Review: An Imperfect Rapture by Kelly Beard

An Imperfect Rapture

by Kelly Beard

Publisher: Zone 3 Press

Pages: 282

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  An Imperfect Rapture is a coming-of-age story about growing up in the crucible of Christian fundamentalism and white American poverty. Kelly recreates the real-life shadowlands of her youth with the lyricism of a poet and the nuance of an insider. Her unflinching examination of the people and places populating the story offers the reader a rare glimpse into an experience hidden from or ignored by our first-world culture, and its unsparing, fiction-like narrative resonates as both a personal exorcism and a public plea for empathy.


Kritters Thoughts:  Kelly Beard had an interesting childhood.  She grew up in a home with very little money and the money they did have went straight to the church they attended before the basics were even met in their home with 4 children and 2 adults.  Kelly wrote her story with grace while telling the true behind the stories without the reader feeling like she is giving a weighted opinion to her upbringing.

As a former religious studies major in college, religion and people are so fascinating to me.  This book and others like it are right up my alley.  I am so intrigued by what people would do for an organized religion and how they would put things behind the good of their faith.  To see an organized religion from the eyes of a child was different and unique - to see the confusion of why things they are the way they are and to then realize that not all families act the way theirs does is so interesting to read.  

I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more like this.  Do you have a favorite memoir where the author recounts their family and their faith?  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from JKS Communications.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.