Part Of My World: What I’ve Learned From The Little Mermaid about Love, Faith, and Finding My Voice

Today I finished reading “Part Of My World: What I’ve Learned from The Little Mermaid about Love Faith, and Finding My Voice,” through Netgalley. Not only is this book for Disney fans its also part memoir part Christian Inspirational. Jodi talks about the highs and lows of her life and that no matter what life threw at her, she still kept her faith in God and credits him for her career. I even found out some facts I didn’t know about Jodi.

Pros

I found out some amazing facts about Jodi. One was she never thought she could or would do voice acting but God had other plans after the Broadway show Smile didn’t do so well. I also thought the story of how her and her now husband Ray Benson met was sweet. It was also interesting that Jodi auditioned to voice Belle in Beauty and the Beast but her best friend Paige O Hara had gotten the part as we know now. I also had no idea they almost didn’t use the iconic song Part Of Your World in Little Mermaid because in the test screening didn’t keep every child’s attention. Part Of Your World is an “I Want” song where the main character longs for something and you want to see that character get it.  Reading this book you can tell Jodi Benson is very humble she credits God and the people who helped her become who she is. Many in Hollywood get big egos forgetting who helped get them where they are in the first place. I also wanted to hug her at certain points when she was suffering with the loss of Howard Ashman, her niece and miscarriages.  Despite all of Jodi’s suffering she kept her faith in God even when she didn’t understand why things happened the way they did.

Cons

There wasn’t much that I disliked. I did feel some parts seemed repetitive here and there but I cut her slack since she is not an author. Also depending on which denomination of Christianity you belong to, Jodi says something many especially Catholics like me would disagree with her on. I won’t go into detail because there is already too much debate and no longer the “agree to disagree” attitude when it comes to religion, politics or even the most mundane of topics.

Overall

Overall it’s a wonderful memoir. I wasn’t expecting it to be Christian inspiration mixed with Disney and a memoir. It’s different because it seems faith in God isn’t as important as it was decades ago. Christian books fiction or non-fiction can either be good or it could be cringe worthy. Thank goodness it falls in to the good category. Thank you Netgalley for an early copy of this book I truly appreciate it. If you are curious about this book, request a copy from Netgalley or pre-order it so it will arrive the day it comes out on September 13^th.