Rise

Rise

How a House Built a Family

by

Cara Brookins

Blurb (taken from amazon.com):

If you were inspired by Wild and Eat, Pray, Love, you’ll love this extraordinary true story of a woman taking the greatest risk of her life in order to heal from the unthinkable.

After escaping an abusive marriage, Cara Brookins had four children to provide for and no one to turn to but herself. In desperate need of a home but without the means to buy one, she did something incredible.

Equipped only with YouTube instructional videos, a small bank loan and a mile-wide stubborn streak, Cara built her own house from the foundation up with a work crew made up of her four children.

It would be the hardest thing she had ever done. With no experience nailing together anything bigger than a bookshelf, she and her kids poured concrete, framed the walls and laid bricks for their two story, five bedroom house. She had convinced herself that if they could build a house, they could rebuild their broken family.

This must-read memoir traces one family’s rise from battered victims to stronger, better versions of themselves, all through one extraordinary do-it-yourself project.

My Review:

Wow. Just wow. I can barely use a drill to hang a picture on the wall, let alone build a whole house! Cara's story is filled with heartbreak, fear, anger, heart, hard work, inspiration, and achievement. She has dealt with many hardships in her life, including domestic violence, and building a house was a way to bring herself and her children out of fear and paranoia and into strength and hope. The book is well written. It switches off between Rise chapters and Fall chapters, which describe their current situation of rising above the abuse and their past of dealing with domestic violence and abuse. It seems a little choppy at first, but soon finds a rhythm and seems to transition much more smoothly. Cara's writing style is easy to read and understand, and definitely catches your attention. I like her voice in this book. Her optimism is contagious, and helps to put things in perspective. Learning about her ex-husbands and the situations she was in was heartbreaking. I have to admit that her ex-husbands scared me, and I'm safe in my own home far away. There was one thing in the book that I didn't quite understand, and that was the whole Benjamin/Caroline aspect of it. Cara would meditate and would apparently see either Caroline or Benjamin during her meditation. I'm still not sure why they got those names, or why she saw them, but I thought that they almost distracted from the story. I would have loved to have seen pictures of the different stages of the build. I read an advanced reader's copy, and it did not have pictures except the back cover picture, and I think more pictures would be great. The published copy now for sale may have photos in it. If not, Cara's website has many photos that you may look at:  https://carabrookins.com/portfolio/ . This book is very inspiring! If they can build a house, then I can do____________(fill in the blank)! If they can overcome domestic violence and abuse then I can____________ (fill in the blank)! I love how building the house helped each of them individually and collectively. I wouldn't recommend doing what they did, but it definitely goes to show you that working together as a family and relying on each other will bring you together and make you stronger. 

There is some mild profanity in this book, but not a lot. There isn't any "intimacy." There are, however, some scary scenes. Most of them deal with domestic violence and physical abuse and situations dealing with those. There is a suicide mentioned and a murder also mentioned. Overall, the good definitely outweighs the bad in this book! I highly recommend it.

Rating: R (This book is not appropriate for younger readers-there is some mild profanity and domestic violence/abusive situations. A suicide and a murder are also mentioned.)

Recommendation: Adult