First Chapter Review: Stumbling into Happiness by Michael Schoenhofer

The author of this self-published memoir contacted me to review the first chapter.

BLURB:  The true story of how, as a young priest is sent to Zimbabwe, falls in love and finally finds himself and happiness. He doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into—but finds himself on a journey that goes far beyond anything he could have expected.

Tasked with building a mission from the ground up—literally—Mike Schoenhofer quickly realizes that he still has a lot to learn about life, work, and love. In a totally unfamiliar place, with an unfamiliar people, Mike has to learn a new language, a new culture, and connect with the Tonga people, while managing his own difficult team. But even as the success of the mission grows, and the Tongas embrace him as one of their own, he still feels something is missing. When he meets a pretty, funny young nun, he is finally forced to re-examine everything he’s believed, including his own struggle with his commitment to the priesthood.

Part adventure, part romance, part coming-of-age, author Michael Schoenhofer takes readers on his journey through the often funny, sometimes painful, and totally relatable tale of how he finally stumbled into happiness.

Stumbling Into Happiness has the self-discovery and adventure of Cheryl's Strayed's Wild and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love. Each memoirist is on a journey to find herself, and traveling to unfamiliar places and shaking up their lives in a huge way is the catalyst to soul-searching and self-discovery that sets them down a new path. What sets Stumbling into Happiness apart is the added layer of struggle with religious faith, and more significantly, that it's told by a male narrator. The religious theme could be played up or down, depending on the market we decided to focus on. In any case, our main character Mike Schoenhofer is a likable, honest narrator sharing a universal story - the search for self, and the search for happiness, a common human goal whether the searcher is a recent divorcee or a young priest not sure he made the right choice by entering the clergy. Schoenhofer's easy, detailed but passionate prose has a Garrison Keillor-like appeal.

COVER: Smart choice because it is of the couple and speaks to the places he's been.

FIRST CHAPTER: The reader meets Michael Schoenhofer, who even before taking his vows was doubtful of his commitment to the priesthood, and whose life is about to change when he finds himself chosen to go on a mission trip to Africa.

KEEP READING: Definitely. While I believe an editor could trim up this first chapter so it has less backstory, overall the opening chapter reads well and ends in a way that encourages the reader to continue. The story is fascinating in many aspects and will be of interest to those who like to read about romance, adventure, and figuring out this thing called life.

I received a copy of the first chapter from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Book Spotlight: Sorrows & Songs by Janice Wood Wetzel

In words as clear and sharp as cut crystal glass, the memoir Sorrows & Songs: One Lifetime – Many Lives unflinchingly tells the story of a bright, beautiful, and promising young child who forged towards a fully realized life in spite of years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her parents and pervasive society-wide gender discrimination.

Through her account, Janice Wood Wetzel shares a range of experiences in the context of her life and times – a Depression-era childhood, World War II, a teen pregnancy and miscarriage, a 20-year marriage that produced three much loved children but ultimately ended in divorce in her late 30s, the numbing social conformity that informed the ‘50s and early ‘60s, a mental health crisis in the form of depression, a stint in a psychiatric hospital, the suicide of her father, and soon thereafter, the tragic death of her mother, and a bout with alcoholism. Finally, the mid-1960s brought hope in the form of second-wave feminism, which enlightened the world and consequently changed the author’s life.

One by one, through quiet acts of bravery, Janice Wood Wetzel broke through sexist obstacles and emerged as a civil rights pioneer, a recognized feminist and human rights researcher, strategist, and advocate, as well as a United Nations nongovernmental representative, and a highly regarded professor and Dean of Social Work.

A successful life, yes. But at a price. From a painful crucible of dreams deferred and loves lost emerged both a life of many victories and a rewarding memoir.

Pages: 255
ISBN: 978-0-9968-3010-2
Available in Paperback $14.95 at http://sorrowsandsongs.com/buy-now
Available as an eBook $6.99 on Amazon / BN.com / Kobo / iTunes

Janice Wood Wetzel is a professor emerita and former dean of social work who has served as a United Nations nongovernmental representative in New York since 1988. She is a well-published international educator and researcher who specializes in the human rights, mental health, and advancement of women from a global perspective. The mother of three and grandmother of four, Janice has lived all over the United States. For the past 27 years, her home has been on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

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