Skip to main content

Early Christmas Tale

I've written before that Amish fiction has puzzled me and given me a bit of concern.  But, every once in awhile, I take another chance on it.  This week I read A Lancaster County Christmas by Suzanne Woods Fisher.  Here's my disclaimer:  This is fiction.  It is not nonfiction.  Please keep this in mind if you read this book.  Suzanne Woods Fisher hosts a radio show called Amish Wisdom.  I listened to a short excerpt of the show yesterday, which I do have thoughts about, but those thoughts are probably better suited to a separate post.  So, I'll limit this review to this book. 

Storyline:  Jaime and C.J. have been married for 3 years.  Jaime is having doubts about her marriage and her ideas about what life should be have gotten skewed by the influence of her father who has reappeared in her life after being an absentee father almost her entire life.  Mattie and Sol are Amish and live with their son, Danny, and nephew, Zach, on a farm.  The two families intersect when Danny leaves his whistle at the doctor's office and the doctor asks Jaime to return it to him.  Jaime and C.J. find themselves stuck at the Amish family's home over the Christmas holidays when they try to return the whistle as they are leaving town.  The story is about what transpires over those few days and how hearts change.

Writing:  I thought that her writing was better than in another book I read by her.  It was pretty good and the dialogue was far less contrived than another fiction book I read recently by a different author. 

Plot:  The plot is clear in the first chapter.  No surprises.

Conclusion:  If you enjoy Amish fiction, then you'll probably really like this book.  Is this a genre I'd recommend?  Not really.  But, that's another topic for another day...

Please note that I was given a complimentary copy of this book for review by Revell Publishing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison of Verses

Tonight I was reading the Mom's Bible again (NCV) and compared this verse: NCV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church. 24 As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything. NIV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. The Message 22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grieved

Why is it that my generation (I belong to Gen X) and generations after us always seem to think that they know more than the generations that have come before us? Why is there such a lack of respect in our generation for our elders? Why do we think that the liturgy of the church and hymns are irrelevant? It is ironic to me that the emergent movement is saying that the seeker sensitive movement is irrelevant. It seems as if it was only a few years ago when it was the seeker sensitive movement that said to the traditional church that it (the traditional church) was irrelevant. I'm reading a book with all of these big words and I want to be honest--I didn't understand a lot of it. I'm not dumb. I understood most of it, but the author was assuming a lot of background knowledge on the part of the reader. Most of the time I learn deep theological concepts and then I have to store them in my "attic" (as Autumn would say) because there isn't enough room in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Missing Pieces

The other day I was discussing a book with my mom and explaining to her my concern about how "blame" is cast upon the child in the story.  My mom commented about how deeply I read and consider what is written. Sometimes I wonder if I go overboard.  Am I questioning too much?  Am I overreacting? Why am I reacting this way? I come back to knowing that God wired me this way.  But, I also reflect on how God has guided my path through the maze of books I've read over the past few years and what I've learned from the books themselves and from reading them.   Recently, I read a book that troubled me.  The book I finished reading was  Guiltless Living  by Ginger Hubbard.  When I began reading it, I found myself puzzled and then disconcerted. And in the end, I cried. But, I cried for a different reason than one might suspect. I'd like to explain. I did not read Ms. Hubbard's previous book “ Don't Make Me Count to Three ”, but I knew from f...
Post a Comment
Read more