My Review of "Eleanor"

Jason Gurley's Eleanor: A Novel is a real page-turner, a treat for those who love mysteries and are suckers for stories about the power of love and loyalty in families.

Eleanor felt drawn to the sea. When she was a girl, she swam competitively. But then she fell in love, got married, and had a baby -- and that was enough for a while. Until she started feeling like she was only alive when she swam in the sea. Her husband would take her. He was very understanding. Then one day she went to the sea and never came back.

Eleanor, though, is more about her name-sake -- her granddaughter, also a twin whose sister is ripped from her through death at a young age, and subsequently grows up in a family of sorrow and rage.

So the twinless twin continues on through the years, with a now alcoholic mother who blames her, and a sporadically absent father. Her only solace is her friend Jack, a kindred spirit. Then strange things starts to happen. Doorways pull Eleanor to other worlds, some beautiful and some scary (and some nothing that have characters of their own as well) and back again, losing time when she returns. If she doesn't figure out what's going on and how to control it, her loved ones will be in even more pain than ever before.

The story is compellingly tragic -- its characters all lost from loss, anger erupting from a seemingly endless reservoir. And in between is a supernatural rift of nothing, which may hold the key to soothing all the hurt.

I won't give more of the story away. Because this is a novel I recommend so highly that I think it's best experienced, not described.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

Comments

My Review of "Radical Spirit"

Joan Chittister's Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life continues her literary tradition of making Benedictine spirituality accessible for new generations. I read her Distilled from the Daily several years ago and found her spiritual wisdom deep and transformative. In Radical Spirit Chittister focuses on the tough "spiritual hinge" of Benedict's Rule: The 12 steps of humility. Through her judicious use of spiritual parables from around the world and events from her own life, Chittister engages readers with narrative and humor, drawing them down a path to self-revelation and spiritual grounding. These thoughtfully choreographed chapters address the individual and offer an antidote to contemporary trends where "demagoguery is the new political brand, where narcissism is too often misunderstood to be leadership." Chittister writes that humility is the corrective to dangerous grandiosity, which "in religion ... makes i...

My Review of "Misfit Faith"

Jason Stellman's Misfit Faith: Confessions of a Drunk Ex-Pastor was not quite the book I had expected it to be. It was so much better! Jason Stellman was a Presbyterian pastor, but he became a Roman Catholic. I expected Misfit Faith to be, therefore, a semi-autobiographical work of Catholic apologetics. I read of Scott Hahn's mentorship of Stellman, and expected Misfit Faith to be a new, milder version of Hahn's scholarship. But I did not see any defense of Peter being the first pope in Misfit Faith , or any criticism of Sola Scriptura, or an explanation and defense of the Catholic understanding of justification. Instead, I read the story of Stellman's own spiritual journey. From the opening confession that Stellman had flirted with Christian universalism, I knew this wasn't going to be a Catholic apologetic. I wouldn't even characterize Misfit Faith as an apologetic at all. Because if there's one thing Stellman isn't sure on...

My Review of "Roadfood"

Jane & Michael Stern's Roadfood gives us another (this is the 10th edition!) gastro road trip across the US. Roadfood is like a road map through backroads and interstates for some of the best food in each state and region in the US. Roadfood celebrates venues most travelers would never venture near, let alone enter. Most of the state-by-state listed restaurants are, however, for dining on the cheap. Like Litton's in Knoville, TN -- which really does have amazing burgers. While one could hardly map a road trip by the Sterns' restaurant finds -- some cities, like Chicago, are overrepresented, while the rest of Illinois is all but ignored -- this fun and fanciful volume is pure pleasure. I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

The Mrs. & the Minister

Search This Blog