The Daughter's Walk

A walk to remember?  Hmm...oh wait, that is another book altogether (one I haven't read - missed out on the Sparks phenomenon).  No, this is a whole other genre: historical fiction. 

It may surprise many people who know although I love history (it was my major in college),  I do not like historical fiction.  I would rather spend my time reading a biography or book on events in history than reading someone's imaginings of a certain historical period or person.  Oh, and it may surprise others that although I am a Christian (did I mention my major in college was actually church history?), I don't like Christian fiction - again the same thing applies.  So, when I signed up to get The Daughter's Walk as an ARC, I really don't know what I was thinking. 


The Daughter's Walk is the story (based on actual people) of a mother-daughter team who decide to walk across the United States, sponsored by a group of investors to promote dresses (that ladies can walk in) and save the family farm at the turn of the 20th century (an actual time).  I think this is where actual history and fictional history part ways and the author takes over in the storytelling department.  The story becomes a basic prodigal story without the squandering of inherited fortune and without the loving father taking back the wayward daughter. 

So, what is missing?  Um...my interest.  I did not really enjoy this book.  I got through it but I found it tedious and mundane.  Each of the story elements seemed to be attempts to be historical fiction.  Yes, I do know that should be an accomplishment, given it's intended genre.  But what I mean is the author seemed to be working to make it historical in nature.  She has entire paragraphs where she attempts to show the passing of time by almost listing the things she found out about the period when she was conducting research.  It is not woven into the story, it is an obvious "this is the time we are talking about" device. 

Which brings me to the question: What would it take for historical fiction to capture my interest? 

I think it should be the type of work where the reader feels like they are actually reading a work of history.  Where the author has done the research so well and so intertwined it with the story that it could feel as though it was written during the historical period or by the best historian EVER!  Have you ever watched the Ken Burns series for PBS on the American civil war?  The historians in there never met, nor walked this earth during the civil war (I know because I have done the math and they would have to be over 150 years old); yet they speak about the men and women of the day as though they grew up with them - they breathe life into the dead.  That doesn't mean they are right all the time.  There is no way they could know the emotional lives of these people; but they use inference and a little bit of imagination to bring the viewer right on the scene, experiencing the war right along with them. 

So, until authors can approach their subjects this way (or someone can recommend an author who does), I'll take my actual history the way it was intended to be digested - in fascinating non-fiction. 

Which brings me to the question: What would make you enjoy Christian fiction? 

This I have less of a grip on.  As it goes right now, I am on a case-by-case basis for Christian fiction.  I absolutely loved The Great Divorce and Redeeming Love.  But other Christian fiction has not captured my heart the way these two did.  So, I am not scanning the shelves of the Christian fiction section of the local Barnes and Noble very often; but I have not closed my mind on the genre the way I have for historical fiction.  All that to say, I will take your recommendations for Christian fiction, just don't make it Christian historical fiction - I don't think I could take it.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

-L

NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Waterbrook Multnomah through their Blogging for Books program.  If you enjoyed or hated this review, you have recourse: rate my review.  You just may get a free copy of this book. 

The Great Divorce

I am not one to exaggerate on books very often.  The list of earth shattering, life changing books for me is very short (i.e. one).  Similarly, I am not one of those to be challenged by books so often that they shape my world view or resonate with me beyond the closing of the book (my apologies to all authors who thought that is what they were doing).  But the list of challenging books for me just got lengthened by one.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis engaged me in a way that "fantasy" fiction never has (most of the time I don't give it a shot).  This may be because the book is really just a thinly veiled allegory for the things we hold onto so we don't have to step out in faith.  For the uninitiated (as I was), the story is that of a man who takes a bus ride to heaven.  The unfolding scenes are the backdrop for discussions that cut to the heart of faith, unbelief, rebellion, and selfishness.

I realize that all our readers would not generally be interested in anything by C.S. Lewis (other than the Narnia series) based on his religious beliefs, but I truly think this story deserves a hearing.  By way of encouragement, I offer these tips for reading this book:

1. Read it out loud, as you would to a child.  Throw the voices in, as well, you will have fun trying on a Scotch accent for size, at the very least.
2. Read only one chapter a day.  This should take no longer than 10 minutes for the longest of the chapters.

I don't know if it was just these strange choices for reading this novel that led me to such a rich enjoyment of the book, but I know it really added to the experience.  I even found myself weeping at the end of the book (haven't done that in a while), a strange and beautiful crescendo of an ending whose denoument is all to brief.

Have any of you read this book and if so are you as enraptured with it as I am?

Rating: 6.9 out of 7

-L

Rahab, the Grafted

As some of our readers know, I am generally not much on Christian Fiction.  In fact, I can count the number of Christian lit books I have read on one hand.   But there is one writer who has a knack for putting it all together and still making it read well.  Francine Rivers is the author of Redeeming Love, perhaps the best modern Christian lit book.  I read it last year and could not put it down and could barely stop crying as I read it.  Yes, there are drastic differences in her writing from that of the authors I normally read.  Yes, it is Christian Romance fiction and I have never read a romance novel (secular) in my life.  So it is outside the norm for me.  But, my mother-in-law loves all things Christian lit and was so excited that I read Redeeming Love that she gave me Francine Rivers Lineage of Grace last year for Christmas.  It is a collection of novellas about five of the women in the Messianic family tree:  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. 

Rivers takes the Biblical accounts of these women and breathes life into the flesh and bones outlines of these women.  Where the Bible is silent on the emotions of most of these women, Rivers ponders the struggles with temperament these women in extraordinary circumstances might have had.  In Rahab's story, Unashamed, the result is a greater picture of the scope of salvation, the hope of the coming Lord, and unwavering faith in a God who is able. 

Rivers is a little more heavy handed in Rahab's story than I remember her being in Tamar's story.  It feels almost constrained by the Biblical account, where Tamar's story expanded it.  That is not to say that the Biblical account is something that should be brushed off in the pursuit of poetic licence.  Rather, Rivers seemed to use the paintbrush lightly on this one.  She just added touches around what was already a masterpiece.  Where Tamar's tale illuminated the cultural significance of certain Biblical events, Rahab's story did not.  Rivers, instead focused on broader Biblical themes of waiting on the Lord, trusting His power and His plan, and the grafting in of Gentiles. 

Another accomplishment of Unashamed is the hypothetical wrangling Rivers does with the facts.  She provides the answers to: How did that happen?  For those who question the veracity of the Biblical account of the walls of Jericho simply falling at the sound of trumpets and the marching of feet, Rivers offers an interesting explanation.  For those wondering how a Gentile harlot wound up in the lineage of the Christ, Rivers offers a most unlikely romance. 

I recommend the reading of these novellas after reading the Biblical accounts.  They breathe new life into the Hebrew stories of redemption for a modern world that barely understands the ancient culture and customs.

Rating: 4.6 of 7

-L

Tamar's Trouble

Remember what I said in an earlier post about Christian fiction? Well, I have only found one modern Christian author I like and that was only one book.  Granted the book was one of the best I have ever read and I highly recommend it to anyone who will listen (Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers).  Please listen - you will not be disappointed.  But enough about a book I have already read...

So another book I got for Christmas this past year was another Rivers book.  It is a set of novels called A Lineage of Grace.  Each of the five novels tell the story of some woman in the lineage of Christ.  They offer an imagained fuller account of their lives based on the sparse Biblical renderings.  With Drew's permission, I will review each of these as though they were separate novels in their own right.  First up is Unveiled the story of Tamar.  For the Biblical account of Tamar (the one married to Judah's sons, not the sister of Judah) you can go to Genesis 38. As for Rivers' retelling of her story, I come down on the side that she was faithful to the Biblical account, which is good in my book. 
The best part of reading Rivers' version is the historical emotional context you gain from her.  The book of Genesis, by its very nature as a historical account, leaves out much of the emotion and cultural context of the actions of the major players.  More than once whilst reading Unveiled, I found myself pondering the deeper emotion Tamar must have felt and the way God truly worked a miracle through Tamar's actions.  I have always been kinda weirded out by the story in Genesis, but the historical, cultural backround really helped to paint a picture expressing Tamar's devotion to her new family in a culture only offering her shame and derision.  I found myself remembering the promise to come to Judah later in Genesis, "the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from beneath his feet until Shiloh comes," and thinking how narrowly Judah missed the hope of promise by the way he dealt with Tamar.
For those reasons, this is a good book to read.  I would never tell anyone to shirk God's account of Tamar, but I do feel that once one has grasped all there is in the Biblical account, Rivers' story is a good companion.  To that end, the book includes a study of sorts to dig deeper into the Word above all Words.  For that I am appreciative to Mrs. Rivers and look forward to reading the other stories in her book on the family of Christ.

Review: 5.5 out of 7

-L

A Skeleton of a Story

This week's book was found on the bookshelf in my office.  I think it was a gift for Drew this past Christmas.  I doubt he will read it anytime soon, but I was in an odd mood when I picked it up, so...
Let me preface this review with this statement:  I am not interested in Christian fiction (for the most part).  I am not sure if that has anything to do with this book, because I am not sure if it was intended to be purely Christian fiction.  The book was published in 1994 and is called A Skeleton in God's Closet.  It is written by Paul L. Maier (who makes another appearance on our bookshelf in the form of editor for Josephus's works), a professor at Western Michigan University. 
The story is Maier's answer to the question, "What would happen if the bones of Jesus Himself were discovered?"  While I do not agree with some of his conclusions regarding the fallout of this "authentic" discovery, I did find the discovery the best part of the novel.  This must be because I wanted to be an archeologist when I was going through my "A" phase, for about 10 minutes. Much of this part of the book comes in the first quarter, so the rest lags.  After the discovery of "Jesus's bones," I am assuming Maier wanted to become a political thriller writer.  He did not succeed.  This is mostly due to the fact that his dialogue was lacking.  He alternates between professor-like teaching dialogue to attempts at love-story dialogue.  Both made me want to throw the book against a wall. 
I must admit, however that the "how is he going to prove those aren't Jesus's bones" story was what kept me reading.   I guess it is just the faith in me that never let me think they were actually his, no matter what Maier wanted me to believe.  Sorry to spoil the ending: it is a hoax, but you already knew that didn't you?

Rating: 1

-L

This Present Book Read

Another week, and another blog post! So far we've been having fun starting up this experiment and will hopefully continue to enjoy it. We've been discussing what other books we're going to read over the next few weeks. I love fantasy books, but need to get some classics and maybe even some non-fiction to write about. I'm also down to reading two books, but I know what I am adding in as my third so I feel comfortable about reading. ;-) It's something that I got from my Mom. Dad reads one at a time.

This week I read Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness. It's Christian fiction. My parents got me the series back when I was in high school and I remember enjoying reading them at that age and thought it could be worth revisiting. Leah picked up the book series at Mardel's in Wichita Falls, TX during our Christmas vacation in preparation for our year in books. The story continues in Piercing the Darkness, but I'm going to wait to start that one up.

The storyline is about a small town in the middle of an intense spiritual battle. Peretti gives a glimpse at the unseen world that's happening all around us - one of angels and demons. I won't give much away, but it's part sci-fi, part mystery, part murder story. Most of the character development is interesting and gives a good cross section of small town happenings. You won't get any cussing and most situations aren't graphic for a young adult, or conservative older adult(which wouldn't be me since I read Fight Club last week). The progression was decent with very little slow down. The story did reach it's climax and conclusion relatively quick, but didn't feel too rushed.

Now, the one thing that I would complain or caution about is the doctrine that *might* come across from Peretti's book. In some ways, he's created a story that will reach more people, but isn't as Biblically accurate as he could be or needed to be. If you are a discerning Christian you'll be able to look past a few of these and understand where he's coming from. But, a newbie Christian or a non-Christian might see some of the demons/angels interaction and wonder about what's true and what's not. The biggest concern I could see is the naming of the demons as Rape, Anger, Jealousy, or Lies. It almost makes it appear that the demons are making the person sin. If one comes in believing that by the end of the book then why would we even need a Saviour? It's not our fault that we've been sinning, but the demons that have been possessing us! It's a slippery slope that young Christians AND long time Christians can fall into. So I caution that part of the book so that when I recommend this book you can be discerning about non-Biblical ideas. There are a couple small items as well, but that's the main gripe I have.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in getting something a little different. Peretti gives a book that's engaging from a story standpoint, but also gives you enough leeway to let your imagination wander on what else is happening all around us. He also gives the gospel message in a fiction book. Give it a chance and see what you think. (nothing witty or humorous to really say about this one)

-D