38th out of 73 books
—
967 voters
The Rapture of Canaan
by
Sheri Reynolds (Goodreads Author)
At the Church of Fire and Brimstone and Gods Almighty Baptizing Wind, Grandpa Herman makes the rules for everyone, and everyone obeys, or else. Try as she might, Ninah hasn't succeeded in resisting temptation her prayer partner, James and finds herself pregnant. She fears the wrath of Grandpa Herman, the congregation and of God Himself. But the events that follow show Nina...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
by Berkley Books
(first published 1995)
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First off, let me start by saying that this is not a religious book, it can be viewed that way if you want to, but in case you're one of those people that are scared off by religious books, this isn't one. Now, on to the more important matters...
Almost from the first word I had become sucked into this book and Ninah's character, a flawed, naive girl who truly doesn't know better. She's sweet, tries hard, but just doesn't know what she needs to know. The way Reynolds has written her, doesn't make...more
Almost from the first word I had become sucked into this book and Ninah's character, a flawed, naive girl who truly doesn't know better. She's sweet, tries hard, but just doesn't know what she needs to know. The way Reynolds has written her, doesn't make...more
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Oct 05, 2007
Tiffany
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
oprah's book club fans, religious fanatics, women
Shelves:
oprahsbookclublist,
fiction
I actually liked this book a lot I would have liked it more but I wasn't so big on the ending. There was quite a few very interesting chapters in a vague disjointed kind of way.
It's the story of a young girl who finds herself in a bit of a position after she gets pregnant. She lives within a cultish community that is so far overboard they are fanatics lead by Ninah's grandfather who wasn't the same when he came back from war.
It's got both interesting little sides stories in it, as well as the...more
It's the story of a young girl who finds herself in a bit of a position after she gets pregnant. She lives within a cultish community that is so far overboard they are fanatics lead by Ninah's grandfather who wasn't the same when he came back from war.
It's got both interesting little sides stories in it, as well as the...more
I just finished reading this book for the second time. I think I loved it more than the first. The only books I tend to give 5 stars to are books that make me want to reinvent my life when they are over, live a better life, and be a better person. This really isn't that kind of book but it is greatness through and through.
There were times while reading this book that I just needed to put it down. I knew if I kept reading I would get too sad. I was right there with Ninah, going through her strugg...more
There were times while reading this book that I just needed to put it down. I knew if I kept reading I would get too sad. I was right there with Ninah, going through her strugg...more
Excellent writing, I was hooked. This was one of those books that when I am reading it I feel like I am really there and when I'm not reading it all I can think about is that place and those characters. This book was astonishing and made me cry (it might be because I just had a sweet little boy that I love so much) I was constantly being shocked, disgusted and frustrated but somehow it was still beautiful and stirred all sorts of emotions inside of me (love, faith, hope, understanding...) it was...more
Aug 07, 2011
Yvonne
added it
Beautifully written, captivating story of Ninah, a spirited, young girl born and raised in the Fire and Brimstone church community. Her grandfather is 'cult' founder of this self-sufficient, isolated Christian flavoured religion, which is focused more on sin and punishment than love and tolerance.
Ninah loves her Nanna, her daddy and James the most. She is a thinker and a questionner where the majority of her community are sheep blindly following their spiritual leader Grandpa Hermann.
The story...more
Ninah loves her Nanna, her daddy and James the most. She is a thinker and a questionner where the majority of her community are sheep blindly following their spiritual leader Grandpa Hermann.
The story...more
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Ninah, the main character, is raised by her family in a cult-like Christian community - consisting entirely of her extended family -attempting to block out the world. The story centers around her own self discovery: truly learning she is her own person with her own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, existing independent of what she has always been told as "right." Her grief and confusion became the catalyst for her salvation.
I read this book for the first time as an Evangelical Christian teenager. My...more
I read this book for the first time as an Evangelical Christian teenager. My...more
Beautifully written, and compulsively readable. The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynold is the story of a young girl named Ninah who is part of a very strict religious sect called the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Wind started by her Grandpa Herman after he survived the horrors of World War II. The group of 80 or so members all live together, eat together, pray together, and repent their sins together. In Fire and Brimstone, there is no tolerance for evil. Babies who are stillbo...more
In The Rapture of Canaan, Reynolds’ second novel, she imagines a contemporary Southern evangelical community where members blindly and fearfully adhere to an extremist vision of faith. This small, isolated group—calling themselves the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God’s Almighty Baptizing Wind—is founded and led by the draconian patriarch, Grandpa Herman. As a preacher of strict and unbendable rules of worship, Herman administers brutal punishments and demeaning ostracism of sinners. When his...more
My original review (24-3-05):
'I had some major difficulties with the book though, for example: the narrator is supposed to be Ninah, but her voice as narrator (poetical, adult & educated) is completely different from her voice as a speaking character (dialectical: e.g. "ain't", "don't reckon", double negatives); in a related way, Ninah's almost uncanny insights seem too externally derived. I just can't see a 12-15 year old girl who lives in such an insular community having such an ability to...more
'I had some major difficulties with the book though, for example: the narrator is supposed to be Ninah, but her voice as narrator (poetical, adult & educated) is completely different from her voice as a speaking character (dialectical: e.g. "ain't", "don't reckon", double negatives); in a related way, Ninah's almost uncanny insights seem too externally derived. I just can't see a 12-15 year old girl who lives in such an insular community having such an ability to...more
This is a deep, well written book with a fairly provocative storyline. The rapture of Canaan is set in the deep south and follows a girl that grows up in a strict and isolated religious community (The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind) led by her zealous grandfather Herman. This book is primarily about the protagonist (Nina) finding herself despite the lunacy around her, and has enough zany and poignant dialog/situations to keep things interesting. A climax is reache...more
This is the story of Ninah Huff, the granddaughter of the founder of the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind. Say that three times fast. I dare ya! Basically, the people of the congregation spend their time striving to do the "Lord's good" while denying themselves earthly pleasures (No TV, very little free time, you get the picture) because they don't want to be stuck on earth when the good Lord comes back. To avoid earthly sins, the members of the church are known to...more
Sheri Reynolds paints a vivid picture of "Bible Belt Cultism," as seen through the eyes of a teen-age girl named, Ninah. The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind is pastored by Ninah's Grandfather, Herman Langston, who, as Ninah says, "Used the Bible, of course, but only the parts he liked. He had the habit of altering verses just a little to make them match his own beliefs." The church of about eighty members is composed mostly of Ninah's family and Reynolds, through N...more
I read this book in three hours total. Had I not been interupted by parenting and/or sleeping, I could have read it in one sitting. This book was addictive, a page turner that I could not put down. I found it to be disturbing and it gave me nightmares. That being said, I loved this book!
In this story of a religious group gone wrong, the tale of a young teenager's experience dealing with the brainwashed adults in her life unfolds as she quickly grows up due to circumstances beyond her control. T...more
In this story of a religious group gone wrong, the tale of a young teenager's experience dealing with the brainwashed adults in her life unfolds as she quickly grows up due to circumstances beyond her control. T...more
Originally rated it 4, then dropped to 3 when then asked myself if I "really liked" it, or just "liked" it. The three rating came from the grimness presented, a narrow constricted life of the young woman, the restrictions which is just so unnecessary, arbitrary, and destructive. No negative reflection on Ninah, the lead character, rather a judgement if my own towards yet another narrative of growing up and learning one's expected place and role in a oppressive, cult-like, religious group. Usuall...more
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I picked this up last night and read it in one sitting. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the story. Ninah is the granddaughter of a cultish church founder who struggles with issues of faith. Her own issues are then seen played out in the community of people around her as they question the rules they've been taught and the interpretation of the Bible they've been given. I found Ninah to be an amazing individual, being raised in such an insular environment, but having the ability to see thi...more
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I was recommended this book when I was 14 years old by my mom. Since then I have re-read it so many times because I enjoyed it that much. This Sheri Reynolds’ book follows a young girl, Ninah, who lives in a fundamentalist Christian community run by her grandfather. Ninah falls in love with her nephew by marriage, and subsequently gets pregnant. I felt that Reynolds’ builds the story up a lot in the first half of the book. I enjoyed that she foreshadowed the events to follow the birth of her chi...more
I read The Rapture of Canaan over ten years ago and I still think of it from time to time. It's the story of a young girl, Ninah, who is being raised in a religious cult. Her only contact with the outside world is through school, where she and her fellow cult children, are shunned instead of accepted. Ninah takes this in stride, she almost seems to understand it without it needing to be explained. And that is the thing with Ninah throughout the book. To a degree she is brainwashed, she is naive...more
Oprah can pick 'em sometimes. This story is gritty but beautiful, a combination I love. Let me list my favorite things about this book and why you should read it.
1. Compelling often funny dialogue: This passage is between 14-year-old Ninah telling 15-year-old James, her prayer partner who came up with the game of pretending that sex during prayer was really Jesus speaking through him to her and vice versa (You have to admire the boy's originality.) She is telling him she is pregnant:
"What do yo...more
1. Compelling often funny dialogue: This passage is between 14-year-old Ninah telling 15-year-old James, her prayer partner who came up with the game of pretending that sex during prayer was really Jesus speaking through him to her and vice versa (You have to admire the boy's originality.) She is telling him she is pregnant:
"What do yo...more
So my cousin that lives in New Jersey is always going to the book sales at her local library. When she completes a run she gives me a full review of her finds. At the last sale she picked up The Rapture of Canaan and encouraged me to read it. That same day I went and checked it out from my local library. I pushed all my other books aside and got caught up in the rapture.
The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind (whew, what a mouthful) is not only a church but an entire...more
The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind (whew, what a mouthful) is not only a church but an entire...more
I think I give everything three stars. I think the star rating system is messed up. But, that's a soapbox discussion for another day. I enjoyed The Rapture of Canaan. Reynolds writing is top notch. It is however, very Oprah book club-- well written, well drawn characters, who go through a whole lot of crud. The good thing is the crud moves along quickly in this one. I didn't feel like I was bogged down forever, and looked forward to opportunities to read. On the flip side, I wish Reynolds would...more
This is about a very sheltered girl that lives in an extreme religious town in the present day. Though her community leaders and family keep her in overly-modest, old fashioned clothing and do not allow television or any media in, she struggles with temptation from within. She discovers her sexual liberty with one of the town's boys, James. The experiences feel right to her - so right, that they believe the Lord is involved and that sex is some form of worship because of the way it makes them fe...more
Both times I've read this book I've found it EXTREMELY interesting. Ninah has grown up in the small isolated community of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind. The leader of their religion is her own Grandpa Herman, who makes the rules for everyone. Almost everything is forbidden, and if you fall into temptations punishment is inevitable and somewhat brutal. For Ninah temptation comes in the form of her prayer partner, James. Ninah is determined not to sin with James, SO determin...more
This book is one of my go to reads, i am sure I have read it a dozen times. It is full of amazing characters and has an interesting plot line. At first the family seems overbearing and cultish but by the end of the book you feel sympathy for all of them, especially the grandfather.
This book has a lot of religion mentioned in it, but by no means is it a "religious" book. The characters are simply that of a young girl getting knocked up and her family being ashamed and looking down upon it. I thin...more
This book has a lot of religion mentioned in it, but by no means is it a "religious" book. The characters are simply that of a young girl getting knocked up and her family being ashamed and looking down upon it. I thin...more
This book is like no other I have ever read. It is a complete freak show. It pretty much could not stand anyone in the book, the characters are crazy "religious" people and their beliefs are insane. that being said I also worry about how many people there are living like this is the world and polluting their children into these wicked ways of thinking. It was an interesting book, I read the entire thing in two days because I was hoping for a positive ending, I won't spoil it for you one way or t...more
"The eye of a needle is like the gateway to Heaven," Nanna said, "Hard to tell who's going to be on a straight enough path to get through it." But I knew that it took more than being on the straight path. You had to be stiff enough not to bend when you tried to slip through. You had to be careful not to slip to the left or the right and think you were going through the middle all the time.
Having grown up in the Bible belt and attending my fair share of "fire and brimstone" sermons, I could total...more
Having grown up in the Bible belt and attending my fair share of "fire and brimstone" sermons, I could total...more
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Sheri Reynolds is an author of contemporary Southern fiction.
Sheri Reynolds was born and raised in rural South Carolina. She graduated from Conway High School in 1985, Davidson College in 1989, and Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992.
Her published novels include Bitterroot Landing, The Rapture of Canaan (an Oprah book club selection and New York Times bestseller), A Gracious Plenty (98), Fire...more
More about Sheri Reynolds...
Sheri Reynolds was born and raised in rural South Carolina. She graduated from Conway High School in 1985, Davidson College in 1989, and Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992.
Her published novels include Bitterroot Landing, The Rapture of Canaan (an Oprah book club selection and New York Times bestseller), A Gracious Plenty (98), Fire...more
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“There's only so much room in one heart. You can fill it up with love or you can fill it with resentment. But every bit of resentment you hold takes space away from the love. And the resentment don't do no good noway, but look what love can do.”
—
12 people liked it
“Then I wondered if that's all God ever is--somebody who loves you enough to come back from the dead to visit every now and again. Or if that's all that other people ever are--different faces of God walking around.”
—
7 people liked it
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