About the Book: When Kari Baxter Jacobs finds out that her husband is involved in an adulterous relationship and wants a divorce, she decides she will love him and remain faithful to her marriage at all costs. This book shows how God can redeem seemingly hopeless relationships, and it illustrates one of Gary Smalley’s key messages: Love is a decision.
Redemption is the first book in the five-book Redemption series that Gary and Karen will write about the Baxter family—their fears and desires, their strengths and weaknesses, their losses and victories. Each book will explore key relationship themes as well as the larger theme of redemption, both in characters’ spiritual lives and in their relationships. Each book includes study questions for individual and small-group use as well as a “teaser” chapter of the next book in the series.
My Comments: While Karen Kingsbury is a talented writer who can pull at your heartstrings, she is clearly the author of Christian fiction. There is nothing subtle about the integration of faith into the message. As Kari's husband is getting involved in the adulterous relationship, he keeps recalling Bible verses he learned as a child. Because of her husband's adultery, Kari is told by other Christians that she has Biblical grounds for divorce. As a result of his adultery, her husband begins drinking, and ends up doing so to excess. When Kari and her husband decide to try to save their marriage,they go see their pastor. We hear the family pray, a lot. The ending is kind of bittersweet. I think Kingsbury is one of those authors you either love or hate--and if you like her books, judging by the few I've read, I'd say this is pretty typical. Grade: B.
I got this book via Bookmooch. You can read the first chapter here.
My m-i-l and I had a conversation yesterday about books on marriage; she was unhappy with me because the subject of my w-i-p was a troubled marriage that probably should not have happened at all. She wanted me to write something like what you're describing here, but I can't figure out a way to do so without it becoming, as you indicate, a wholly "Christian" novel that excludes all others. This is a matter of frustration to me, b/c I would like to write something that reflects the reality of a marriage that survives and thrives through excruciating difficulties. It's a message the world needs. But a message that, by virtue of its difficulty, can't exclude non-Christians.
ReplyDeleteOh, well. Maybe in another five or six novels, I'll have the chops for something like that. :)