A Review Of The Books That I Have Read Thus Far This Summer – Part II

A Review of the Books that I have read thus far this summer – Part II

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

 

Let me begin by saying that I did like the book. I liked the book for what it was intending to do. 1) I love that is a picture of how God loves us. 2) I like that it does not steer clear of difficult material (I think that far too many Christians are simply way too sheltered from the harsh realities of this world). The Church needs to be talking about human trafficking and abuse.  3) It was a fast read, and it was interesting.

I do have a few issues with the book though. 1) I hate that Angel is so beautiful. I don’t think that this is true to the allegory. God is not attracted to us because we are beautiful, but he loves us in spite of our ugliness. 2) I also think that this book portrays the lie that God will swoop down from heaven and say here is the person that you are going to marry. I know that is the case with Hosea, but in general that is not the case. 3) I don’t understand why they consummated the marriage when they did. 4) I think that Francine Rivers tried to make Michael human, but at the same time, I have a hard time believing that any man would be that forgiving and willing to fight for a woman that he loves. Like other Christian romances, I think that this book gives women unrealistic expectations about men. 5) I read many reviews that said this book was pornographic. I would not go that far, and I was not in the least bit offended that a Christian book would include the prostitution scenes (see what I said above). However, some of the scenes between Michael and Angel were edgy (for a Christian novel). And the final scene was just rather awkward. 6) The epilogue was far too sugar-coated and happily ever after.

 [Spoiler Alert] 7) I don’t get the relationship between Paul and Mariam. He’s such a jerk, and yet she’s in-love with him. What is worse, this relationship is promoted.  8) I don’t think that the author wants us to sympathize with Angel and her desire to be on her own, but I do. She spends her entire life enslaved to one man or another. I think that her three years in San Francisco were exactly what she needed to do. In fact, I would say that she should have done that before she married Michael. I got the feeling like we were supposed to want her to stay with Michael and never have that dream of fulfilled.

I feel like I am being critical, but overall, I did like the book. I think that it did a good job of showing God’s forgiveness. However, I think that it, like all novels, needs to be read with a critical eye.

The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers

When I told someone that I was reading Redeeming Love, she suggested The Atonement Child. Let’s just say that I did not have high expectations for a book with the first line “It was a cold January night when the unthinkable, unpardonable happened.” I read the first thirty or so pages, and put it down without the intention of picking it back up. However, I did because I wanted to read something that was a quick and easy read.

What I liked about the book: 1) I like that the events in the book weren’t sugar coated. After Dynah is raped, her life is completely torn apart, which I think is realistic. 2) I like the character of Joe.

What I did not like: 1) I got tired of reading the same abortion arguments over and over again. 2) It seemed like everyone and her mother (literally) had, had an abortion. 3) Dynah never really deals with her rape because the focus of the story becomes an anti-abortion tirade. 4) I did not feel like the character of Ethan was very realistic or sympathetic. I think that his reactions were realistic to an extent, but they were just taken one step too far. 5) The last page and a half of the book (before the Epilogue) made me angry. 6) Even though I really liked the last line, I am not sure what the point of the Epilogue was.

I didn’t really care for this book. The writing was rather weak, and as I said before, I felt like it turned into an anti-abortion tirade. Even though I am pro-life, I feel like this book had two issues that it needed to deal with, rape and abortion, and it really only dealt with the later.

After reading these two Christian fiction books, I am reminded why I quit reading Christian fiction. I enjoy reading Christian non-fiction, but Christian fiction feels very contrived. Both of these books focused solely on plot development, and they ended in nicely wrapped up, sugar coated little worlds.

I have realized why I have been so critical of the books that I have read this summer. I haven’t read a lot of modern fiction for fun since high school. I’ve been reading mostly classics, which is like eating a steak dinner. Now I am going back and trying to eat a McDonalds cheeseburger after only eating steak for the past 5 or so years. I think that I should probably stick to the steak.

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

This was the steak that I needed. The images were beautiful, the plot was intricately woven together, and the characters were complex and real.

I found the plot very similar to The Blind Assassin in that as a woman is looking back on her life and dealing with the difficulties of her childhood, her outlet for these issues is her art. Even though the plot was similar at the very basic level, I felt like the novel itself was still very different. Looking at the cover, I expected this novel the have the sci-fi elements that The Blind Assassin does, but they were not present.

I did feel like the end dragged a bit, and there were certain moral decisions that I did not agree with (This book is definitely PG-13). However overall, I really enjoyed the book. I hurt for the main character, Elaine, and the book made me think and question how I have treated people. I found it rather convicting. This is what good books should do convict you and make you think.