What I’m Reading: All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner
Susie Finkbeiner’s novel, All Manner of Things, is the story of a family struggling to find normalcy after world events cause major rifts. It’s set in small-town Michigan during the Vietnam War not long before my husband was sent to Vietnam. I recognized the music of the era, the bell bottom pants, the troublesome news on black and white TV.
The story’s narrator is his eighteen-year-old daughter, Anna, on the cusp of deciding what she wants to do with her life. Her best friend heads for college, but Anna doesn’t think it’s a good choice for herself. She works in a cafe, whose owner is an older bachelor who watches out for everyone in a curmudgeonly manner. Anna learns to sort through her deepest thoughts to begin to make choices that reflect the best of who she is, including who to date, and even whether she wants to date. She is contemplative and honest about her uncertainties and heartaches.
When Anna’s older brother (Mike) enlists as a medic in the Vietnam War, he wants their father (Frank) notified if he doesn’t return. Frank, suffering from the aftermath of the Korean War, left the family a dozen years earlier, causing his wife and four children to question their very importance.
Both grandmothers live in the area, including their Dutch oma, the cookie baker. The other is Frank’s mother, who gives Mike a medallion of Saint Michael, patron saint of soldiers, to take with him. The medallion had been carried by family members who served in WWII and WWII, as well as Frank in Korea. They all made it home safely. Frank’s mother also has his address, so they decide to contact him to see if he’d return long enough to get reacquainted with his children, a daughter and three sons, one of whom doesn’t remember him.
His estranged wife, Gloria, is still hurt and angry, having been both father and mother to their kids for a dozen years. Gloria is opinionated, stubborn, and a lousy cook (which I found refreshing), but she reacts so well with her flock, breaking her own “rules” when necessary, such as putting up the aluminum Christmas tree with the rotating color wheel even though it’s only October.
Sometimes it’s easier to say personal things on paper instead of in person, plus they can be saved and savored. Letters from family members to each other are a compelling part of the book.
It’s a story of living with losses, a family history of running away and not dealing with things, especially important ones. It’s about asking where God is in the midst of the hardest things human beings can experience, holding onto hope even while grieving, pondering that we are indeed meant for eternity.
The Author
Susie Finkbeiner is the CBA bestselling author of The Nature of Small Birds, All Manner of Things — which was selected as a 2020 Michigan Notable Book — and Stories That Bind Us, as well as A Cup of Dust, A Trail of Crumbs, and A Song of Home.
She serves on the Fiction Readers Summit planning committee, volunteers her time at Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and speaks at retreats and women’s events across the country. Susie and her husband have three children and live in West Michigan.
Please check out her website. Susie will be the keynote speaker at the 2024 Cedar Falls Christian Writers Conference in June.
