Living Brave

Lessons from Hurt, Lighting the Way to Hope

By: Shannon Dingle

Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick

Length: 5 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

For all women looking to find “hope in a hopeless world and bravery in an age that seems to lack it” comes a searing memoir by Shannon Dingle, a writer and disability advocate who has navigated loss, trauma, abuse, spiritual reawakening, and deep pain - and come out the other side still hopeful.

Shannon Dingle has experienced more than her fair share of tragedy and trauma in her life, including surviving sexual abuse and trafficking as a child that left her with lasting disabilities and experiencing faith shifts that put her at odds with the evangelical church that had been her home. Then, in July 2019, Shannon’s husband was tragically killed by a rogue wave while the family was on vacation. The grief of the aftermath of losing her love and life partner sits at the heart of Living Brave, where Shannon’s searing, raw prose, illustrates what it looks like to take brave steps on the other side of unimaginable loss.

Through each challenge, she reveals the ways she learned to walk through them to the other side, and find courage even through the darkest moments. Living Brave gives women permission to wrestle with difficult topics, to use their voice, to take a stand for justice, to honor the wisdom of their bodies, and to enact change from a place of strong faith. 

©2021 Shannon Dingle (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

A Brave Memoir and Guidebook Through Pain and Loss.

I just finished the book. It’s an avowal to love, faith and hope. It’s also really funny and heartbreaking. Just like grief itself, Shannon’s story is a journey through hurt, pain, unbearable betrayal and unbearable loss. But her heart is wide open in helping to guide us toward a life of Living Brave.

Vulnerable and though provoking!

This book had me in tears within the first 3min. Shannon's words are so brave and powerful. Her analysis of grief, trauma, and life events are truly thought provoking. Was hoping that this would be narrated by the author, however I do think Jaime did a good job.

A lesson in living

Not many people have lived such a life as this. I’ve seen reviews where people have suggested it jumps around and needed a professional editor… well it does seem to jump around but each chapter has a theme. It’s not a linear biography. It’s raw. It’s uncomfortable. It’s honest. And if after you finished your complaint is it’s not polished and shiny you may not be a person that needed this book.
As someone who has had different traumatic events in my lifetime (I’m 62) I felt all the emotions and really needed the permission to feel my grief in what I call my hell month because of losses of several family members I’ve experienced in this month over the years starting in 1982.
You may not like Shannon’s mantras or her bible quotes (another negative comment I saw in reviews) but this is her journey, her way and what she’s learned in therapy and her religion is part of that journey.
If you want to learn about a person’s resilience under the toughest circumstances and how she’s still battling to Live Brave this is the book for you. If you want perfectly crafted, grammatically correct, polished until it has no personality, tell all exposé then this is not it.

Lack of coherent context through out the book.

This is difficult to overly critique due to the writers bravery in coming through such a horrendous family situation. But I cannot get any clear context or time line through the book. It is not what I thought the book would be about after reading the book jacket. I thought it would follow Shannon's life story through chronologically, from childhood to adult. It jumps around a lot & then you're suddenly being read a bible excerpt or mantra to live by. I felt it was written just as you would sit & let your feelings pour from you. Hence an editor needed to pull this process together in a more structured way.