Book Review-Marriage and Other Acts of Charity by Kate Braestrup

Emotional Response-5

Scholarly Response-4

Kate Braestrup is the chaplain for the Maine Warden Service. I first heard her story while reading her first book, Here If You Need Me. Her first book is a story of love and loss and grief after the death of her husband. I loved that book and highly recommend it! This book is her look at love and marriage. She blends humor, Scripture, and real stories of real people into a book you can’t put down (or in my case a CD I couldn’t stop listening to!).

I have discovered that reviewing a book I heard on CDs is a different task than a book I can hold in my hand and refer back to when looking for quotes and main ideas. This book worked well on CD. The author read it, and as a pastor, she has a great speaking voice, and it sounded authentic.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys memoirs, anyone who loves others even when it isn’t easy, anyone who is married, has been married, or is considering getting married. This book gives us an honest look at love from the Christian perspective with all its imperfections, struggles, and joys.

When describing her job, Kate said, “I bear witness to the ways love resurrects itself in the face of loss.” (This statement was so meaningful that I stopped the CD, so I could memorize it. I think this is the task of any pastor and any Christian.)

When asked to lead a discussion on sex and sexuality for her daughter’s class, she had the class of 8th graders answer this question-Nothing matters more than ________? Her answer was love. The students had a variety of answers. The author believes that however you finish that statement shows what you treasure the most.

When discussing marriage with a soon to be wed couple, she said, “You aren’t promising to feel love but to do love.”

“Being parted by death is your best case scenario” when describing marriages and whether the couple should say “’til death do us part.”