Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

Open Hands follows Keith Thorn as the wound left by the father who abandoned him continues to shape his life well into later adulthood, until the painful distance that forms between Keith and his own children forces him to face the fear that has guided his choices for decades. As he revisits the long-awaited apology from his dying father, Keith is brought to a spiritual reckoning in which he finally separates the absence of his earthly father from his understanding of God. In that awakening, he begins to see himself as a man whose worth does not rise or fall with marriage, estrangement, or the need to prove he is different from the person who left him. The memoir follows Keith’s movement toward a steadier life lived in faith and in continued readiness for his children’s return.

Keith Thorn’s Open Hands is a memoir that takes readers back through the experiences that led to an intensely personal reckoning in his sixties. This is a sweeping account that shows us how every step of Thorn's journey shaped his life and those around him, often in situations he had little control over, and where he took that agency back to live life on his own terms. I admired his ability to recognize that staying in his second marriage was driven by fear, choosing to end it when he saw its effect on his children and the atmosphere. The elements of faith and Thorn's identity are unmistakable, like when he describes praying over his children, and later believing his worth rests in God, especially when earthly fatherhood and divine fatherhood enter his understanding. Readers will benefit from Thorn's portrayal of his estrangement, offering relatability to those living with distance, and how belief can restore an outlook of love, forgiveness, and hope.