Review: New Light on an Old Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 20, 2013
This is an interesting book from so many angles. I purchased it after reading a blurb about it in a ARC of the author's writing-craft book, but then put off reading it for some time, just because of the sheer length of the book. But Lakin's handling of the material within this lengthy family saga is one of the most brilliant things about it. She approaches a timeline of about forty years by breaking the story down into bite-size chunks. Each scene covers roughly fifteen minutes in the family's life, from the point of view of one character or another. The technique creates snappy little episodes that keep the story afloat at all times, without at all lending itself to an episodic feel.As for the story itself, Lakin's created a compelling modern take on the Biblical story of Jacob and his sons. Aside from just the general fun of following along with a well-known story and waiting for certain events to occur, it was interesting to look at the story through the new light of a modern setting. Although I'm curious about some of the choices the author made as far as additions or subtractions from the source story, I found the book as a whole compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking.