Book review: Making It Home by Emily T. Wierenga

I often hear about or see women who inspire me, and I’m tempted to think they always have it all together.  But they’re human, so I know they must have their own struggles, that their lives are not perfect.

Making it Home by Emily T. Wierenga

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In her memoir, “Making It Home: Finding My Way to Peace, Identity, and Purpose,” author Emily T. Wierenga is a woman who both inspires and candidly shows the realities of life.

When I first started reading her book, I felt a bit uncomfortable with how forthright it is.  She writes very openly about her relationships with her parents, her husband, her kids, about body image, and Christian living, and miscarrying, and foster parenting, and being a writer, and more.

At some points, this memoir was perhaps more honest and real than I had expected.  Some of it was heavy to read, but it is ultimately an uplifting story of faith and healing and overcoming.

Although I’m glad I read this book, it wasn’t what I was expecting based on the back cover.  The back cover asks:

Growing up in the murky space between Gloria Steinem and Martha Stewart has left a whole generation of women struggling to define and embrace the meaning of home.  There is constant pressure to do things a certain way and often intense criticism from those who think you’re doing it wrong.  But what if home isn’t really about whether or not you homeschool or have a career or make your own artisan bread?  What if home is more about who you are than what you do?

Much of the book centers around Wierenga’s home life, both as a child and an adult, but she didn’t really focus on the general nature of home or outside pressure and criticism about how one does things at home.

It’s more of an exploration of the relationships that make up her life story, as indicated by the five sections of the book: child, wife, mother, woman, daughter.  These topics are explored in vignettes from her life as they lead to Wierenga feeling at home in the life she has built for herself with the people who surround her.

At the end of her memoir, Emily Wierenga is still a young wife and mom.  I wish her the best as she walks through the years to come – to “see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13), as she quotes in her book.

“Making It Home” by Emily T. Wierenga is available at Amazon (affiliate link).

Thank you to Baker Books, the publisher of “Making It Home” by Emily T. Wierenga, for a free copy of the book to facilitate my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

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