Category Archives: Book Reviews

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Book Reviews | Review: A Year Of Biblical Womanhood – The Gospel Coalition

A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Rachel Held Evans | Review by: Kathy Keller

Rachel Held Evans. A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master.”
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012.
352 pp.
$15.99.

Rachel Held Evans had at least two stated goals for writing A Year of Biblical Womanhood, according to the promotional material accompanying my advance review copy. Under “Why She Wrote the Book,” Evans says:

I’ve long been frustrated by the inconsistencies with which “biblical womanhood” is taught and applied in my evangelical Christian community. So . . . I set out to follow all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible for a year to show that no woman, no matter how devout, is actually practicing biblical womanhood all the way. My hope is that the book will generate some laughs, as well as a fresh, honest dialogue about . . . biblical interpretation. (emphasis mine)

Evans wants to show that everyone who tries to follow biblical norms does so selectively—“cherry picking” some parts and passing over others. She also says she wants to open a fresh, honest dialogue about biblical interpretation, that is, how to do it rightly and well. Rachel, I tried twice to get in touch with you when you were in New York City on the talk shows but wasn’t able to connect. So here’s what I would have said if we could have gotten the chance to open that dialogue.

Read more…

via Book Reviews | Review: A Year Of Biblical Womanhood – The Gospel Coalition.

 

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REVIEW: Summer Crossing by David Baldacci

Format:  Audiobook (CD)
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  1609412958
Published:  2011 (audio)
Setting:  Ohio, Arizona, South Carolina

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the book Blurb:

It’s almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country. Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie’s death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie’s childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite the fact that it was a fairly predictable, sappy story.  It is a perfect summer read, and that is exactly what I needed at the time.  I had just finished A Death in the Family by James Agee, which also dealt with loss and grief, but it was on a much deeper, much more serious, much more profound level.  I need a lighter, quicker, less emotionally exacting read, and while this is also a story of grief and loss, Baldacci delivers a nearly effortless summer novel.

This is the first Baldacci book I have read, and I do like his way with words.  I like that he can deal with a hard subject without ripping the reader to emotional shreds.  I like that the story was fairly face paced, and that it focused on an entire family’s reaction to and recovery from grief over an unexpected death.  I also liked that Baldacci moved the characters through sadness, anger, depression, etc. without getting so bogged down that the story suffered.  I liked that it ended on a positive note, but that getting to that point involved some drama.

Sure, it is a fairly formulaic novel…predictable, even.  Perhaps not the typical fare for Baldacci, but pretty standard for it’s genre.  Baldacci, however, is a writer worth getting to know better, and this was a good, easy, and (dare I say it) even fun start for me.  I would recommend it…especially if you’re going on vacation and looking for a book that entertains without exhausting the reader.

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REVIEW: A Death in the Family by James Agee

Format:  Audiobook (CD)
Genre:  Autobiographical Novel
ISBN:  0788771647
Published:  2000 (audio)
Setting:  Knoxville TN

Rating:  5 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

Published in 1957, two years after its author’s death at the age of forty-five, A Death in the Family remains a near-perfect work of art, an autobiographical novel that contains one of the most evocative depictions of loss and grief ever written. As Jay Follet hurries back to his home in Knoxville, Tennessee, he is killed in a car accident?a tragedy that destroys not only a life, but also the domestic happiness and contentment of a young family. A novel of great courage, lyric force, and powerful emotion, A Death in the Family is a masterpiece of American literature.

My Thoughts:

This was a well crafted a book as I have ever read.  It is a powerful story of what happens to a family in the immedaite aftermath of an unexpected death, and Agee is as pitch perfect as is possible in giving voice to the various characters in this book.  His choice of words and phrases are such that each individual is entirely believable and authentic, with a unique voice and a complexity of character that leaves nothing wanting.

Agee has a mastery of the language that rivals writing peers, and the resulting prose appears both effortless and flawless in its formation.  He delivers complex experiences and emotions with simplicity, while never relegating himself to simplistic language or condescending construction.  It is an easy read, not because it has light subject matter or rudimentary language, but rather because the story is written with such linguistic beauty that it seems as natural as if the reader him/herself were speaking.

In the end, regardless of the emotional messiness of a family at loose ends, this is a satisfying read in every way.  The story unfolds as it should, naturally, without a manufactured happy ending…just as one would expect in life.  And Agee guides us through all of the emotional upheaval with aa sensitive voice and linguistic ease.

If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it.

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REVIEW: Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater

Format:  Hardback
Genre:  Children’s Fiction
ISBN:  0316o58424
Published:  1938
Setting:  Stillwater, US

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

It was hard enough for Mr. Popper to support himself, Mrs. Popper, Bill and Janie Popper.  The addition of twelve penguins to the family made it impossible to make both ends meet.  Then Mr. Popper had a splendid idea.  The penguins might support the Poppers.  And so they did.

My Thoughts:

**spoiler alert**

This was a very cute book, right up to the end.  I loved that Mr. Popper ultimately tried to do what was best for the penguins, but it annoyed me somewhat that he left his family.  I would have enjoyed the ending more if they had been able to choose whether or not to go, or at the very least, he had been able to discuss it with Mrs. Popper.  I get that it’s a children’s book, but the idea of them discussing everything up to that point regarding the penguins, then having him decide in the split second between learning that Admiral Drake intended for him to go and actually setting sail seemed completely counter to how their relationship worked.  I’m probably putting a lot more thought into the story than kids would, but little details like that make or break good books, and in this case, what otherwise would be a 5-star classic is, instead, somewhat wanting.

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REVIEW: Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Format:  Audio CD
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  1594838747
Published:  April 2007
Setting:  New Hampshire

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

At the age of 29, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to regain her footing, she has answered an ad to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage. But when the Edwards’s two grown sons, Ben and Jeff, arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened. With the subtle wit, lyrical language, and brilliant insight into the human heart that has led her to be called “an author at one with her metier” (Miami Herald), Shreve weaves a story about marriage, family, and the supreme courage it takes to love.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book very much, despite the fact that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Anita Shreve.  She is a really good writer, but her books so often have characters that are utterly infuriating, and it is really difficult to see beyond them to actually enjoy the story.  This book is no exception, but (thankfully) Sydney Sklar, the protagonist, is a sympathetic character from the start, easy to like and easy to root for.  Having a divorce behind her, and then having endured the unexpected death of her second husband, she is somewhat emotionally bruised when she comes to New Hampshire to tutor Julie.  I appreciated her from the beginning, especially as she not only embraced her role as Julie’s tutor, but connected with her  in a personal way as well.  She was observant of Julie’s struggles and her abilities, and once she recognized what shewasable to do – and do exceptionally well – she tapped into it immediately, providing her with the supplies she needed and encouraging her to pursue it passionately.

It was hard not to fall a little in love with Mr. Edwards as Sydney did.  He was a thoughtful, kind man who had a soft spot for his daughter, and for Sydney as well as their friendship blossomed over the summer.  It was equally hard not to loathe Mrs. Edwards, and to wonder what exactly drew Mr. Edwards to her, because it was certainly evident that he loved her.  She was unexplainably cold & distant to Sydney, from the very start, and as the summer progressed, with the dramas of relationships ending & beginning, her chilly attitude toward Sydney grew more pronounced.  She offered such a shallow, pitiful explanation of this at the end that it left me a bit miffed that I, the reader, was deprived of any substantive reason why she behaved as she did.

Without completely giving away the plot, I will say that it was a brilliant move on Shreve’s part to have a number of unexpected circumstances occur throughout the novel.  I loved that when I was expecting one thing, something just outside the box was happening instead.  I also loved that the history of both the family and the house was a substantial part of the story, because it beautifully enhanced the reading experience.

In the end, this was an satisfying, enjoyable and nice crafted novel.  I liked the balance of characters, and while I would have enjoyed having more character development in some cases, I thought the mix was exactly right for the book.

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John Updike’s Rules for Writing Reviews | Giraffe Days

Farther to this previous post on writing reviews, I bring you John Updike’s guidelines for writing a good review, or what a good book review should contain. I like this, very much. Though it does indirectly remind me that I have a few of Updike’s books (The Witches of Eastwick, Couples and Rabbit, Run) that I haven’t read yet.

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From Picked-up Pieces (1975):

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation — at least one extended passage — of the book’s prose so the review’s reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy précis [a summary or abridgement].

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending. (How astounded and indignant was I, when innocent, to find reviewers blabbing, and with the sublime inaccuracy of drunken lords reporting on a peasants’ revolt, all the turns of my suspenseful and surpriseful narrative! Most ironically, the only readers who approach a book as the author intends, unpolluted by pre-knowledge of the plot, are the detested reviewers themselves. And then, years later, the blessed fool who picks the volume at random from a library shelf.)

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author’s ouevre [complete works] or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it’s his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser. Do not accept for review a book you are predisposed to dislike, or committed by friendship to like. Do not imagine yourself a caretaker of any tradition, an enforcer of any party standards, a warrior in an idealogical battle, a corrections officer of any kind. Never, never (John Aldridge, Norman Podhoretz) try to put the author “in his place,” making him a pawn in a contest with other reviewers. Review the book, not the reputation. Submit to whatever spell, weak or strong, is being cast. Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.

via John Updike’s Rules for Writing Reviews | Giraffe Days.

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REVIEW: The Breakdown Lane by Jacqueline Mitchard

Format:  Audio CD
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  0060759275
Published:  2005 (audio)
Setting:  Sheboygan WI

Rating:  4.5 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

Where can a woman turn when her own life threatens to overwhelm her ability to keep her children safe? New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes the readers of her newest novel on a wry and moving journey of loss and healing. Giving advice is what Julieanne does for a living — every Sunday she doles it out in a column in her local Wisconsin paper. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie herself seems to have missed some clues. Having worked creatively to keep her twenty-year marriage to Leo fresh and exciting and to be a good mother, she is completely caught off guard when he tells her he needs to go on a “sabbatical” from their life together, leaving Julie and their three children behind. But it soon becomes clear that his leave of absence is meant to be permanent. Things take a turn for the worse when Julie is diagnosed with a serious illness and the children undertake a dangerous journey to find Leo — before it’s too late. As the known world sinks precariously from view, the clan must navigate their way through the shoals of love, guilt, and betrayal. Together, with the help of Leo’s parents and Julie’s best friend, they work their way back to solid ground and a new definition of family. No one illuminates modern love, marriage, and parenting better than Jacquelyn Mitchard. Written with her trademark poignancy, humor, and insight, The Breakdown Lane is her most moving, eloquent, and life-affirming work yet.

My Thoughts:

I wasn’t sure about this book when I started it.  I read another Mitchard book last year, and while I enjoyed it, I wasn’t overwhelmed with its greatness.  And truthfully, the first few chapters of this book were hard going because of my utter lack of connection with any of the characters.  Truth be told, I actually could not stand either Leo or Julieanne.  Both were so utterly shallow and superficial, and Leo especially had such a superiority complex toward Julieanne that it made me want to punch him between the eyes.  That much did not change throughout the book.

However, watching Julianne become more multi-demensional, and actually developing some depth as she traversed the difficulties of multiple slerosis, was a really satisfying reading experience.  I really began to appreciate her as she learned how to live with dignity in the wake of Leo’s duplicity, her disease, and looming financial disaster.  I liked that she stripped her life down to what was important, that she really leaned on those family & friends who proved their worth, and that she took her therapist’s advice to get out and get a life rather than living as a victim.  These are not small things, and to emerge from such a life implosion as a reasonably stable and immeasurably stronger person is good stuff – in fiction or in life.

What was perhaps the most enjoyable (for me) was having her reconnect with a childhood love, and having that reignite for her.  I liked that it happened slowly, and that she recognized that it was a good thing…that he was the real deal…and that she didn’t second guess herself into rejecting him.  Why?  Because sometimes that is exactly how life happens, and it is good to celebrate the good, solid, steady relationships…those that might not have fireworks, but prove their mettle just the same.

All in all, this book was a winner for me.  The storyline was good, the writing was good, and together they were something really special.

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REVIEW: The Red Thread by Ann Hood

The Red ThreadFormat:  Hardback
Genre:  General Fiction, Adoption Lit
ISBN:  0393070204
Published:  May 2010
Setting:  Providence RI, China

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

“In China there is a belief that people who are destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread. Who is at the end of your red thread?”

After losing her infant daughter in a freak accident, Maya Lange opens The Red Thread, an adoption agency that specializes in placing baby girls from China with American families. Maya finds some comfort in her work, until a group of six couples share their personal stories of their desire for a child. Their painful and courageous journey toward adoption forces her to confront the lost daughter of her past. Brilliantly braiding together the stories of Chinese birth mothers who give up their daughters, Ann Hood writes a moving and beautifully told novel of fate and the red thread that binds these characters’ lives. Heartrending and wise, The Red Thread is a stirring portrait of unforgettable love and yearning for a baby.

My Thoughts:

This isn’t a great book, but it gets an extra star for what would otherwise be a 3-star read for me because of content.  I really enjoy literature about and/or set in Asian cultures, and this is no exception.  However, due to my own interest in adoption, as well as our undertaking the process of adopting a child ourselves, I was keenly interested in the story of Chinese adoption.  While this will very likely NOT be part of our adoption story, it was extremely interesting to get a sense of how families come to decisions about adoption.

Ms. Hood didn’t really spend a lot of time on the “why” of choosing Chinese adoption, as opposed to other options, and I would have liked to have more focus on that.  However, her story writing is not usually heavy handed, and she stayed in keeping with her traditional style here as well.  Learning after the fact that she adopted a child herself leaves me hoping that she has written that story, which (I am sure) have far richer detail and history.

Finally, I love the Chinese legend that a red thread connects a baby girl with her parents (all of them).  That is such a beautiful way to describe the providence of God, and to show that even in a predominately non-Christian culture, God’s providence still brings the families together as He has planned.

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REVIEW: Family History by Dani Shapiro

Format:  Trade Paperback
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  1400032113
Published:  December 2007
Setting:  Massachusetts

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

Rachel Jensen is perfectly happy: in love with her husband, devoted to their daughter Kate, gratified by her work restoring art. And finally, she’s pregnant again. But as Rachel discovers, perfection can unravel in an instant. The summer she is thirteen, Kate returns from camp sullen, angry, and withdrawn. Everyone assures Rachel it’s typical adolescent angst. But then Kate has a terrifying accident with her infant brother, and the ensuing guilt brings forth a dreadful lie—one that ruptures their family, perhaps irrevocably. Family History is a mesmerizing journey through the mysteries of adolescent pain and family crisis.

My Thoughts:

This was definitely a compelling read, and I found the entire family situation to be terribly sad.  What was most interesting, however, is how oblivious everyone seemed to be to signs that something bad was wrong with Kate.  From the outset, I found it unsettling that no one seemed more disturbed over her very sudden and very obvious behavior change after camp.  My immediate thought, of course, was that something terrible, personal and devasting had happened to her at camp, but that avenue was hardly even given a thought.  I thought Shapiro was shortsighted in introducing Kate’s mental illness in such a way, and then failing to follow through on such an obvious avenue…first.  I wonder how many of her readers had the same initial reaction…that something bad happened, and because she was teetering on the brink of a full-blown psychotic episode, this would have certainly tipped the scales.

Once it was evident that Kate had serious issues, I had such a difficult time sympathizing with Rachel, who seemed ridiculously resistant to pursuing real, effective treatment for her.  Further, why did it take incidents beyond the accident with her infant brother to convince Rachel of the need for intervention?  Kate’s mental & emotional unraveling was occurring right in front of her face, in a way that was putting her baby at risk, and she seemed almost paralyzed until the lie make sit clear that inpatient treatment is immediately necessary.  Rachel frustrated me profoundly because of her lethargy and sort of helpless inability to cope.

Frankly, though, her husband frustrated me as well.  To have a happy marriage, to witness a daughter descend into mental illness, and then to find himself incapable of allowing his wife a moment of self-doubt when faced with the impossible situation of choosing to believe either her husband or her daughter – a moment before fully supporting him and fully comprehending that her daughter had lied and needed professional help – made me furious.  He chose to leave, to move out, to virtually abandon his wife and baby.  Sure, the situation was unbelievably difficult.  His daughter told an almost unforgivable lie.  His wife almost completely broke apart under the stress, and he flaked.  I know, I know…I’m unsympathetic.

Overall, I suppose it was Shapiro that frustrated me.  She’s a good writer who wrote a good story about terribly flawed people who allowed their weaknesses to take over.  Thankfully, though, she saw them through those months to a reconciliation that emerged not only from love, but from finally & clearly understanding their daughter’s illness and either other’s needs.

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REVIEW: Home to Italy by Peter Pezzelli

Format:  Trade Paperback
Genre:  General Fiction, Italian Lit
ISBN:  0758207689
Published:  September 2004
Setting:  Italy

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

In this delightful, moving debut novel, Peter Pezzelli brings to life the earthy sensuality of Tuscany—the smell of just-baked bread wafting through the village piazza; the shopkeepers sweeping the sidewalks under the warm, early morning sun; groups of cyclists dotting the mountain roads—and spins a story of May-December romance as sharp and delicious as the olives of Villa San Giuseppe…

After the death of his beloved wife, Anna, Peppi’s family and friends expect him to bury his grief by tending to his gardens and taking long rides on his bike. Instead, Peppi shocks them all with his decision to return to Villa San Giuseppe, the small Italian village where he spent his childhood, and to il mulino, his family’s old mill. But once he’s back, he temporarily moves into an apartment over the candy factory run by his childhood best friend, Luca. It is modest, but livable, with a lovely view of Luca’s neglected gardens and his equally neglected daughter, the fiery Lucrezia.

More a force of nature than a woman, Lucrezia’s legendary temper and workaholic schedule hide the very real pain she feels over her husband’s death years before. At first, she tolerates Peppi as an eccentric annoyance—her father’s strange but handsome American friend who fixes things around the factory and is bringing the gardens back to life. But soon, Lucrezia’s interest in Peppi deepens. Like a high wind, the gossip is flying through Villa San Giuseppe—Lucrezia’s making it to dinner on time. She’s eating olives from a man’s hand. She’s wearing heels. Now, under the warm Tuscan sun, a tentative romance begins to bloom between the grieving pair, yielding to a surprisingly strong passion with the power to heal life’s wounds and promise second chances…

My Thoughts:

After the initial couple of chapters, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I was afraid at first that it was going to be a struggle to enjoy the story due to some herky-jerky prose in the beginning, but once I got past the first couple of chapters, Pezzelli found his stride and the book sort of took off from there.  It’s a sweet, well-rounded story that is easy to relate to, and it is an easy, enjoyable read.  I am not a romance reader by habit or choice, so this is exactly the kind of light reading that suits me.  It is not a romance per se, but a good story of loss & friendship that is (somewhat predictably) built around a new May-December romance.

Perhaps I liked it even more than I might have otherwise due to the setting…I mean, it’s hard to dislike as picturesque (and lovestruck) a setting as a small town in Italy.  However, I would venture a guess that Pezzelli has found his niche, and will prove to be an author in the vein of Maeve Binchy, Monica McInerney, and others…authors whose stories are appealing for both their exotic (to some) settings and their universally understood personal dynamics.