After reading the first few chapters of A Walk to Beautiful by Jimmy Wayne (a country western musician) I didn’t know if I wanted to keep reading. These chapters chronicle Jimmy’s early life and contain graphic descriptions of a man getting axed and sexual exploits of his mother. However, I kept reading since I was going to review this book. I am glad I did.
The rest of the book deals with Jimmy’s poor home life and
how he manages to become successful in spite of it. Jimmy’s mother was bi-polar
and shuffled him around to his grandfather’s house and back to hers. His mother
had many husbands and live-in boyfriends. Most of these men treated Jimmy
poorly and were horrible role models. Many times Jimmy and his sister were
hungry, sometimes only getting food at school.
After being abandoned again (several times by his mother)
Jimmy ends up in foster care. In the first foster care environment he is not
treated kindly. In another he fares better but isn’t allowed to stay there very
long. After fending for himself as a child and teen a friendly elderly couple
finally take him under their wing.
Jimmy flourishes in this loving home. He is able to allow
his love of music to grow and eventually joins a band. This gives him a taste
of what show business is like. He eventually makes his way to Nashville to
become a songwriter and singer. He experiences success to the point of opening
for Brad Paisley at Madison Square Garden.
The last part of the book focuses on Jimmy’s “Walk to
Beautiful”. He decides to walk from Nashville to Arizona to spread the word
about foster care. He has many people support him on his walk. They offer him food, shelter and
companionship. It took Jimmy 213 days to make the walk. Because of his walk and
the attention it drew, laws dealing with foster care in many states were
changed for the better.
This turned out to be a very inspirational read. I was impressed by Jimmy’s grit as a child
and his spirit as an adult. If you need a story to give you a lift, this will
do it!
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