Book Review: She Got Up Off the Couch

If you've read A Girl Named Zippy and craved more of Mooreland, Indiana, you've been saved. She Got Up Off the Couch is Haven Kimmel's gift to anyone ready for a laugh. The book is the continuing story of her mother, who in Zippy, lived on the couch most of the sad, poverty-stricken days. And now she's up and Zippy is telling the story of those transforming years through the eyes of a pre-teen, with all of her hilarity and scars. While the mother is the inspiration for the story, Kimmel is also telling us more about the people in Mooreland, as well as her siblings and father. I found that after reading this and then Okay For Now in the same week, I wanted the dads who were dragging their poor families down to be villainized and removed from the families that were trying their best. After all, if they're not, why should they be allowed to stay with these other great people who are? However, upon reflection and learning and doing some mental sorting, I have decided that's not very Christian of me and the point is, try your hardest and see if that example can't bring someone else up by their shoestrings.  Assuming their shoes have strings, of course.