Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Kindle
$9.99

Available instantly

Audiobook
$0.99
with membership

Hardcover
$13.70

Paperback
$9.99

$13.70 with 47 percent savings

List Price: $26.00

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, May 8 to Nashville 37217 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Or Prime members get FREE delivery Tuesday, May 6. Order within 3 hrs 48 mins.

Only 6 left in stock (more on the way).

$$13.70 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

30-day refund/replacement

Payment

Secure transaction

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$7.11

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. Ships directly from Amazon. Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. Ships directly from Amazon. See less

FREE delivery Friday, May 9 to Nashville 37217 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 3 hrs 48 mins

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$13.70 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Sold by GREENWORLD GOODS and Fulfilled by Amazon.

Other sellers on Amazon

New & Used (160) from $1.29

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Kate Bowler

Follow

Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved Hardcover – February 6, 2018

by Kate Bowler (Author)

6,331 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

See all formats and editions

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$13.70","priceAmount":13.70,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"70","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"zJb3n2L0N5%2Fp5yRhgtAhkn30O%2BdPBR%2F8EAWW%2BdGUDEbWIMwaQmiq9X6OOGtZOAe0KcYFsbO7B92pmBqj%2Bdo8%2FNlLZo2Etd8Jz35al%2BhiixfjCccDx8fVQXNThkuIZSyiQFBr0VlyM7mf4jPv%2FlmaTw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$7.11","priceAmount":7.11,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"11","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"zJb3n2L0N5%2Fp5yRhgtAhkn30O%2BdPBR%2F8Z05egKaCy4Ar%2Bj9IPvjCzou3zJ3BBkkrjgSUGpCO2IRGngJCAtjYIZ9785P8c8xUOdPWzrgJo07%2FVwxWb8sE0eCgUjefL8XA6OY78dyHp96ChowjNs1kNI9ICneP5sJW3kA%2BVNFDkgTol4VWPQvw9lK70uc2NHyo","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A meditation on sense-making when there’s no sense to be made, on letting go when we can’t hold on, and on being unafraid even when we’re terrified.”—Lucy Kalanithi

“Belongs on the shelf alongside other terrific books about this difficult subject, like Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal.”—Bill Gates

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE

Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God’s disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward “blessing.” She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son.

Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.

The prospect of her own mortality forces Kate to realize that she has been tacitly subscribing to the prosperity gospel, living with the conviction that she can control the shape of her life with “a surge of determination.” Even as this type of Christianity celebrates the American can-do spirit, it implies that if you “can’t do” and succumb to illness or misfortune, you are a failure. Kate is very sick, and no amount of positive thinking will shrink her tumors. What does it mean to die, she wonders, in a society that insists everything happens for a reason? Kate is stripped of this certainty only to discover that without it, life is hard but beautiful in a way it never has been before.

Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live.

Praise for Everything Happens for a Reason

“I fell hard and fast for Kate Bowler. Her writing is naked, elegant, and gripping—she’s like a Christian Joan Didion. I left Kate’s story feeling more present, more grateful, and a hell of a lot less alone. And what else is art for?”—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and president of Together Rising

From the Publisher

Life isn’t always bright and shiny;kate bowler;grief books;bereavement book;personal memoir;grief

	Good Enough	No Cure for Being Human	Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!	The Lives We Actually Have

Customer Reviews	1,250	2,672	395	717
Price	$9.99	$13.75	$14.86	$11.00
	A compassionate, intelligent, and wry series of Christian daily reflections on learning to live with imperfection in a culture of self-help that promotes endless progress.	The author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn’t choose?	Witty, honest, and wise spiritual reflections that invite readers to embrace the bad, not just the good.	Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie offer creative, faith-based blessings that center gratitude and hope while acknowledging our real, messy lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A meditation on sense-making when there’s no sense to be made, on letting go when we can’t hold on, and on being unafraid even when we’re terrified. And it happens to be hilarious. Above all, though, this is a love letter to life, and it’s gorgeous.”—Lucy Kalanithi, MD, FACP, clinical assistant professor of medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

“[A] wonderful new memoir . . . Everything Happens belongs on the shelf alongside other terrific books about this difficult subject, like Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal. . . . It’s inspiring to see this thoughtful woman face such weighty topics with honesty and humor.”—Bill Gates

“I fell hard and fast for Kate Bowler. Her writing is naked, elegant, and gripping—she’s like a Christian Joan Didion. I left Kate’s story feeling more present, more grateful, and a hell of a lot less alone. And what else is art for? Everything Happens for a Reason is art in its highest form, and Kate Bowler is a true artist—with the pen, and with her life.”—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and president of Together Rising

“[Bowler’s] dry humor and raw, personal accounts help make thinking about our common fate bearable.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Bowler’s lovely prose and sharp wit capture her struggle to find continued joy after her [stage IV cancer] diagnosis. This poignant look at the unpredictable promises of faith will amaze readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A page-turner of lasting force . . . Bowler wields a sharp pen, one that flows seamlessly through comic terrain, pausing for laugh-out-loud one-liners . . . as it probes death and dying young with aching poignancy.”—Chicago Tribune

“This is a beautifully written, intelligent, soulful book, necessary reading for all of us who long to walk faithfully and honestly through the darkest and most desolate of seasons.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author of Present Over Perfect

“The Kate Bowler you will come to know in this book is 100 percent real: honest, brave, holy, ridiculous, profane, hilarious, human—her fierce and beautiful words will make you ugly-cry and laugh out loud inappropriately in public places, and they will make you long for the courage to tell the truth about your life.”—Amy K. Butler, senior minister, The Riverside Church

“[Bowler] delivers raw emotion, realistic description, and candid assessments . . . An inspiring story of finding faith—in God, in family, and in oneself—while walking close to the Valley of the Shadow of Death.”—Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Kate Bowler is an assistant professor at Duke Divinity School. A graduate of Yale Divinity School and Duke University, Bowler is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and son.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Diagnosis

I had lost almost thirty pounds by the time I was referred to a gastrointestinal surgeon at Duke University Hospital. Every few hours I doubled over from a stabbing pain in my stomach. This had happened so often over the last three months that I had developed a little ritual for it: reach for the nearest wall with the right hand, clutch my stomach with the left hand, close my eyes, keep perfectly silent. When the pain subsided, I would reach into my purse, take a swig from a giant bottle of antacid, stand up straight, and resume whatever I was doing without comment. It was a little creepy to watch, I’m sure, but it was the best I could do at pretending for so long. Now I was tired of pretending. I eyed the surgeon warily as he came into the small examining room where my husband, Toban, and I waited. He sat down heavily on his stool, sighing as if already annoyed.

Then he said, “Well, I looked at your latest tests and they don’t tell us anything conclusive.”

“I don’t understand,” I protested. “I thought the last test suggested that it was probably my gallbladder.”

“It’s not entirely clear,” he said in a hard voice.

“So you’re not prepared to operate,”

“Look, there is nothing to suggest that we are going after the right thing. I can take out your gallbladder and you might be in the same pain you’re in today. Plus the pain and inconvenience of a surgery.”

I sighed. “I don’t know how to get you, or anyone, to pay attention. I’ve been to all your specialists, but I have been in a crazy amount of pain for three months now, and I can’t keep doing this.”

“Look,” he said, as if having to start all over again. “We’re at the squishy end of an already squishy diagnosis.” He throws it back at me, nonchalant. “Again, I can take it out, but I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want you to say that you’re not going to rule out the gallbladder surgery and just send me back out there with everyone else! No one is trying to help me solve this, and I can’t take it anymore!” I could hear the desperation leaking out.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said. We sat there glaring at each other.

“I’m not leaving,” I said loudly. “I am not leaving until you send me for another test.”

“Okay. Fine,” he said, and he rolled his eyes.

“Okay.”

He wrote a note to authorize a CT scan, and I felt only relieved annoyance. They would find something simple and that would be the end of it. I’d just have to schedule my life around a surgery, nothing major.

I am at the office, pacing at my treadmill desk and flipping through my latest research, when my phone rings.

“Hello, this is Kate.”

It’s Jan from the doctor’s office. She has a little speech prepared, but my mind is zeroing in and out. I can hear that she is talking, but I can’t make out the words. It is not my gallbladder, I catch that much. But now it is everywhere.

“What’s everywhere now?” I ask.

“Cancer.”

I listen to the buzz of the phone.

“Ms. Bowler.” I absentmindedly put it back up to my ear.

“Yes?”

“We’re going to need you to come in to the hospital right away.”

“Sure, sure.”

I need to call Toban.

“Ma’am?”

“No, sure. I get it. I’ll be right there.”

“I’ll send someone down to the lobby to get you.

“Ma’am?”

“Sure, sure,” I say, almost inaudibly. “I have a son. It’s just that I have a son.”

There is a long silence.

“Yes,” she says, “I’m sorry.” She pauses. I picture her, standing near an office phone riffling through charts. Likely there are more people to call. “But we’re going to need you to come in.”

“Is God good? Is God fair?”

A hulking Norwegian asked me this once in the line at my college cafeteria.

“I think so,” I said. “But it’s seven a.m. and I’m starving.” But now I wonder. Does God even care?

One of my favorite stories told by prosperity preachers comes from one of the original televangelism duos, Gloria Copeland and her husband, Kenneth. Gloria, who, even at seventy-something, looks like a glamour-puss real estate agent, and her husband, a true Texan, who always looks like he has strolled in after a leisurely day at the ranch. For decades, they have saturated prime-time television and the Christian bookstore shelves with teachings on living the abundant life. They don’t expect God simply to be fair—they expect God to rain down blessings. So when a tornado threatened to destroy their home, said Gloria, they crept in the night to their porch to face down the storm. They prayed loud and long that God would protect their property and, for good measure, commanded God to protect their neighbors’ houses, too. And so, they said, the storm turned and went another way.

It is an image I cannot forget: two of the world’s wealthiest Christians shaking their fists at the sky, protesting to the God of Fair.

After all, what father, when his child asks for bread, would give him a stone?

Fairness is one of the most compelling claims of the American Dream, a vision of success propelled by hard work, determination, and maybe the occasional pair of bootstraps. Wherever I have lived in North America, I have been sold a story about an unlimited horizon and the personal characteristics that are required to waltz toward it. It is the language of entitlements. It is the careful math of deserving, meted out as painstakingly as my sister and I used to inventory and trade our Halloween candy. In this world, I deserve what I get. I earn my keep and keep my share. In a world of fair, nothing clung to can ever slip away.

I got married at twenty-two, when I was especially dumb. I wasn’t dumb to marry Toban, exactly, because that ended up being one of the most sensible things I’ve ever done. But I was probably pretty dumb because I didn’t yet realize that Toban was one of those great investment pieces that increase in value but seem like overkill. He was like beachfront property when I probably could have settled for a suburban condo. At the time, however, I mostly thought about how beautiful he was, how great he was at explaining the finer points of skateboarding, and how he would never lose his hair.

Now he rushes into my office and throws his arms around my neck, and all my words are pouring out.

“I have loved you forever. I have loved you forever. Please take care of our son.”

“I will! I will!” he cries, and I know it is true. But the truth is not going to help us anymore.

I call my parents on the walk to the hospital, but I have to stop and lean against a high stone wall for a minute. Toban puts his hand on my back to steady me. We are both gone, gone, gone somewhere else, flitting back and forth between now and where we used to be.

I tell my parents they need to find a place to be together and sit down, that I have been told that I have cancer and that it doesn’t look good for me.

“You need to give Zach to us! You have to change your will!” my mom blurts out, her voice shaking. I have been, coincidentally, drawing up a living will for my life insurance policy, a policy I will be denied because they will find out that I have cancer and reject the claim, a bet they no longer want to take. But right now my mother is confused. Her child is dying and suddenly, so is the whole world. She is desperate to salvage what is left of my life: my son.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0399592067
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House (February 6, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780399592065
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0399592065
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.23 x 0.94 x 7.79 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #64,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35 in Medical Professional Biographies
- #139 in Christian Self Help
- #300 in Memoirs (Books)

Customer Reviews:
6,331 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Kate Bowler

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Kate Bowler, PhD is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and a professor at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. In her twenties, she became obsessed with writing the first history of the movement called the “prosperity gospel”—which promises that God will reward you with health and wealth if you have the right kind of faith. She researched and traveled across Canada and the United States interviewing megachurch leaders and televangelists and everyday believers about how they make spiritual meaning out of the good and bad in their lives. The result was the book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, which received widespread media attention and a lot of puns about being #blessed.

At age 35, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, causing her to think in different terms about the research and beliefs she had been studying. She penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved), which tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character.

Her third book, The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities follows the rise of celebrity Christian women in American evangelicalism. Whether they stand alone or beside their husbands, they are leading women who play many parts: faithful wife, spiritual authority, and Hollywood celebrity.

On her popular podcast, Everything Happens, Kate speaks with people like Malcolm Gladwell, Matthew McConaughey, and Anne Lamott about what wisdom and truth they’ve uncovered during difficult circumstances.

Her latest book, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear), grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with limitations in a culture that promises anything is possible.

Kate’s work has received wide-spread media attention from NPR, The Today Show, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the TED Stage, and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her family, continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School, and stockpiles anecdotes about the hidden benefits of being from the middle of Canada.

Customer reviews

6,331 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Review this product

Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find this book powerful and profound in its wisdom, with writing that carries readers along and reads like a kind conversation. Moreover, the book is heartbreakingly honest and features a riveting life story that brings both smiles and tears. Additionally, customers appreciate its humor, with one noting how the author faces pain with wit, and its strength, with one review describing it as a book about survival against long odds.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

Readability Thought provoking Writing style Humor Honesty Heartbreaking story Story quality Strength

202 customers mention "Readability"185 positive17 negative

Customers find the book powerful and interesting to read.

"...It's about love, legacy, God and "not skipping to the end". And it is moving...." Read more

"...He has a plan for me and I must seek it daily. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the thoughts it provoked...." Read more

"...It is a beautiful book, if a bit religious for my recent bend...." Read more

"...A good read for lay people and new clergy who forget to value the ministry of presence; for those who need to speak where/when God is silent." Read more

194 customers mention "Thought provoking"194 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking, describing it as profound in its wisdom and uplifting, with one customer noting how it provides guidance on comforting words and actions.

"...And it is moving. And snarky and profound and angry and real in ways I never would have expected from what some have inaccurately called a "cancer..." Read more

"...I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the thoughts it provoked. I would highly recommend it to anyone...." Read more

"...It does not last or stay forever. But the feelings leave an imprint. She cannot deny the other that touched her life via these powerful feelings. &#..." Read more

"...There is humor, sarcasm, realism, history, sociological commentary and theological musings in these pages...." Read more

100 customers mention "Writing style"95 positive5 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, finding it exceptionally well written and easy to read, with one customer noting it reads like a kind conversation.

"...The writing is rich and textured and entirely readable - a rarity in so many memoirs...." Read more

"...It's beautiful, raw, wrenching, hard not to read in a single sitting...." Read more

"...It drained me just reading it. This book is very well written...." Read more

"...this is my love letter to Kate's life, pain, writing, and vulnerability...." Read more

93 customers mention "Humor"86 positive7 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor, describing it as wonderfully witty and emotional, with one customer noting how the author faces her pain with humor.

"...And it is moving. And snarky and profound and angry and real in ways I never would have expected from what some have inaccurately called a "cancer..." Read more

"...can only hope for her to experience a miraculous cure, the work has its moments of humor. She has a good wit and applies it well...." Read more

"...There is humor, sarcasm, realism, history, sociological commentary and theological musings in these pages...." Read more

"...will find kinship, you will find a friend, you will find companionship in the sarcasm and dark humor applies to the crushing reality of her own..." Read more

66 customers mention "Honesty"66 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's honesty, describing it as heartbreakingly and down-to-earth, with one customer noting it as a guide to living without comforting lies.

"...And it is moving. And snarky and profound and angry and real in ways I never would have expected from what some have inaccurately called a "cancer..." Read more

"...I definitely appreciated the author's honesty...." Read more

"...There is humor, sarcasm, realism, history, sociological commentary and theological musings in these pages...." Read more

"...of pain, uncertainty, and the lonely walk of suffering with grace, candor, and refreshing wit...." Read more

61 customers mention "Heartbreaking story"43 positive18 negative

Customers find the book heartbreaking, describing it as an incredibly human look at suffering that brings both smiles and tears.

"...It’s so heartbreaking and beautiful...." Read more

"...as she speaks - thoughtful and heartwarming while simultaneously breaking your heart and making you laugh out loud...." Read more

"Heartbreaking but also uplifting. No feelings are spared. I highly recommend this book. She puts into words so much of what’s important in living" Read more

"This is a beautiful, heart-breaking, funny, wonderful book...." Read more

48 customers mention "Story quality"44 positive4 negative

Customers find the book's story riveting and enjoyable to follow, with one customer describing it as a deeply moving personal narrative.

"...It's an artful expression of a personal narrative that reads like a kind conversation with your smartest, love-filled friend." Read more

"...I love the writer’s irreverent sense of humor, memorable ways of describing life (and death), and candor in revealing what it’s like living with a..." Read more

"...This memoir is by turns harrowing, very funny, moving, spiritual, and hopeful, despite the genuine pain of having a terminal diagnosis but not quite..." Read more

"...The book is profound in its wisdom but also relatable and hilarious...I found myself often laughing and crying on the same page...." Read more

33 customers mention "Strength"33 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's strength, describing it as tough, brave, and vulnerable, with one customer noting it holds no punches.

"...Despite fear, despite uncertainty and - in the author's case - despite a diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer...." Read more

"...this is my love letter to Kate's life, pain, writing, and vulnerability...." Read more

"...I admire her faith and that it gives her great strength and comfort, but it's not really my cup of tea...." Read more

"...the writing just carries you along...every sentence is a finely crafted string of gems. I read this book in two sittings...." Read more

Reviews with images

See all photos

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

Lori Olson White
A powerful memoir about living despite
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2020
Verified Purchase

"Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved" by Kate Bowler is a powerful memoir about living despite. Despite fear, despite uncertainty and - in the author's case - despite a diagnosis of Stage IV colon cancer. It's about love, legacy, God and "not skipping to the end".

And it is moving. And snarky and profound and angry and real in ways I never would have expected from what some have inaccurately called a "cancer memoir".

The author only recently came across my radar - she and a family member share a similar diagnosis, and he happened to pass along one of her FB posts. It was about Holy Saturday, and it was insightful and smart and made me think.

"Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved" also made me think:

"I used to think that grief was about looking backward, old men saddled with regrets or young ones pondering should-haves. I see now that it is about eyes squinting through tears into an unbearable future."

What a whole-body description of grief!

The book is a controlled tangle of introspection and awareness that life is shorter than any of us might like, but also challenges many of the notions the author - and we as readers - hold about entitlement and wellness, about hope and faith and positivity. There's just a lot of good stuff in here.

The writing is rich and textured and entirely readable - a rarity in so many memoirs. And the voice is authentic, whether the author is recounting conversations with her oncologist or her BFF or revealing the internal dialog of a mother and wife staring death in the face and terrified she might blink.

Ultimately, "Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved" is a story for us all. For those of us dealing with illness and loss and the big questions around Thy Will not Mine theology, for those of us wondering how to support loved ones who have been diagnosed with cancer or are going through dark times, and for those of us yearning to be more present as people of the Good News. In her vulnerability, Kate Bowler has something to say to us all.

Read more

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
Traveling Doctor
Worth the read for anyone
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2024
Verified Purchase
I read this book because it was recommended at some point by my pastor. I can't remember how I ended up finding the book as it was not intentional I came about it. I definitely appreciated the author's honesty. I was surprised how much I smiled reading a book about a young woman with cancer, but it also made me cry so there were both ends of the spectrum. I'm not sure I fully understand the conviction that "everything happens for a reason" is a complete lie. I guess I don't believe this. I do believe G-d has allowed me to suffer (multiple times) in my life and I do know it had a reason, but I can see how if you are part of this "prosperity gospel" (which I had never heard of before) that statement could mean something different. As she says in her book, to those who believe in the prosperity gospel, if something bad happened it meant that you were somehow failing in your faith or sinning. This is simply not the G-d I know. It is because he loves me that I have had to endure suffering so that I can learn to be more like him. I don't always understand the why or like it. It is painful as Hebrews 12:11 says. Each person and whatever they are going through will need to wrestle with G-d as Jacob did and we may even be left at a brook in Cherith or the wilderness in a cave like Elijah. What is the miracle is that she is still alive. This happened in 2015 and it is 2024 and she is still alive despite being given 2 months to live multiple times. Is that not a miracle that God would defy what medicine said was possible? Has he not redeemed her even if she is not cured? I mean she went from potentially leaving her husband and son to live the rest of this earthly life without her to seeing her son grow to 11 years old (which is how old he would be if he was 2 in the book). I do not know yet what it means to have joy in suffering either but we are told we should consider it (James 1:2-4). I think this book made me reflect on my own life as I also have a husband and a young daughter and I already had the miracle in my life of surviving death so I know that if I am still here there is a reason for it. He has a plan for me and I must seek it daily. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the thoughts it provoked. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Despite the content it did not make me feel depressed but hopeful of what work he is doing in others as well. We do not suffer alone. He is with us.

Read more

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

James WA
I just bought a book with my least favourite saying in the title
Reviewed in Australia on November 12, 2021
Verified Purchase

I just bought a book with my least favourite saying in the title and I loved it. I caught on to it at the right time via Ryan Holiday's mailing list. I am not currently going through anything tragic and extremely difficult but have and (gulp) probably will again. I am however having my beliefs and motivations questioned and especially my CERTAINTY messed with and not want to tell anyone as I am at my wits end with quick and easy 'why don't you just...' advice about it.
A very human look at why we do this; why we seek certainty and where it goes wrong. It's at times challenging. I found myself defensive occasionally -People have no idea what you are going through. Of course some are going to say something dumb. The alternative will be to give you a wide berth and put you in the 'draining', too hard basket and that's very upsetting too. Then you listen more and it starts a profound conversation in you, that's why I read. That's why I still seek. It's very worth buying the audio.
May you live a long life

Read more
Report
Co
Inintéressant
Reviewed in France on September 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
Sauf mon respect pour l auteure qui est en fin de vie, ce livre ne tient pas ses promesses : quel rapport entre le titre et le contenu ? L auteure se contente d expliquer combien elle aime sa famille, sa communauté et Jésus... Ce livre n apporte rien !

Read more
Report
Translate review to English
Cliente Amazon
The religious background and frame of thinking of the author disengaged me.
Reviewed in Italy on July 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
Being an atheist, with no experience of religious upbringing, I found the constant religigious references of the author disengaging. I purchased the book on the recommendation of Glennon Doyle, an author whose writing I like very much. A devout Christian herself, she too makes religious references but for some reason, in her writing, they did not interfere (for me) with the quintessentially human and totally relatable stories she tells about her life. I did not finish this book and returned it.

Read more
Report
Amazon Customer
Beautifully written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2022
Verified Purchase
Warm, real, engaging and moving.

Read more
Report
Shiela M. Watson White
It is a true picture of someone suffering from terminal cancer.
Reviewed in Canada on August 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
Kate Bowler, the author, wrote a great book which has helped me cope with the very recent death of my son. She is a completely honest account of her diagnosis ant the various traumatic events which she had to endure. She was a woman with malignent cancer who was filled with optimism and a good sense of humour for many of her trials. One of the helpful things is at the end where she lists questions or comments one should never make to terminal patients. To the best of my knowledge, she is still alive and teaching as usual. There was much to help me as I was facing the death of my son, and now have experienced that death.

Read more
Report

See more reviews

Amazon Prime includes:

Follow the author

Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved Hardcover – February 6, 2018

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

Videos

About the author

Kate Bowler

Customer reviews

Review this product

Customers say

Select to learn more

Images in this review

Reviews with images

Nothing happens for a reason

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful memoir about living despite

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the read for anyone

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars I just bought a book with my least favourite saying in the title

1.0 out of 5 stars Inintéressant

1.0 out of 5 stars The religious background and frame of thinking of the author disengaged me.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written

5.0 out of 5 stars It is a true picture of someone suffering from terminal cancer.

A powerful memoir about living despite

Worth the read for anyone

I just bought a book with my least favourite saying in the title

Inintéressant

The religious background and frame of thinking of the author disengaged me.

Beautifully written

It is a true picture of someone suffering from terminal cancer.