Review: My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife

Submissive. The word seems to raise the hair on the back of every woman's neck. Even men seem uncomfortable with the term, in general, because to want their wives to be submissive often comes across as chauvinistic and unfair, but to not want their wives to be submissive can make them seem as if they are not concerned with upholding a biblical mandate of man as the head of the house with wife as the submissive helpmeet.

So where to find balance? I picked up this book, "My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife" by Sara Horn to review because I wanted to see what this particular woman had to say about submission, as she experimented in her own life, trying to follow what she believed the Bible says about being a submissive wife and struggling with it. Submission is at once simplistic and involved. "Easy" and extremely difficult. And yet, by the end of the book you are left feeling that Sara Horn may finally have begun to find that ever-elusive balance in her own home, in such a way that works for her and for her family and her marriage. Not that she states that every other woman should proceed just like she chose to (as documented in a very personable, one-on-one account in her book).  But Sara gives a lot of insight into her numerous struggles as well as small victories and accomplishments along her journey. It's refreshing to note that she did not attempt to write a "look at me, I've got this down and here is what you should do down to the last detail, a-b-c" sort of how-to manual. She simply shared her inspiration for attempting to walk in what she considers godly submission, and the results.

What I liked about this book: I liked that Sara chose to be personal in it. That she not only shared the good times, the triumphs, the happiness, the good insights she gained, but that she also shared the times when she felt frustrated, irritated, overwhelmed, resistant, or not good enough.  It's a very "real" book.

What I didn't like about this book: It is hard to find things I don't like about books. I think probably the only thing I didn't like about this book is simply that I don't necessarily agree with every conclusion Sara comes to.  I might not feel a certain way about situation "a" as Sara did, or agree upon how she interpreted the results. But for the most part, I agreed with or at least found a great deal of reasonable thoughts and thus views within her conclusions.

I would give this book 3/5 stars.  I felt it was relatively well written, very engaging overall and had some very important ideas to put out there.  I liked, as I mentioned before, how personal Sara chose to make this book.

Thank you to NetGalley.com and to the publisher of the book, Harvest House Publishers, for a free ebook review copy. Please note that all opinions expressed in this review are my own and are honest.