Category Archives: Memoir

Review: Barking to the Choir by Gregory Boyle

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Barking to the Choir by Gregory Boyle

Barking to the Choir
Gregory Boyle
Simon & Schuster
Published November 14, 2017

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About Barking to the Choir

In a moving example of unconditional love in dif­ficult times, the Jesuit priest and bestselling author of TATTOOS ON THE HEART, Gregory Boyle, shares what three decades of working with gang members in Los Angeles has taught him about faith, compassion, and the enduring power of kinship.

In his first book, TATTOOS ON THE HEART: THE POWER OF BOUNDLESS COMPASSION, Gregory Boyle introduced us to Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. Critics hailed that book as an “astounding literary and spiritual feat” (Publishers Weekly) that is “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times). Now, after the suc­cessful expansion of Homeboy Industries, Boyle returns with BARKING TO THE CHOIR to reveal how com­passion is transforming the lives of gang members.

In a nation deeply divided and plagued by poverty and violence, BARKING TO THE CHOIR offers a snapshot into the challenges and joys of life on the margins. Sergio, arrested at nine, in a gang by twelve, and serving time shortly thereafter, now works with the substance-abuse team at Homeboy to help others find sobriety. Jamal, abandoned by his family when he tried to attend school at age seven, gradually finds forgive­ness for his schizophrenic mother. New father Cuco, who never knew his own dad, thinks of a daily adventure on which to take his four-year-old son. These former gang members uplift the soul and reveal how bright life can be when filled with unconditional love and kindness.

This book is guaranteed to shake up our ideas about God and about people with a glimpse at a world defined by more compassion and fewer barriers. Gently and humorously, BARKING TO THE CHOIR invites us to find kinship with one another and reconvinces us all of our own goodness.

My Review

I read this book after TATTOOS ON THE HEART and before reading Fr. Boyle’s third book, THE WHOLE LANGUAGE. Meaning I read them in the order they were released.

The title of BARKING TO THE CHOIR comes from a conversation Fr. Boyle had with one of the employees at Homeboy Industries. He had to talk to him about his attitude. The guy responded telling him he was “barking to the choir,” sort of a mashup of “barking up the wrong tree” and “preaching to the choir.”

In this book we get even more stories about kids that Fr. Boyle watched grow up. There are more stories about their lives and how working at Homeboy Industries changed them. The book isn’t strictly about that, though.

Many chapters bring a focus to the way that these former gang members’ lives changed the people around them for better, too. Including Fr. Boyle himself. He talks about the importance of showing up and being open when working with the poor. You don’t show up expecting to make changes and be the person giving the advice and support. You show up prepared to receive. That hit me pretty deep, too. I think it cuts straight to our motives when we try to help others. It gives a great way to check those.

Taking vs. Giving Advantage

Another thing that really stuck with me is from a story he related about an interview with Anderson Cooper. In the interview, Cooper told him that people say he’s naïve, that the homies take advantage of him. Fr. Boyle responds with something like, “how can they take advantage when I’m giving it freely?”

That made me think a lot, too. Sometimes I talk myself out of doing something for someone because I’m worried about what their motives are or what might happen. And it’s not bad to consider those things and be aware. Personally, I’m wrestling with the concept of showing love because I’ve decided to rather than because someone deserves it. It’s an ideal I want to embrace.

Compassion and Covid

In the midst of Covid, there have been a lot of conversations about how much empathy or patience or compassion some people deserve. This is especially true if it seems like they’ve disregarded safety or other guidance. I don’t have all the answers there. It’s a super complicated question. I’ve decided sometimes I will respond with kindness because that’s who I am (or who I want to be!). Sometimes my response doesn’t have anything to do with the other person’s behavior. So I guess this book has challenged me to apply that idea a little more broadly or in different circumstances.

I’m excited to read Fr. Boyle’s next book. I recommend them to anyone interested in the intersection of faith and social justice or in gang intervention programs.

Content Notes for Barking to the Choir

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Father Boyle tells stories about white, Latinx, and Black gang members and former gang members.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently. Some crude language used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The book centers on the idea of kinship from a Christian perspective and talks a lot about who God is (loving and compassionate) based on the Bible. There are some (positive) references to other faiths and beliefs.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of abuse and gang violence.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: The Whole Language by Gregory Boyle

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The Whole Language
Gregory Boyle
Avid Reader Press
Published October 19, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Whole Language

Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang-intervention program in the world. Boyle’s new book, THE WHOLE LANGUAGE, follows the acclaimed bestsellers TATTOOS ON THE HEART, hailed as an “astounding literary and spiritual feat” (Publishers Weekly) that is “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times), and BARKING TO THE CHOIR, deemed “a beautiful and important and soul-transporting book” by Elizabeth Gilbert and declared by Ann Patchett to be “a book that shows what the platitudes of faith look like when they’re put into action.”

In a community struggling to overcome systemic poverty and violence, THE WHOLE LANGUAGE shows how those at Homeboy Industries fight despair and remain generous, hopeful, and tender. Boyle’s moving stories challenge our ideas about God and about people, providing a window into a world filled with fellowship, compassion, and fewer barriers. Bursting with encouragement, humor, and hope, THE WHOLE LANGUAGE invites us to treat others—and ourselves—with acceptance and tenderness.

My Review

Until maybe a couple months ago, I’d never read anything by Gregory Boyle. It only took a few pages of his story to get me completely hooked. I’ve never read anything that resonated so deeply or called me forward in faith and in love for others.

While this is a book anchored in Christian faith, the author is a mystic, so you’ll find quotes from the Bible, other Christian teachers, as well as Muslim poets and Buddhist teachers to illustrate a point. The theology is sometimes different than what I grew up with (I was raised in what would probably be described as an Evangelical/Fundamental Christian church), so that gave me some things to think about. On some things I immediately agreed with Fr. Boyle’s assessment, and on others, I’m kind of still letting those ideas percolate.

The book is truly about how to love others in a way that means forging a connection with them. Meeting them where they are and opening yourself up to learning from them rather than standing on a high perch thinking you’re there to simply help out or hand out.

It’s been really good reading all three of his books. I feel like this is or these are messages that I can’t possibly get enough of. I’m in a situation right now where my family is trying to support another family that’s going through something really rough. And I know how I would have acted in the past. Now, though, I’m acting with the lessons and values in TATTOOS ON THE HEART and THE WHOLE LANGUAGE bouncing around in my head and my heart. It doesn’t mean having no boundaries, but it has changed what I’m hoping to achieve (connection, relationship).

Conclusion

I have all three books as e-books and audio books. I suspect that I’ll be listening through them again going into the holidays. In case it’s not obvious, I absolutely recommend all three books (you don’t have to read them in order) to anyone who’s either a Christian figuring out how to have relationships and craft meaningful community, or anyone interested in the intersection between faith and social justice. If you’re interested in gang recovery programs, you don’t want to miss these books. Homeboy Industries is the largest and most successful gang intervention program in the world.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Fr. Boyle is a white man. He features stories of Latinx, Black and Asian gang members.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used regularly.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some brief mentions of sexual abuse and rape.

Spiritual Content
Fr. Boyle is a Jesuit priest and he shares his faith openly throughout the book. He considers himself a mystic Christian. The core of his message is about loving others no matter who they are or what they’ve done, and being able to see them as valuable and good.

Violent Content
Brief mentions of gang violence, domestic violence, and child abuse.

Drug Content
References to drug and alcohol use.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE WHOLE LANGUAGE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle

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Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
Gregory Boyle
Free Press
Published March 9, 2009

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About Tattoos on the Heart

How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love. Gorgeous and uplifting, TATTOOS ON THE HEART amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on your life.

As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration. TATTOOS ON THE HEART is a breathtaking series of parables distilled from his twenty years in the barrio.

Erudite, down-to-earth, and utterly heartening, these essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love in difficult times and the importance of fighting despair. With Gregory Boyle’s guidance, we can recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of the men and women in these parables and learn to find joy in all of the people around us. TATTOOS ON THE HEART reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.

Father Gregory Boyle’s sparkling parables about kinship and the sacredness of life are drawn from twenty years working with gangs in LA.

My Review

I feel like I’ve seen tons of examples lately of what I do not believe or agree with in my faith. I didn’t realize the level to which I was exhausted by and deeply upset about the ugliness of people preaching hate in the name of Christianity. It has kind of made me nervous or hesitant to read faith life books because I’m sometimes afraid I’ll find more of the same “righteous” hate in those pages, too?

My mom told me about this book years ago, but I had never read it. I had an audiobook version, though, so when I needed a new evening read recently, I decided to try out TATTOOS ON THE HEART.

So I began reading this book, and it’s cover to cover a message of compassion. It’s about seeing other people as loved and valuable, even the people that most of us overlook or are afraid of. I couldn’t stop reading. This book put words– and far more than words, because this man and his organization have been living these words for decades– to things that I believe but hadn’t been able to frame into sentences.

I read chapter after chapter, feeling like, here is a person I want to pull up a chair and learn from. This is a person whose life and values I want to emulate. He’s also an incredible reader and storyteller, so sometimes I’d get lost in the book for its personal stories about the people Fr. Boyle has met and experiences he’s had.

I cried and laughed as he related stories about gang members’ and former gang members’ lives. My heart felt full when he told about the way a community emerged to love people that so often get left behind or treated as unlovable or less valuable.

He connects the stories to greater ideas really well, too. Each chapter kind of focuses on one idea and tells stories that show those things in different ways. He talks about God as not only being loving and gentle, but also as One who delights in people.

Conclusion

Reading this book felt like having a full glass of water for the first time after a long, hot day. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear his message, and to hear someone with much more learning in scripture than I have to be preaching that message.

I don’t know. Probably I’m doing a terrible job with this review. I feel like it’s hard to put things into words. After I listened to this book as an audiobook, I bought the ebook. I’ve already gone back to highlight some parts, and I suspect this book will be one I reread periodically, too.

If you want to find out more about the gang intervention program, it’s called Homeboy Industries. They have some cool merchandise and great information about what they do on their website.

Fr. Boyle’s second book, BARKING TO THE CHOIR, is now on my reading list, too. I’ve started the audiobook version already, and it’s just as good so far.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Contains many stories of gang members.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The author is a Jesuit minister and founder of Homeboy Industries. The book references sources from several different faiths but relates Christian values and beliefs throughout.

Violent Content
Multiple references to gang-related shootings and violence. Some descriptions of domestic violence and child abuse.

Drug Content
References to drug and alcohol abuse.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

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Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem and Other Things That Happened
Allie Brosh
Gallery Books
Published October 29, 2013

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About Hyperbole and a Half

From Goodreads: This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative–like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it–but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book:

Pictures
Words
Stories about things that happened to me
Stories about things that happened to other people because of me
Eight billion dollars*
Stories about dogs
The secret to eternal happiness*

*These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

My Review

This is another one of those books that I read because I needed to read it. I laughed so hard I woke my husband up. I laughed until I cackled and had tears streaming down my face. I laughed like I didn’t even know I needed to laugh until I was laughing.

The pictures are fabulous. The drawings are packed with emotion and humor. The stories are both hilarious and also such a frank exploration of what makes us human. It’s also possibly one of the best descriptions of depression that I’ve read.

It’s silly and self-deprecating and sometimes totally irreverent, but I found it to be exactly the kind of humor I needed to get me through a tough week.

If you liked FURIOUSLY HAPPY by Jenny Lawson, definitely check out HYPERBOLE AND A HALF.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Main character is white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
There is a violent goose.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Boy from Buchenwald by Robbie Waisman

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Boy From Buchenwald
Robbie Waisman
with Susan McClelland
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Published May 11, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Boy from Buchenwald

It was 1945 and Romek Wajsman had just been liberated from Buchenwald, a brutal concentration camp where more than 60,000 people were killed. He was starving, tortured, and had no idea where his family was-let alone if they were alive. Along with 472 other boys, including Elie Wiesel, these teens were dubbed “The Buchenwald Boys.” They were angry at the world for their abuse, and turned to violence: stealing, fighting, and struggling for power. Everything changed for Romek and the other boys when Albert Einstein and Rabbi Herschel Schacter brought them to a home for rehabilitation.

Romek Wajsman, now Robbie Waisman, humanitarian and Canadian governor general award recipient, shares his remarkable story of transforming pain into resiliency and overcoming incredible loss to find incredible joy.

My Review

I feel like I’ve been sitting at my keyboard awhile struggling for the right words to review this book. It’s definitely one that left me speechless, in a good way. I’ve read NIGHT by Elie Wiesel, and a couple other accounts of surviving Nazi concentration camps, but it never gets easier to read about it. The horror and shock of it strikes me fresh every time, and it should.

I feel like this book does a really great job balancing the reality of what happened with an understanding of its audience as young readers. The authors give a frank account but seem to know when to zoom in or zoom out on the scene being described. There’s a gentleness to the way the story is told. Like it’s not only being told my someone who’s survived, but someone who understands and connects with other kids. I’m not doing a great job explaining this. I guess maybe what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t surprise me at all that Waisman speaks to schools. It seems like he has a gift for it.

A lot of the story focuses on Romek’s recovery from imprisonment in Buchenwald. At first he has very few memories of his life before with his family, or of happiness. At the beginning of each (or most) chapters, he flashes back to a memory, sometimes difficult ones. As he has time to grieve and to heal, those flashbacks show his memories gradually returning. And the progression of them shows its own journey through trauma and anger and loss and until finally he’s able to remember happy moments from his childhood.

Conclusion

BOY FROM BUCHENWALD is an inspiring story about grief and healing. It’s about the way that we need each other. It’s about the worst ways in which we hurt one another and the best ways we help one another heal. I loved it, and I think it’d make a great addition to a classroom library or Holocaust study.

Content Notes for The Boy from Buchenwald

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Most major characters are Jewish and Holocaust survivors.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Two instances of mild profanity. One is a reference to a name for a ship carrying Jewish refugees that was turned away from other countries. Another refers to time spent in a concentration camp as being in hell.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to children being hidden by the women in the concentration camp brothels.

Spiritual Content
Some scenes describe Jewish services and celebrations. After being liberated from Buchenwald, some of the boys take refuge in faith while others can’t reconnect with faith at all.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of torture, starvation, and cruelty toward prisoners of the camps and Jews under Nazi occupation. The boys develop a reputation as angry and destructive.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of BOY FROM BUCHENWALD in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris

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The Truths We Hold
Kamala Harris
Penguin Press
January 8, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Book Depository

About THE TRUTHS WE HOLD

Senator Kamala Harris’s commitment to speaking truth is informed by her upbringing. The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in an Oakland, California community that cared deeply about social justice; her parents–an esteemed economist from Jamaica and an admired cancer researcher from India–met as activists in the civil rights movement when they were graduate students at Berkeley.

Growing up, Harris herself never hid her passion for justice, and when she became a prosecutor out of law school, a deputy district attorney, she quickly established herself as one of the most innovative change agents in American law enforcement. She progressed rapidly to become the elected District Attorney for San Francisco, and then the chief law enforcement officer of the state of California as a whole.

Known for bringing a voice to the voiceless, she took on the big banks during the foreclosure crisis, winning a historic settlement for California’s working families. Her hallmarks were applying a holistic, data-driven approach to many of California’s thorniest issues, always eschewing stale “tough on crime” rhetoric as presenting a series of false choices. Neither “tough” nor “soft” but smart on crime became her mantra. Being smart means learning the truths that can make us better as a community, and supporting those truths with all our might.

That has been the pole star that guided Harris to a transformational career as the top law enforcement official in California, and it is guiding her now as a transformational United States Senator, grappling with an array of complex issues that affect her state, our country, and the world, from health care and the new economy to immigration, national security, the opioid crisis, and accelerating inequality.

By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers in The Truths We Hold a master class in problem-solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times.

Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values. In a book rich in many home truths, not least is that a relatively small number of people work very hard to convince a great many of us that we have less in common than we actually do, but it falls to us to look past them and get on with the good work of living our common truth. When we do, our shared effort will continue to sustain us and this great nation, now and in the years to come.

My Review

I’ve been curious about TRUTHS WE HOLD for a while, so when my name finally came up in the holds at the library, I was super excited to read it.

A lot of it focuses on her family and early life, events that shaped Kamala Harris’s beliefs and values. She also discusses some of the issues she tackled as a prosecutor and California’s Attorney General.

I found her message inspiring, and her hope for the future really uplifting. She seems really smart and deeply caring, and her passion for the people she serves made reading about what can be big nameless, faceless political issues interesting the way that having a passionate history teacher makes even the grinding parts of history engaging and memorable.

I’m not usually a huge nonfiction reader, but I found myself sneaking in a few pages of TRUTHS WE HOLD between chores and in other odd spare moments. I would recommend reading this book to anyone who’s curious about Kamala Harris’s life and her values.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Kamala is a Democratic Senator from California and currently running for president.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief story about how she met her husband.

Spiritual Content
References to her Christian faith.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content 
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.