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Walk Like You Have Somewhere To Go

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The title of this book caught my attention immediately and I decided to review "Walk Like You Have Somewhere To Go" by Lucille O'Neal with Allison Samuels. Lucille O'Neal is the mother of sport icon Shaquille O'Neal and in this book she shares her life in a very organic way. This book will grasp your attention very quickly. The writing style and the size of each chapter are perfect. Two thumbs up to Allison Samuel for her excellent work.

This book tells her story and shows the process she went through to change "From Mental Welfare to Mental Health". I think we can all relate to her story because she not only shares the facts of her life, she also open her heart in a very sincere way. Her story is very inspiring and gives insight into social, moral & cultural issues. One of the stories that really impacted me was the one she shares in chapter 6 about Rev. Hartsfield and how this spiritual leader has impacted her life until these day. You will have to read it to know what I mean.

I'm very glad I picked this book to review and I hope you get the chance to read it as well.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their 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 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go by Lucille O'Neal, with Allison Samuels

I got this book free from BookSneeze, to read and then to review... I chose this book because I enjoy reading auto-biographies about a variety of people, even those I didn't know of before.

Her story:

Lucille O'Neal is the mother of Shaquille O'Neal, the great basketball star... so, of course, she shares some of what Shaquille's early days playing ball were like, and what it is like to be the mother of a star.

Ms. O'Neal has been through teenage pregnancies (her own and her daughter's), addiction, divorce, and so much more, and she shares, openly, about all of those in this book.

What I didn't like about this book:

I don't think that Lucille and I would get along if we were to come into contact with each other. She seems proud, strict, a bit bitter... just not the type of person that I admire. Lucille spent the majority of this book complaining about the life that she has lived through.

I thought that it was very unprofessional (and completely unrelated) for Ms. O'Neal to, twice, share her anger at former president Ronald Reagan for welfare programs that he had gotten rid of while he was in office - as long as I am on that subject, I disagree with Ms. O'Neal, go Reagan! :)

The writing:

One thing that I did like about this book was the way that it was written. The chapters were short and easy to get through. It was written in a way that kept me reading, and I finished it in just a few days.

My conclusion:

I don't really recommend this book for any reason, there is nothing great about it. You can find a better auto-biography about someone else.

Lucille, the product of a broken home, found it difficult to find her footing in life. She ran with the wrong crowd, and eventually wound up pregnant during her senior year in high school. Her first child, Shaquille, turned her life around and gave Lucille the wherewithal to get her life on track, despite the drug problems of Shaq's biological father.

Lucille went on to marry a man who made a good life for her and her children, but who left her empty inside. She took up drinking as a past time as the family moved from military base to military base. She and her husband, Phil, would get into alcohol fueled fights. This pattern went on for years until Lucille's mother started to suffer from poor health. It was around that time that Lucille began to reconnect with God. It was also around that time that she decided to go back to school. Despite her husband's resistance, Lucille enrolled in college and graduated four years later. In that four year span, her daughter faced health issues, she repaired her relationship with her father, she got divorced from Phil, and Shaquille's career rocketed withe the Los Angeles Lakers.

I put the book down thinking that O'Neal could have delved a bit more into the topics that she presented. The book was more a broad overview of her life and the challenges she faced over the course of five decades. Had she explored her feelings of inadequacy, religion, and marriage that she struggled with it could have been a guidepost for others wrestling with these issues in their own lives. While O'Neal's honest accounting of her life was a valiant effort , I couldn't help but to feel that she still held back a bit and that she is still in the process of personal growth. There is no denying that her story is inspirational and her journey has indeed been one that has taken her from the inner city to around the world. Her legacy is not just in giving the world a top basketball player, but in the positive message of hope that she leaves with the world.

This is a review on the book, "Walk like you have somewhere to go." It is a great book that I would recommendment to people of all age groups to read. Especially to those who feel like they are going through alot of hardships in life. It's full of encouraging stories from Lucille O'Neal, the famous NBA basketball player Shaquille O'Neal's mother. It go back to when she was a rebellious teenager, to being a single mother, a wife, a college student, a divorcee and above all a conquerer! I love how this book makes me laugh and sometimes makes me cry. As I was reading, I found that I can't put it down. She shares with us her struggles and disappointments along with her sweetest memories and proudest accomplishment. She's a very humble person. From this book I was able to see how God could amazingly use the suffering in our lives to bless us and how we has a plan for us, all of us. The most important thing, I learned from this book is how enduring suffering has the power and ability to makes us stronger, better, more Godly people. If you stop by a book store, check it out! It will encourage and empower your life as it has did in mine.

Shaquille O'Neal's mom is the writer of this book and she does a great job.
There are 33 interesting chapters in this book.
She has had a very hard upbringing and talks about it a lot throughout the book.
Her famous son is mentioned throughout as well.
We get a clear sense of what life was like for her and for her son and how they've adapted to their new found fame and fortune over the years.

It was an interesting read and if you are into stories about overcoming hardships and happy endings then this book might be of interest to you.

I enjoyed it thoroughly. Give it a chance.

This book was filled with practical advice about life, family, love, motherhood, and the importance of a relationship with God. Lucille O'Neal provided a relatively unobstructed look at her life experiences and shared her wisdom acquired from the school of hardknocks. Her book is filled with practical, easy-to-understand advice that any person, but especially women, can apply to their own life situations. I found this book to be an easy read, that held my interest and seemingly made me want to know more about the writer. The emphasis on God's ever-present love and what clearly became her realization that education was the key to taking control of her life added a refreshing perspective. Additionally, the author consistently emphasized the importance of family and a firm foundation of love throughout the book. The title caught my attention right from the start because it seemed to imply that one's life should be approached with a sense of urgency. I enjoyed reading this book because it was generally well-written and provided an opportunity to see the essence of the soul of the author. Thank you, Lucille O'Neal for sharing a portion of your life in words. I received this book free from BookSneeze to read and review.

I am not a basketball fan. So it's a good thing this book had little to do with basketball. Lucille O'Neal writes about her life growing up with divorced parents, living with her grandparents, and having a not-so-wonderful childhood.

She also shares the joys and fears of her son Shaquille's rise to fame and fortune.
I really enjoyed reading about Lucille's life. She is a wonderful story-teller. It was fascinating to see a mother's reaction to her son getting rich and famous almost overnight.

The only thing that kind of annoyed me about this book is that, in my opinion, many of the chapter titles didn't mesh well with the content of the chapters. It was a bit confusing at times.

Lucille is an inspiring woman by anyone's standards. She fought the stigma of poverty growing up, and she conquered a lifetime addiction to alcohol. Her faith is the only thing that kept her grounded throughout her entire life. She went on to finish college after she was 40 years old, and got two degrees.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their [...] 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: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Lucille O'Neal is most famous for being Shaq's mom, but her autobiography, "Walk Like You Have Somewhere To Go," is mostly about her own story. She takes her readers through her childhood, which included a broken home; her teen years, which included being a single mom to Shaquille; her young adult years, which included marriage, being a military wife, and having three more babies; and adulthood, which included Shaq's move to the NBA, their family's move from rags to riches, her earning her college degree, and eventually divorcing her husband. Throughout it all, Ms. O'Neal describes her struggles with alcohol and dealing with broken family relationships. Her mother was a great influence in her life, and Ms. O'Neal gives her the credit for helping her build a foundation of faith, which wavered greatly over the years.

Although I learned some interesting trivia about Shaq (ex: His name means "little one"!) and found Ms. O'Neal's story to be somewhat interesting, I did not at all feel inspired by her story. In truth, I felt that her son's prosperity, not her "regained faith," is what gave her the freedom and confidence of which she boasts. (To her credit, this is very understandable.) A verse of Scripture is posted at the beginning of each chapter, and it just seems very forced and unrelated, in my opinion.

The story seems a bit slow at times and seems to jump around, but I appreciate the fact that it is told in Ms. O'Neal's own words and tone. Allison Samuels, who helped Ms. O'Neal with the writing, did a great job of letting Ms. O'Neal's voice be heard. I felt like I was sitting in her living room and just listening to her tell her story. And with the addition of family photographs sprinkled throughout the book, the story held my interest and helped me to picture the characters in her story.

Overall, this book is a fairly interesting but not a very inspiring read.



[...] of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger 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: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Lucille O'Neal exhibits quite a lovable personality as you journey through her book, Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go. However, the book is not without its flaws. As I read through the first third of the book, I felt weighed down with a strange sense of despondency and gloom as "Big Lou" detailed the events of her early life. I wasn't enjoying the book, but couldn't quite put my finger on the reason. Then, on page 103, O'Neal's mother hit the nail on the head as she said, "Lou, stop being so pitiful". I agree! It was almost painful to read page after page of O'Neal's complaining about her less than rosy upbringing. However, by the middle of the book, her writing style seemed to take a turn for the better as she began to narrow in on what exactly was making her feel so miserable.

Though this was marketed primarily as a book about Shaq's mother, the famous basketball player was very much a secondary character in this memoir, which I found very refreshing (especially after his use of "LOL" in the preface - are you kidding!?) By the time I turned the last page, I felt like she had painted a picture of her life with many important details, including all of her children, her parents, her siblings, and many other important figures in her life. A well rounded bunch of people.

As for the Christian aspect of this book, the Bible verses placed at the beginning of each seem perfunctory at best. It is not until the last chapter that you begin to feel Lucille has a genuine desire for a relationship with Christ. If Shaquille is a secondary character in this book, God is barely an "honorable mention". As I read over her cursory mentions of "God watching over" her life, I began to feel He was much more of a well placed prop than an actual guiding force.

Overall, this book on mental health was easy to read, but also easy to forget. Well suited for a day at the beach, but nothing beyond that.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their 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 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

In receiving the book, " Walk Like You have somewhere to Go" by Lucille O'Neal , with Allison Samuels,
I was immediately drawn to the cosmetic look of the front color - the boldness of colors, and the wonderful picture of Lucille O'Neal.. I was intrigued also by the caption below ," From Mental Welfare to Mental Health " because of my working prior , in the Mental Health system .

To be honest, I was expecting more about Ms O'Neal's basketball son, Shaquille , in the book. Being a basketball fan, I was hoping she would talk more about his life , And, although I was surprised there wasn't more , I was pleasantly surprised at the candidness she shared about her upbringing, unplanned pregnancy, and her raising her children .

I was disappointed in the photos within the book , however. They appeared , cosmetically " grainy" but that could be because of the time in which they were taken. But , I thought each photo developed more character to the writing that was done surrounding each photo. They added interest, and personalized even further, the life of Lucille and her family.

A good read.. an easy read.. a bit " preachy" at times perhaps to those whom might not like to read about God, and faith , but this is her life, and it is, what it is.. I do recommend it for sure if you like to read honest and transparency of a writer, through the hard times, and the good times ..

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their [...] 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 <[...]> : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."