| Title | : | Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1451679181 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781451679182 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published November 5, 2013 |
Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships Reviews
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This is the preachiest piece of trash I've ever read. I didn't expect much going into it, clearly, but I thought hey, how fun would it be to hear about what it's like to grow up as a Duggar? But this book is literally zero anecdotes. It's all like...parental advice? Four 20-somethings giving out parenting advice because they raised their toddler siblings while their parents produced more babies? Kewl. Then they're just kind of judgmental bitches for the rest of the book...they go on and on about how they don't judge anyone or their beliefs, but then they're sure to say which beliefs are correct. Not which beliefs they personally think are correct...but which beliefs they KNOW are the only true answer and everyone else is a sinner whore from hell for not complying. There was also a disgusting chapter about how amazing Rick Santorum is for some reason!? This is truly a terrible piece of garbage written by some of the most closed-minded people who have ever lived. I hoped the kids would at least be somewhat open-minded or willing to research religion/ideas on their own but not only do they not bother, they actually brag about limiting information about other forms of belief systems by password protecting the internet and making sure their siblings don't read anything not approved by the scary pervy Jim Bob. Just...gross. They're a cute enough family on TV when they're having fun and you don't have to think too much about their extremist beliefs but having to read words they write and think are genius? Why did I do this to myself? Oh, and they clearly did it to make a buck and nothing more. I read it on my iPad so I'm not sure how many pages are in the book, but I finished it in about an hour and a half. Why write a book if you don't have content for a book!? Stick to your crappy tv series.
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*August 2015* After the Incest and Ashley Madison debacle, I'm almost tempted to flat-out remove this book from my shelf. Talk about a sad turn of events. I can only hope that the children make it out of this mess without too much emotional damage.
*Original pre-release review - 2014* Going to refrain from rating because I thought I was picking up one book and instead got another.
I will say that the book's title and synopsis doesn't clearly show how this is more of a self-help and advice book than anything else. I thought we were going to be shown a variety of stories, recollections, and experiences from the girls' childhood through adulthood, based on how the synopsis reads (although I did figure that the girls would also field the questions regarding if they agree with the lifestyle set for them by their parents). I thought it might be interesting to read about how a massive family cooks, works, plays, and learns as a unit, because you know there's going to be a unique set of challenges in doing so.
I had no clue that the majority of the book was going to be answering questions about their beliefs and breaking down what every aspect of their faith means to them. Not that I have a problem with that specifically, but I was more curious to see "behind the scenes" of what living in a large family was like. I wasn't trying to get a crash course on the details of what they believe is right and wrong.
I'd suggest to the publishers that they change the title or synopsis to make clear that the book is less about fun family antics (even though there are a few included, along with pictures) and more about detailing the family's spiritual guidelines.
This book was provided from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. -
The Duggars, bringing denim back in 2014!
*waves Free Jinger flag*
Edit in 2020: Jinger never dd break free, sadly. I hope she's truly happy. I think I'd feel a lot more comfortable about the Duggar lifestyle if I thought they had a true understanding of the world and options out there. -
I can't see how this terminally boring book will be a draw for its target audience of teenage girls and young adult women. The "voice" of the book doesn't even sound like the Duggar girls I have seen on tv and encountered in person. I call BS on their authorship. The part about the evils of rock music seemed especially inauthentic.
I also didn't appreciate how they made a point to slam their "Dad's father," aka Grandpa Duggar, for not being a good provider for his family or for not having God be the center of their family life. Grandpa Duggar, in my opinion, was the only one with sense in that family! I shouldn't be surprised, given how Grandpa Duggar was disrespected on their tv show as well. In one memorable scene, Grandpa Duggar was subjected to indignity as he battled brain cancer when they rolled him out in an incoherent state, in an office chair instead of a proper wheelchair, and his shoe fell off as the cameras rolled.
I also had to roll my eyes when they referenced humans being around for only 6,000 years. The most offensive part to me was when they described how their family likes to pull mean spirited practical jokes, such as shouting "Fire!" In a crowded area. I would think that the Duggar children who have trained as volunteer firefighters would know better than that. Their jokes create chaos that could easily result in someone getting hurt. I can't believe that they fail to see this, and even use it as an example of how fun-loving they are.
There were a few parts that I enjoyed, such as the story about their TLC videographer's wife unexpectedly giving birth in China.
Overall, this book does not have the right tone that would appeal to teens. It doesn't make their lifestyle sound fun at all. Too much emphasis on rules, self denial, and judgement of others. Not for me! -
Despite the varying opinions on the Duggars, even among my own friends and acquaintances, their family has been a reliable source of entertainment and encouragement to me. Do I agree with them on everything? No. Do I want to be exactly like them? No. But I do share many of their believes and respect many of their convictions. I loved this book.
When I got "Growing Up Duggar" for Christmas, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew from other reviews that it wasn't an autobiographical account of growing up in the reality TV mega-family. It turns out, the book is a lot more practical. I was impressed, encouraged, and challenged by the perspectives and suggestions the oldest four Duggar girls had for the various relationships in a Christian girl's life. They walk through the areas of our relationship with ourselves, our parents, our siblings, guys, the culture, our country, and the world. Their advice is grounded in Scripture and backed up personal experience.
Definitely recommend this book to anyone curious about the Duggar family or looking for encouragement and willing to be challenged. -
I must say, I personally really enjoyed this book. It offered insight into the Duggar family from their view point---literally each chapter of the book was written from the viewpoint of one of the four girls which made the book feel conversational. Just as if you were sitting down with the girls over coffee and having a chat about various topic and views. For me, this book also felt somewhat devotional in nature at times, which I thoroughly enjoyed. this book made me think and reevaluate different areas of my life, which is the intended purpose as explained by the girls throughout. Overall, I very much enjoyed the book and would recommend and pass it along to others in my circles and offer it as suggested reading in my library.
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not what I expected.
I thought this book would be much more about the 4 girls talking about their family, childhood, growing up with their family dynamics, and what they are planning for their futures.
There were elements of this in the book. Each chapter has a topic and one or more of the girls would tell a short anecdote or two. But then it turned way too preachy for me.
This book wasn't so much about what it's like to grow up Duggar, instead it was a lecture about morals and how you should behave. -
I read this book more out of curiosity than general affection for the Duggars.
This book was all over the place, like they were unsure of exactly how they wanted to go about delivering their message. A great deal of the book read as an advertorial for many of the products and services that the Duggars endorse, including modest bathing suit companies, Bill Gothard's various ministries, programs, and homeschool curriculums, and other related things. In reading more about Bill Gothard, this is kind of a deal breaker to me. Gothard has had to step down from the helm of his empire due to sexual abuse allegations spanning decades. In addition to that, his institutes and other programs are ludicrously expensive, and in a way kind of remind me of Scientology, in that you need to pay them all this money to learn how to be closer to God.
The main goal of this book, the girls say many times, is to bring readers closer to a personal relationship with Jesus. If this was their goal, I don't think they very carefully considered the knowledge level of their readers regarding the Bible and their particular sect of Christianity. I'm far from a Christian expert, but I do have some Bible knowledge. They frequently reference stories in the Bible or passages of scripture without fully explaining them -- for example, they say they strive to be Proverbs 31 women, but they don't explain what that means, or give the actual proverb. I know what this means, but someone with less knowledge of the Bible might be confused.
On a positive note, it was interesting to read more about the girls on an individual level -- you don't get much of that on the show. The family is painted as very perfect, and the stories the girls share tell you that's not the truth. They are not perfect and have had struggles like every family and individual. This more human side of the Duggars is refreshing. That being said, I do not share their views regarding "courtship", culture or politics, which are three sections of the book that I don't agree with at. They base these beliefs on their interpretation of religion, an interpretation I do not share. -
Title: GROWING UP DUGGAR
Authors: Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger Duggar
Publisher: Howard Books
March 2014
ISBN: 978-1451679168
Genre: Family and Relationships
It’s All About Relationships!
In this delightful and very personal book, the four oldest Duggar girls share their hearts and their core beliefs, explaining that it’s all about relationships!
• Relationship with self: The girls share their own personal journeys to self-acceptance and navi¬gating the difficult stage of adolescence.
• Relationship with parents: You’ll find revelations about how Jim Bob and Michelle keep the lines of communication open with their children.
• Relationships with siblings: Here, you’ll get a peek into the Buddy system, how the siblings handle conflict, and how the loss of little Jubilee (their sister) affected their relationships with each other.
• Relationships with friends: You’ll find principles on how the Duggar kids deal with peer pressure and how they interact with friends outside their family.
• Relationships with boys: You’ll learn the Duggar view of dating and courtship, and these four sisters will address the often-asked question of when one of them will get married.
• Relationship with God: And woven throughout the book, the girls talk about their most impor¬tant relationship of all—their relationship with God and their own personal faith and beliefs.
This candid look into what Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger believe and why they believe it will give you practical insights into your own life and will inspire you to evaluate principles that will work for you.
GROWING UP DUGGAR is a book I was curious about. Like the Duggars’ themselves, we don’t have a TV, so we’ve never seen their show. (We have heard about it.) We haven’t read any of their books, seen them in conferences or elsewhere, and we don’t attend their church.
This was an interesting book to read, though as a parent I could see where it was geared more toward teenage girls than for adults. My oldest daughter (eighteen) will want to eventually read it, so I just gave her the book when I finished. Great advice for girls.
The Duggars are a more conservative family than most, but the girls take great care in not offending their potential readers. We don’t dye our hair because…but that’s not saying it isn’t right for you. We don’t cut our hair because…but that’s not saying it isn’t right for you. So readers who aren’t as conservative shouldn’t feel judged.
If you have a teen or preteen daughter this would be excellent for them to read. Highly recommended. -
At points, I found myself rolling my eyes so hard that I think I pulled a muscle. The degree to which these girls have been sheltered is appalling: no tv, no music other than hymns, no privacy, no alone time with anyone who hasn't been thoroughly vetted by their parents and certainly no alone time with the opposite sex until marriage. Exactly what about their lives makes them qualified to write a book giving advice was beyond me, so I just had to read it and see what it was all about.
90% of this book was just parroting the same old beliefs that their parents, Michelle and Jim Bob, have been spouting for their entire lives in the public eye. This book did have a ghost writer which brought an element of cohesiveness to the storytelling, but there was no way to distinguish the 4 separate voices that there should have been in a book of this kind. It simply felt like reading everything that Michelle has ever said over again; I got no impression that this was actually written by the daughters and not their parents (who were certainly overseeing every single word anyway). While this book was quite preachy, I had expected that and was not bothered in the least, except for where they would mention a bible verse without actually sharing the verse. I believe that this family takes many verses out of context as well as twisting the meanings for their own use, and they seemed to be hiding behind the non-quoting of verses to hide this at points.
Most of this book came across as parenting advice ... 4 twenty-somethings who have never had any part in the real world? Yeah, like they know anything about parenting! There actually were a lot of scary elements to this if you are willing to read beneath the surface - the children are never allowed to have a "bad" attitude, they must always jump to the command of their elders with a "yes, sir" or "yes, ma'am", never any argument or questioning. They never mention here how they were trained so well, but in an earlier book Jim Bob and Michelle discuss blanket training along with the teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl, look up either of these and you discover that these children have all essentially been beaten into compliance which is really terrible parenting but did apparently produce the desired results.
The best part of this book was near the end, and the reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. Finally we hear something about the girls as individuals! They each discuss their particular interests and ministry work, although there is always the undercurrent that the one thing they have been trained to aspire to is being a wife, mother and housekeeper and will quit pursuit of any other goal once a guy begins to court them. I wish that this book had actually been about what it was like growing up with stories and anecdotes instead of just preachy advice about how to do everything the "right" way. I would have liked to hear about having 6 children in the 900 sq ft house, dealing with their mother's mental breakdown over laundry and the many other challenges that they overcame as a family instead of the whitewashed version that we got here. -
It is obvious that this utter bag of shit wasn't actually written by the Duggar daughters. The same stories, reiterated over and over and over again, is just regurgitation from their parents' previous books. There is nothing new or interesting in this book and I'm kind of tired of the holier-than-thou attitude of the Duggars. They're all such utter judgemental hypocrites that I can't help but roll my eyes as I listen to their tripe.
A note about the audiobook: all 4 girls are startlingly poor readers. Just, abominably bad. And if I had to hear Jinger pronounce "Jesus" wrong again, I was going to scream.
DO NOT READ. -
Read for the lulz; did not disappoint. Read on public transit to attract strangers.
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I've been a big fan of the Duggar family and their T.V. show 19 Kids & Counting for a long time; and was blessed to be able to briefly meet them at a family conference two years ago. While I admire the whole family, I've always found the eldest Duggar girls to be very inspiring and a huge encouragement to me as a Christian sister and daughter of the King. Since I also come from a "large" family (though obviously not as big as the Duggar family) I've enjoyed getting to "meet" the Duggar ladies through their book and their family T.V. shows. So when I heard that the ladies were writing a book, I was very eager to read it once it released.
This newest book from the Duggar family, written by the four eldest Duggar ladies, is about relationships. In this book the Duggar ladies candidly write about different aspects of relationships, and also give a bit of a look into how things are "growing up Duggar".
In this book, there are eight chapters, and each one covers a certain type of relationship. Chapters include the topics of a relationship with God, relationship with yourself, relationship with your parents, relationship with your siblings, relationship with friends, relationship with guys, relationship with culture, relationship with your country and relationship with the world. Even though there are four different authors who contributed to certain portions of the book, I didn't at all feel like this made it hard to read, and the book flowed quite well despite the constant switching of authors.
While I did find it neat to read a book written by the eldest Duggar girls, I must admit that there was one aspect of the book that I was a bit disappointed in. This book seemed to be more of an advice-type book, sharing how the Duggars deal with certain relationships as a way of responding to all the numerous emails they receive with questions on how they do things. I was hoping it would be written more memoir-style with details on the Duggar's everyday life and unique stories you'd otherwise not hear. While I did enjoy getting a detailed account of how the Duggar ladies view things, I really would have liked to see more personal stories and the inside-view of their life. Now this isn't to say there weren't any personal stories in this book, because there were a few - just not as many as I was hoping for. However it didn't really take away from the book very much for me.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to any fans of the Duggar family.
D I S C L A I M E R :: In accordance with the FTC disclosure, I received a free hardback copy of Growing Up Duggar from Howards Books for the purpose of this review. I was not paid in any way to write this review, and all thoughts expressed in my review are completely honest, my own and unbiased. -
I cannot give this book any stars. It defies the star rating.
For some reason, I thought these girls would have a less sincere appreciation of the way they were raised. A bit of humor, a touch of rebellion, a word of sarcasm-- but NADA. This was the weirdest, most sincere, vaguely allegorical book I've ever read. They just talked over and over about how you should let men make decisions for you. I mean, basically. Also, there was a lot of outright discussion of Satan, which I thought was really weird and specific.
Their folksy colloquial way of speech did not endear them to me, either. The lack of agency this book espouses-- giving your whole life over to your father and to god-- just made me feel so sad.
The three oldest really seem to buy into this, but I'm holding out for Jinger to rebel.
#freejinger -
ehh..I had high expectations. However I guess I thought it would be more than just a devotional\life morals feel. I felt like it was mainly about the rules they adhere to and some biblical morals to have with some stories thrown in. It didn't feel personal enough for me, so I didn't enjoy it. Even though I do love the Duggar family and respect them, that is just my opinion on the book.
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When I picked up this book, I honestly didn't expect to get that much out of it. I just love the Duggar family. They encourage me so greatly that I will read anything they write. I'm a 32 year old momma of 3 boys. I'm not exactly the target reader for this book. I DO have 2 nieces and I DO know young girls. I have a wonderful church family, which contains precious young ladies. As an older lady(Goodness, I still have a hard time calling myself a woman! I still feel young!! ;)), I want to be able to recommend good reads for those young ladies when asked.
That said, I truly got a great deal of "food for thought" in this book! The girls spend a great deal of time discussing their parents' discipline methods, and I soaked this advice right up! They also spend time discussing what they expect in a man, and how their parents go about trying to raise their own sons in this same manner. As a momma of three little boys, I also soaked up this advice. Of course, ultimately, the book is still obviously for single young ladies!
The girls talk about different kinds of relationships. They discuss a young lady's relationship with herself, with her parents, her siblings, her friends, with guys, and with culture. I truly wish I had these kinds of reads when I struggled as a young lady! I always knew my worth and kept myself pure, but I still struggled with my self esteem greatly. This will definitely be a book I recommend for each and every young lady out there! Actually, it's an amazing read for ANY single female out there, no matter what age. And, again, I think it's a great read for parents, too! The older I get, the more I seem to forget about myself when I was younger. This book is a great reminder, especially for parent's of young girls, of what they are going through.
Overall, I recommend this book, for sure! There's only 3 TV shows I make the time for(and I DVR those, so I can cut out commercials), and 19 Kids and Counting is one of those. I've missed them, and can't wait for their newest season to start. In the meantime, I enjoyed getting to know more about them and their lifestyles.
*Thanks to Howard Books for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion. -
My husband and I have watched their Tv show and just think they are an amazing family for their belief system. I know many people don't agree with them or deem them as "odd", but I find them very interesting. I think their standards and convictions to be encouraging and I like that they stand for what they believe in, which is something that you don't find a lot of people doing. I also love that they stand firm in their faith and their convictions in a loving way. They never do it to offend or to use it to hate, or oppress others.
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down and Read "Growing up Duggar" by Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger Duggar. These are the four older Duggar women! What a joy it was to read their take as a Duggar!
This book captures so many areas of the Duggar life, but it talks a lot from a female perspective about the life as a Duggar. Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger each take several opportunities throughout the book to talk about their roles as sisters, daughters, role models, mentors and their relationship with Christ. They talk about their values when it comes to dating, clothing, makeup, relationships, respecting their parents, what it means to give to their community, politics, helping the larger community and the world. These are some mighty women of God who live beyond themselves.
Their values are lived out daily. They are the real deal. Every value they have, is based on scripture. While, I may not have the same convictions as they do, they talk about that in their book. They talk about how they have met people who have challenged them with different convictions. One example they gave was when a man came over to their house and after dinner one of kids wanted to play cards with this man. The man turned down the offer. Later in the evening, the family learned he his father was a gambler and this man said he would never pick up a deck of cards because he was convicted that he did not want to turn to that addiction.
What I learned from reading this book is that the Duggar family has a set of values, but these values they have for a reason. Although the world may not understand their values or reasons, the Duggars are not looking to please the world, they are looking to please God. The Duggars are looking to take a stand on their faith. They are putting God first and that is their #1 priority.
My review:
I really enjoyed this book because it gave me a lot of new and different perspectives on how someday I would want to raise a family. Some of the ideas that were discussed in this book are great parenting tips, great tips on dating to discuss girls, financial ways to be savy, how to be great shoppers and look chic, and also great things to be able to discuss with students. I love how involved the family is in music, outside activities, how the girls are volunteers at the fire department, how all of the kids help one another out and how each of the children have their own unique talents and gifts. I really liked this book over all and recommend it. It's just a great read! -
This was one of those books that I've wanted to read for over a year, but was incredibly embarrassed about buying from Walmart or borrowing from the library. I could imagine the silent judgment of the librarian as she ran this book across the desensitizer or the sarcastic smirk of the cashier at Walmart as I paid real money for this book. I would have to awkwardly explain that I'm interested in the Duggars in the same way that I'm interested in genocide and colonial violence-- in a strictly academic manner. Thankfully, my library had a digital copy of this, so I downloaded it, reveling in outsmarting the system.
I spent approx. 2 hours reading this book, and honestly, I want those two hours back. I thought that this book would be a deeper examination of the four eldest daughters of the Duggar clan, but it was little more than parenting advice. It wasn't a memoir, it provided very few anecdotes, and offered no novel insight into the lives of these women. At times it was über judgmental, especially in regards to women who don't follow their lifestyle. It was dripping with misogyny and had an air of superiority. The main takeaway I got from this book is that these women were raised in a very insular lifestyle, but don't seem to resent their upbringing. Oh, and abortion is bad. Because we can't have a Duggar book without discussing the "sanctity of life." Seriously, they went from discussing relationships with men and finding a "godly guy" to lecturing about abortion, which seems a great leap, considering that they never discuss (or even mention) sex.
While I would never recommend this book to anyone, it did give me a new appreciation for my own upbringing. Thanks Mom and Dad for just having one of me, for never scheduling monthly meetings to find out my favorite color, and for not teaching me that my only purpose in life is to be a wife and mother. You guys rock! -
I was almost ashamed to admit that I read Growing Up Duggar. Don't get me wrong, I admire the family's courage of their convictions, but I have a hard time swallowing their belief that the Bible is the guidebook for life. After all, the King James Version was written in the 16th century which I'm fairly sure is about 16 centuries after the death of Jesus. I am not denying it's spiritual value nor am I denying Jesus Christ or God, I just hate when modern day Christians distort Jesus' teachings to suit their own needs.
I was very impressed with the four girls' writing skill and I must say that their lifestyle works for their family. Obviously they are on to something . I also appreciated the girls advice on self acceptance and self esteem. I also think that their purity vows are an honest reflection of their values.
I would not recommend this book to many of my friends or family because they would most likely mock me and then hit me with the book. ( Just kidding, they would mock but not hit, My mother just might make me call a therapist to get these crazy thoughts out of my head ha ha).
Again, while I find their lifestyle extreme and their political views repulsive, I do think that the girls honesty and naïveté refreshing. -
Sweetly worded judgements and generalizations about people and experiences they've personally never had. Most of the books are recounts about their parents former lives and experiences, presumably because they (the "authors" are unable to actually have their own experiences. Book also gives no real insight into "growing up Duggar". Just watch the show for that.
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I picked up this book because I wanted to know what it was like to grow up Duggar. That is not actually this book. Like I said in my comments, this is more of a Christian themed self-help/relationship advice book. i decided to read it anyway. I sometimes like that kind of thing.
This book is focused on relationships, like how to have better relationships with yourself, your family, your spouse, your world, etc. It was pretty insightful overall and it was fun because there were still a lot of Duggar anecdotes and so it was a neat little insight into their world.
I respect the Duggars a lot because of their beliefs. Even though their religion isn't exactly what I believe, I was still able to grow and learn from this book. Sometimes I had to turn off my worldly filter that was like, this is ridiculous, and church is for Sundays and remember that we need to live our religion every day. This is what the Duggars do and that's why I respect them a lot, even if they take it kind of to an extreme sometimes.
That is one thing I didn't enjoy about this book. Every once in a while there was something, just so extreme or something that i would jsut cringe, like that's cult like, or i don't believe that, or I can't believe you do that. Sometimes, it's really obvious that the Duggar children have no frame of reference for what they are talking about so they are jsut kind of parroting something they heard some where. Like they'll say for example, "all X is bad," when they have no idea what X really is, so how can they say it's all bad. It's just clear they have no idea how the world really works some times.
Like there was this one part where they were talking about sex. I am a firm believer in No sex before marriage, but they got pretty intense when they said something like "Sex outside of marriage leads to darkness destruction and death." I'm exaggerating a smidge, but not by much. Not all sex outside of marriage leads to STDs and so I feel like by saying it leads to death and destruction they kind of missed the whole point. I just wanted sex to be something I saved for my husband because it is this really intimate special moment, but I don't think all premarital sex leads to death and destruction, lol. Over-exaggeration of consequences like this leads to people not taking you seriously and also overshadows a real message.
Another thing I noticed with all my cringes was that they had a pattern. A lot of the things I didn't agree with had to with a parental relationship. Like when they talked about Obeying your parents with out hesitation or talking about your dating relationships with your parents and trusting their judgement on that. I noticed that I obviously have some heavy issues with my own relationship with my parents and parental control. I mean I already knew I did, but this book kind of brought it back to my attention. Sp that was kind of a valuable thing I learned from this book.
Anyway, overall I enjoyed reading this book, but it was kind of hard to rate, because it wasn't what I was expecting, it's not what I typically read, and I wouldn't have picked it up by choice if I had known what it was about. So part of me thinks higher than 3 stars, but part of me like, doesn't want to give any stars, so 3 stars it is. -
Learning about others belief systems has been a great interest of mine for a long time. I was very curious to read what the four sisters had to say.
I think that they believe in what they believe in and it's been their only family environment for a long time. A good book for young adults to read if they have the same beliefs.
I think some of the values are funny and how they described them are from a "young adult mind" that has a lot of living left to do. For example, lockers are purchased for kids to keep belongings in. Not long after, there is a candy thief among the family. I don't think "thou shall not steal" has been taken to heart yet.
They are tucked away into their big family community and if they are happy, more power to them.
I think having that many children is being irresponsible and unrealistic. I would like to ask Papa Duggar if he has ever thought about our environment and the global "footprint" that is left behind by everyone. On the other hand, kudos to both parents for being able to put a roof over everyone's head and food on the table.
I felt the reading was more preaching than story telling. Disappointed from that regard. -
Don't judge. I like the Duggars. I don't have any issues with their family size. I would have liked a bigger family but that was not for us... and that is okay, too. But my review is not to defend the Duggar's...
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. But I didn't. The writing style really grated my nerves. There were interesting stories of how God moved in their family and I really liked that. I also enjoyed the tid-bits on sibling relationships, and parent-child relationships. After about three chapters I mostly skimmed the chapters and my normal issue with not being able to NOT finish a book did not bother me this time for some reason.
I think I was just expecting something different. -
In 'Growing Up Duggar' the 4 eldest girls in the famous Duggar family share about their life experiences and inspire each of us to excel in life. Clearly, it's all about the relationships you have. Whether this refers to the relationship with yourself, God, your parents, siblings, friends, boyfriend, etc. What I found out, even for myself, was that if I don't have a happy and healthy relationship in a certain area of my life, it's prone to damage other relationships, or a bigger part of my life.
With excellent advice and grown-up wisdom, Jana, Jill, Jessa & Jinger share private stories (not-so-private anymore!), encouraging inspiration to girls of all ages, and insight on their daily life. While reading the book, I was continuously amazed at the details these girls shared, and the interesting stories that now let me understand much more about the background of this family than I did before (even being a fan of their TV show).
So glad that these girls found a voice together and decided to write a book for other young ladies to glean from! Highly recommend 'Growing Up Duggar'.
*In light of the recent scandal this family has been put through, I say let's keep the Duggars in our prayers as they get their life back to normal. At the heart of it, the Duggars are a God-honoring family with much love to share with the world. -
I suppose I should have realised that this book was meant for teens (or even pre-teens) not 40-year olds!
I love "19 Kids and Counting", and really enjoyed both books written by Michelle and Jim Bob
but this one was not as interesting.
I enjoyed the various family anecdotes, but I am definitely not the target audience! -
I listened to the audiobook because I wanted to hear the girls in their own voices. Jill narrates about 2/3 and the rest share 1/3. Smug, self righteous, always MOM SAYS, DAD SAYS, THE BIBLE SAYS...no independent thought for themselves. They haven't lived long enough to know what they themselves think. Followers will love. People with their own minds can sift thru the drivel and get clues on how they got here. Get some education, and worldly experience before you choose to lecture the world on how to live. And yes I attended IBLP and ATI conferences too but I went to college and have my own brain....
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I enjoyed hearing about their life from the four oldest Duggar girls. It helped me get to know them better, because I didn't keep up with their TV show much. I came away from the book feeling like these girls were my friends; they were very relatable to me and we share many of the same values. Their love for God and their heart for others is outstanding and encouraging. I especially loved the last chapter, which detailed the various ministries they've pursued, but in my opinion the whole book is packed with sound, lovingly given advice and fun, relatable anecdotes from their personal lives.
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When does the promised "conversation" with the girls begin and the endless parroting of the teachings of Bill Gothard's ATI/IBLP end? Only the most worshipful of fans will see anything "personal" or "authentic" in this book, which they admit was ghostwritten. Too bad--how much more compelling it would have been if they had simply written their own words without regard for proper grammar or pacing. There IS good advice in here, but the climate of fear-everything and Daddy-knows-all is sickening.
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Geared towards teens/young women. I almost stopped after the first chapter, but I'm glad I didn't. The rest of the chapters discussed more of the family and wonderful values, we would all do well to practice.
There were a few parts I actually cried and that doesn't happen often. I would recommend this book to the audience in which it was intended and any parents interested in becoming better at raising their own children.