Broken Conditions

By: Jo Lena Johnson

Narrated by: Jo Lena Johnson

Length: 2 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

Broken Conditions highlights the author’s college years and chronicles key relationships, which lead to drama, adventure, hurt, and poor choices into her 30s. See how growing up affects and influences almost every decision, relationship, and behavior. When what she learned wasn’t working, she did something about it...sometimes!

The Clean Colored Girl Chronicles are stories from one woman’s life as she shares how relationships made her and broke her. As she learned how to navigate through being a daughter with parent issues, a black woman, single woman, dating woman, married yet unhappy woman, divorced woman, and an entrepreneur, she is a clean colored girl, making it in the world. Trials keep you strong when you learn to endure them, and that she does.

©2018 Jo Lena Johnson (P)2018 Jo Lena Johnson

Broken condtions

A very honest expose about life . It is an eye opener.
I received a free review copy

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Good listening experience

What made the experience of listening to Broken Conditions the most enjoyable?

I was able to get a feel of how the author, who was narrating, was feeling. You could hear the inflections in her voice.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene in the car with the trumpet player was my favorite scene because I could imagine what was happening.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Listening to this book made me think about the choices I have made in my life and my relationship with my mother. It made me realize some things aren't all my fault and gives me some perspective on my choices.

Any additional comments?

Jo Lena Johnson in Broken Conditions bravely reveals stories about her relationships and takes responsibility for the choices she made. It's that honest revelation that makes you take a look at your own life.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

to continue pushing forward!

a young lady who genuinely wants to help others through her mistakes and successes!what a description of what is necessary to succeed in life! highly recommended and I'm looking forward to her other works!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A great listen for women of all ages and hues

I didn't have any expectations when I downloaded this listen. I liked the audio sample and thought I would give it a try. Totally worth it.

The author takes a very candid and extremely close-up view of the events in her past and the people who helped shape her world. Her narration of the material was a good choice.
Johnson elevates the written word and makes it feel like two friends having a catch-up.

This book is about choices and consequences and what happens when we get back up after a knock-down. It's a great listen for women of all ages and hues.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

There’s a little of me in this book

Jo Lena’s accounts of her life are brave and honest. I saw some parts of myself and my friends in the book. She talked a lot about herself...but it is an autobiography after all. And I think she’s attempting to give her mistakes and negative experiences context.

What I liked most is the honesty. So many of us mess up, move too quickly, try to save people who don’t want to be saved, or fall knowingly and foolishly in love with the wrong people and 1) never admit it and 2) never forgive ourselves because we never admit it.

It’s a good listen and pathway for me to think of areas in my life that need improving once I tackle what causes the dis-ease/broken condition.

More interesting as you keep reading...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The flow was a bit choppy, as if she took a bunch of interesting stories and tried to tie them together to create a coherent chronology of events but the effort fell flat. Tighter editing could have remedied this problem and the aforementioned is a freq. issue in memoirs...a memoir that flows well is actually relatively rare, even among the big name memoirists.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

As noted above; needed better editing. The stories themselves were interesting. I got the strong sense that Ms. Johnson is a person who's been told frequently "man Jo Lena, you should write a book with all of these crazy things that you've been through!". I'll bet she's heard that a lot over the years from friends and family. And in a sense they're correct...her stories are interesting enough to create an engaging memoir. For me, a memoir doesn't have to have any purpose above and beyond just telling interesting stories and for that reason this book fell somewhat flat for me because it was framed as a self help book. Once the author stated that this was intended to be a self help book she set it up to fall short. It's much more difficult to frame each story through that lens...it would have flowed better and resonated more with me as a reader if it was simply a book about one woman's trials, tribulations, and mishaps. Just a collection of quirky stories, not trying to do much other than relate on a human level (like, "look...we all have those days, months, or even years where life gets a bit crazy!")...I would have preferred that.

What about Jo Lena Johnson’s performance did you like?

Her performance was great, I actually really enjoyed it! I loved how she would get to a hard part in the story...a part that was clearly emotionally provocative for her...and she'd make this funny sound, sort of like "hmm" or "hmmph". A sound of exacerbation that communicated "can you even believe this?!". That was so amusing and made her seem so human - so relatable. As a 10+ yr. audio book addict I have never really heard a reader do that and I got such a kick out of it. Honestly if there was a movie or TV series about Broken Conditions Ms. Johnson should play herself! I'll bet she's great in person...

Could you see Broken Conditions being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes, definitely...she should play herself, as noted above.

Any additional comments?

A sincere thank you to Ms. Johnson and Audiobook Boom for this book. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this fair and unbiased review.

Broken Conditions

This is good, really good. I think it is because the author of the book is also the narrator. Her inflections and the other little things that she does with her voice paint pictures in your mind of the events she describes on the audio. As the saying goes, nobody can tell your story like you can.

The story about the trumpet player, MC, Jack the retired firefighter, and aunt Josie had strong visual images popping up in my head. This audiobook is a lesson, a lesson that tells us we need to know our worth in order to be emotionally and mentally healthy. She shares her wisdom and affirmation to guide you on your journey to wellness. There were two things that stood out for me. One was the fact that if you are not well, something or someone can come along and break your spirit, and how Jo Lena Johnson made the scriptures her friend. They were not just words on a page to her. To her, they were alive and active; the bible says:

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ~ Hebrews4:12

Humor, Transparency and TRUTH

Broken Conditions: The Clean Colored Girl Chronicles, Book 1 is a riveting tale of the authors college years. Jo Lena Johnson, who is also the narrator tells the story of choices and consequences, pain and healing and overcoming herself. Generally, in books as these, you don't always get the entire truth, but Johnson doesn't hold back in opening herself to the readers/listeners about her conditions.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that it is relatable and so many women AND men will find themselves in her words. Through her willingness to share and talk about life in such an approachable manner, I found myself breaking my own conditions and healing from self inflecting pain and forgiving those I let have power over me.

If you are looking for something that will touch your soul and give you a few laughs, then you'll want to give this a listen.

As stated before, Johnson narrates her own book and I normally find it difficult to listen to self narrated work. However, I don't think anyone but her could deliver this story with conviction and emotion. Her pacing and tone is perfect and I'm looking forward to listening to more of her work.

~The Audio Flow