LDS Book: Broken

“Dear God,” he began. “Please don’t let her kill me. Even if I’m bad. Don’t let her beat me to death. I … I can do better. I can. But I don’t want to die.”

If ever there was a life without hope, it's David's. As a little boy, his world is void of love, light, kindness, and happiness. He has no one to look to for protection; indeed, the adults in his life all betray him. His mother abandons him. His father is absent from his life. His step-mother beats him mercilessly. And in some ways the worst of all, those who profess to be religious and Christ-like turn a blind eye on his situation and see him as everyone else does: a stupid, lazy, worthless boy.

As David grows, he desperately tries to escape his past. After years of heavy drinking and broken marriage promises, David begins to realize that there must be another way. Somewhere, there must be a true escape. Eventually, David will learn that there is only one way to the light, and for that, he must rely on the help of the only One who can help him conquer the demons raging inside him. The journey back will be the hardest he's ever faced, and if he fails, both his life and his soul will be lost forever.

Broken is the true story of one man's journey to the darkest corners of Hell and back.

Reviews-

"Broken" is well considered and well written. One of the central characters is the author himself, David Briggs. As a Mormon bishop, he is called upon to perform some difficult tasks. As this book opens, David is visiting a young woman named Alice, a niece of a member of his ward. Alice is currently hospitalized, and has pretty much given up hope for the future. As David begins his conversation with Alice, he begins to open up about his own past, and how he was able to rise above the challenges of an abusive past.

While David is a real person, Alice is not. She is a fictional character invented by the author to give David a sounding-board for his own reminiscences. As I read, I wondered just how painful this book had to be for the author to write. The effects of abuse on a child do not go away when the abuse ends. Instead, the human psyche acts as something of a vault for these memories.

And if Dear Abby is any measure of the state of our society, we have a lot of people among us who badly need to confront issues that weigh them down and keep them from growing into mature and productive people. This is a deeply human need that can be met with Divine assistance. The author has a message of redemption here, a bringing-back that can happen when one has faith in a power higher than onesself.

"Broken" leads us to a place of hope. It reminds us that there is a deeply-felt need for closure and cleansing. The old saw has it that church is there "to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." Dickson straddles this fence -- himself afflicted, and yet now comfortable in his place of healing and resolution, and thus comforting to those with whom he interacts.

It is indeed necessary for us to buck up and become part of the process toward healing. We can't be doing our jobs if we are ignoring the needs of our neighbors. True, Alice begins as a stranger to David, but their stories find a sufficient number of touchpoints to convince us that the path to healing is one we need not travel alone.