Broken Little Believer

Having been born in a military camp, Shane has seen her share of instability. After her parents divorced, Shane, her brother, and her mother had to do everything possible to survive. The instability, scarcity of resources, and need to constantly move from one place to another, adapt, and make new friends gave Shane an understanding and strength that is rare and invaluable and that would later prove to be useful in her life.

Broken Little Believer: Finding Purpose in All the Pretty Painful Pieces by Shane Svorec is a very emotional memoir that follows the life of the author right from her childhood to adulthood. Nothing could have prepared me for the contents of this book. As I read through Shane's experiences, I felt pity, hopeful, and proud, often at the same time. It is amazing how Shane handled life's challenges while appreciating them at the same time. I'm quite undecided whether Shane's strength comes because of these challenges or despite these challenges. From experiencing her parents' divorce as a kid to losing several loved ones both as a kid and as an adult, Shane experienced the dark side of life yet came out stronger each time.

As if that's not enough, she always did her best to protect her loved ones from these feelings. This is why, even in her darkest days, she kept everything to herself and imagined how devastating it could have been if her loved ones, especially her kids and her friend's kids, knew how much weight she was carrying.

While this is an excellent book, I noticed some areas that need improvement. First, the first few pages felt very slow. While building the characters, the story dragged so much. The backstory of her parents and grandparents didn't seem to do much for the book. This information, however, may be useful to those who know Shane in person. I also noticed a few grammatical errors in the book, but this had very little effect on my reading. I, however, still recommend another round of editing to eliminate these errors.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, especially the last few chapters. It shows how strong, kind, and considerate the author is. However, I think the first half of the book is a little too slow, and many readers may have trouble making it to the last half. This is because as you begin reading the book, the purpose of the book is unclear. Books are supposed to either educate or entertain, but the first half of the book seems to do neither. For this reason, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. I appreciate the author for the strength in sharing such a raw and unadulterated look at her life. It takes a lot of strength to do that!