Title: Letting Go: How a Family Crisis Brought Authenticity and Clarity

Author: Lisa Hoelzer

Genre: Memoir

 

Letting Go: How a Family Crisis Brought Authenticity and Clarity is a memoir that takes us through the highs and lows of life. This encouraging testimony of honesty and resilience combines both memoir and self-help elements. Letting Go not only walks us through a difficult time in the author’s life, but it also shows us what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown.

Since the book primarily centers on Hoelzer’s family life and the struggles they and their children have faced surrounding their Church, parents can glean the most from this memoir. As a parent, Hoelzer reflects deeply on their parenting choices and how raising their children in a specific Church is affecting their lives. The more Hoelzer’s children mature physically and mentally, the more they find themselves separating from the Church. Does the good in their life come from the Church or themselves? Their questions become even more complicated when their children express a conflict with the Church’s stance on certain hot button issues. With experience, time, and healing, we learn that family doesn’t always look as you plan, and that’s okay. The author’s story shows the transformative power of having an open mind and embracing change.

The cracks in Hoelzer’s family begin to grow, and their relationships with each other suffer.

The story is gripping, hooking you in from the start, and with so much tension and high stakes, readers won’t be able to put the book down. Readers will grow attached to each member of the family as we witness them in their most intimate, sensitive moments.

On one hand, the author is incredibly transparent and vulnerable. On the other hand, at times the dialogue is too polished and the way each character handles the situations they’re in is too perfect. In the book, every character is patient, understanding, and kind to the others, almost too much so. In reality, people make mistakes, say the wrong things, or they don’t know what to do at all. We may learn about the character’s faults, but we don’t see the characters make many mistakes. Showing raw moments of fault would make the book feel more genuine.

Though Hoelzer’s story focuses largely on their family’s journey separating from the Christian Church, even including a complete list of all the reasons why they did so, entitled “The Factors”, the moral of the memoir is ultimately about living your life authentically. The Appendixes are interesting because they allow the space to explain the positives and negatives of Hoelzer’s experience in the Church. The book even offers additional resources for those who want to learn more about mental health, parenting, and Christianity.

As a parent trying to keep it all together for the ones you love, how do you navigate tough times? How do you stay true to your beliefs when the outside world is throwing the worst at you? With themes of faith, hope, and family, Letting Go: How a Family Crisis Brought Authenticity and Clarity is a memoir that is sure to inspire. Hoelzer’s genuine vulnerability and profound revelations make Letting Go a compelling choice for memoir enthusiasts. Letting Go invites readers to explore the depths of the human experience and offers a touching lesson in living your truth.

 

 

This Editorial Review was written by the Book Review Directory staff. To receive a similarly honest, professional review for one of your own books, click here.