Friday, December 12, 2014

My Review for Amazon of Sharon Lane's THE TEARS FROM MY SOUL

This inspiring memoir takes the author from near earthly hell on a path toward heaven.

Sharon Lane grew up poor, black, ill-educated, verbally and sexually and physically abused,yet she has turned her life around, primarily through her faith in God. Her book is testimony to the power of such faith, even as it shows that often those who profess to believe in Christ violate the basic tenets of Christianity.

As depressing as the story of her early life is, her success in getting an education, a high school diploma in her 40s, shedding her “career” as a stripper, and re-uniting elements of her family is encouraging.

Ms. Lane’s book is not politically correct. The tragedies she and her family members experienced in her first thirty years had little to do with racial discrimination, and were mostly caused by an underclass African-American culture that devalued women, but accepted promiscuity and infidelity and irresponsibility.

Poverty and discrimination were not the causes of such failure. At the same time in America, families in poor Jewish and Asian communities encouraged upward mobility, responsibility, respect for others, and produced subsequent generations that were above-average in their levels of accomplishment. Middle-class values help poor people attain middle-class results, at least.

It does not “take a village” to rear children well. It takes parents in an intact marriage, a work ethic, the valuing of achievement and education, and…in some cases…the guidance and solace offered by religion.

Her writing is clear, generally grammatically correct, its minor deficiencies overwhelmed by the value of her messages. This is a message memoir, written to raise our understanding of the causes of underclass failure and to inspire the readers, especially those now in trouble, to get help in pulling themselves up. In Ms. Lane’s case, that help was primarily through religion.

From rags to redemption, from stripper to memoirist, Sharon Lane has taken a journey few others have or could, and now she has illuminated the path for others needing help.

The memoir was published using Smashwords and was free for the #kindle when I obtained it. What a bargain!

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Now it is available in paperback, also, from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tears-From-My-Soul/dp/0692338799/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1418444147&sr=1-1

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