Rise: How a House Built a Family: How a House Built a Family

by Cara Brookins

Overview

If you were inspired by Wild and Eat, Pray, Love, you’ll love this extraordinary true story of a woman taking the greatest risk of her life in order to heal from the unthinkable.

After escaping an abusive marriage, Cara Brookins had four children to provide for and no one to turn to but herself. In desperate need of a home but without the means to buy one, she did something incredible.

Equipped only with YouTube instructional videos, a small bank loan and a mile-wide stubborn streak, Cara built her own house from the foundation up with a work crew made up of her four children.

It would be the hardest thing she had ever done. With no experience nailing together anything bigger than a bookshelf, she and her kids poured concrete, framed the walls and laid bricks for their two story, five bedroom house. She had convinced herself that if they could build a house, they could rebuild their broken family.

This must-read memoir traces one family’s rise from battered victims to stronger, better versions of themselves, all through one extraordinary do-it-yourself project.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250095664
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/24/2017
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

CARA BROOKINS is a computer analyst and social media marketing expert based in Little Rock. She is the author of several middle grade and young adult novels. Rise is her debut memoir.

Table of Contents

1 Rise A House 1

2 Fall Bad Habits 3

3 Rise Sticks and Stones 12

4 Fall What I Learned in First Grade 33

5 Rise Truth Tellers 38

6 Fall Coffee with Cream 52

7 Rise Plan B Is for Sissies 58

8 Fall Black, White, and Gray 79

9 Rise Shop Not Shopping 92

10 Fall Karma Points 112

11 Rise Sounds Easy 123

12 Fall The Art of War 143

13 Rise A Little to the Left 152

14 Fall Loyalty Won't Save You 169

15 Rise One Cookie at a Time 176

16 Fall Firefighters Have Hoses 194

17 Rise What Is Down Must Go Up 200

18 Fall Hear the Words I Mean 218

19 Rise I Am My Plumber 225

20 Fall Down by the River 246

21 Rise Glue Me Back Together 255

22 Fall Aiming True 273

23 Rise Scramble to the Finish 285

24 Fall and Rise: You Built Your Own Damn House 302

Acknowledgments 309

Editorial Reviews

08/08/2016
In this honest, tough memoir, Brooking documents how building a home for herself and her four children created a pathway out of domestic abuse and into a new life. One of her husbands suffered from schizophrenia; her next husband drank heavily, used drugs, and, within a few months of their wedding, began abusing the author. Brookings, a computer analyst based in Little Rock, Ark., calls herself an optimist, noting she always “believed things would get better.” Brookings, as well as her children, lived in fear even after the author’s divorce. Selling the family home was a financial necessity. During a family outing over Thanksgiving, Brookings spots her dream home. Though recently ravaged by a tornado, the once “regal and very Southern home” plants a seed in her consciousness. “Why couldn’t I build a house?” The narrative alternates between describing the fear her children and the author lived with for years with the complications and rewards of building a home from the ground up with no experience. Brookings finds land, obtains a loan, and sets out with the help of her four children to build their new home in nine months. Brookings deftly narrates the extreme learning curve the family experienced during the construction process, while putting a family back together again. Agent, Jessica Papin; Dystel & Goderich Literary. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

An inspiring memoir of absolute determination.” —Kirkus Reviews

"This rousing memoir beautifully illustrates how one family can look apprehension dead in the eye and scoff at it. For readers looking for inspiration to accomplish a daunting task, they need look no further than Brookins’ highly engaging and encouraging book." —Booklist

"A tough, honest memoir. Brookins deftly narrates the extreme learning curve her family experienced while putting a family back together again." —Publishers Weekly

"Cara Brookins did something remarkable with her life: She turned trauma into power and fear into courage. She refused to be a victim anymore. In powerful ways, her extraordinary memoir, Rise, tells the story of her resurrection from victim of domestic abuse to bad-ass mom with a hammer and carpenter’s square. You will be enlightened. You will be inspired. You will cheer her on as she builds a new home and a new life for herself and her four children — one brick at a time." — John Grogan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Marley & Me

"If Rise were a novel, the plot—woman escapes domestic violence to build her own house, assisted only by her children and YouTube videos—would seem impossibly far-fetched. But Cara Brookins actually lived this story, and reading her account of it slowly filled me to the brim with admiration, hope, and belief that a determined human can do practically anything. Rise is a compelling story, lovingly told, that will uplift and inspire readers whatever their circumstances." — Martha Beck, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Your Own North Star

"Sometimes the universe puts us in a bad place and dares us to fight our way out. Cara Brookins did just this. We should all be as strong as her. This book will provide the powerful imagery and guidance for a generation of people who need to change their lives." — Tom Hart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rosalie Lightning

"This inspiring real-life story that's all the more amazing because it's true. Readers will be both spellbound and lifted by it." —David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author

"Telling a story like Rise takes guts. It also takes talent, which Cara has in spades. To paraphrase Sondheim, she made a house, where there never was a house. And then she wrote this memorable book about it. Believe me, it's pretty rare for those skill sets to overlap." —Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of After I'm Gone

"Readers will be torn between believing Cara is a one-of-a-kind hero, and that anyone can be. At once heartbreaking and deeply inspiring, in Rise, Cara proves to herself, her children, and the rest of the world that strength comes from within and can be rebuilt, brick by brick. —Hilary Liftin, co-author of the New York Times bestseller sTORI Telling

"It has been a very long time since I have read a book as singular and as profoundly moving as Rise. Rise, by turns daunting and uplifting, gives new meaning to the concepts of heroism and sacrifice, and it is a remarkable construct in itself." —Les Standiford, author of Water to the Angels

"An uplifting story of resilience." —Real Simple Magazine

"Rise takes readers along on a transformative journey...all readers can find inspiration in Brookins’ endeavor." —BookPage

From the Publisher

2016-11-09
A memoir of a mother and her children building a house—and security—from the ground up.Throughout her uplifting book, Brookins, a computer analyst, social media marketing expert, and author of middle-grade and young-adult novels (Gadget Geeks, 2015, etc.), consistently displays her relentless optimism. The author begins with the birth of her first child when she was 19. A child of divorce and married at 18, Brookins was confident that she could carry her child—soon to be children—away from the romantic problems that plagued her. These relationships were hobbled by various factors, including schizophrenia, drugs, and, finally, abuse. Brookins successfully extricated herself from her partner's abuse, but the trauma and anxiety of his return, along with financial hardship, left Brookins with no choice but to move on. Unsure of what to do next, the author eventually hit on the idea of building a house with her children. "The idea of building our own home was not born out of boredom," she writes, "but rose as the only possible way to rebuild my shattered family while we worked through the shock waves of domestic violence and mental illness. The dangers of our past were more difficult to leave behind than we ever imagined." Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, Brookins and her children waded into battle repeatedly, measuring, ordering, hammering, pouring concrete, and pulling apart finished work to put it back together again only to find the one thing they had counted on going right had gone wrong. The author occasionally characterizes her children in ways that make them seem like caricatures rather than individuals trying to work through the instability and uncertainty. However, when she turns the focus on their work, Brookins draws a compelling picture of overcoming adversity and battling against problems from the past that continued to threaten the new life they built.Not without its flaws but an inspiring memoir of absolute determination.

Kirkus Reviews