Music Has Legs grabbed my heart with the introduction of the storytellers.
I just couldn't put it down. It's been a while since a book held my attention so tightly I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading it cover to cover.
Artfully written, the story is a biography of Juan Manuel Pineda as seen through the eyes and experiences of those around him. However, it is really 4 stories told in tandem.
This is an account of how God is able to use others to fulfill His plan. How, when we say yes to caring for others, regardless of our own circumstances, He makes the impossible possible.
Authors, Haznew and Byrne, crafted a captivating walk through thoughts and reactions, each person's perspective adding incite and revealing the pain Juan experienced during his formative years.
This book is not pity-porn. Instead, it honestly shares real human emotions, reactions, and hopes. I was drawn by each individual's movement through the relationships, making decisions, and interacting with one another. I was about halfway through the story when I realized there is no first-person account from the main character, Juan.
The stories Father Ron, Marlene, Samuel, and Juan consumed me. I wanted to see if Juan arrived at a state of gratitude. I cheered him along for his sake and for my own. I needed the assurance that our human experience and reactions can change, given enough time.
Father Ron (now Bishop Ron Hicks) understood how hard it was for both Juan and Samuel to arrive at being grateful. He prayed hard and sought help to fill in the spaces he was unable to fill. I stand in awe of how people just step up, giving their time and their money, welcoming strangers into their homes without expectation of compensation, using their personal and professional connections to provide means never even imagined.
I am grateful to know all their stories, have a deeper appreciation for the work of our Church with the vulnerable children in Central and South America, and am inspired to look for ways I can help vulnerable people in my immediate area, not from a place of pity, but from the same sense of community I felt found permeating the stories.
If you, too, are interested in being captivated and changed by Music Has Legs, I have a copy to share with the first reader to reach out to me via email. ninacrutchfield@gmail.com
The book can be purchased on Amazon for $14.95 and the ebook is available for free if you subscribe to KindleUnlimited through Amazon.
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