Review by Jenbliss5280 -- Gardening With Guns by AJ Wootton
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Jenbliss5280
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- Latest Review: Gardening With Guns by AJ Wootton
Review by Jenbliss5280 -- Gardening With Guns by AJ Wootton
[Following is a volunteer review of "Gardening With Guns" by AJ Wootton.]
Gardening with Guns is a quick read with a story that moves well and propels you through the book. A.J.Wooten writes an engaging autobiography covering her childhood, marriage struggles, and her father’s suicide. Although the book is an autobiography, it reads more like a novel and Wooten does an exceptional job of moving between the present and the past to give it a narrative structure that pushes you to read more.
The book begins with the death of Wooten’s father while Wooten and her family are on vacation in Ohio. The death spurs Wooten to begin to reflect on her childhood in Ohio and her strained relationship with her father. As a child, her father worked long hours which meant she did not know him well. This distance only grew when her father and mother were divorced, and her new stepfather alienated Wooten and her brothers from her father more. Thinking back to watching her parents struggling marriage causes Wooten to look inward on the problems in her own marriage. She sees her and her own husband moving apart and makes clear comparisons to her own parents’ relationship.
Wooten has an artful use of time throughout the book that makes the flashbacks and inner reflections coherent and meaningful to the reader and the overall arc of the book. She also does an excellent job of using descriptive language and imagery throughout the book to put the reader right into the scene with her. As well as being able to paint vivid scenes, Wooten is also able to convey emotions extremely well so you feel like you are experiencing her anxiety, fear, or joy.
I think this book would appeal to a wide variety of audiences. I would especially recommend this book to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or a divorce recently as it helps to read through someone else’s experience with a similar situation. Wooten details her experience and her memories so well it makes it easy to sympathize and empathize with her. Other readers would also enjoy this book if they like family-oriented stories filled with challenges and cozy memories.
Overall, I give Gardening with Guns 3 out of 4 stars. I loved how personal the story was and how the story moved throughout time, but there are several small typos throughout the book. There are a few instances of words spelled incorrectly, but there are many times where spaces are missing between words. If these mistakes were resolved, I would not hesitate to give the book 4 stars as there was no aspect of the book that I disliked. It is very professionally written and Wooten clearly has a talent for telling the story of her life.
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Gardening With Guns
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Gardening with Guns is a quick read with a story that moves well and propels you through the book. A.J.Wooten writes an engaging autobiography covering her childhood, marriage struggles, and her father’s suicide. Although the book is an autobiography, it reads more like a novel and Wooten does an exceptional job of moving between the present and the past to give it a narrative structure that pushes you to read more.
The book begins with the death of Wooten’s father while Wooten and her family are on vacation in Ohio. The death spurs Wooten to begin to reflect on her childhood in Ohio and her strained relationship with her father. As a child, her father worked long hours which meant she did not know him well. This distance only grew when her father and mother were divorced, and her new stepfather alienated Wooten and her brothers from her father more. Thinking back to watching her parents struggling marriage causes Wooten to look inward on the problems in her own marriage. She sees her and her own husband moving apart and makes clear comparisons to her own parents’ relationship.
Wooten has an artful use of time throughout the book that makes the flashbacks and inner reflections coherent and meaningful to the reader and the overall arc of the book. She also does an excellent job of using descriptive language and imagery throughout the book to put the reader right into the scene with her. As well as being able to paint vivid scenes, Wooten is also able to convey emotions extremely well so you feel like you are experiencing her anxiety, fear, or joy.
I think this book would appeal to a wide variety of audiences. I would especially recommend this book to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or a divorce recently as it helps to read through someone else’s experience with a similar situation. Wooten details her experience and her memories so well it makes it easy to sympathize and empathize with her. Other readers would also enjoy this book if they like family-oriented stories filled with challenges and cozy memories.
Overall, I give Gardening with Guns 3 out of 4 stars. I loved how personal the story was and how the story moved throughout time, but there are several small typos throughout the book. There are a few instances of words spelled incorrectly, but there are many times where spaces are missing between words. If these mistakes were resolved, I would not hesitate to give the book 4 stars as there was no aspect of the book that I disliked. It is very professionally written and Wooten clearly has a talent for telling the story of her life.
******
Gardening With Guns
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Gardening With Guns by AJ Wootton
