Book Review | Book Chatter

Made to Crave
By Lysa TerKeurst
Zondervan, Paperback, 9780310293262, December 2010, 218pp.

The Short of It:

The concept of being “spiritually malnourished” is presented and it blew my mind.

The Rest of It:

One could say this book is geared towards people who are struggling with their weight and health issues as a whole. TerKeurst’s focus is food but really, what she talks about could apply to any vice, be it food, drugs, shopping, etc.

The writing is based on Biblical teachings so I want to share that up front. Each chapter includes a personal experience or challenge that TerKeurst faced, Scripture to support her findings and then a summary of what was covered. The big take away is that a person can be “spiritually malnourished” when food takes a front and center place in your life.

In my late teens, I battled eating disorders of every kind. If you didn’t have an eating disorder, then you surely knew someone who did. It was the thing back then. Obsessions with food, not eating, getting rid of what we ate, etc. After some heart issues, I just stopped. I stopped cold turkey and went on to live a happy life.

Well, a happy life of gaining and losing over and over again. A life where I get excited about tacos. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? I can never keep it off though so I reached for this book just to have a different take on the situation and I’m so glad I did.

Food is a big deal to me and this book made me realize how obsessed I’ve been with it. Are events that you attend successful because of what’s served on the menu? If you have carrot sticks in front of you, are you still dreaming about the last chicken nugget on your kid’s plate? This is what she writes about, this obsession that some of us have over food.

After finishing this book, I came away with a new understanding of how I think and where my focus lies. It’s good to do a little internal tweaking now and then. I’m not a fan of self-help books but Made to Crave did not feel like one at all. In fact, I need to buy myself a print copy just to keep it on hand.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Passenger
Lisa Lutz
Simon & Schuster, Paperback, 9781451686647, November 2016, 336pp.

The Short of It:

Classified as a thriller but it really falls into the “what the heck is going on?” category because there is really no telling what these characters will do.

The Rest of It:

A man is dead. His wife Tanya flees the scene but it’s not clear exactly what has transpired. She heads across the country, stopping here and there to assume new identities as she attempts to run from those looking for her. It should be noted that there are plenty of people looking for her. The story is peppered with letters from a mysterious “Ryan” but it’s not clear how he fits into the story except that he knows Tanya as Jo. Why is she running? Who was she in the past?

Honestly, this story is all over the place. The beginning was a little disjointed but I gave it a little more time and eventually got into the story. Mostly, because I wanted to know why this woman needed to assume all these identities. If she truly wanted to stay hidden, why was she so careless with details? Tanya/Debra/Jo is not good at assuming identities which makes for an amusing read but also makes her slightly annoying.

There were parts of this book that worked better than others but the most frustrating thing is that you really don’t find out the “whys” until the very end and then you are like, really? THAT’s the reason for all of this?

I think the story had potential but it seemed very orchestrated and overworked and perhaps a bit underdeveloped as far as plot. I’m not entirely sure the author knew where she was going with the story until she got to the end. Even the title didn’t make sense until the very end so the entire time I kept thinking, who is the passenger?

Plus, the main character’s personality is never truly revealed. Sometimes you’re led to believe there is goodness there. Other times she seems to not care what she does or how many laws she breaks. It’s hard to have empathy for her situation when A) you don’t know why she is running, and B) she seems to switch back and forth between having morals and not having any.

Would I read Lutz again? I probably would given that there were parts that I was really into but as far as this one goes, expect a quick read with a thin plot line.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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