Review of The Art of Losing Yourself by Katie Ganshert

  

 

 

Book review of The Art of Losing Yourself by Katie Ganshert

From goodreads.com:

 

The Art of Losing Yourself by Katie Ganshert

(Goodreads Author)
4.73 of 5 stars 4.73  ·   rating details  ·  91 ratings  ·  52 reviews

Just like in my dream, I was drowning and nobody even noticed.

 

Every morning, Carmen Hart pastes on her made-for-TV smile and broadcasts the weather. She’s the Florida panhandle’s favorite meteorologist, married to everyone’s favorite high school football coach. They're the perfect-looking couple, live in a nice house, and attend church on Sundays. From the outside, she’s a woman who has it all together. But on the inside, Carmen Hart struggles with doubt. She wonders if she made a mistake when she married her husband. She wonders if God is as powerful as she once believed. Sometimes she wonders if He exists at all. After years of secret losses and empty arms, she’s not so sure anymore.

Until Carmen’s sister—seventeen year old runaway, Gracie Fisher—steps in and changes everything. Gracie is caught squatting at a boarded-up motel that belongs to Carmen’s aunt, and their mother is off on another one of her benders, which means Carmen has no other option but to take Gracie in. Is it possible for God to use a broken teenager and an abandoned motel to bring a woman’s faith and marriage back to life? Can two half-sisters make each other whole?

Paperback, 320 pages
Published April 21st 2015 by WaterBrook Press

 

Leona's review:

 

This is the first read for me by this author and not one kind of book I usually read. I won it from freshfiction.com and I always try to read and review the books I win.

 

I found myself involved with the characters and their problems. Carmen, who is a meteorologist for a TV station, has had six miscarriages and thinks an adoption of a baby will be the answer; her husband, Ben, does not believe it is. Ben is the coach at the high school where Gracie now attends. Gracie has run away from home and her alcoholic mother. Carmen and Gracie are sisters and have the same mother but different fathers. We meet Eli/ Elias who has a white mother and a black father. He is on the football team and seems to have so much patience and cares for others. He is close to his pastor, Pastor Zeke, who is also a caring person. We also meet Aunt Ingrid who has dementia and still grieves for Gerald, her husband who passed away four years ago.

 

I think the connection for the family is the Treasure Chest, a mom and pop motel, that Aunt Ingrid and Uncle Gerald owned. It is in shambles and Carmen and Gracie fix it up again and I believe it brings them close together. It connects the family as well.

 

The chapters switch between Carmen and Gracie in the first person. It does not confuse the reader. This is fairly quick and easy read. I would suggest high school age and up for reading and understanding the problems.

 

At one point Carmen says to God that she does not believe in Him and realizes she is talking to God.

 

There are some passages from the Bible.

 

There is a reader's guide at the back of the book. Two questions are: "What story did you enjoy more- Carmen's or Gracie's? Why?  and Who is your favorite secondary character? Why?

 

The book is dedicated to: For Salima, my brave, brave, brave little girl. Being your mother is one of the greatest honors I will ever be blessed with on this side of eternity. Come what may, God's writing a grand story for your life.

 

I liked this book and will give it a 5 star rating. The opinions are my own.

 

It is not a depressing book, but one I see that has a lot of faith and hope. It is an inspirational and moving book. A good book club read.

 

Katie Ganshert may be reached at:  katie@katieganshert.com; www.katieganshert.com; Twitter @KatieGanshert;

Facebook www.facebook.com/AuthorKatieGanshert and

Pinterest  http://www.pinterest.com/katieganshert

 

Leona Olson

http://www.mnleona.blogspot.com