Tag: death

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THE EXTRAORDINARY DEATHS OF MRS. KIP, by SARA BRUNSVOLD, 2022, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)

Inspiring and Thought-provoking

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip features an indomitable woman, who through her generous spirit of love, instigated and inspired many others.

Woven into the story is the poignant history in the late 1970s of the immigration of a large group of Laotian refugees to Kansas City.

The author cleverly pieces into this novel the points she is trying to get across through the life-changing experience of reporter Aidyn Kelley as she interviews Clara Kip.

Reading it will cause you to ponder many things about life. How turning your desires over to God can open doors to unexpected blessings for yourself and others. How death is only a step in the continuation of life. And much more.

Personally Relatable

I can personally relate to most everything in this book. I’ll just share a few instances. As a writer I can relate to Aidyn. And I can relate to many of Mrs. Kip’s experiences.

She, in the process of her own death, showers God’s love on another person in the hospice. The detailed descriptions of the end of life in the book brought to mind the same things my late husband went through. He passed into heaven exactly two years ago today. Like Clara Kip, he was quite a character, also refusing a wheelchair and walking around on his own until he fell so many times that he was confined to his bed. He joked with staff and friends, and even had me bring his guitar so he could entertain them with hymns. Sadly, his ability to do so only lasted a couple of days.

Clara Kip inspired the immigration and integration of Laotian refugees. In the 1980s the church I was a member of sponsored refugees from Viet Nam. Now in 2022, my church is in process of sponsoring refugees from war-torn Ukraine. We are gearing up to help them with housing and provisions as well as English and spiritual nourishment.

Hopefully I’ve given you enough of a taste of what The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip is about to interest you, without giving away too many spoilers. My thanks to the publisher for sending me the paperback version to review. I’m glad I chose it.

Click on the Links

Revell has an on-line book club now, called Beyond the Book, where you can discuss books with authors and readers. Find it at facebook.com/groups/RevellBeyondtheBook.

Connect with the author at SARABRUNSVOLD.COM.

Buy the book here:

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

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Sisters, by Danielle Steel, 2008, Bantam Dell (Random House)

Sisterly Love

This book is about sisters, their mom, and their dogs. Very, very special relationships. A strong love like no other. Supporting and rooting for each other above all else.

Sisters

As you can see, this particular paperback has been well-loved. It was given to me by my son. He walked 10 kilometers to one of those little free libraries to find it for me, so he was glad to see me happily reading it.

As with the four sisters in this novel, my own sister is the closest person to me, and our mother was very dear to us. As did these sisters, we aspire to honor our mother and the love she had for us and our family.

Though each of these four sisters is very different, their strong, sacrificial love for each other is compelling. They are there for one another through thick and thin. Especially throughout this year of crises that they go through in this story.

The sisters actively support one another through death, blindness, fame, boyfriends, false relationships, rape, romance and dogs.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, in case you wish to read it. I recommend it for you if you can relate to sisterly love, or any type of family love. In the mix of the story are themes of death, blindness, fame, boyfriends, false relationships, rape, romance, and dogs.

Although it deals with heavy topics, I found it a light read, and read the 400 pages within a week. LOL incidents are sprinkled in for flavor. A particularly amusing bit for me, was when one of the sisters, who in her mid thirties has given up hope of finding a good man, meets a born-again Christian. He’s been divorced four times and has seven children. The caps on his teeth are the size of chicklets and he has a woven-in hairpiece. He keeps asking her if she’s found Jesus, and she wonders where he went, thinking ‘Hasn’t he been here all along?’. Hehe. Other amusing scenes center around other character descriptions and incidents, especially to do with the dogs.

Thanks, Nathaniel. I look forward to reading the other books you found for me too. As the mother in the story loved her four daughters, I love you and your brother. As this mother said, that their sisters were the best gift she could give her daughters, the best gift I could give you and Paul was each other.

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