Pre-Owned Dirt: Growing Strong Roots in What Makes the Broken Beautiful (Hardcover)

I absolutely loved the heart wrenchingly beautiful debut memoir Dirt by Mary Marantz. Her lyrical prose, visual descriptions, and profoundly inspirational messages captured my senses and held on tight until the very last page. I was enthralled by it. I couldnt put it down and I didnt want it to end! The author writes with emotional depth and clarity as she pours her heart and soul onto the pages of Dirt in genuine, authentic, and live giving ways. And she sprinkles the pages of Dirt with humor which I found delightful. Dirt is about forgiveness, redemption, honesty, sacrifice, healing, acceptance, and the roots of deep-abiding love. Its about letting go and hanging on, hardening and softening, and the power of love. Mary Marantz shares her relationships and struggles growing up, especially about her dad, and the untraditional life lessons he taught her in the simplest, but most profound ways. I love that she loved well even when it may have hurt to do so. I related with her feelings of unworthiness and not being enough. Im glad she came to the realization of her true worth and value and the grit and grace that flows through her veins. I recently lost my dad and Im still grappling with the tremendous loss of his absence. Mary Marantzs love and pride for her father touched me deeply and the last few chapters and epilogue of the book were my undoing, in the most beautiful of ways. They grabbed my heart strings and wouldnt let go until long after I finished reading it. Mary Marantz weaves her stories of family and faith into the beautiful tapestry of Dirt as she unravels rich life lessons, realizations, and truths as she derives the goodness that surely comes. Her stories are delicately strung together with the analogy of dirt, stories of brokenness and hard times which blossom into love, beauty, and grit. Her descriptive words created a visual for me; dirt is hard and resistant, and as its tilled with rich nutrients and watered with Gods grace growth blooms forth into the soil of our lives. I think this quote by Mary Marantz sums up her amazing book well; This wild, wonderful, hard, gritty, broken-made-beautiful life. You may call it grace, you may call it sacrifice. But for me, the greatest of these is love. It is a song of redemption, a reconciliation with the roots that grew me, a melody born out of the muddiest parts of my life. And it always started with dirt. I am a voracious reader and Dirt is one of the best books Ive read in quite some time. It combines the elements of a raw, fresh style written with heartbreaking beauty, powerful and profound truths and honesty laced with faith-filled messages woven into the authors heartfelt stories of inspiration. I absolutely loved Dirt and I look forward to future books from the new author Mary Marantz.