Thursday, December 29, 2011

This Thing of Ours by Cammy Franzese

With a subtitle like "How Faith Saved My Mafia Marriage", it was hard to resist this book.  Cammy Franzese writes a fascinating memoir about her marriage to a former Mobster, Michael Franzese and details how they met, fell in love and married.  She writes of the struggles and triumphs of enduring over eight years of Michael's incarceration and his parting of ways with the Mafia while raising their four children.

I always enjoy memoirs, and this book was no exception.  Franzese did a good job of sharing both the positives and negatives of her life story.  I appreciated her acknowledgement that much of what she dealt with in life was due to consequences of choices made by both her and her husband.  Many people seem unwilling to accept that some hardships are the results of decisions made, not just bad luck or random circumstances.  Cammy Franzese does not waffle about taking responsibility, and I can respect that.

I thought the book was a bit light, but it made for an easy read.  Transparent and honest, it told the story well, even if some parts were a bit vague.  I was encouraged by the main story line, which is that God can change and use anyone; our past is not always an indicator of our future.  God is in the business of changing people and this is one of those stories.  Overall, it was a pretty good book.