Review: Finding Home
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 19, 2014
Joe, a man who has spent a good deal of his life frequenting various prisons, comes out determined not to return. Ever. With the mentoring of an older prisoner he has decided to get into the faith game.When I was young I had an aunt who used to say "fake it til you make it". In a sense, that is what Joe does at the beginning. Sitting alone in his rented storefront day after day, reading the Bible, he begins to hope for interaction with anyone. When Elsie, a timid somewhat neurotic woman finally comes in, he is more than happy to sit with her and sing hymns. He doesn't know it yet, but he will never be the same.My experience has overwhelmingly been that people being given the opportunity to help more often than not results in help being given. Joe is no exception. When tragedy strikes the old shopkeeper across the street he goes and sits with him. He doesn't tell him everything will be fine, (it won't be), he just is there. The man is not alone and that can be a blessing in itself. In fact his real gift seems to be being there- a non judgemental, unflappable, flawed but inherently decent man trying to help out when he can.There are no sermons, flashes of religious inspiration, or great awakenings here. This is a quiet conversion whose aftereffects will ripple outward and touch an amazingly diverse group of people.Do I think the author sat down and decided to write a novel that would make readers (most of us anyway) feel this deeply? I don't know. Perhaps. Perhaps not. But sometimes, for whatever reason, that is what happens. You end up with a story that makes people stop and think about the nature of faith, forgiveness, and redemption.