Finding Faith In Fiction
My Book Club Book Reviews
It is 8pm. Everyone stirs, looking around. Has anyone else has started moving? We abandon the snacks and appetizers having drank and ate our fill until we are all-caught-up in each other’s lives. Somehow we all know…We all realize without anyone saying…The first hour of Book Club is done.
Now- it is time to discuss the book. (Yes, our book club actually DOES discuss the book!)
We settle around desserts, always including peanut M&M’s (though I never actually see people eating too many of them). Someone says: “3”, next up: “4”, and another: “3.5”…and so it goes, each lady giving their star rating on that month’s book. I do not like the “star system” too much, having said as much. Very rarely is something below 3 and above 4.75. I think we should be more generous with the 1’s and 5’s. Here is my idea of a rating scale:
- Hate it (cringe face)
- It was ok (micro expression-smirk)
- Liked it (grin)
- Liked it a lot (smile)
- Loved it (excited to discuss!)
When it is my turn, all eyes are on me in what could be anticipation of what crazy thing I will say. Or it could simply be my pride- only imagining people are super curious about my opinion. I have developed kind of a reputation for having an opinionated take on each book that tends to be much different from the others. This can be raise contention at times, but it is mostly entertaining. I hope anyway. In either case, they keep letting me come, so I continue to be me. And give my rating….
Things I like when looking for Faith in Fiction
I look at the writing itself, of course. It must be written well- at least as well as I have knowledge to judge. I want to be taken in by the story itself and not want to put it down. The characters and the storyline must be believable. Convince me the protagonist would make whatever the uncharacteristic decision is to make the plot move forward. There should also be a universal truth, theme or God in some way is working to change things. Readers like to see the someone’s life changed. Otherwise, what is the point?
My search is for faith in each piece of fiction. Often in today’s popular fiction we see books that will have a huge cast of characters and not one of them believes in Jesus. I just do not believe any story that takes place in our world would not have believers. Or if they are religious, it is an assumed over-the-top stereotype that make them look like idiots. I would like to see myself in a character sometimes and I rarely do. Of course, maybe I am a stereotype or an idiot. You can be the judge.
Things I do NOT like when looking for Faith in Fiction
Cringy gratuitous sex and profanity- especially when God’s name is used in vain- automatically get points taken off. More points are taken off when the author presupposes a universal truth that is false- such as “everyone believes in abortion” or something like that. I definitely do not like being preached to whether it is a Christian, political ideology, etc. Even when I agree with the opinion. It is very annoying. No one enjoys this type of self-indulgent writing. Let me make my own decisions. Do not tell me how I feel, or should feel.
For this reason, my reviews in Finding Faith in Fiction will do just that- look for where God is or where God is not. I will seek to point it out.
What will I rate the books? Dive in to find out!
First one is The Wedding People. Read about it HERE.
