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Immanuel's Veins
by Ted Dekker (Goodreads Author)
by Ted Dekker (Goodreads Author)
I don't want to finish this book.
It is one of those stories where the dude (Toma) sees some girl (Lucine) who is beautiful and falls instantly and madly in love. But there is no reason for him to be in love. Ted Dekker spends 90% of the first several chapters of the book going on and on about the emotions Toma felt, and how he can't focus, can't think straight, is nervous, is a teenaged-emo kid with raging hormones. But at no point do Toma and the object of his obsession ever have a conversation that means anything. It's a classic case of a writer telling instead of showing. I didn't believe any of it. I only knew they were in love because the writer said so.
I can remember being obsessed and passionate about girls I barely knew...in high school. But I'm a married man who is in love with his wife now, and I can give you an endless amount of reasons I love her, and those start from the first day we met. Toma's got nothing on my love story.
Maybe if I were 15 I'd like this book.
Also, supposedly this is a Christian book by a Christian novelist. I'm not a Christian, but I don't see how anything about this book is either. I read another book of Ted's, Skin (which was better, though only because of an interesting plot line and not the quality of the writing), and it was the same deal. I keep seeing Ted marketed as a Christian novelist, but what does that matter if there's no Christian message to his books. If he's not writing Christian novels, then his marketing team needs to stop pushing him as such. It's selling out his faith. It's gross and it's one more deterrent to convincing others that the Christian faith is true.
It is one of those stories where the dude (Toma) sees some girl (Lucine) who is beautiful and falls instantly and madly in love. But there is no reason for him to be in love. Ted Dekker spends 90% of the first several chapters of the book going on and on about the emotions Toma felt, and how he can't focus, can't think straight, is nervous, is a teenaged-emo kid with raging hormones. But at no point do Toma and the object of his obsession ever have a conversation that means anything. It's a classic case of a writer telling instead of showing. I didn't believe any of it. I only knew they were in love because the writer said so.
I can remember being obsessed and passionate about girls I barely knew...in high school. But I'm a married man who is in love with his wife now, and I can give you an endless amount of reasons I love her, and those start from the first day we met. Toma's got nothing on my love story.
Maybe if I were 15 I'd like this book.
Also, supposedly this is a Christian book by a Christian novelist. I'm not a Christian, but I don't see how anything about this book is either. I read another book of Ted's, Skin (which was better, though only because of an interesting plot line and not the quality of the writing), and it was the same deal. I keep seeing Ted marketed as a Christian novelist, but what does that matter if there's no Christian message to his books. If he's not writing Christian novels, then his marketing team needs to stop pushing him as such. It's selling out his faith. It's gross and it's one more deterrent to convincing others that the Christian faith is true.
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Reading Progress
| 02/11/2011 | "Listening to Immanuel's Veins. Just started it...ok so far." |
Comments (showing 1-6 of 6) (6 new)
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Josh
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Jun 01, 2011 01:07pm
i read the book and enjoyed it very much. as to the comment about it not being "Christian," i say that if you knew some of the fundamental truths in Christianity you would see it in the book as well. the whole book is the Gospel message told in a different setting. it is about Christ wooing his bride the Church. if you finished the book you would see that Toma's love lead to self-sacrifice. just like Christ on the cross. the Christian message is still there even if it doesn't use the words "God" or "Bible" in it.
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i read the book and enjoyed it very much. as to the comment about it not being "Christian," i say that if you knew some of the fundamental truths in Christianity you would see it in the book as well. the whole book is the Gospel message told in a different setting. it is about Christ wooing his bride the Church. if you finished the book you would see that Toma's love lead to self-sacrifice. just like Christ on the cross. the Christian message is still there even if it doesn't use the words "God" or "Bible" in it.
...One star? Really? Okay, so what if he fell madly in love at first sight? God can do that, right? If you're meant for each other, you can feel something instantly. Am I wrong? No. Good. Now that that's covered...Yes, there was a reaosn for Toma to be in love with Lucine. Take Alex and Natasha, for example. Because they didn't really love each other, they didn't give a rip what happened to the other person. Toma, however, was in love with Lucine, so he protected her; and, Toma was led down the dark road because of love. Ted tied the fight of dark against light to their love for eachother, so it's a fight between good and evil, and "love" and true love. And I can see how you might disagree with that, but you can't deny (really) that this book has no Christian base to it! Good and evil! Light and darkness! Real love, and seduction! COME ON!
I am a Ted Dekker fan, but wow this book was a disappointment. If you liked Skin you would probably enjoy Three or Obsessed. I think Ted Dekker's writing is a bit of fresh air in Christian fiction. His writing is a parallel to Christ's unconditional love, which unfortunately can sometimes make his books a bit predictable but better than many alternatives.
