by JonathanUnlimited

This book review is part of the Project Unlimited series titled: “Forgiveness: Who Do You Think You Are?” Inmates at Tomoka Correctional Institution wrote these stories, not to justify or excuse behaviors, but for the purpose of educating and increasing awareness. You’re welcomed and encouraged to send questions for consideration for the Unlimited men to answer throughout this series. To learn more about Project Unlimited click here.

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Backstory: Ronald Olivier blessed the men of The Unlimited Gavel Club by traveling from Louisiana to visit them on May 1 with his father. His testimony and responses to the Q&A afterwards, provided an empowering evening about forgiveness and hope and restoration. Mr. Olivier now works as a client advocate for the Parole Project in Baton Rouge that “enhances public safety through effective advocacy, programming, and services for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons so that they may reach their full potential.“

27 Summers Book Review

After reading 27 Summers, I was most struck by Ronald Olivier’s unshakable belief that he would get out of prison despite a life sentence with no parole. 

Where did that hope of freedom come from? And how did he sustain it? 

He couldn’t have foreseen the law changing for juveniles, ultimately the law that would allow his release. He had seen others fall prey to street life, but he had not seen them receive a miraculous deliverance. And, he had killed a man. So how could he be so sure that God’s plan was to deliver him from prison? Many with life sentences die in prison.

Hope

In 27 Summers, Mr. Olivier establishes the foundation for that hope, and he demonstrates what complete surrender to God looks like:

• Putting all his truth in God to redeem his heart.
• Believing that God was directing his course, even when faced with going to the most dangerous camp on the prison compound.
• And, when seeing all he had been working toward crumbling around him. He still proclaimed to all who would hear, “Don’t tell me what God can’t do.”

I loved how his message and imagery paint such vivid pictures. Even if I wasn’t a Christian, I think I would have enjoyed this book and taken to heart how God moved in his life.

I see God’s work throughout this book, especially in the miraculous work of forgiveness by the victim’s mother. I believe the understated way in which he writes that scene is the most powerful writing in the entire book.

Faith

This is an ideal template for the contemporary Christian memoir—a no-holds-barred description of his life before he surrendered his heart to God; the temptations of the world incessantly battering him and testing his faith; then his complete devotion to serving God by serving those most in need of healing; persevering through the hardships of a Christian’s life in prison and the common frustration from having no agency to oppose the dictates of prison authorities.

And…seeing the fruition of his faithfulness.

Grace

Yes, 27 Summers is filled with heartbreak and tragedy. 

But each tragic incident only works to showcase the grace of God in Mr. Olivier’s life. 

I highly recommend 27 Summers to anyone, teen or adult, who needs to find hope in life’s relentless storms. 

You will not be disappointed, and you most likely will find exactly what you need.

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The Fourfold Path to Forgiveness

as discussed in The Book of Forgiving by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu…

1. Tell the Story.
2. Name the Hurt.
3. Grant Forgiveness.
4. Renew or Release the Relationship.

Read the first two stories in this series:
Forgiveness, Who Do You Think You Are?
Forgiveness, Who Do You Think You Are? inmates perspectives