AWAKE

by Jen Hatmaker

I want to thank one of our most loyal L&L readers, Ellen, for recommending Awake.  I hadn’t heard of Jen Hatmaker before reading this book, so it’s unlikely I would ever have picked it up on my own.  I’m so glad that I read this captivating book. You may know Hatmaker as a successful Christian author, or as an HGTV star, or as the host of the winning podcast “For the Love with Jen Hatmaker.” Raised in a strict evangelical family, Hatmaker met and married her husband, a minister-in-training, before she turned 20.  They started their own church, raised  five children and lived a “good” Christian life for 26 years until she discovered her husband’s infidelity.

Awake is Hatmaker’s honest, gut-wrenching, and sometimes humorous account of the collapse of her marriage and the path she took towards finding her resilience and a new life that includes some very different beliefs.  She questions many aspects of her evangelistic upbringing, the patriarchal society that led to her general subservience to men and the Church’s exclusionary stance on homosexuality. Shunned by the Church after her divorce, Hatmaker was “canceled” for her evolving beliefs, especially her support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Hatmaker writes with honesty, often baring her soul as she tries to unwrap the complex threads that led to her marriage’s implosion.  She makes herself so completely relatable and vulnerable that I couldn’t help but cheer her along as she emerged from her lowest point to a place where she’s looking forward to the joy yet to come in her life.  Awake is uplifting, entertaining and truly original.  I absolutely could not put it down once Hatmaker drew me into her world.  This memoir is not to be missed.  (Liz)