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Reviewed by Bruce Arrington for Readers' Favorite
The Missionary Kid…Talks by Ted Garrison is the story of the author who grew up as a missionary kid, mostly in India. His father tried to kill his mother before he was even born, and he was brought up in a very dysfunctional family that taught religious extremism. The results are what we see in this memoir, both sad and unfortunate. I’ve often observed the extreme pressure placed on the children of pastors and missionaries as I grew up in the church, even though the lives of missionaries are often romanticized. Their ‘picture perfect’ portrayal is thought necessary to help establish and maintain the integrity of the parents in the eyes of people, who are often quick to judge if they see anything amiss with the children. Add to this a dysfunctional family, losing your brother who is sent far away, and yourself being sent to a boarding school, and you have an interesting life ahead of you. Most of it is not good.
I appreciate how candid the author is with the experiences in his life, and how he tried to fight, though often in vain, the religious extremism that was inculcated into him. I also thought the concept of third culture personality disorder was a good point in all this; how when children from a different country enter a new one, they have little or no ties with their homeland. It is apparent that the author still struggles with what happened to him growing up. I see this book as a fair warning to those who blindly follow religious cultures and teachings without stopping to consider the deep and lasting impact those choices will have on the next generation. The Missionary Kid…Talks by Ted Garrison is a recommended read for adults.
