Saturday, December 31, 2016

Soul Surfer

     While you might have heard of or seen the movie, and you probably knew that it was a true story, you might not have known that Soul Surfer was originally the book written by Bethany Hamilton herself. I myself only found the book by accident while browsing my library's biography section. Of course, this is the true story of how she lost her arm to a shark attack and got back on the board, as well as a story of her faith and how she felt and reacted to things.

     The story begins with the morning before the shark attack, but Hamilton soon goes back through the story of how her parents met, how they moved to Kauai, and how faith came into their family. A large part of this is so that we can understand how these are important to her, and to provide context. I liked this because it makes her faith a natural part of the conversation. It's not something that's tacked on at the end, but something she comments on throughout. It's just a part of who she is and what shapes her outlook on life:

     "The way I see it, putting your faith in God is something that each person has gotta come to on his or her own. It's your own personal relationship with Him; a bond that's as unique as a finger-print" (Hamilton 134).

     Even as someone for whom faith is important, I have felt the frustration of being given or made to give a thrown-together testimonial, cookie-cut and complete with an argument at the end. But Bethany Hamilton's book reads like her own testimony. It's not done for the purpose of converting
people. She just tells her own story, and lets God do the rest.

     Hamilton also writes about how she has never quite adjusted to her celebrity status. She prefers her life in Kauai and the community, look-out-for-your-neighbor feel over the rush of big cities like New York or L.A. At one point, she even writes:

      "There are lots of homeless people in New York, and that made me really sad. The guys at MTV had me go on some kind of spending spree but there wasn't really anything that I was interested in buying... So while we were doing this, I passed by a lady sitting on a steaming sewer grate to keep warm. I felt sorry for her and tried to help out by giving her some of our lunch and a little bit of money. The people I was with acted like it was some kind of big deal. It's not. I think it's simply what Jesus meant when he said 'When you do good things to the least of these you do it to me.' It amazes me that so many people in New York can just walk by a stranger who is cold and sick on the street and not even look them in the eye" (Hamilton 166).

    At the time she wrote this book, the movie adaptation of Soul Surfer was still in the works. In fact, they hadn't even decided who would be portraying Hamilton yet, although she was pretty excited about the fact that she would be her own stunt double.

    Hamilton writes in a very conversational style. Although I've never met her, I imagine it's a little similar to speaking with her. Although, since she wasn't quite comfortable with her celebrity status at the time it was written, at least, there's probably some here that would be left unsaid otherwise. Because of the conversational style, it's also just over 200 pages, with a moderate amount of words per page. She also includes photos, taken by her brother, taken throughout her life at that point.

     I would certainly recommend Bethany Hamilton's Soul Surfer, especially if you have a weekend, and even if you'll only have a few minutes a day or every other day. It's a simple story, which could easily have blown up into just inspiration or just a tragic accident. But as she shows, it's just her story.

   So please enjoy it, and I'll see you on the next shelf!
   --Rin

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