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"'It may take ingenuity to interest browsers in a memoir by a middle-aged mother who, 11 years ago, was suddenly widowed, then became a Unitarian-Universalist minister, and now works as chaplain to game wardens in Maine. But good memoir writing does not depend on celebrity or adventure — who'd have thought that a self-confessed recovering neurotic like Anne Lamott or a monastically inclined poet like Kathleen Norris would make it big? — and Braestrup's insightful essays are extraordinarily well written, mingling elements of police procedural and touching love story with trenchant observations about life and death. Alert to comic detail even in grisly circumstances (bears, for example, like to play ball with human skulls), she tells stories of lost children, a suicide, drunken accidents and a murder, always with compassion and a concern for the big questions inescapably provoked by tragic events. 'Why did Dad die?' her children ask, and her response describes not only her theology but also her reason for being a chaplain: 'Nowhere in scripture does it say 'God is a car accident' or 'God is death.' God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always — always — love. So if you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love.'' Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)"
Review:
"Kate Braestrup's 'Here if You Need Me' can be read as a superbly crafted memoir of love, loss, grief, hope and the complex subtleties of faith. Or it can be read as the journey of a strong-minded, warmhearted woman through tragedy to grace. Her story begins a decade ago with a devastating loss. Her husband, Drew, a Maine state trooper who had considered training for the ministry,... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) is killed when his patrol car is hit by a truck. Instead of the traditional approach to a funeral, Kate Braestrup chooses to wash and dress his body herself and accompany it to cremation, wearing a dress he loved. Then comes the grieving: In the six months after his death, she notes, she and her four young children cried a lot, weeping while vacuuming, while ordering pizza, while coloring, while emptying rainwater from garbage cans. Eventually she and the children scatter Drew's ashes by the lighthouse in Port Clyde, and she takes his place at the Unitarian seminary in Bangor. 'I'm here because Drew isn't,' she tells her professor the first day. Her brother the skeptic responds to the news that she has decided to study for the ministry with an e-mail: 'Dear Kate, you don't really believe in God, do you?' Yes, she does, she explains: 'the God I serve and worship with all my body, all my mind, all my soul, and all my spirit is love (1 John 4:8).' Her story is deeply personal, yet resonant. And she has a refreshing comic side that keeps popping up: 'I highly recommend divinity school for anyone recently bereaved. With rare exceptions, your classmates will be unbelievably nice, sensitive people. They are eager to practice their pastoral skills ... ' The meat of the book is Braestrup's description of her work as chaplain to the game wardens who conduct search-and-rescue missions for the state of Maine. And this element of the memoir alone is enough to make it fascinating, as she describes traveling with the wardens in search of murder victims, suicides, straying children and lost hikers. She accompanies the wardens to give comfort to the loved ones of those who are missing, to attend to the remains of those found dead and to minister to the wardens themselves. (For those of us who love her part of Maine, from Thomaston to Rockland to Port Clyde, her descriptions of the natural world — the woods, wildflowers, animals and seashore — make the book nearly irresistible.) On one of her first searches, for a local man who has disappeared, she learns that finding a skull doesn't necessarily mean they have found the body. 'Bears take the heads off and play with them,' one warden explains. 'It's like a ball for them. ...' Of another lost hiker, a warden tells her, 'He wanted to climb a mountain and meditate. ... Some kind of spiritual thing. And he lost his way, got too cold, died.' After his body is found, her role is restrained: 'I showed up, and I knelt in the leaves beside the young man's body. I prayed. The wardens bowed their heads and folded their hands over their belt buckles.' At times her work reminds the reader of a 'CSI' episode. She listens as a forensic anthropologist describes how a woman died alone, on the bare surface of a granite ledge, and how over time a maple seed took root and used her body as 'manna from heaven.' Braestrup calls this 'the most extraordinarily satisfactory disposition of human remains I had ever seen,' and decides she wants to be buried that way, 'surrounded by a womb of roots, my matter broken down and taken up into a living trunk and living leaves, my grief-stricken relatives invited to hear my voice whisper in the wind through new, young branches. ... ' Back home, her teenage son Zach brings her down to earth: 'You don't whisper, Mom. ... To hear your voice in the leaves, we'd have to wait for a hurricane.' This interchange is typical of Braestrup's relationship with her children — warm, realistic and full of humorous moments. One son calls her 'Mom-Dude.' Woolie, her youngest daughter, loses her enthusiasm for a Bible story when Mom tells her Jesus was approached by 10 lepers, not 10 leopards. One of the most powerful passages in the memoir comes after Braestrup has accompanied the wardens on a grueling, hours-long search for a man who vanished while on an ice fishing trip. 'First light revealed not only an open patch of dark water in the inlet near the boat launch, but also a neat set of snowmobile tracks leading right to it.' After the missing man's frozen body is recovered, she accompanies a lieutenant who has been a game warden for 32 years to tell the new widow of her loss. Braestrup explains, 'Mrs. Levesque will put me to use as witness, as crutch, as Kleenex, as proxy for Jean-Pierre — a temporary substitute for all the neighbors, church folks, friends, and family members who will soon come bursting through her door to share her grief. I am a transitional love object. ... What a strange privilege it is to be so used.' As he drives her home, the lieutenant muses, 'It's like standing right on the hinge of someone's life. You know? Right there on the hinge, while the whole world swings around, and that widow, or that mother or dad's life is suddenly completely different, permanently different.' That is her role. To stand on the hinge with those who must move forward into altered lives, as she has done. In 'Here if You Need Me,' she allows us to stand with her while she ministers to those who are lucky enough to have the remarkable, steady, peaceful and wise Kate Braestrup to comfort them." Reviewed by Jane Ciabattari, author of the short-story collection 'Stealing the Fire', Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group) (hide most of this review)
Review:
"Moving, clever, and funny; highly recommended." Library Journal
Review:
"[A] comforting book....Braestrup has fulfilled her mission to tell her — and her husband's — unusual story in a loving and captivating way." USA Today
Review:
"It's a must-read for any parent who has tried to answer a child's hard questions or for anyone who has struggled to find meaning. Best of all, this remarkable true story is told with uncommon candor, grace and humor." Christian Science Monitor
Review:
"[An] honest, endearing account of a life rerouted after devastating loss." Seattle Times
Review:
"Love story, theological reflections, heartwarming family yarns and more all intersect under Braestrup's nurturing hand." Rocky Mountain News
Review:
"[A] superbly crafted memoir of love, loss, grief, hope and the complex subtleties of faith." Washington Post
Braestrup's novel Onion was published by Viking in 1990, and she has since published a series of magazine articles in Mademoiselle, Ms., City Paper, Hope and Law and Order. She lives in Maine.
Kelley, December 10, 2008 (view all comments by Kelley)
This book is amazingly well written. If you have the chance to listen to the audio-book version, do so--it is read by the author and that adds another layer of meaning. It has a lovely mix of personal history, religious philosophy and a little behind-the-scenes stories about the warden service. I highly recommend it.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
lmcgee, May 22, 2008 (view all comments by lmcgee)
This is the heart-warming story of Kate Braestrup, who is the chaplain for the Maine Warden Service. The one quote from the book that sums it all up is:
"...I have a job that mostly requires me to just show up, shut my mouth, and be."
This is the essence of what Kate does so well and what we all should do when someone is in need. God bless you, Kate, for what you do.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (5 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
Cathy from Olympia, Washington, February 29, 2008 (view all comments by Cathy from Olympia, Washington)
Kate grew up not attending church. Her one experience as a teenager with a friend at a mega-church left her even more firmly on the non-believing side. Fast forward to adulthood, widowhood, and "chaplainhood." When search parties are sent out in Maine, Kate is called, just to be there and offer support for the families whose loved ones are missing. Sometimes the outcome is good (a child is found, tired but safe), sometimes bad-- a drowning victim. In this memoir, Kate shares her experiences as a mother, widow, and chaplain, and above all her presence and quiet faith.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (6 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)
Here If You Need Me: A True Story
Used Hardcover
Kate Braestrup
0 stars -
0 reviews
$5.95
In Stock
Product details
211 pages
Little Brown and Company -
English9780316066303
Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"'It may take ingenuity to interest browsers in a memoir by a middle-aged mother who, 11 years ago, was suddenly widowed, then became a Unitarian-Universalist minister, and now works as chaplain to game wardens in Maine. But good memoir writing does not depend on celebrity or adventure — who'd have thought that a self-confessed recovering neurotic like Anne Lamott or a monastically inclined poet like Kathleen Norris would make it big? — and Braestrup's insightful essays are extraordinarily well written, mingling elements of police procedural and touching love story with trenchant observations about life and death. Alert to comic detail even in grisly circumstances (bears, for example, like to play ball with human skulls), she tells stories of lost children, a suicide, drunken accidents and a murder, always with compassion and a concern for the big questions inescapably provoked by tragic events. 'Why did Dad die?' her children ask, and her response describes not only her theology but also her reason for being a chaplain: 'Nowhere in scripture does it say 'God is a car accident' or 'God is death.' God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always — always — love. So if you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love.'' Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)"
"Review"
by Library Journal,
"Moving, clever, and funny; highly recommended."
"Review"
by USA Today,
"[A] comforting book....Braestrup has fulfilled her mission to tell her — and her husband's — unusual story in a loving and captivating way."
"Review"
by Christian Science Monitor,
"It's a must-read for any parent who has tried to answer a child's hard questions or for anyone who has struggled to find meaning. Best of all, this remarkable true story is told with uncommon candor, grace and humor."
"Review"
by Seattle Times,
"[An] honest, endearing account of a life rerouted after devastating loss."
"Review"
by Rocky Mountain News,
"Love story, theological reflections, heartwarming family yarns and more all intersect under Braestrup's nurturing hand."
"Review"
by Washington Post,
"[A] superbly crafted memoir of love, loss, grief, hope and the complex subtleties of faith."
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