Dying Out Loud: No Guilt in Life, No Fear in Death by Sean Smucker 5 stars

[Karin]

5 stars and a heart

Original review follows.

This is a biography/authobiography, told in first person. Let me explain. It's not about Shawn Smucker, but he travelled to Turkey where he recorded Stan Steward and took some of the photos in the book, but not all, when Steward was dying from late stage cancer (caught very late.) Therefore, most of it is in the first person voice of Steward as transcribed and edited by Smucker.

Stan, his wife and two children were missionaries in Turkey--and by missionaries I mean they respected the local culture and customs and made many close friends there even though no one converted. However, when his kids were basically grown up (one was in college in the US) he was diagnosed he decided the best thing he could do was to die with hope and peace because he felt that the one thing his Muslim friends lacked was hope. The book ends when he dies, but being true to the nature of it, doesn't write about the results (these can be seen on a video online) which was that it led to conversions.

However you feel about religion or conversions, the story is remarkable for how this family became part of the lives of others, and even learned to live as a community in a way foreign to Americans (there everything is a community decision, eg they once ended up using tile they didn't care for in a bathroom because the group liked it the best.)

At times this book is a tear jerker, particularly because Stan and his wife, Ann, were very close to each other and with their kids, but there are also times where I could see how frightening some of the situations they were in as they travelled to areas near the border of Iran but also how heartwarming many of their interactions were.

Sean Smucker writes many different books; I have no idea if I'll read more by him, but if a book came up and I didn't remember his name, I'd check out his page and see I've read this and think he writes well.

Original review
I'm Elle Steward, and I'm a missionary kid from Turkey. Five weeks ago I left my parents, Stand and Ann, and my little brother, Stanley, in Istanbul and came here to attend...college. In Turkey, I live among the people you call terrorists: anti-American, anti-Christian, Muslim.

I call them family.
excerpt from a speech by Elle Steward which is quoted in full in this book.

I will say from the outset, that this was a difficult book for me in some ways, despite my liking it so very much. It was difficult, because the title comes from the fact that Stan Steward chose to live out his remaining months with terminal cancer (found at stage 4) in Turkey with his Christian family and his Turkish friends and "family" where there was no hospice, not as much advanced pain medication, and where the culture is such where you don't do things alone, especially not dying.

And yet I found myself liking this book a great deal. True, it's not a literary masterpiece, but was co-written by Stan and writer Shawn Smucker. And make no mistake, it is a testimony and a call to service, but it's also a heart-warming account of a loving family who were embraced by a kind and compassionate people among whom they lived nearly eight years before Stan's death. Not that things were lovely all of the time, since they travelled along the silk road where, aside from quiet villages, there are also war lords, smugglers, the border to Iran and many dangers. But I will say no more, since if this sort of book appeals to you, then I strongly recommend it.