Customer Reviews

Found Art: Discovering Beauty in Foreign Places

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
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I loved this book.

Found Art is the story of writer and soon-to-be mother, Leeana Tankersley, who also is the wife of a Navy Seal who keeps her moving...literally.

Just when she and her husband get settled in a new area, it's then time to fold-up-the-tent and move again; a life many soldiers' wives are likely accustomed to. She writes of days living in Bahrain in a conversational, contemporary, and refreshing voice, spending her days molding a life for herself in a strange land amongst strangers. She ends up having life lead the way instead, absent of plans.

Although the desert world of the Middle East is as foreign as east is to west, the culture awakens her soul like never before. The call to prayer amongst the Muslim world hits her heart like no sermon has ever done deepening her love of Jesus.

Most of the book paints an interesting picture of modern day Bahrain, but the book is more a story of personal growth and the author is a likable figure throughout. You feel her disconnect upon arriving in the Middle East then slowly see her transformation from stranger to reluctant resident to familiar native.

I like, in particular, the parts of the book in which she speaks of frustration: with herself; the perfectionism in our culture; and the pains of war. The words were raw and sad, but as with faith, very powerful.

Page 191: "Maybe someday, as I continue to heal from the shame that still revisits me at times, I will be healed enough to walk out to the shoreline and create something beautiful for myself and God without the fear of what others might think."

I think she has.

I had a mixed reaction to Found Art by Leeana Tankersley. On one hand I was drawn in by her beautiful and soulful descriptions of the "new" world around her. Her description of what Found Art is and why she could relate that to her ever changing life with her navy seal husband spoke volumes. The idea of Found Art...simply put...making something beautiful out of the things that have been discarded.

You could clearly see Leeana's love for her husband and her Lord as she continued her journey of self discovery. Every description, interaction and thought let you deeper into her soul and relationship with God. It was almost as if you were sneaking a peak into her very heart and soul. In Found Art she was not only finding the beauty of God around her but in herself. It was as if you were reading the journal of a very personal friend.

But it was that aspect that also led me to a different reaction. If you ever read the journal of a friend you know that there are times in life that seemrather mundane. At times in Found Art...I found myself glazing over the words she had written. While her descriptions were beautiful and sincere they were at times a bit too much. I wanted her to get to the point of her experience and not just the scenery around it.

I think the true beuaty of this book would be wholly appreciated by other wives and mothers of militray men. I applaud Leeana for her truth and desire to grow closer to God but did not feel completely moved or taken in by Found Art.

I could not put this book down! It is beautifully written, a moving memoir of dealing with change, God, marriage and oneself. Leeana is adept at communicating about the hidden places of the heart in a way that is palpable and memorable.

You'll get an insiders view about life overseas (the author's deployment with her Navy Seal husband to Bahrain). Leeana paints such vivid pictures of the smells and sights of exotic Bahrain along with all that churned in her soul during that time. You'll be transported to a different place as you read. During times in the desert (literally in Leeana's case), people can hear God in an all together different way.

You don't have to be a military wife and/or living overseas to relate to this memoir (although those readers will definitely enjoy this book). All of us have experienced change, felt out of place, wanted to be nearer to God - and the book touches all these tender places.

I cannot recommend this beautiful book enough! A great gift for yourself or a loved one.

What is unique about Found Art: Discovering Beauty in Foreign Places is that the focus is of the book is on the author's journey of the soul which so happens to coincide with her life as a Navy Seal wife. Here is not a book covered in camo or flags, but instead its beauty lies in deep self-reflection, healing and courage that would give any reader cause for inspiration. Leeana's technique is artful and refreshing, her story is masterfully woven.

When my husband went active duty, I said goodbye to a life of complacency and my faith has never been more challenged and subsequently rewarded. With each move I find each foot placed in two worlds, and with resolve I have to let go of the world I have come to know and love and in faith plunge into another unknown. With each deployment I have to surrender my "Isaac" to the altar knowing he was God's before he was mine. I, too, have found God in hidden and unexpected places, in the joys but more so in the struggles. Thank you Leeana for sharing your story and reminding me that we all have a story...a rich and beautiful story. Your book is truly a gift.

Benita Koeman

Founder, Operation We Are Here

Leena Tankersley gets married to a Navy SEAL husband and they are off to a very foreign land. I was very impressed with her honesty in how she describes her expectations of life, sometimes these aren't met, and the beauty she finds in her life. I was impressed with her steadfastness of a wife, whom shared her husband...feared for her husbands life. Because STeves missions were classified there were times she didn't really even know what he was up to. I admire how she moves into new life experiences not knowing where she fits, not knowing the culture or the language of how she should fit into new stages of life. But what she shares is so important. She knows that whatever we are going through it won't last forever, whether it is confusion, sadness, anger, love, or the new stages of motherhood. She seems very wise at a young age, and again seems to write in a honest but realistic storyteller manner. I think this book would suite anyone really well, but I imagine it especially speaks to the wives out there of men defending our freedom. I can't imagine the sacrifice, but I really appreciate how she shares how she has managed to fit into her new life experiences. I would highly recommend this book. It is a great book for a weekend or a time in ones life when you feel the need to be moved.

Leeana Tankersley's Found Art has been a pleasant & joyful surprise for me. Her thoughtful, inspiring reflections on life's stressful challenges, particulary one's like a new marriage & time spent in a foreign land, have been perfect for me when a quiet, meditative moment was just the thing I needed as a break from a busy & hectic day (whenever things get stressed, it always helps to know that there are others who have felt burdened in their life from time to time.) A wonderful gift if you know someone who could use a bit of insightful reflection, every now & again.

I had this book recommended to me by a friend who knows that I have been experiencing some personal growth opportunities....and I ordered it. I received it TODAY, and I finished it TODAY......some 8-10 hours later. It was well written, interesting and REAL. It was refreshing to see that someone else has gone through this, and as someone who has spent much time in India, and never really understanding what had happened to me while I was there....and Leeana summed it up and brought perspective to me. WOW.....for that alone the book was worth it! I am looking forward to going through the study guide and questions at the back, but, for now, I am tired....

Rarely do I pick up a book and read until completion....this was one of them.

Art knows no form. "Found Art: Discovering Beauty in Foreign Places" is the artistic memoir of the wife of a Navy SEAL as she reflects on her journeys through the world alongside her husband. Offering many poignant ideas, drawing on the elegance that she often sees in the plainest of things, her words offer much to the discussion. "Found Art: Discovering Beauty in Foreign Places" is a top pick for memoir collections that focus on world travel.

Leeana gives us amazing vulnerability and insights! This book will help you discover the beauty of your own soul. Let it sink in and illuminate the dark parts of your life that need new color and shape, there is beauty there.

In the introduction, the author tries to explain the origins of found art: "a genre of art that started umpteen years ago with a guy in New York who took a urinal and cleverly refashioned it into a fountain." She is, I think, referring to Marcel Duchamp, who is generally credited with creating the first readymade in 1913 with his Bicycle Wheel. The urinal came about four years later, and it was not turned into a fountain. Rather, it was named Fountain. Of course, I am quibbling since the book's focus is not the art world but the author's life. Still, this point bothered me. That description struck me as both lazy and inaccurate, and it weakened my faith in the book as a whole.

I did read the whole thing, though, and I found little here to interest me. The book deals with Leeana Tankersley's life to date, an admittedly interesting life that has taken her as the wife of a Navy SEAL to Bahrain and back. Along the way, Tankersley, a graduate of Liberty University struggles often with her faith. She is honest about her doubts, her anger, and her questions, all of which are eminently reasonable under the circumstances of being drawn half way around the world because of the fighting in Iraq.

All of this could have been fascinating in more capable hands. But I never had the sense that this author was someone from whom I should be learning. The lessons often seemed naive, and the book suffered by comparison. As books on military spouses go, this one is far behind Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives. As for religious books, there are numerous texts that I would recommend before this, including C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed. And I cannot help but compare this book, written by a Liberty alumna, to Kevin Roose's tale of his year at Liberty, a much more interesting and better written book.

Two points at the end of the book struck me. I had no real sense of what Tankersley thought about the war in Iraq, and I did not have a real sense of Bahrain. I do not mean to condemn too harshly, but "Found Art" is a book that alternates between genuine and thoroughly honest questioning on the one hand and sententiousness on the other. I thought the book refreshingly naive in the first part and too naive in the second.