Book Review: And It Was Beautiful by Kara Tippetts

FTC disclaimer:  I was provided with an ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.  All opinions are my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

I'd heard of Kara Tippetts when I picked up And It Was Beautiful: Celebrating Life in the Midst of the Long Good-Bye.  I knew Kara Tippetts had passed away.  I knew she had blogged through her illness with breast cancer.  That was about the extent of my knowledge about her.  I hadn't read any of her books, even when my friends were raving about them.   I had lost my mother the year her book The Hardest Peace was released.  There was just no way I could read about someone dying when I had just lived through that with my mother, no matter how amazing the book was.  Ever feel like you're on the outside looking in?  I felt like I was the only one of my friends who hadn't read her book.



Time passes.  It doesn't heal all wounds, but it does ease the searing pain.  When I learned there was another book by this author and I received an offer for an ebook, I accepted.  Still, I procrastinated reading it.  My mother's death was marked with people taking advantage of her and I was unable to protect her from that.  I did my best to clean up the damage, but it wasn't always possible.

This book gave me a look at what a more "normal" death should be like.  People helping out when they can.  Love flowing through others and through the person dying.  She tried to live as long as possible to be able to spend as much time as she could with her children.  She treasured every moment.  (Well, not exactly the pain and sickness, but she treasured being alive.)

After such a traumatic experience with others when my mother passed away, it was so refreshing to learn how death is for other families, or at least this one.   My parents sold tombstones when I was growing up, and I learned from a young age that death is just the last part of life.  It doesn't have to be filled with angst, lies, blackmail, and multiple calls to the police because of what others are doing.  Instead, it can be filled with love, longing, enjoying friendship, and cherishing moments.  It can be filled with giving others hope, faith, and even an opportunity to serve others and be served.

I read this book, and I have to say I think that it was aptly named.  A friend of my mother's said about my mother's passing, "It was the hardest family situation I've ever seen."  What can I say about how Kara Tippetts passed away?   It was beautiful.   I know the title was more about how her life was beautiful, but to me, the caring she had surrounding her made her passing beautiful as well.  It was inevitable, but the way so many did what they could, she had a community around her.  Isn't that what we all hope for in the end?

You can read a sample of this book here: