Review by Thehorselover -- Gardening With Guns
-
Thehorselover
- Posts: 145
- Joined: 08 Aug 2019, 13:39
- Currently Reading: Irma's Daughters
- Bookshelf Size: 14
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-thehorselover.html
- Latest Review: The Date Farm by Jack Winnick
Review by Thehorselover -- Gardening With Guns
[Following is a volunteer review of "Gardening With Guns" by AJ Wootton.]
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Gardening with Guns is a story about a girl named Amber and her emotionally tumultuous childhood. The book opens at the time of her life where she is seemingly happily married with three kids and a new job under her belt. She has just received the news that her father has committed suicide and she is in shock as to the reason. He was always the kind of man who made his own rules to follow in life, and the way he left the world seems no exception. As Amber struggles to navigate her thoughts and emotions leading up to and after the burial of her father, she remembers snippets of her life and portrays them in story form.
Author AJ Wooton does a great job of laying out the background of her main character. The disappointing thing about this book is that the synopsis seems to imply that the reason for Amber's father's suicide is found out in the end; unfortunately this is not so and nothing satisfying reveals itself as his motive. The book focuses on Amber and her emotions during her parents' divorce at age 12, and follows her life story up to her current marriage. She has a decent marriage to a decent guy, but as her children get older and she finds herself soon becoming an empty nester, she starts to wonder where she and her husband Matt will end up once they get to that point of life.
She tries to talk to him about it, but he seems to have checked out of life, love, and marriage, indeed anything other than the mundane household management conversations. This makes Amber both nervous and guilty, and she starts to mentally evaluate her life events that cause her to react in this way. The author delivers some very accurate psychological evaluations on the mental stages of children who are raised conditioned to guilt, and how they ultimately end up being a people pleaser. People who have overcome such hurdles in their own lives will enjoy reading this book and experiencing Amber's triumph over her fears, with her. There are however some mild descriptions of sexual misconduct between Amber's step father and herself, written to explain exactly where she is coming from emotionally.
I would not recommend this book to people who find themselves emotionally triggered by those kind of distasteful memories. What I disliked most about Gardening with Guns was the excess of improperly structured paragraphs. It was poorly edited and the many mistakes in spacing made it a difficult read. If it weren't for that I would give this book a higher rating; as it is I can only give it a 2 out of 4 star rating.
What I liked most about this book was the heroine of the story finding her inner strength mentally and emotionally. She learned to listen to her instincts and trust in herself instead of only hearing what her mother and step father had conditioned her to believe. Her story teaches us that sometimes what you dream to aspire to isn't what's actually best for you as an individual.
******
Gardening With Guns
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Gardening with Guns is a story about a girl named Amber and her emotionally tumultuous childhood. The book opens at the time of her life where she is seemingly happily married with three kids and a new job under her belt. She has just received the news that her father has committed suicide and she is in shock as to the reason. He was always the kind of man who made his own rules to follow in life, and the way he left the world seems no exception. As Amber struggles to navigate her thoughts and emotions leading up to and after the burial of her father, she remembers snippets of her life and portrays them in story form.
Author AJ Wooton does a great job of laying out the background of her main character. The disappointing thing about this book is that the synopsis seems to imply that the reason for Amber's father's suicide is found out in the end; unfortunately this is not so and nothing satisfying reveals itself as his motive. The book focuses on Amber and her emotions during her parents' divorce at age 12, and follows her life story up to her current marriage. She has a decent marriage to a decent guy, but as her children get older and she finds herself soon becoming an empty nester, she starts to wonder where she and her husband Matt will end up once they get to that point of life.
She tries to talk to him about it, but he seems to have checked out of life, love, and marriage, indeed anything other than the mundane household management conversations. This makes Amber both nervous and guilty, and she starts to mentally evaluate her life events that cause her to react in this way. The author delivers some very accurate psychological evaluations on the mental stages of children who are raised conditioned to guilt, and how they ultimately end up being a people pleaser. People who have overcome such hurdles in their own lives will enjoy reading this book and experiencing Amber's triumph over her fears, with her. There are however some mild descriptions of sexual misconduct between Amber's step father and herself, written to explain exactly where she is coming from emotionally.
I would not recommend this book to people who find themselves emotionally triggered by those kind of distasteful memories. What I disliked most about Gardening with Guns was the excess of improperly structured paragraphs. It was poorly edited and the many mistakes in spacing made it a difficult read. If it weren't for that I would give this book a higher rating; as it is I can only give it a 2 out of 4 star rating.
What I liked most about this book was the heroine of the story finding her inner strength mentally and emotionally. She learned to listen to her instincts and trust in herself instead of only hearing what her mother and step father had conditioned her to believe. Her story teaches us that sometimes what you dream to aspire to isn't what's actually best for you as an individual.
******
Gardening With Guns
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Date Farm by Jack Winnick
