Fabulous story of God's Grace. This is Ian Morgan Cron's heartbreaking personal memoir of living with an alcoholic, abusive, dismissive, narcissistic father, and Ian's long road to healing and recovery. This book is full of tragedy, drama and much humor. Also, he had a spiritual encounter in the early '70's that was similar to the experiences that I, and many of my friends had. I chose it at random from the library and found another jewel. ( )

Growing up in the Golden Age with a father that moved the family from Hollywood to England, who hung out with movie stars and the nations star politicians made young Ian, a thoughtful young boy, very curious. The family had good times and lean times, times when father was gone from the home. As he got older he realized his father was working for some clandestine branch of the government, a spy know less.
Unfortunately it was his father’s drinking that caused the family hard times, times when he was unemployable and young Ian often felt the wrath of his control-freak of a dad. It is the same for all boys that love yet abhor their father’s ways, they become shaped for better or worse by the experience and how they conduct their life from thereon is the same as or as diametrically opposite as they can from the example they had to live with, but no matter what no matter how hard you try a little always rubs off and scars you forever.
In Ian’s case it was the call to the ministry that saved him. God can be a harsh task master himself. Did he switch out one controlling father for another? Either way it is an interesting read, one of hope and inspiration a fractured memory and finally a mother’s love.
( )

Growing up in the Golden Age with a father that moved the family from Hollywood to England, who hung out with movie stars and the nations star politicians made young Ian, a thoughtful young boy, very curious. The family had good times and lean times, times when father was gone from the home. As he got older he realized his father was working for some clandestine branch of the government, a spy know less.
Unfortunately it was his father’s drinking that caused the family hard times, times when he was unemployable and young Ian often felt the wrath of his control-freak of a dad. It is the same for all boys that love yet abhor their father’s ways, they become shaped for better or worse by the experience and how they conduct their life from thereon is the same as or as diametrically opposite as they can from the example they had to live with, but no matter what no matter how hard you try a little always rubs off and scars you forever.
In Ian’s case it was the call to the ministry that saved him. God can be a harsh task master himself. Did he switch out one controlling father for another? Either way it is an interesting read, one of hope and inspiration a fractured memory and finally a mother’s love.
( )

Growing up in the Golden Age with a father that moved the family from Hollywood to England, who hung out with movie stars and the nations star politicians made young Ian, a thoughtful young boy, very curious. The family had good times and lean times, times when father was gone from the home. As he got older he realized his father was working for some clandestine branch of the government, a spy know less.
Unfortunately it was his father’s drinking that caused the family hard times, times when he was unemployable and young Ian often felt the wrath of his control-freak of a dad. It is the same for all boys that love yet abhor their father’s ways, they become shaped for better or worse by the experience and how they conduct their life from thereon is the same as or as diametrically opposite as they can from the example they had to live with, but no matter what no matter how hard you try a little always rubs off and scars you forever.
In Ian’s case it was the call to the ministry that saved him. God can be a harsh task master himself. Did he switch out one controlling father for another? Either way it is an interesting read, one of hope and inspiration a fractured memory and finally a mother’s love.
( )

I think this book suffers from the same memoir syndrome that Mennonite in a Little Black Dress suffered from. The stories are unwieldy at times and don’t always flow together well. Cron tells individual stories in a very inviting way, and pulls you into all the aspects of his life. However, at times this book seemed more like disjointed stories than a polished memoir. I think it’s because of this that it took me three weeks to read this book, which rarely happens. I was interested in it. . . until the scenes shifted and I wasn’t anymore.

That’s what keeps this book from being a 4 or 5 star book for me, but there is plenty of worthwhile material here. I applaud the honesty it takes to write such a memoir, and as I stated earlier, the individual stories are well-written and emotionally engaging. There’s a chapter towards the end of the book where Cron talks about faith and relates it to his family’s cliff-jumping activities that is exceptionally well done and that chapter gets 5 stars from me.

Ultimately, there’s not a whole lot to say about this book. I think it can be a worthwhile read, especially for those who can relate to Cron’s past, but it’s not the amazing book I thought it would be. Decent, but a bit of a disappointment.

Final Impression: At times, the great writing shines through, but there’s not enough of a cohesion to make this a completely worthwhile read for me. As far as memoirs go, you could do a lot worse, but it’s not a book I would recommend buying at full price. 3/5 stars.

Review originally appeared on my blog at Book.Blog.Bake. ( )