Book Review: Lean On Me by Anne Marie Miller

Lean On Me by Anne Marie Miller is one of the best books I have read recently. Lean On Me is not a self-help book, but rather a memoir in which the author shares her need for community following a crisis and how that community looked for her. She shares her story in the hopes that you will take away something for yourself to be in your own community.

I appreciate that Anne Marie Miller shares her story so openly. While I can't say that I agree with every choice that she made along the way, I do appreciate her honesty and her openness in sharing her story in this book.(And I know I have struggles and make choices that others wouldn't make.) It helps to see how a real person has done "community" with successes and struggles. I am in the middle of transition as my family is in the hallway of our 2nd move in 3 years. We aren't in our new location yet, but we are no longer living in our former location either. We are halfway between living in temporary housing. I would love to be able to have 15 people, as this author did, that would help my family to stay on the right path through this transition, but honestly I don't know 15 people to e-mail that would form a team to help guide us. I picked up the book to gain some insight on forming community as we get to our new location. I did learn from the author and I think that I took away what I needed to for our situation to start to build that kind of community.

If you are looking for a how-to book, this isn't the book for you. However, the author does list some how-to books in the back of Lean On Me. There is also a Reader's Guide with questions and prayers to either ask yourself or to share in a book group. Lean On Me offers food for thought on how you can build your own community and  I would recommend it to anyone else looking to do so.

I received this book from the publisher at no cost. I was not required to write a positive review.