Review of You and Me, God
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[i][Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "You and Me, God" by Jean Marie Quirin Frierdich.][/i] [rwc=id161402-125]2 out of 4 stars.[/rwc]You & Me, God! is both Jean Marie Quirin-Frierdich’s personal motto and a fitting title for her collection of life reflections, accurately subtitled: Memoirs of God’s Love & Protection. As a self-described born-again Christian and prophet, Jean’s unshakable faith in God’s presence and provision is the overriding theme of her book, and it is plain on every page of her stories of deliverance, healing, guidance, and in her heavy use of biblical quotations throughout. The author’s eventful life has certainly supplied her much with which to pack her autobiography. In addition to having 4 distinct careers (nurse/EMT, florist, fireworks sales, and writing), Jean has endured multiple abusive relationships, occasional homelessness, more than one heartbreaking miscarriage, numerous accusations from those around her, several near misses (including a deliberate attempt on her life), decades of family drama and personal loss, mysterious illnesses, many - apparently undeserved - stints in jail, and 2 failed suicide attempts.
Faith-based autobiographical works are my favorite kind to read, so I was excited to accept this book for review. Unfortunately, I was disappointed overall because the list of cons outweighs the pros as the book currently stands. First, You & Me, God! sorely needs editing. Errors include but aren’t limited to simple typos (“to” instead of “too”), failure to hyphenate (“15 year old,” “mother in law”), misused and missing commas, apostrophes, ampersands, and underscores, misuse of italics, inconsistent capitalization, incorrect sentence-ending punctuation, redundant words and phrases (“and your and your”), use of the wrong tense, and use of the wrong word (“deputy” instead of “duty,” “nothing” instead of “anything”). These distracting issues were evident on every page and interfered with my reading enjoyment.
I have misgivings about discussing the more nuanced problems with You & Me, God! because it feels a bit like I’m critiquing someone’s life, which I don’t believe I have any right to do, especially since I wasn’t a witness to any of the described events. Having given this disclaimer, though, I will press on. Jean is often redundant in her storytelling. On a small scale, for example, the word “farm” occurs 6 times in 8 consecutive sentences. On a larger scale, there are several repeated sentences or stories throughout the book. The troubling account of the time that she begged God to end her life, for instance, appears on page 34 and page 56. She also almost constantly reminds the reader of names, even within the same chapter, so that nearly every mention of her animals reads like, “My horse, Ginger.”
More importantly, though, there are some incoherent and/or incomplete sentences, such as:
This is a shame since it’s the worst-case scenario with regard to memoirs and overshadows almost all of the author’s uplifting points, one of which is that every one of us is precious to God, who is trustworthy, merciful, and lends a ready ear to all our prayers. I am genuinely pleased that Jean Marie Quirin-Frierdich has held onto this belief in spite of and through her many painful struggles, but, in execution, I don’t think her book does justice to her lifelong motto. That’s why, until it undergoes some thoughtful editing and reworking, I can only give You & Me, God!2 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to fans of religious biography who are not put off by the issues I've described and don't mind mild and implied profanity, which occurs a handful of times in this book. ****** [i]You and Me, God [/i] View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=161402]on Bookshelves[/url]
Faith-based autobiographical works are my favorite kind to read, so I was excited to accept this book for review. Unfortunately, I was disappointed overall because the list of cons outweighs the pros as the book currently stands. First, You & Me, God! sorely needs editing. Errors include but aren’t limited to simple typos (“to” instead of “too”), failure to hyphenate (“15 year old,” “mother in law”), misused and missing commas, apostrophes, ampersands, and underscores, misuse of italics, inconsistent capitalization, incorrect sentence-ending punctuation, redundant words and phrases (“and your and your”), use of the wrong tense, and use of the wrong word (“deputy” instead of “duty,” “nothing” instead of “anything”). These distracting issues were evident on every page and interfered with my reading enjoyment.
I have misgivings about discussing the more nuanced problems with You & Me, God! because it feels a bit like I’m critiquing someone’s life, which I don’t believe I have any right to do, especially since I wasn’t a witness to any of the described events. Having given this disclaimer, though, I will press on. Jean is often redundant in her storytelling. On a small scale, for example, the word “farm” occurs 6 times in 8 consecutive sentences. On a larger scale, there are several repeated sentences or stories throughout the book. The troubling account of the time that she begged God to end her life, for instance, appears on page 34 and page 56. She also almost constantly reminds the reader of names, even within the same chapter, so that nearly every mention of her animals reads like, “My horse, Ginger.”
More importantly, though, there are some incoherent and/or incomplete sentences, such as:
or,[quote]”I have one younger brother, one older brother and a younger sister and (my youngest sister is deceased).”[/quote]
The author is incorrect about dates on more than one occasion. She asserts in multiple places that she was 18 when her often cold mother told her to be moved out of the house before she returned from the bank, which was Valentine’s Day of 1976. Simple math shows the reader that, born in March of 1956, our storyteller was 19 at the time. This wouldn’t matter so much, except later, when Jean describes her first suicide attempt at the age of 15, she says it was Thursday, December 17th, and then ascribes the same date to the following day, when her beloved colt, Sundance, was hit by a car. In chapter 14, when discussing the legal battles with her son’s father, Doug, his legal counsel is constantly referred to as “Doug’s female attorney,” and in chapter 17, when Jean answered a wrong-number call while driving, she describes the caller as a “black man” multiple times. These felt redundant at best and offensive at worst. There are also confusing continuity problems where more questions are raised than answered by the text. Combine this with the fact that the author is so repeatedly emphatic about the unkindness and dishonesty of, say, her “pro-liar” sister, Maris, and, in my opinion, her insistence and inconsistency actually undermine the believability of many of her stories, rendering them somewhat petty and difficult to emotionally engage with.[quote]”My husband has one brother and we always enjoyed.”[/quote]
This is a shame since it’s the worst-case scenario with regard to memoirs and overshadows almost all of the author’s uplifting points, one of which is that every one of us is precious to God, who is trustworthy, merciful, and lends a ready ear to all our prayers. I am genuinely pleased that Jean Marie Quirin-Frierdich has held onto this belief in spite of and through her many painful struggles, but, in execution, I don’t think her book does justice to her lifelong motto. That’s why, until it undergoes some thoughtful editing and reworking, I can only give You & Me, God!2 out of 4 stars. I would recommend it to fans of religious biography who are not put off by the issues I've described and don't mind mild and implied profanity, which occurs a handful of times in this book. ****** [i]You and Me, God [/i] View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=161402]on Bookshelves[/url]
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