Christian Fiction

I just finished another book, Lisa Samson's Quaker Summer (Women of Faith Fiction) (2007 Novel of the Year).  As you note in the link, it is an award-winning book,and yes, I think it deserves the award.  I'm sure it was reviewed by plenty of bloggers and Amazon has 32 reviews up if a review is what you want to read.

Reading Quaker Summer (Women of Faith Fiction) (2007 Novel of the Year) made me think a little bit about why I read Christian fiction and what I think makes a good Christian novel, something I could whole-heartedly recommend to others.  The term "Christian fiction" covers a waterfront of books in a variety of fictional genres, all of which are supposed to share at least a Christian worldview.  Some books have plot lines which have little to do with religion, but then bring in religion through church attendance or through a character who has to find God before they can live happily ever after--but the religious experience is almost tacked on to the story rather than integral to it.  I'm not real crazy about that type of book.  Others are more along the lines of a clean romance--God or church may get a short mention but  the character's religious experiences don't get many pages and really aren't integral to the story.  I enjoy those books.  

What I like best in Christian fiction is when the book really is about a character's faith journey and I find that Lisa Samson writes those stories as well as anyone.  The main character of Quaker Summer (Women of Faith Fiction) (2007 Novel of the Year) is an upper middle class doctor's wife.  She is the mother of one son who attends a private school where she has been a regular volunteer.  Her hobby is shopping, and she spends a lot of time and money doing it.  She is starting to wonder if that's all there is to life when she and her husband get lost and end up at a shelter in a bad neighborhood.  The shelter is run by an old nun.  Heather starts volunteering there.  She also meets a couple of 90ish Quaker women that summer.  She is living with guilt from the past and is feeling a call from God to radically change the way she and her family live.  I wonder how much of the book is autobiographical because Lisa Samson and her husband moved to their present home to be part of an intentional Christian community and simplify their lifestyle.

As a person who often struggles with what my faith means to me and how it should affect my life, I like reading about characters who don't have all the answers, who try to do God's will, but also have to face the fact that God is spelled G-o-d, not M-e.  (personally I often prefer the "m-e" spelling).

The few bad reviews on Amazon call the story contrived and unrealistic, and I think I'd have to agree to a point.  Heather travels from Baltimore to both Minnesota and Texas seeking absolution from a childhood sin; something that few people would be able to do financially and something I think few professionals or confessors would recommend.  Her relationship with her son doesn't seem realistic either.  Still, I did like the book and if you like stories of people's faith journeys, I think you'll like this one.

Review: Resurrection in May by Lisa Samson

As you may have noted if you are a regular reader, Lisa Samson is one of my favorite authors, so when Resurrection in May became available on Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program, I grabbed a copy.

Resurrection in May is the story of May, a young college graduate who was wandering drunk on the side of the road when Claudius picked her up and took her home to recover.  Luckily, he was a good guy.

Shortly thereafter she headed to Africa on a mission trip.  She'd been raised Catholic but would be the first to admit that she wasn't going for faith reasons.  However, once there she is so impressed by the priest at the mission that she went to confession for the first time in a long time and began to practice her faith.  Shortly thereafter, all the people in the village were killed, but she managed to survive; however her psychological and spiritual wounds were worse than her physical injuries.  Months later she was found and sent back to the US, and then to Claudius' farm to recover.  Resurrection in May takes her through her recovery period, which is years and she basically finds healing by reaching out to someone who needs her, but who cannot help her (or so she thinks).  

I enjoyed the book immensely.  As a somewhat doctrinaire Catholic I would have liked to see May firmly in the bosom of the Church, however her spiritual mentors back in the US aren't Catholic-though she never rejects Catholicism or says it is inadequate; rather the people in her path who lead her to new life aren't Catholic.  

The book is Christian fiction, but it is one of those I'd recommend even if Christian fiction isn't usually your thing.  Yes, May's faith is important to her recovery, and yes the book has a happy ending (though tinged with sorrow) but it isn't an in-your-face call to accept a particular version of Christianity.   Grade:  A.

Blog Tour: Love Mercy

If you've read this blog for any length of time,  you'll know that Lisa Samson is one of my favorite writers.  When offered a chance to participate in this blog tour (and receive a complimentary copy of Love Mercy: A Mother and Daughter's Journey from the American Dream to the Kingdom of God) I was thrilled.  The book was as good as I expected it to be. 

Billed as a book by the author and  her daughter about their experiences on a mission trip to Swaziland, I figured it would be part travelogue, part mother-daughter stuff.  I was wrong--it was those but it was more.  It was the story of Lisa's spiritual journey, and the choice she and her husband made to leave a comfortable life for one more open to the needs of others--choosing to live in the city, not the suburbs; choosing to buy at thrift stores rather than department stores; chosing to give to those in need.  It is easy to say that priests and nuns should live a sacrificial life, giving up the things of this world to give to the poor--but we can't do that, we have kids to raise, right?  Lisa and her husband have made choices different from those many of us have made, and without laying guilt on us for our decisions, she does call us to consider where social justice and our faith should intersect.

Most of the book is written by Lisa, but some is by her daughter, Ty, who goes with her to Africa.  That girl is going to take after her mom--she can write.   Good work Ty and mom.

In  case you haven't guessed, I loved Love Mercy: A Mother and Daughter's Journey from the American Dream to the Kingdom of God and highly recommend it.  Grade:  A.

To learn more about Lisa Samson, see her blog.  She is also on facebook and twitter.

You see a list of other bloggers here.

Review: Embrace Me

I have told you that I'm a card-carrying member of the Lisa Samson fan club, haven't I?  Instead of standing out on the street today freezing my patoot off, I stayed inside and finished Embrace Me, a wonderful story of two very wounded people who needed to both accept and give forgiveness.  Valentine's face was badly burned by Drano years ago.  Since that time she has made her living as "The Lizard Lady" in a carnival side-show.  She dresses in a lovely green sequined gown and people can stare at her scarred face, and the effect is lizard-like.  She is friends with "The Cocoon Girl", Lella, who has no arms or legs.  During the summer they travel with a small circus; during the winter they live in a boarding house in Mount Oak, the setting of two other Samson books: The Church Ladies (my review ) and Songbird (my review).  Charmaine from Songbird is a strong secondary character in Embrace Me; Poppy from The Church Ladies makes a cameo appearance, but "knowing" them from the other books doesn't add much to your understanding of Embrace Me.  Valentine longs for a real home, a real sense of belonging, and like most people, she needs to be needed.

The other main character is Drew.  He is the son of a powerful politician.  He was a preacher in Mount Oak and built his church into a mega-church.  He became involved in the TV ministry of Charmaine Hopewell and her husband, and one day woke up and realized that what he was building wasn't for God.  He quits his job, and walks into the local Catholic church, where he wants to go to confession.  He is unable get his confession out, and the priest tells him to write it down, and then come back and they'll talk.  Fr. Brian becomes his spiritual director/confessor and we read about Drew's background as he tells Fr. Brian the story.

In some ways the story was unrealistic; Samson herself in an Afterward notes that putting the disabled on display as side-show oddities is, thankfully, a thing of the past, but that she took literary license to use them as a metaphor.

Another character is Gus, who is a street minister and a member of an informal monastic community.  It is praying the Liturgy of the Hours with this community that opens Valentine to the grace that God wants to give her.  Rick is a member of the side-show troupe who is in love with Valentine.

Lisa Samson is a re-vert to Catholicism.  She was raised Catholic, at least to some extent, left the Church for many years, and recently returned.  In some ways, this book is a bridge between the Catholic and Protestant worlds.  Drew isn't Catholic, but seeks reconciliation through confession, a Catholic sacrament.  Fr. Brian is a good guy in the book, and, when reflecting on his church-building experiences, Drew notes that there are advantages to the parish system.  Gus, and the members of his coed monastic community pray the Liturgy of the Hours, a Catholic prayer, and take the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, but they are not Catholic.

The chapters alternate between Drew and Valentine and are told in the first person.  Drew's chapters are dated about six  years before Valentine's until at some point the stories merge.  I found it effective; I know some people don't like that writing style though.  I love Samson's writing, not just her stories, and there are not many authors about whom I say that.  Grade:  A

Songbird: My Review

I have told you I like Lisa Samson's writing, haven't I? Last weekend was horribly cold and as I often do on days of inclement weather, I took my five year old to the library to play.  Before we hit the children's room, I grabbed Songbird by Lisa Samson and I've been enjoying it all week.  Back in November, I reviewed her book The Church Ladies.  Songbird is about one of those minister's wives, Myrtle Charmaine Hopewell.  Myrtle, who starts calling herself Charmaine shortly after her single mother leaves her when she is eleven years old.  Charmaine becomes the foster child of a favorite Sunday School teacher and life is good for a while, until the foster mother dies and she is thrown into "the system".  Charmaine is blessed with a  beautiful singing voice and begins making a living as a lounge singer.  She happens into a revival one night and starts singing for a church, where she meets and marries a traveling evangelist.  We follow Charmaine and her husband through the early years of marriage, a singing career, the televangelist scandals of the 1980's and finally, a measure of peace despite heartache.

Mental illness is a major part of the story and it explores it from the viewpoint of Charmaine as well as from the viewpoint of those who believe mental illness is a symptom of the lack of God in life, rather than a genuine illness.  

Songbird is Christian fiction.  It explores Charmaine's experience of God through the love of her foster mother, the love of her husband, as well as through the pain of her depression and the losses in her life.  I wouldn't call it preachy and it certainly isn't one of those books that implies that if you have enough faith, then everything will be alright.  I definitely recommend it.

Purchase from Amazon (and give me a small commission)Songbird

Book Review: The Living End

I'm fortunate that I've never experienced heart-rendering grief, the kind that the books say make you feel like you've been torn in two. I grieved when I lost my mother, and to a lesser extent when I lost my grandparents, but the reality is that we know it is likely we'll lose those people; I wasn't living with them or seeing them daily when they died, and the fact of the matter is, my life is little changed by their death. I'm sure that losing my husband will be a different story. The Living End is the story of a woman who lost her husband.

Pearly Laurel was a college student, who planned on being a photo-journalist, when she met Joey, a graduate student. It was the 1960's and he was a "Jesus Freak" participating in some outdoor activity, playing his guitar. She photographed him, he noticed her, and three months later they were married. She never became a photo-journalist, putting aside her dreams to work at a State Farm office to put him through graduate school. He got a doctorate and became headmaster of a school for poor children who needed a leg up. They were never able to have children, and never chose to adopt; rather they focused their life on the school. Then one day Joey had a stroke and, a few days later, was dead. Right before his stroke, Joey showed Pearly a list of things he wanted to do while he was still alive. She sets out to do them, with the idea that when she finishes, there will be no reason to continue living, so she will commit suicide.

We follow Pearly as she learns to play the guitar, watches whales, visits South America and more, but this isn't a travelogue; rather it is the story of a grief that is too strong, and, eventually the story of a conversion to God. You see, though Joey loved Jesus, and she loved Joey--so much that she gave up most of her own goals and activities to be part of his--she refused to accept his faith. After his death she reads his journals, which are very much reflections of his faith, and though them and through people who come into her life, she comes to know Christ and believe.

Through most of the book I'd say I loved it. I've told you before that I love Samson's writing style, and this book reinforced that. However, I found the ending unrealistic, almost forced. Samson might say that she was trying to show that the grace of God can save us, but I found the situation to be improbable and the resolution to be as well. Pearly makes a very bad decision and then is saved from the consequences of it because of an unexpected event.

The book is Christian fiction. While you don't have to share Samson's beliefs to enjoy the book, by the end of the book it has clearly become a conversion story rather than a story of grief. Joey's journal entries, which are read frequently throughout the book, are about his faith, his reflections on Scripture, as well as his love for her and dismay that she doesn't share his faith. Pearly's conversion isn't an "aha!" moment but a slow awakening to the love of God in her life.

I wish Samson had come up with a different ending, but in general I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

My Review: The Church Ladies

So, what's a woman supposed to do when she has a stack of review books, several stacks of mooched books, swapped books or books from the giveaway box at work? Why, go to the library and get more books, of course. (Honest, the only reason I was at the library is that the weather was bad and my little one wanted to go somewhere)... I enjoyed Lisa Samson's The Passion of Mary Margaret, so I decided to try some of her other books. I'm glad I did.

The Church Ladies is the story of Penelope (Poppy) Fraser. Poppy is the mom of two college-aged kids and an almost seven year old. He husband had a mid-life crisis and quit his high-powered high-paying job to attend the seminary and become a Presbyterian minister. They move from the Baltimore area to a small town where her cousin (who is married to her best friend) is pastor of another church. Poppy has a major sin in her not-to-distant past and hasn't forgiven herself. She also doesn't think she wants to stay married, and thinks about when she can leave, and how.

An older woman, the widow of a minister, befriends her and the two begin to pray together. They gather other minister's wives into their group and they pray for and support each other. There is a tragedy. Church people act in un-Christian manners, Poppy learns to accept the love of God and to give that love to others.

I enjoyed this book, and if you like well-written books with religious themes, I think you'll like this one too. Samson uses flashbacks to the time of sin, but they are in italics which makes them easy to follow. I wouldn't call the book preachy,but rather I'd say it is the story of someone's faith journey. Poppy realizes she needs God's grace, that she can't do it on her own, and also realizes that that Grace is given abundantly, even in tragedy. If there is anything trite about the book it is that out of tragedy, something really good came; however I didn't even think about it in those terms until I was writing this, so I'd say it doesn't exactly hit you over the head. Poppy is a real woman with real faults, real doubts and real love.

I like Samson's writing style and use of language. That's something I rarely say--most decent writing, to me, fades into the background, it is a medium, nothing more. A few authors impress me with the way they use language, and Samson is one.

In short, if you are a fan of faith-based fiction, I think you'll like this one.

To order from Amazon: The Church Ladies