Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely a Good Read for "Jesus Music" Fans, September 29, 2006
This review is from: My Second Chapter: The Matthew Ward Story (Paperback)
In the interest of full disclosure, I was a "sometimes" fan of the music of The 2nd Chapter of Acts (especially the early stuff), and promoted a concert with them and Barry McGuire in Central Ohio back in the mid-Seventies. In fact, Matthew stayed at my house when they were in town (as they were in the habit of doing in each town at the time). I was then, and remain today, a huge fan of his amazing singing voice. While I hadn't been following his career too closely over the past 15 years, it was still with great interest that I read this book (devouring it within a day, despite my busy schedule). If you were a fan of Christian music in the Seventies and Eighties, you know that things were very different then than they are today, and even within that musical subset, The 2nd Chapter of Acts was quite unique as a group. I knew some of their background, but the book gives a lot more infomation about their parents' deaths at an early age, and how Matt (and his sister Nellie) were shipped off to California to live with their older sister Annie and her new husband, Buck Herring. There is a very honest retelling of Matthew's sometimes difficult relationship with Buck, who was pretty controlling, and it's very interesting to see how the group came to be, and the history of how things developed over the next couple of decades. There is also a fairly in-depth account of Matt's frightening experience with cancer in the Nineties (which involved both surgery and chemo). I can't imagine that there's a huge audience out there for this book...you'd have to have been a fan of the band for it to make much sense. But I certainly enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend it to fans of the band from so many years ago.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unemotional and Unsatisfying Autobiography That Provides Few Interesting Stories, August 9, 2008
This review is from: My Second Chapter: The Matthew Ward Story (Paperback)
If you want to know more about Second Chapter of Acts you won't be satisfied with this minimal attempt by Ward to tell his life story. It's so disappointing that you can mostly skip the first 70 pages or so, which are filled with uneventful, typical childhood stories such as fighting with siblings or disobeying parents. Namely, this is boring and only for those dedicated fans who find it fascinating that he lied to his parents, ran away when he broke a window, or snuck drinks of beer when he was ten years old.
Even though you would think losing your parents as a pre-teen would provide significant insight into a person, Ward shows zero emotion as he just states the facts about his life. It's obvious from reading this that he does not share emotions easily. The few details he does share are incomplete--he mentions something about seeing his mom fall down the stairs but never finishes the story and mentions being withdrawn but says nothing other than "I was fending for myself when it came to issues of the heart. In some ways I began to live more like an animal than a human." Okay--how?
Even his Christian conversion story is stated so matter-of-fact in a sentence or two that you wonder if he actually recalls it at all. It's funny because in the preface he claims that he had to cut things out to keep it short! Why didn't he write about the worldwide adventures he claims to have left out for space reasons? Instead we get little bits and pieces of events but not much more than some bareboned facts and no emotion whatsoever.
He rudely makes fun of people, telling some nasty stories about his relatives and demeaning his California teachers. It's almost shocking to hear him make fun of a teacher with a paralyzed left arm. And these stories have no purpose to them other to just dredge up another uninteresting tidbit that keeps him from having to open up about his emotions.
The story of how they named the group is really dull and again barely worth mentioning. He then gives absolutely no details about recording their classic album "With Footnotes." Instead, he just mentions that they made it and then diverts the chapter to a story about how he first smoked Pot at 15 when he was a Christian and touring with the group!
Ward complains a lot in the book--its disconcerting to hear him put down concertgoers or families that they stayed with, complaining about being asked the same questions over and over. He also doesn't seem to realize what a great life he had in California--he went to the school of the Hollywood stars and lived in a mansion, yet manages to complain about those as well!
The only fire he shows is in his distain for Contemporary Christian music. He admits to loving secular rock. Yet he never explains his spiritual influence on his music. He attempts to finish the book with a little mention of God being the giver of his talent, but overall the book lacks much of a spiritual feel considering the three decades he has spent in music ministry.
There's an odd omission in the book--no pictures! Why wouldn't he put in photos of his parents, eight siblings or especially the brother-in-law who raised him (who is featured so much in the book)? He has made it very difficult to get to really know Matthew Ward.
There are other times in the book where his recollection is off. He claims that in the early '70s he was attending Latin Mass at the Catholic Church. But the mass changed to English around 1967 or so. He doesn't give the Catholic Church or nuns much credit for stimulating his interest in God, but the irony is that today this onetime Assemblies of God Pentacostal attends an Anglican church, which is about as close to Catholic as you can get!
There's probably an interesting story here to be told, but it should be done by an objective biographer since Ward can't seem to find much within himself to write about. I loved the group's music--but this book makes one realize that the person behind the music is very different from what he records.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not A Typical Biography, And That's What Makes It Great, May 30, 2009
This review is from: My Second Chapter: The Matthew Ward Story (Paperback)
This is not a typical auto-biography. That is one of the best things about this book.
I am the seventh reviewer of this book, and am currently the tie-breaker. The other six split evenly with five, four, and two star reviews. This book has reviews titled "Informative and Interesting" and "Unemotional and Unsatisfying Autobiography That Provides Few Interesting Stories". Obviously, you'll think one of those descriptions is wrong. I've seen a couple of other items where the ratings are fairly even between all five ratings, and on those I advise readers not to base a decision based on only one review. While this is similar, I feel this is different, because there are twice as many four and five star reviews (more than that if you count mine) as there are one and two reviews.
What makes this bio unique? There are no pictures in it. There is little reference to the recording and contents by Matthew either solo or with 2nd Chapter (though there's a little more of the former), as there is in the biographies of Keith Green ("No Compromise" by Melody Green) or Tori Amos ("Pretty Good Years" by Jay S. Jacobs). This is definitely not a tell-all book, and if it is in any capacity, it is telling on Matthew. Also, it is not straight chronological, but a little more thematic. True, like many other autobiographies (e.g. "Quiet Strength" by Tony Dungy), the first chapter is not the first one chronologically, because he's trying to create interest. But once you get past chapter three, the chapters are more thematic, than strictly time oriented. In addition, there are insets in most of the chapters, almost all telling about something in line with the chapter. (The exception is in his chapter about dealing with cancer, the inset lists other artists he collaborated with -- interesting and one I was glad to see, but not on subject with the chapter.)
One thing I like about this book is that Matthew does not portray himself as a super saint. The negative review stated above mentioned that Matthew made fun of a handicapped teacher. The full story is Matthew accounted of how he HAD (past tense) made fun of the teacher. First, this is Matthew pointing out his flaws, and second, this is consistent with Matthew being a class clown, which he admits to. If you read carefully, the truly negative comments he made about others were people he wouldn't name. On the other hand, he pointed out he butted heads with people (such as his brother-in-law Buck Herring) while at the same time making it seem like they simply disagreed. He also uses a lot of humor in this book, a large portion being self-depriciating.
The two negative reviews mentioned that Matthew preferred secular rock to CCM. But why? Simple -- he'd rather listen to good quality music he disagrees with lyrically than to lyrics he agrees with with inferior recording. He's an artist, not a clergyman, and so let's not fault him with that.
By the way, these comments were in his chapter on music. He is right on target -- that there are Christians in music who have not been called to that ministry, who are entertainers first and ministers second. He hits the nail on the head in this chapter, and while you may not agree with his selection of music to listen to, you can understand why he feels that way.
I am speaking here for myself, but I could see a kindred spirit in Matthew. I could relate to his being a class clown. Also, after he described his experiences with Prozak, I know I never want to take it myself -- it would drive my wife crazy!
Some people are disappointed. I'm not. Matthew should be applauded -- he did this by himself (no word about a co-author or "as told to"). One person found Matthew's stories uninteresting -- that is his opinion, which I completely disagree with. Matthew is great at telling stories. Besides the music chapter, his chapter on road stories was great.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
