3 out of 4 stars
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Sharon Walls-Griffin’s More than a Conqueror is her inspirational narrative of a life ravaged by abuse and addiction transformed by the redemptive power of faith.
Walls-Griffin grew up as the middle child of five children and begins her story with a brief introduction to her family. She described her laid back father as more of a friend than a parent, while her mother was the disciplinarian of the family. Her oldest brother, Reynolds was a goodie-two-shoes. Next was Sal, a charming jokester. Sassy, strong-willed Sharon fell right in the middle. She considered her younger brother Cederick a nerd who was too serious. Sharon was slightly threatened by her baby sister Tina, whom she viewed as competition for Daddy’s love.
She has fond early childhood memories of singing and dancing with Daddy, who was her hero. Though the family lived in rough neighborhoods and money was scarce, Mama kept her children entertained with frequent trips to the library. Sharon enjoyed getting lost in books and reinventing herself as different characters. She loved reading, found learning easy, and made good grades in school.
At the tender age of seven, two significant events changed the course of her life. Because she was such a strong reader, Sharon received her own Bible from the Sunday school she attended with her older siblings. It was her first introduction to the Lord and she was very excited. Since the customary age for children to receive the Sunday school Bible was nine, she was extremely proud of herself.
Unfortunately, the positive experience quickly faded when she was sexually abused by a cousin that was living with her family at the time. As any young child would be, she was hurt and confused. She referred to the abusive cousin as Shame. This had a powerful effect on me as the reader. Anytime he was mentioned, I felt her pain. After she was violated, young Sharon was afraid to go to sleep and when she did drift off, her sleep was interrupted with nightmares. When she finally worked up the courage to tell Mama, she wrote a note because she didn’t know how to explain the abuse. Understandably, she expected the revelation to her parents to have dramatic results. When nothing really happened, she felt betrayed and alone. Shame never touched her again and left soon after her note to Mama, but the damage was done. Her parents had failed to protect her and she couldn’t understand why.
Several years later, when Sharon was eleven, her parents bought a house. She was very excited and envisioned a big yard with pretty flowers. Unfortunately, as the first black family on the block, they encountered racism. By their first day in their new home, the family had suffered two fires intentionally set to scare them away. Sharon also had to contend with neighborhood bullies and racial slurs. She couldn’t understand why the color of her skin mattered, but she started to believe that white people must be better than she was. Not long after their move, just as she started puberty, Sharon’s parents got divorced. She was heartbroken that she couldn’t go and live with Daddy. She became convinced that if her father didn’t want her, she was worthless. She went into a deep depression, but never allowed others to see her pain. Life was very hard after Daddy left. I entered puberty with so many insecurities and such low self esteem that I felt like I was already in Hell.
By the time she started high school, Sharon was carrying so much pain that her life began to spiral out of control. Though Mama fought to keep her in school, it was a constant battle and Sharon dropped out. When she was sixteen, she met her first love, Garden Tool but from the beginning, he was unfaithful and treated her disrespectfully. Things went from bad to worse. Sadly, she was so full of self-loathing and hungry for love, she stayed and they had two children together.
In subsequent chapters, Walls-Griffin transparently details her descent into prostitution, abusive relationships and drug addiction. She is also brutally honest about her failings as a parent while she was an addict. Even when her life was in constant upheaval, she never stopped praying and believes God protected and saved her despite the many dangerous situations she encountered. Ultimately, it was this faith in her Redeemer that enabled her not only to write but to become More than a Conqueror.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. Walls-Griffin’s raw account was at times hard to read, but if you’ve dealt with addiction personally, or with a family member, it resonates. It is not a light read--at times it seems more graphic than inspirational, but it is honest, which I always appreciate. She writes from a Christian perspective and gives God the glory for healing the pain of her childhood abuse as well as helping her walk in recovery. I enjoyed the book and think the redemptive message is universal regardless of your beliefs. There are a few minor grammatical errors but they didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. However, unlike her other character pseudonyms, I found the name Garden Tool a bit confusing. Also, in future edits, I would recommend limiting the frequent use of all caps to emphasize points.
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More than a Conqueror
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