109 - Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me

The CIA element of the story is barely mentioned and doesn't actually seem to have a huge impact on Ian's story. The part regarding the CIA which was the most interested was at the beginning of the novel, where Ian talks about going to father's funeral and tells of the odd behavior of those who he believed were his father's co-workers. For most of the rest of the story, we never hear about the CIA, and it didn't really seem to impact Ian that much. The biggest part was when the family was almost forced to move out of country - almost.

Because the CIA was mentioned in the title, I expected it to be quite a large part of the story, possibly with stories about his father's travels, but there wasn't. I felt a bit cheated because of this. The book should be re-titled, Jesus, my Father, Alcohol, and Me.

Some of the most interesting, and generally funniest, parts of the novel were Ian's experiences with church. He grew up attending a Catholic church, and tells many humorous stories, from his first communion, to when his families nanny accidentally brought him to church two hours early for his first day as an altar boy.

In the end, I felt this book had some interesting parts. The stories from his church were generally funny, but sometimes insightful. It was heartbreaking at times, reading about a child desperate for his father's love yet only seeing a drunken mess. However, he sometimes wrote in near stream of consciousness, breaking off in the middle of a story to dive into a thought that didn't always resolve.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255