Growing Up Duggar By Jana, Jill, Jessa & Jinger Duggar Book Review

 // Growing Up Duggar //

 

It's All About Relationships

 

By Jana, Jill, Jessa & Jinger Duggar

 

{Review By Bethany}

 

Number of Pages: 240
ISBN: 1451679165
Publisher: Howard Books
Release Date: March 4th, 2014

Source: Howard review program
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

// Book Synopsis //

 

Taken from Good Reads

 

"In a rare look inside America’s favorite mega-sized family, the four eldest girls talk about their faith, their dreams for the future, and what it’s like growing up a Duggar.

Airing weekly throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, 19 Kids and Counting has made the huge Duggar family into a media phenomenon. The Duggar children are frequently asked, “Tell the truth; do you really agree with the lifestyle your parents have created for you?” Now, the four eldest Duggar girls—Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger—open up about the blessings and advantages of living the Duggar lifestyle.

With a backdrop of the key relationships in their lives—relationship with self, parents, siblings, friends, boys, and God—the four Duggar girls open up about their own personal faith and convictions, boys, dating, manners, living in a large family, politics, and much more. You’ll learn how the family navigates the difficult years between twelve and sixteen and what the girls look for in a man, all in a frank and fun book that will inspire teens and adults alike. Including lighthearted stories about the younger kids’ antics, Growing Up Duggar is a wise and entertaining trip into a family like no other."

 

// Bethany's Book Review //

 

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.