Review: Christian Novel... Sort Of.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 11, 2012
I found this book on Twitter, it was free. I'm always disappointed it seems, when I get a book that others promote and it doesn't live up to basic book expectations. Now, since I am an author, editor and adjunct writing Prof., I may have heavier standards than most. But I will start with Jacob. Jake Abrams, born of Isaac, marries Leah Sacks (a Jew), and begets Reuben (Behold: A Son), Simon (To be heard), Levi (Joined in harmony) and Dinah (G-d has judged). Jake's only goal in life is not go to UCLA, get away from his parents and get a college degree in the time of the Vietnam War.Leah runs away and one night when Jake is supposed to be at school watching Simon and Levi in a play he walks, finds open, yet empty (no services) Church. He cries for Leah, his wife that left him and his children. He never was able to finish his college degree, and there are dramatic parallels with the Old Testament. But the author NEVER deals with the fact that the first four of Jacob's children are Jews. If the mother is Jewish, then the children are as well. Lakin belongs to PEN, but a Christian arm of it (which, as a member of PEN, I was unaware existed, but actually shouldn't be surprised). So, we have this basically Christian father, Jake, from Colorado, who meets Leah Sacks in LA, is over-whelmed by her and ends up married. He stays in school but pregnancy seems to liberate her, make her feel more like a woman. So she continues to fight with her husband Jake, not take her pill and get pregnant. Leah, supposedly, has no relationship with her own parents.When Dinah is a baby, Leah bounces and goes off with a Moor (a black man), pounding coke up her nose, singing her songs and playing her acoustic guitar. The most hurt, besides Jake, by her actions, is Simon. It's always the Simon, I have to say. I have my own Simon, whom I'm writing a book about and I think Lakin MUST know how a "Simon" behaves, regardless of hair colour, because I saw my own book in her writing; which frankly is pretty scary! Lakin can tell a good story! I will explain later why I only gave her 4/5 stars.Back to the Church, which, we are not told of the denomination, but there Jake meets Rachel. Eventually Jake and Rachel marry and she births Joseph (G-d will increase!), who is so close to the Biblical Stories I have read, is scary. He is a pain though, to his older brothers. But a child who brags he knows better than G-d, or his older brothers and their evil deeds is going to be the cause of some consternation. I am taken by my own daughter, Miriam's, baptism, where light shined upon the six week old wee one and she has been truly a gift from G-d. Rachel, coming after the careless Leah, is an amazing, loving, G-d-filled (supposedly) woman. But Rachel has her faults. She loves Joey more than the others and they notice. Her sister and parents aren't pleased with her marriage and make it abundantly clear, by their actions, how displeased they are, and it's hard to read. It really is. One wants to believe so much that we love our children and therefore are happy for them when they get married and will do everything for them, but Rachel's parents' remind me of the Catholic joke that says everyone is nice in Church and when they get out to the parking lot they could care less if they ran you over. Those are Rachel's parents to a tee!After some miraculous events, Rachel is pregnant with Ben (Son of my right hand), who is a sickly child. Joey realizes G-d has a plan and Ben is to be saved, but Rachel dies. Now, Joey's miraculous events are wonderful, but the burden of his mother's death and his brother Ben's illness, as well as the anger from Simon and Levi eventually weigh the poor kid down. Simon is truly evil to Joseph. Joey is but a naive child and says things that upset his brothers, but Simon trying to kill him is just insanity. At 54% Jake is angry with G-d, he doesn't believe that G-d is there for him. That is a constant struggle between him and Rachel, although, in my opinion, she doesn't press Jake to go to Church as she should.On top of that, Jake is so worried he will turn out like his father that he pays less attention than he should to his children. He is so emotionally absent it's a bit scary. After Rachel's death, Jake keeps to himself. He is probably 30 now. This book hits about five decades. As a side segue, the songs at the beginning of each chapter, I, personally, found hard to understand. I'm an 80s baby and Duran Duran and Cyndi Lauper are OK, but my brain starts singing the lyrics in my head and then I feel like I have to search for the song meanings within the chapter. Given that I am an early adapter, as well, of YouTube and songs online and MP3s, I found it difficult. My brain wanted to do one thing, try to sing lyrically, in tune, to the song presented, yet also understand what the song meant to the chapter.At 75% we have Tim, from Hootie and the Blowfish. What an awful band. You can/t even understand what the lead singer is saying! I made a bookmark and I watched the video and in all honesty, I wouldn't be able to pin the song Lakin put in ger book to what he's singing. 97% LeAnn Rimes, How Do I Live? Wow! What an awful song! I know the 90s were bad in general for music, but I couldn't place this, so I had to GFE it, and I was disappointed. Rimes hurts my brain. I think I actually lost some of my brain cells listening to her. In my opinion, music should be fully integrated or not at all. So, let's move forward to Roland, after Simon and Levi did their awful deed. Roland is AMAZING! I love the guy. Lakin just makes you ache as a reader for these good people that care and are not judgmental about some white boy on the streets of South-Central LA. Roland and his family can be called nothing but a G-d Send in this book. As a reader I just want to meet Roland and grab him by the shoulders and hug that man to death! He is an amazing construct of love, will, stubbornness, and purity. A black man helping a white boy is often seen as odd in our society and I was really happy to see Lakin bring this to the forefront, albeit it was heinous what Simon and Levi did to their own brother, but read a Bible, this is taken from it!Joseph moving to St. Louis and saving Ben's life, as predicted, is a bit silly. Levi and Simon, by proxy, coming to their senses and taking responsibility for a crime they committed snaps everything neatly in to place. @krautgrrl says, well written, a good read; but don't expect to suddenly believe in some religion where kids are baptized at six years old.