Date:                         12-16-10

Title:                          Peace from Broken Pieces

Author:                     Iyanla Vanzant

ISBN 10:                   1401928226

ISBN 13:                   978-1401928223

Pages:                       280

Publisher:                Smiley Books

Cover:                       Kindle Edition – E-book

Reviewer:                Yolanda M, Johnson-Bryant– Literary Wonders! (www.literarywonders.com)

Rating:                      4 Stars

             It has been a while since we’ve heard from best-selling author Iyanla Vanzant. In her recent release, Peace from Broken Pieces, Ms. Vanzant gets real and personal. Piece from Broken Pieces is Iyanla Vanzant’s most intimate book that I have read, to date.

            In Piece from Broken Pieces, the author takes her readers on a decade journey of her life, from Oprah to the death of her dear daughter Gemmia. During this time, Ms. Vanzant reveals many heart aches, obstacle and triumphs as she, an adult woman, trying to find herself and rid herself of her childhood haunts.

            I was immediately drawn into the book as I always am. Each book that I’ve read from the author has helped me to get through certain bad periods of my life and encouraged me to continue to fight.

In Peace from Broken Pieces, the reader is able to understand in simple terms the generational curses that men and women continue to fuel and pass on to their children and grandchildren, thus making the cycle difficult to dissolve.

This book will cause many of its readers to re-evaluate the choices they make in their lives, especially those they choose for life mates.

I did, at some point, find myself comparing Ms. Vanzant  to Minister Juanita Bynum’s struggle with herself and God to receive the lesson that the building of her empire was not for her glory or self-gratification but for the building of the kingdom and to help others. I was eventually pleased with Gemmia’s message to her mother that the physical does not matter.

I was deeply saddened by the humility that this author had to endure between Oprah and The Iyanla Show as well as the guilt the she endured when her daughter Gemmia was diagnosed with cancer.

I know without a doubt that my heart would be broken if something were to happen to one of my children but I cannot even begin to pretend to know what Ms. Vanzant went through during her daughter’s illness.

I feel that although Ms. Vanzant may have experienced a sense of relief once her daughter transitioned and no longer had to suffer, with the realizations and “aha moments” that Ms. Iyanla experienced, coming a long way in her journey, she does have a long road ahead of her to receive complete healing and self-discovery.

I look forward to the next title from this author, as I feel all the work I have read by her has some kind of life lesson for everyone, including men. This is not just a book for women. Perhaps if men were to read this book, they, too, would realiz some of the generational curses that they carry forth and/or understand the curses that women carry forth, causing them to grow into broken vessels as they search for love, self and self-love.

As people, we tend to put those of a higher stature, income or public figure on pedestals or hold them to a higher standard, but Ms. Vanzant shows and proves that they too, are human. They are people who are just like you and I, with problems and insecurities just like you and I.

Although, in my opinion, Ms. Vanzant’s best work to date is “In The Meantime”, Peace from Broken Pieces is just as powerful.