Unreasonable Grace: Book reviews

Showing posts with label Book reviews. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Miracle of Mercy Land

At one time or another in our lives, we've all looked back with regret at some road we should have taken, a meandering path where we got off track. We all live in one great big pond. And every time we make a move, the water ripples. We may never know how those ripples affect our family and friends ... and even total strangers.

What if we could know? How would it change our actions? Our words? Our decisions? What if we could go back and change some or all of those things we regret?

Mercy Land is an independent young woman during a time period when those three words were rarely strung together with kind intent. She moved to Bay City from the backwoods of Bittersweet Creek and blossomed into a bright, junior editor at the town newspaper. Doc Philips, her mentor and dear friend – also her boss – kept an covert, watchful eye over Mercy while raising her up to be the next publisher and editor of the paper.

Then a mysterious and dangerous book falls into Doc's possession. It contains knowledge that should not be known to humans. Intimate knowledge of everyone he knows ...and everyone that he doesn't know. Knowledge that, if in the wrong hands, could change everything. Doc instinctively knows that Mercy must take possession of the book.

After an irritating, yet handsome young stranger - who somehow knows about the book - moves to town, Mercy is sucked into a swirling vortex of frightening knowledge and other-worldly events that threaten her very existence. Doc is riddled with guilt that Mercy's safety and sanity are at risk. But she is the only one that can be trusted to keep the book. Will the book destroy her? Can she keep the book safe from those who would use its power for evil?

From the very first sentence, I was captivated by Mercy's soft southern drawl and transported back to a simpler life and time of the 1930's in a southern town filled with wonderful and strange characters, wizened fatherly figures and crusty, doting aunts and old maids dispensing sage advice.

River Jordan takes us back to post-depression, small town Americana where life was simple, yet rich. While accompanying her on the walking tour of Bay City, I felt the breeze blowing through the moss-laden oak, smelled the salty Gulf air, and snatches of childhood memories from the lunch counter at Woolworth danced just out of reach.

Jordan has a warm, intimate way with words. I thoroughly enjoyed her delightful phraseology. She can spin a whirlwind tale that – as unbelievable as it may be – is both compelling and redeeming.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Thin Places

Everyone who really knows me knows that I truly delight in a well-turned phrase. The gift of writing intrigues me. There are a few authors that I absolutely love and will read any book that they write – simply because I love their transparency and style of writing and I know they will not disappoint me.

Mary E. DeMuth has been added to that short list.

With her latest book, Thin Places, she steps away from the fiction that she is known for and jumps into the potentially dangerous waters of memoirs.

Memories are a mental pictorial that trace the path we walked to arrive at this particular moment in time. If we are fortunate, the majority of those memories will be pleasant ones.

But the unpleasant memories can be redeemed if they are marked by spiritual growth.

Mary has the courage to grab me by the hand and lead me on a guided tour of the darkest times in her life. Somehow - surprisingly - I am not left with sadness, but with bright hope.

There are moments when I feel like I'm reading words from my own personal journal. Words that no one else is ever supposed to see.

And I don't feel so alone.

Mary is one of us "messy folk." A tattered soul with some pretty horrific memories that no woman should possess. Very Job-like, Mary questions God and rails at Him for the awful injustices in her life. Like Mary, I sometimes experience the agonizing feeling of abandonment when it appears that God has chosen not to intervene in my little crisis. Awful words are uttered, yet healing flows from above in the aftermath.

People with turbid pasts tend to keep them closely guarded. Some memoirs are so tidy and self-serving that they never open the blinds on the windows of their life so we can catch a tiny glimpse of the real story. But Mary doesn't just open the blinds. She yanks them down from the window frame. And as she exposes the chaos of her past, we see a loving Savior tenderly stoop down in the middle of it all - and start cleaning up.

She takes her mask off. And puts a face on Jesus.

Mary is the Nicole Nordeman of Christian authors. No Christian-ese spoken. Raw, passionate, honest, and real. Just the undressed-up truth of divine grace. Words that jar me out of my comfort zone.

After reading this book, I feel like one who has just returned from a mission trip to a third world country. I’ve beheld things that I knew, in theory, happened or existed elsewhere, but not within my little sphere. That feeling of being completely humbled and changed. An inexplicable change. One of introspection. One of gratefulness for what I have. For what I’ve been through. For the calamities in life that have turned around and worked in my favor. And for those that didn’t work in my favor, but worked in me for good nevertheless.

It is a story of redemption in progress that you will not forget. And maybe it will help you begin to see that same redemption at work in your life.

Monday, September 28, 2009

A Slow Burn

The Author.

I had the pleasure of hearing Mary DeMuth speak at She Speaks 2009, a Proverbs 31 Ministries conference, in August, 2009. Mary was delightfully witty, honest and forthright as she shared with a bunch of neophyte writers how to go about getting published. While the journey to publication is not an easy one, but rather a quite daunting endeavor – writing the book seems far easier by comparison – I appreciated her candor and encouragement.

As one of those neophyte writers, I've followed Mary's blog for a couple of years now. I read Daisy Chain, predecessor to A Slow Burn just a few weeks ago. When she asked for volunteers to preview this book prior to the October 1st release date, my fingers tripped over each other to reply "me, me, yes, me! I'll read it!"

The Book.

A Slow Burn

Hurting people hurt people. Emory Chance is a hurting, grieving woman. As the pages of her past are turned, we come to understand why this fragile young woman built a wall of granite around her heart, forbidding anyone to come near. Emotional pain and neglect is all she’s known in her life. It is the only standard she’s familiar with - and is all she’s capable of giving out.

But the murder of her young daughter has ripped a gaping hole in her harsh facade and she fears her vulnerability might be exposed for all of tiny Defiance, Texas to see.

Confronted with an uncommon love from an unlikely source, Emory is both compelled and repelled. To give in means giving up her bitterness and opening up her heart. Giving in would open the door to a frightening magnificence beyond her wildest dreams.

Emory’s sordid past can be redeemed. But at what cost?

A Slow Burn is Mary DeMuth’s second in a trilogy set in 1977 in sleepy Defiance, Texas. Part one is titled Daisy Chain, and is a must-read if the reader is at all interested in the full effect of this intricate story line.

The character development in this series is exquisite. Each character is carefully sketched on a blank canvas. As the story unfolds, details of personality and background are revealed, adding depth and richness to the portraiture, ultimately becoming someone you know.

DeMuth writes with authority, making it apparent that her characters and situations are very near and real to her heart. Indeed, people very much like Daisy, Emory, Jed and Hixon must be in her circle of influence.

Much to my dismay, I discovered shards of my own life entwined in these pages. The first two books in this trilogy have given me pause, stirring in me a compulsion to examine my own life seeking evidence of intentional kindness, grace and mercy extended. I anxiously await the third and final chapter.

This is a tough book to read. Not one of those cute, warm, fuzzy reads where everyone lives happily ever after and you shut the book and fall sleep with a smile on your face. This is a real, raw look at the underbelly of hidden sin. But while exposing the sin, the author points to the message of hope and redemption freely available to whosoever will through Christ. This story is an exceptional visual of just how deep, wide, high and long is God’s mercy and grace, demonstrating that no one is ever outside of His reach.

This is not just good fiction. This is hauntingly familiar, life changing storytelling.

Keep the tissue box handy.