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It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping: Interpreting the Language of Our Fathers Without Repeating Their Stories
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Original price was: $27.00.$12.99Current price is: $12.99.
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An honest and lyrical coming-of-age memoir of growing up in South Africa at the height of apartheid, and an invitation to recognize and refuse to repeat the sins of our fathers—from the bestselling author of Never Unfriended
“Heartfelt, emotionally charged reflections . . . [a] bracing memoir.”—Kirkus Review
“Important. Riveting. Unforgettable . . . a profoundly captivating story that can profoundly change your own story.”—Ann Voskamp, New York Times bestselling author of WayMaker
Born White in the heart of Zululand during the racial apartheid, Lisa-Jo Baker longed to write a new future for her children—a longing that set her on a journey to understand where she fit into a story of violence and faith, history and race. Before marriage and motherhood, she came to the United States to study to become a human rights advocate. When she naïvely walked right into America’s own turbulent racial landscape, Baker experienced the kind of painful awakening that is both individual and universal, personal and social. Yet years would go by before she traced this American trauma back to her own South African past.
Baker was a teenager when her mother died of cancer, leaving her with her father. Though they shared a language of faith and justice, she often feared him, unaware that his fierce temper had deep roots in a family’s and a nation’s pain. Decades later, old wounds reopened when she found herself spiraling into a terrifying version of her father, screaming herself hoarse at her son. Only then did Baker realize that to go forward—to refuse to repeat the sins of our fathers—we must first go back.
With a story that stretches from South Africa’s outback to Washington, D.C., It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping is a courageous look at inherited hurts and prejudices, and a hope-filled example for all who feel lost in life or worried that they’re too off course to make the necessary corrections. Baker’s story shows that it’s never too late to be free.
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Categories: Women Writers
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It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping: Interpreting the Language of Our Fathers Without Repeating Their Stories
Price:
Original price was: $27.00.$12.99Current price is: $12.99.
Leonard –
This book takes you to another level of ‘knowing the human heart’. We see families from the outside but don’t know the underbelly of family life. Lisa-Jo interweaves masterfully this family life with the broader country-life that was South Africa in her growing up years. Having lived in South Africa for 14 years after the apartheid years we always were very grateful to have missed that era. But at the same time, history has the ability to sadly repeat itself unless we live with eyes wide open to that mistake. Thank-you for this tell-all story that isn’t merely a story but the real life world where we live, breathe and sadly make mistakes in. But redemption is the life thread through the story. I would encourage all to search the song ‘Weeping’ sung by the Stellenbosch University Choir on YouTube, to hear that powerful line that is the title of this book. ‘It was Roaring it was Weeping’. Well done Lisa-Jo!!
tsalomons –
Lisa-Jo’s voice has been one that has been part of my life for over a decade. My own faith has been nourished by her words and encouragement. Her work is always stunning, but this, this is the best yet. I’ve always believed that the stories of others are the music our own stories need to hear and this story SINGS! Through her words and imagery she has laid down grace, repentance and forgiveness in the face of violence, pain and death. These words will change your life. I have no other words, except to say it’s quickest l’ve read a book in over 4 years and I will now go and listen to Lisa-Jo read it as I’ve just downloaded the audio book.
Michelle –
Lisa-Jo’s complete honesty of her deeply wounded soul is so inspiring. Her story, weaved within the story of her deeply wounded country, is told with honesty and compassion.
The humility of her dad to have this story told publicly is admirable. It brings hope to see that, through faith and grace, the long road of healing is worth traveling.
4 stars because the brutality of some of the stories from her country was really triggering and made me reconsider whether I could emotionally handle continuing through to the end of the book. I think it will be a challenging read for people still working through trauma.
DSA –
Lisa-Jo Baker has been one of my favorite authors for years. I read Surprised by Motherhood on an airplane ten years ago, and I read The Middle Years on the beach in Delaware five years later. Her books are worth the wait.
In her most recent memoir, the author traces the intertwined roots of her personal history and that of South Africa, the country where she was born and raised. As she does this, she reminds us that it is never too late to pursue growth and freedom. If you know me even a little bit, you know this is a message I love.
Lisa-Jo is a masterful storyteller and I highly recommend this book. This would be a good choice for you if you liked Beth Moore’s memoir, All My Knotted-Up Life .
Words I’m remembering: “The banal reality is that we come from human homes where messing up and trying again is our daily bread.”
Elizabeth Ankeny –
I’ve been a long time fan of Lisa Jo Baker and have always loved her writings.
This book is stunning, in the most terrible, and beautiful of ways. While her previous writings have often left me laughing out loud…this story left me gasping and uncomfortable, shocked and dismayed, and ultimately weepy over the stunning beauty of the miracle of redemption that is written all throughout this story- for her, her father, her homeland. If you are looking for a light read, this is not it. There are stories that are going to stay with you, some because of how horrible they are, and some because of how beautiful.
Lisa Jo tells hard truths- about imperfect fathers, racism- on both a personal and national level, church hurt, and her own failures in parenting. She weaves the beautiful with the terrible and even though she prewarns you that this story is not a story of despair- at times I wasn’t sure that it could possibly end any other way. But miraculously, it does.
I was so impressed by the way she shared the very real trauma and hurt inflicted by her father, while also giving us the real ways he loved and cared for her. You can tell that each word was chosen carefully- not to demean or diminish her father, but to tell the story of what was- and the miracle of the beauty of what was to come. She did not take the task of sharing her story lightly and I thought it was really beautiful that she got the approval from her family members whose stories intersected in this narrative before publishing their story.
I chose to purchase this book on audio book knowing that she would be writing in multiple languages and hearing her read her story and speak in languages I have never heard before, was really beautiful. I highly recommend the audio book.
David Berg –
I have been anticipating this book since I heard about it and the story behind it. It is such a rich story full of hard things and truths and forgiveness. It gives me hope about writing my own family story.
Lori –
I had a hard time putting this down. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and redemptive. Lisa-Jo’s writing draws me in and I cannot wait to hear what she has to say next. Her willingness to let us into her family’s history is brave and invites us to stare into our own history and cherish the good and stop what is not. A truly beautiful read.
REO –
Lisa-Jo is a master at storytelling. The weaving of words from her heart and her vulnerability to share her life the way she does in this book is rooted I believe, in God’s story of healing for her, for her father, her family and for anyone who reads this lovely memoir. It is not an easy book to read at times. I felt challenged by my sensitivity for topics where wounds run deep but I am better for it because like Lisa-Jo, I decided to face an area that brings discomfort. We grow in the messy, in the gray and unless we enter those places that make us uncomfortable we will never know what God has on the other side. Lisa-Jo has such a natural ability/gift to write and invite us in to what she is feeling. I do not agree with some negative reviews that she shared things that were not relevant to the underlying story. What makes Lisa-Jo so darn lovable is the fact that she does not shy away from her perceptions, views and stories that make you see the real person. We need to embrace real not fake and Lisa-Jo is by far the most real and true to self woman writer that I have encountered in a long time. This book made me think, cry, laugh, feel so deeply and uncover some truths behind my own reality of my own family lineage. I am so thankful to have read this. I stayed up till the wee hours savoring the last pages. I was sad that it ended but I am happy that the end for Lisa-Jo and her father have come to a healing circle.
Jessie L Stevens –
This story was beautiful and so much more than I expected. I went into this excited to learn more about South Africa, but not super excited to read a memior. After only a few pages I was hooked. Lisa’s writing style is beautiful and she is so heartfelt. You could feel the joy, anger, grief, it was awesome. She warns you in the beginning that there are hurts, but the message is one of hope and she sure delivered! The last 30 pages had me with goosebumps and I read them more than once. I highly recommend this book! Thank you Lisa Jo!!
Lucy –
Such a stunning and heart rending story.
Lisa Jo weaves the horrors of history and memory with unflinching vulnerability.
Leaving one inspired and filled with awe.