does, this is a must read. She puts into words the thoughts and feelings that are beyond words... hurts so deep and fears so real, it seems impossible that a mom could survive... and yet we not only survive, we continue to pray, believe, and hope for our kids.
May 15, 2020
This is the raw and true story of a child caught up in heroin use, his brushes with death and the mother who found that she was the one who had much to learn about loving, letting go and trusting God. Most parents do not plan when they are raising their adorable toddlers to have life derailed by addiction. Even good, caring, engaged parents, as James' book demonstrates, have kids who make decisions that bring deep anguish and pain. I think Kathryn James strength in her story lay not just in her ability to tell a story well, but how she honestly reflects about her own journey through a parents' worst nightmare. This is a book for anyone and above all, the lesson I took away was that with parenting, there are no guarantees, only hope, only trust in God and the ultimate act of trust: letting go.
February 20, 2021
This book stayed with me awhile. It's a memoir and the author opens up to the trauma of her son’s addiction to heroin. This true story of a mom’s love for her son and her trust in God through the heart-wrenching ordeal of their son’s struggle with drugs. They loved their son and even opened up their home to any of his drug-addicted friends. Her husband held Bible studies with these boys, prayed with and over them. They loved their son even when he chose a wrong path.
As parents, we want to shield and protect our children from the evils of addiction. You think this only happens to other people but when it becomes reality for your own family, it’s a nightmare that only trust in God can give you the strength you need.
Very powerful book that is honest, raw and offers hope and inspiration in a world of opiate abuse.
As parents, we want to shield and protect our children from the evils of addiction. You think this only happens to other people but when it becomes reality for your own family, it’s a nightmare that only trust in God can give you the strength you need.
Very powerful book that is honest, raw and offers hope and inspiration in a world of opiate abuse.
May 4, 2021
James' writing is poignant, metaphorical, and flirts with the boundary of non sequitur. As she weaves a desperate story of love and sacrifice for a child that is held captive by addiction, she tells story after story that appears unrelated at first...only to morph into profound metaphor with the twist of a single line of writing. It is evident that James has deeply reflected - the result of continual prayer for her son, her daughters, and their friends - on addiction, its causes, and its impacts on surrounding family and friends.
Her deep, loving memoir smacks of the Biblical book of Hosea - God's call to love someone who runs away over and over, falling back into the same habits. And in that way, through that love, to paint a picture of His unfailing love for humanity - specifically His people - and to profoundly taste His love in our own lives.
Her deep, loving memoir smacks of the Biblical book of Hosea - God's call to love someone who runs away over and over, falling back into the same habits. And in that way, through that love, to paint a picture of His unfailing love for humanity - specifically His people - and to profoundly taste His love in our own lives.
September 17, 2020
Heart-breaking, inspiring, and SO beautifully written. At one point author Katherine James writes, "Although plenty of people wax on about how we should live life to its fullest, like it's one long beautiful ribbon--live, love, laugh, ad infinitum--it's also a life of sorrows. But there can be contentment in both. Not contentment with the sorrow, but contentment in spite of the sorrow. If we metabolize sorrow with even an iota of wisdom it's possible--like drinking fresh water from streams lit with plankton--to experience the peace of an amaranthine God. This is what St. Paul says in the Bible. I might be an inattentive Christian but I depend on an attentive God." Yet as a writer, she clearly pays attention, and her book becomes a prayer.
October 18, 2020
I don't even feel like I can write an adequate review for this heartwarming and vulnerable memoir written by Katherine James about her son. It is a very powerful, moving memoir filled with pain, fear, hope and joy. There is a range of emotions that can be felt when reading this book. The drug addiction problems in America is real and consuming. This book is very eye opening to the addiction and a book to make you stop and think. Excellent writing and reads quickly.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.
January 27, 2021
A testimony is always the most powerful story and Katherine James’ experience and anguish at living out her son’s heroin addiction with him is a tribute to a mother's intense love and desperate faith in God.
The denial, parental guilt, and laborious journey to find hope despite the grief resonated with me. I really appreciated her message that even with Christ, hope can be hard to find and life can be crushing. Even so, instead of “what if” we can learn the “even if” of God’s benevolent and sufficient providence.
The denial, parental guilt, and laborious journey to find hope despite the grief resonated with me. I really appreciated her message that even with Christ, hope can be hard to find and life can be crushing. Even so, instead of “what if” we can learn the “even if” of God’s benevolent and sufficient providence.
March 1, 2021
It's always hard for me to rate memoirs/biographies because it's hard to evaluate the quality of the writing vs. the person's life that's being written about. This book was a poignant page-turner for me and humbled me again to be reminded of the reality of this fallen world and that I can't control my children but instead should pray for them all the more fervently.
April 24, 2020
A powerful book that is very eye-opening. Kudos to the author for sharing this story with us. A must read. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.
May 16, 2021
Very honest reflections by a mother dealing with a son with a heroin addiction. Sometimes meandering and extremely dark, yet raw, honest and overall uplifting. Very well written and likely helpful for others going through sometime similar.
July 28, 2023
I have so much to say about this book - but maybe best if honed down to just a few words:
Infuriating!
Terrifying!
Heart-Wrenching!
Sorrowful!
Raw!
Authentic!
HOPE!
God is Good ALL the time. He is a loving God - no matter how we feel.
Thank you Katherine James for sharing your story.
Infuriating!
Terrifying!
Heart-Wrenching!
Sorrowful!
Raw!
Authentic!
HOPE!
God is Good ALL the time. He is a loving God - no matter how we feel.
Thank you Katherine James for sharing your story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews