How Christian fiction ought to be. I loved this romance written by a man (gotta love that perspective). One of my favorite features in the book was ho...moreHow Christian fiction ought to be. I loved this romance written by a man (gotta love that perspective). One of my favorite features in the book was how Coppernoll used lyrics from music of the 80s as opening lines to his chapters and as a playlist for the story.
Even though he borrowed lines from song writers to augment his story, there were so many of his own lines that just sang to me. Here are some of the lines I highlighted throughout the book.
FAV0RITE LINES:
We’d gotten used to the steps of three dancers when Dad left, but with only the two of us left, we didn’t know how to move. We lost the rhythm.
My life had been dipped in liquid uncertainty, and I’d come up dripping with it.
Yet here I was, a forty-year-old man who’d learned to take the love he had for one woman and break it into a thousand pieces to give away to the poor.
She entered my life unannounced, but over the next few years, she would overturn every stone I was.
By then it seemed late, the way long days get heavy around 10:00 p.m.
I watched Marianne from the other side of the white-linen tablecloth, our plates full of unfamiliar foods. Our conversation full of unfamiliar words.
Maybe we both had to be pulled for twenty years through a too-narrow passage to shape our hearts into the people we were now.
He was shaking off my words, letting them fall into the crazy bin.
This was where I wanted to be forever, wrapped around Jenny, wrapped around hope.
After reading Red Sky in Mourning, I wanted to read another inspiring survival-at-sea true story. I wish I hadn't read this book; it was depressing. S...moreAfter reading Red Sky in Mourning, I wanted to read another inspiring survival-at-sea true story. I wish I hadn't read this book; it was depressing. She kept talking about how she shouldn't have joined a crew led by a drunk, undisciplined, incompetent captain. 5 people in a lifeboat; only 2 survive. What happened on the lifeboat was unconscionable - what the people did to each other...
Memorable phrase from the book: "Surviving survival." How the author survived surviving this traumatic experience almost redeemed the book, but not quite.(less)
Red Sky in Mourning was recommended by a friend — one of the sailors with whom I crossed the Pacific Ocean in a 42-foot sailboat a long time ago. I ch...moreRed Sky in Mourning was recommended by a friend — one of the sailors with whom I crossed the Pacific Ocean in a 42-foot sailboat a long time ago. I checked the book out from my local library and read it in two sittings. Tami’s story made me even more grateful that we completed the voyage safe and sound.
A line I could relate to: “…a wave sent the hull airborne into a free fall that smashed down with a shudder.” I remember the pounding we took as we beat into the wind for days on end.
One of my favorite lines: “…the damp breeze that wouldn’t stop licking my skin.”
Other reader’s comments here mention the writing style, but a good story trumps writing every time. The story is riveting. It wasn’t just a story of physical survival, but one of emotional and spiritual survival as well. I thought about it for days after finishing the book.
With flashbacks interwoven throughout, Tami gives the reader a glimpse of a young sailor’s life, a vagabond who experiences life and adventure and love. Not many of us get to experience that. I loved the love story, which made Tami’s loss of her fiancé even more impactful for the reader. How she made it back to civilization with just a watch and a sextant was a lesson itself. Great read. (less)
I can’t stop thinking about Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers. It’s insightful. Beautiful. Poignant. Heartbreaking. Shattering. Healing. I...moreI can’t stop thinking about Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers. It’s insightful. Beautiful. Poignant. Heartbreaking. Shattering. Healing. It touched my heart like no other book has in a long time.
As a writer, I love how Diffenbaugh wove the language of flowers throughout the story, adding depth, texture, and symbolism.
[Spoiler alert] The ending does not disappoint. The following lines spoken by Victoria, the main character, took my breath away. (I listened to the audio book so had to keep rewinding to transcribe the words; please excuse any errors):
“If it was true that moss did not have roots and maternal love could grow spontaneously, as if from nothing, perhaps I have been wrong to believe I was unfit to raise my daughter. Perhaps the unattached, the unwanted, the unloved could grow to give love as lushly as anyone else. I would learn to love my daughter imperfectly and without roots.”
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