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20th out of 42 books
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59 voters
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Essie in Progress
The Wells family has reached a state of crisis. Essie is burning the candle at both ends as she tries to juggle her job, her motherly duties, and her impulsive husband, Jack. Meanwhile, Hamilton, the patriarch, has taken up residence in a dilapidated sailboat on Lake Lanier, trying to forget his past. The one thing that they all have in common is their search for significa...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
March 31st 2009
by Kregel Publications
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Essie in Progress by Marjorie Presten is a great book but there were parts of it that were just too cringworthy for me to give it a full five stars.
Essie is your average mother. Married. Two kids here, third on the way. Mother disapproves of her working when she should be at home raising her children. Husband is strangly estranged from his only living parent, his father, yet they're both finding their way back into each other's lives. Etc.
The basic story of this book i...more
Essie is your average mother. Married. Two kids here, third on the way. Mother disapproves of her working when she should be at home raising her children. Husband is strangly estranged from his only living parent, his father, yet they're both finding their way back into each other's lives. Etc.
The basic story of this book i...more
Essie Wells may well be the portrait kof many women today. She is married to a very loving husband, has two children, pregnant, and a working mom. She come to a crucial part of her life in that she is having a hard time keeping everything together.
Her husband, Jack, may be on the verge of a midlife crisis, not satisfied with his job but afraid to make a change because of his commitment to his family.
Jack's father, Ham, is living on a dilapidted sail boat on Lake Lanier....more
Her husband, Jack, may be on the verge of a midlife crisis, not satisfied with his job but afraid to make a change because of his commitment to his family.
Jack's father, Ham, is living on a dilapidted sail boat on Lake Lanier....more
Jack and Essie both work for the same company. They’ve been happily married for many years. Their world starts changing when they discover there is a third child on the way. Jack and Essie start to think about live differently with another mouth to feed and more responsibility. Change! It was happening on all fronts in their lives. Essie and her husband felt overwhelmed and insignificant.
Essie seeks the counsel of a friend she says, “Your job doesn’t make you who you are. What you ...more
Essie seeks the counsel of a friend she says, “Your job doesn’t make you who you are. What you ...more
I certainly don't mind religious-centered books, but this one went way too far, I couldn't even finish reading it. First of all, when the father prayed before meals, the exact words were there. Just about every family member would "touch the cross around their necks" even Essie's mother when she almost electorcuted herself at a yard sale while showing a $2.00 hair dryer. Her father-in-law challenged God by sailing through an "unsafe for sailing" area and wondered why God ...more
I liked this book. We are privy to the life and thoughts of two characters: Essie and Hamilton. Essie in her 30's is the mother of 2 and 3/4 children, a wife, and a corporate team member. Hamilton is her father-in-law. A man who lives an apparent lazy life on a boat and is estranged from his son. Essie views herself as a failure since she is positive that she has disappointed her mother because she isn't a stay-home-mom and she doesn't see herself as a Proverbs 31 woman. Ham has opted out of lif...more
Lorraine Hancock
rated it
Recommends it for:
women with children, women with husbands, anyone with a family
Recommended to Lorraine by:
clients
Wow! How can anyone think this book is "preachy?" Sex in a Hummer! Real Christians do lead real lives. I LOVED this book. The characters are wonderful. I hope they make this into a movie with Ada played by Shirley McLain and Hamilton played by Robert Duvall. The story is so full of humor, but at the same time, is very sensitive to the real issues of family, marriage, careers, and relationships. Essie and her sister Emily have some great conversations - especially the one about the Prov...more
Meet Essie Wells: working mother of two and a half kids; wife of a wonderful man who just happens to be going through a midlife crisis; daughter of a self-styled martyr who doesn’t approve of anything Essie does; daughter-in-law of a wealthy widowed father-in-law who’s been estranged from Essie’s husband for most of his life; neighbor to a dedicated Chihuahua owner. Essie’s life is anything but calm, and especially when her boss announces a new approach to business and designates her a COW in ...more
This girl's problems seemed like they were the best kind of problems to have. I found it a little hard to relate to some of her struggles. They are the kind of struggles that I have in my fantasies, not the kind I have in my real life..A husband who's happy about a third child and gets me a Hummer instead of a minivan? (Sorry, I really couldn't drive the Hummer).
That being said, it was interesting to watch her journey of self discovery. I liked her honesty about her ambivalence r...more
That being said, it was interesting to watch her journey of self discovery. I liked her honesty about her ambivalence r...more
I received this in the mail a little over a week ago, having won a copy from goodreads.
I found the prose a little clunky at times, but overall it is a good read. I enjoyed Essie, the titular character, but I think I enjoyed the secondary characters more. There is a good sense of people and place grounding the book.
One caveat: it is preachy. If that is going to bother you, then you should skip this. Marjorie Presten clearly knows her scripture and she's not afraid ...more
I found the prose a little clunky at times, but overall it is a good read. I enjoyed Essie, the titular character, but I think I enjoyed the secondary characters more. There is a good sense of people and place grounding the book.
One caveat: it is preachy. If that is going to bother you, then you should skip this. Marjorie Presten clearly knows her scripture and she's not afraid ...more
So this book taught me that I should more carefully read the descriptions of the books that are giveaways. I will say that I liked the story, hence the 3 stars. However it seemed to be written through rose colored glasses and all the endings were too perfect. But what surprised me was the all the preaching about God parts...they seemed thrown in rather than a natural fit. And while these parts made me uncomfortable, I tried to not judge the book based on that. Religious beliefs do run through...more
This was exactly the book I needed to read at this point in my life. The story isn't told in constant narrative, but rather more as vignettes that all blend together beautifully. The author weaves God and scripture into the story in a very subtle way so as to convey a Christian message without being preachy. The characters were well developed and many bore an uncanny resemblance to real people from my life.
I agree with other reviewers that some of the situations and outcomes were al...more
I agree with other reviewers that some of the situations and outcomes were al...more
Can you give a negative number of stars?
Tara
rated it
Recommends it for:
Christian Lit lovers and those who read the bible daily
Shelves:
first-reads,
goodreads-giveaways
This book was a bit preachy. I have read other christian lit books and they have not bothered me, but this one did because I had a hard time believing that people walk around in their daily lives quoting scripture to each other.
The story itself was well developed and the plot was believable. I think it may be a good book for those who like the Christian Lit genre and are looking for some good scriptures to deal with their daily life, this one would work well for you.
The story itself was well developed and the plot was believable. I think it may be a good book for those who like the Christian Lit genre and are looking for some good scriptures to deal with their daily life, this one would work well for you.
I won this on Goodreads and can't wait to get it in the mail!
I just received this in the mail yesterday, and am going to start it today. Can't wait!
Well, I finished the book today. It was much more spiritual than I had anticipated, but that was a really nice part of the book. I did enjoy this book - many parts were realistic, and I was happy about some of the twists and turns. I would recommend this book - it was an interesting read.
I just received this in the mail yesterday, and am going to start it today. Can't wait!
Well, I finished the book today. It was much more spiritual than I had anticipated, but that was a really nice part of the book. I did enjoy this book - many parts were realistic, and I was happy about some of the twists and turns. I would recommend this book - it was an interesting read.
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This book was cute, but honestly it wasn't really much of a story. Maybe because I'm single with no kids, I couldn't really relate to the working mother part. But it almost read like a journal to me. There also was a little bit of religious tones to me, so this book might be defined as Christian literature.
It did have a good message about what is important in life, family & faith! However, I did not feel there was much substance to the plot of a working mom dealing with life. Did not feel it was very realistic to what most working moms go through every day.
I enjoyed this story, I liked the characters and it was a nice enjoyable book. The message was a little heavy handed, and the choices a little to easy to see which to make. Overall though an enjoyable nice read.
It has an interesting story line and good characters. I don't know why buy I found myself just skimming over pages. It's not a boring book, it's just not my type of book.
Very religious and Southern which slowed down my reading. It had some cute parts.
April JoAnne
marked it as to-read
Lindsay
marked it as to-read
Aimymichelle Clark
marked it as to-read
Spectra
marked it as to-read
Rachel
marked it as to-read
Recommended to Rachel by:
http://books-movies-chinesefood.blogspot...
Elaine Shandra
marked it as to-read
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