Art of being Broken by Aaron Mark Reimer

MY REVIEW

There are some sparkling gems of wisdom in this book. Reimer has a beautiful way of telling his stories in a style that is truly down to earth, and very human, and very open about his brokenness. You can tell that some of life's kicks bruised him deeply, but he is positive about how God is the great Healer.

This book would have been much better if it had an introduction telling the reader where he was going, and what his purpose was for writing the book. You don't get a feel for the purpose until you are almost finished reading. Each chapter does have a purpose. But if you are like me, you rarely read the chapter headings, so you miss the purpose of the chapter. I don't have to have things spelled out for me, so I figured out that the book is basically an autopsy of brokenness, or maybe a better term would be anatomy of brokenness. The fact that every person is broken because every person is human is discussed thoroughly. The fact that God heals brokenness when the person is willing to allow Him to, is also explored thoroughly. This goes without saying, but so many people never acknowledge the truth humans are broken and need God to be healthy souls.

This book would be great for small group discussion (and only a 14-week length if you take a chapter each week). You may be able to study 2 chapters a week because the first chapter Fine is followed by Broken Things Are Broken, which is a natural flow. I would suggest highlighting those things that strike your heart with a true resonance, and then discuss those things.

You can't read this book fast, because each chapter needs to be savored as well as pondered. However, you can read it on many different levels. As a devotional type reading a chapter a day, or on a much deeper level if you really want to learn something that will stick with you for longer than a month. I strongly urge youth pastors to consider using this book as a summer study for youth groups. The wisdom imparted here is priceless if you learn it earlier rather than later.

For adults there is a lot of humor, tongue-in-cheek, and tremendous amount of honesty that begs the reader to be honest with himself or herself. So reader beware.

I have to tell you that the book is a bit wordy and takes a little while to get to the point. The chapters do not have a thesis statement at the beginning nor do they have a conclusion statement at the end, so it is a bit difficult to key in on the author's points unless you dig for them. Because of this, I give it 4 of 5 stars.
ABOUT THE BOOK

What if everything isn't fine?
What if there is life outside of our shells?
What if there is beauty underneath our masks?
What if there is healing beyond our brokenness?
What if we could see the image of God in ourselves?
What if God's best art is made from our broken pieces?

In The Art of Being Broken, Aaron Mark Reimer opens up an authentic, sometimes awkward, occasionally hilarious, one-way conversation about our brokenness, the things we use to cover it, and the healing that can come through exposing it.