I read this book in June early in my summer vacation. When I finished it, I started right back at the beginning and read it a second time, this time with pen in hand to underline my favorite parts. I adore this book.

And yet I am hesitant to recommend it to other readers. Somehow I feel like this book was written for a reader just like me. Did you grow up in small-town Indiana? Did you belong to an Anabaptist church? Do you struggle with faith, theology, brokenness? Do you know people who live the life of the mind yet end up spending so much time navel-gazing and thinking about living that they forget how to actually live?

If you can say yes to these questions you might enjoy this dense little novel as much as I did. I loved the characters--both the main characters and the supporting characters. I loved the descriptions of small town life. There were sentences and whole pages where I loved every word.

But I'm afraid you might not love this book as much as I want you to.