Reviews for Invisible Walls and to Remember Is to Heal: A German Family under the Nuremberg Laws and Encounters

The average rating for Invisible Walls and to Remember Is to Heal: A German Family under the Nuremberg Laws and Encounters based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-01-24 00:00:00 Bob Canavan Since I'm apparently the first guy to read this book in recent recorded history, I feel somewhat obligated to try and give it a thorough review. Unfortunately, the fact that I ended up reading it in two parts, over the space about five months, makes that somewhat difficult. Still, I will do my best. At times, especially in the early going, this approached a four-star read for me. I love character studies, especially ones in historical settings, and since this was of course written at a time contemporary with its setting, I'm assuming it can be relied upon to give a fairly accurate picture of the life and perspectives of New-England Christians in the mid-nineteenth century. Its value in this connection is significant, and is a large part of what held my interest through about two-thirds of the book. One of the most fascinating things to me about the historical element was how a woman of the time would not refer to pregnancy at all, not even in her private journal. The appearance of her babies on the scene was always a complete surprise to me, and sometimes it took a bit for me to figure out what she was talking about, even after they were born! As others have noted, the latter third of the book gets to be a little tiresome, that being the reason I left off reading it for about four months. In my view, the book could have, and should have been shorter: there was a great deal of repetition, which probably added to the reader's experience of Katy's life (she keeps going over and over the same ground, spiritually) but it makes it rather difficult to get through in places. My main reason for picking up this book, actually, is that the author, Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, also penned More Love to Thee O Christ, a hymn of consecration that is an enduring favorite of mine. From this fact, and from the title, I expected sanctification to be a major topic, and this indeed proved to be the case. Sometimes, I felt the author handled the subject fairly well, but in the main, I was slightly out of harmony with her perspectives. It seems to me that, if this book is a faithful representation of the practical theology of New England Christians in the Victorian era, then theirs was often a pretty bleak and dismal faith. While it's true that God uses suffering to refine us, I don't believe this is the only tool in His box, so to speak. Nor do I believe, as seems to be presented, that it is only possible to achieve truly Christlike character through a life spent in silent submission to extremely trying circumstances. The other major perspective that I couldn't really agree with, was the related idea that sanctification is, and should be expected to be, very gradual, coming as a result suffering, and of our efforts at maintaining spiritual disciplines. Sometimes, when the protagonist went to her spiritual mentors for advice, I got the feeling that that advice amounted to "keep on trying," which is a perfect recipe for failure and frustration. What I felt was missing from the theology of these characters, was an understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It is not up to us to sanctify ourselves, only to yield to God's work in our lives, to be emptied of ourselves, and filled with Christ. I felt that if the main character had been led to grasp this truth, she could have avoided a great deal of the Romans-7-style wrangling she seemed to be engaged in for much of the book. On the positive side, this book does contain some beautiful portraits of submission, made even more meaningful by the knowledge that the author's life was at least as tragic as her main character's, and perhaps even more so. The fact that she could express such sentiments as those contained in this book, and in her best-known hymn, testifies to me of the work of the Spirit in her life, even if she wasn't fully conscious of it. Even though, by the end, I was more than ready for the book to be over, I'm not sorry I commenced to read it. I do not think it really deserves the "ladies-only" reputation it seems to have acquired; readers of either gender could enjoy it, provided they have an appreciation for character study and theological reflection, and don't mind wading through the slow parts. (Oh, and provided they can stand reading about how it took a couple about the first ten years of their marriage to figure out they should, like, talk to each other and stuff. Who knew?) One final note: the free version of this book on Kindle (or at least, the one I got) has a lot of typos, which can make for choppy reading. I would recommend getting a library copy, or buying a better Kindle version.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-04-11 00:00:00 Kariem Ramadan a fictional diary from the point of view of a Christian teenage girl who is hot-tempered and overanalytical (sounds like me!)... the story follows her as she truly dedicates her life to Christ, although she grew up in a believing family, and as she goes through life. first love, marriage, family and more... loved this book. brothers... it's not just a book for girls. if ur interested in figuring out a little of the way the mind of a gal works, please read it. she's so honest with her feelings and the way her temperament swiftly changes according to small actions by her husband. i loved seeing how marriage sanctifies a person... not that i'm ready! but now i get it. =) read it.