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Through a Glass Darkly
She was the lift of the party...delightfully zany, radiantly alive, with more talent and personality than any girl had a right to have. But what the world didn't see was the chink in her armor.
Sheila Jamison is well on her way to success as a designer of inspirational greeting cards when an automobile accident leaves her stricken with intermittent periods of total blindness. Blessed with a buoyant sense of humor and an innate faith in God, even these resources seem to fail her as doubts and fears shake the serenity of her well-ordered life.
Then Cole Hampton enters her world. Cole is a Vietnam veteran whose only faith is in his determination to control his own destiny. Together they must learn that, while modeled after the perfection of Jesus Christ, "Christians are not perfect, just forgiven."
Sheila Jamison is well on her way to success as a designer of inspirational greeting cards when an automobile accident leaves her stricken with intermittent periods of total blindness. Blessed with a buoyant sense of humor and an innate faith in God, even these resources seem to fail her as doubts and fears shake the serenity of her well-ordered life.
Then Cole Hampton enters her world. Cole is a Vietnam veteran whose only faith is in his determination to control his own destiny. Together they must learn that, while modeled after the perfection of Jesus Christ, "Christians are not perfect, just forgiven."
- GenresChristian
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 9, 2010
Reviewed for THC Reviews
I first read Through a Glass Darkly when I was a teenager, but I didn't really remember much about the plot and thought it might be fun to see how I would view it through adult eyes. I have to say that I finished the story with rather mixed feelings. I didn't dislike the book, but neither can I say that I enthusiastically enjoyed it either. In my opinion, it had some issues which may have been a product of the time frame in which it was written (1985), and perhaps these “issues” are why I didn't recall the storyline.
My middle-of-the-road stance on the book itself is also mirrored in my opinions of the hero and heroine. Cole is a Vietnam vet and now the CEO of his own electronics company. He is a self-made man who wants to control his own destiny and doesn't seem to fear or be bothered by much of anything. As a result, he isn't very empathetic toward anyone else who is. He also has a reputation as a playboy. Cole's demeanor reminded me very much of the bodice-ripper style heroes of the 1970's and 1980's. One minute he is being a dominating alpha behaving in what I considered a rather cruel manner, making very direct and biting comments to Sheila and grabbing her arms/shoulders to shake her. Two paragraphs later, he's apologetic and more tender with his words and gestures. He also apparently went on dates with another woman while he was seeing Sheila, which is a huge no-no in my book. Sheila started the story as an outgoing young woman with a zany personality who composes greeting card verses for a living. After a car accident leaves her with intermittent periods of blindness, she becomes a shell of her former self. She too flip-flops back and forth between wanting to be independent while trying to trust God that everything will work out for the best, and simply being scared of life. She also has the one-minute-kind-and-gentle, the next-minute-temperamental thing going on. I think that perhaps the author was trying to use these extremes in personalities to express the character's complexities, as well as Sheila's struggles to come to terms with her disability and Cole's need for God in his life, but it just didn't entirely come across that way to me. Instead, I found their behavior to be frustrating and ended up rolling my eyes more than once at how quickly they could change their attitudes.
I think Sheila's realization that she was in love with Cole came about too quickly. I just didn't feel the build-up of emotions that would make me buy into it. The overall progression of the couple's relationship seemed very odd to me and lacking a smooth, sensible flow. Sheila loves Cole even though she thinks he doesn't love her in return and is only hanging out with her out of a sense of pity and physical desire, yet she continues to see him anyway. One minute Cole almost seems to mock Sheila both on a personal level, as well as her Christian values, and the next he admires her for both. They also tend to bicker quite a bit, which I think might have been intended to show their uncertainties about being with someone who was so different in both personality and religious beliefs. It's all just very choppy though, without any real clarity in their motives or intent, leaving me feeling like I was the one who was blind because I just couldn't “see” what in the world was supposed to be going on between them. I guess the one good thing I can say about their relationship is that Cole did bring the vibrancy back into Sheila's life even though I couldn't quite figure out how he did it.
Aside from the dichotomy of the characters, there were a couple of other paradoxes in this book. The first was a rift between the trite notion that Christians are supposed to be “perfect,” trusting God always with a cheerful heart in spite of their trials and burdens, and the reality of fear and just plain being human. Since in real life perfect people don't exist, I think I'm much more receptive to those characters who tend to struggle a bit in their faith, and could relate to Sheila better when she was in this mode. The other odd thing in this book was that the author at least on an internal level acknowledged the existence of sexual desire which is more than many Christian authors do and which I could fully appreciate, but every time Cole said something with a double meaning or got the remotest bit passionate, Sheila almost literally freaked out. Again, I think the author was trying to express Sheila's desire to avoid temptation, but in my opinion, it came off as a complete over-reaction.
The thing I liked most about the book is that it avoided becoming preachy like many inspirational romances can be. Although Sheila had friends who voiced some displeasure over her seeing Cole, presumably because he wasn't a Christian, they never became too overt or forceful about it. Sheila herself even had some concerns initially, but ultimately, she didn't try to “change” Cole. That's not to say that she was shy about expressing her faith, but it was done in such a way that it didn't seem at all like she was trying to shove it down his throat or give him an ultimatum. On the contrary, I thought she was generally pretty accepting of him as he was, and she had another good friend who was also a non-Christian which made her appear more open-minded in general. I very much appreciated that no one tried to browbeat Cole with their beliefs, and he came to God completely of his own free will and in his own time because of their quiet show of faith.
Even though I thought Through a Glass Darkly could have been better, it wasn't a bad book. If anything, I came away from my re-read with a rather ambiguous feeling, acknowledging that it had both its good points and not-so-good points. Considering that this was Sara Mitchell's first published romance, it was a pretty decent first effort. To the best of my recollection, it is the only book by her that I have ever read, and although I may not re-read it again, I am open to trying some of her other works. In fact, I believe I have one of her more recent novels written for the Love Inspired line on my TBR, and maybe after having had more than a couple of decades to season her writing, it will be a smoother ride than this one was.
I first read Through a Glass Darkly when I was a teenager, but I didn't really remember much about the plot and thought it might be fun to see how I would view it through adult eyes. I have to say that I finished the story with rather mixed feelings. I didn't dislike the book, but neither can I say that I enthusiastically enjoyed it either. In my opinion, it had some issues which may have been a product of the time frame in which it was written (1985), and perhaps these “issues” are why I didn't recall the storyline.
My middle-of-the-road stance on the book itself is also mirrored in my opinions of the hero and heroine. Cole is a Vietnam vet and now the CEO of his own electronics company. He is a self-made man who wants to control his own destiny and doesn't seem to fear or be bothered by much of anything. As a result, he isn't very empathetic toward anyone else who is. He also has a reputation as a playboy. Cole's demeanor reminded me very much of the bodice-ripper style heroes of the 1970's and 1980's. One minute he is being a dominating alpha behaving in what I considered a rather cruel manner, making very direct and biting comments to Sheila and grabbing her arms/shoulders to shake her. Two paragraphs later, he's apologetic and more tender with his words and gestures. He also apparently went on dates with another woman while he was seeing Sheila, which is a huge no-no in my book. Sheila started the story as an outgoing young woman with a zany personality who composes greeting card verses for a living. After a car accident leaves her with intermittent periods of blindness, she becomes a shell of her former self. She too flip-flops back and forth between wanting to be independent while trying to trust God that everything will work out for the best, and simply being scared of life. She also has the one-minute-kind-and-gentle, the next-minute-temperamental thing going on. I think that perhaps the author was trying to use these extremes in personalities to express the character's complexities, as well as Sheila's struggles to come to terms with her disability and Cole's need for God in his life, but it just didn't entirely come across that way to me. Instead, I found their behavior to be frustrating and ended up rolling my eyes more than once at how quickly they could change their attitudes.
I think Sheila's realization that she was in love with Cole came about too quickly. I just didn't feel the build-up of emotions that would make me buy into it. The overall progression of the couple's relationship seemed very odd to me and lacking a smooth, sensible flow. Sheila loves Cole even though she thinks he doesn't love her in return and is only hanging out with her out of a sense of pity and physical desire, yet she continues to see him anyway. One minute Cole almost seems to mock Sheila both on a personal level, as well as her Christian values, and the next he admires her for both. They also tend to bicker quite a bit, which I think might have been intended to show their uncertainties about being with someone who was so different in both personality and religious beliefs. It's all just very choppy though, without any real clarity in their motives or intent, leaving me feeling like I was the one who was blind because I just couldn't “see” what in the world was supposed to be going on between them. I guess the one good thing I can say about their relationship is that Cole did bring the vibrancy back into Sheila's life even though I couldn't quite figure out how he did it.
Aside from the dichotomy of the characters, there were a couple of other paradoxes in this book. The first was a rift between the trite notion that Christians are supposed to be “perfect,” trusting God always with a cheerful heart in spite of their trials and burdens, and the reality of fear and just plain being human. Since in real life perfect people don't exist, I think I'm much more receptive to those characters who tend to struggle a bit in their faith, and could relate to Sheila better when she was in this mode. The other odd thing in this book was that the author at least on an internal level acknowledged the existence of sexual desire which is more than many Christian authors do and which I could fully appreciate, but every time Cole said something with a double meaning or got the remotest bit passionate, Sheila almost literally freaked out. Again, I think the author was trying to express Sheila's desire to avoid temptation, but in my opinion, it came off as a complete over-reaction.
The thing I liked most about the book is that it avoided becoming preachy like many inspirational romances can be. Although Sheila had friends who voiced some displeasure over her seeing Cole, presumably because he wasn't a Christian, they never became too overt or forceful about it. Sheila herself even had some concerns initially, but ultimately, she didn't try to “change” Cole. That's not to say that she was shy about expressing her faith, but it was done in such a way that it didn't seem at all like she was trying to shove it down his throat or give him an ultimatum. On the contrary, I thought she was generally pretty accepting of him as he was, and she had another good friend who was also a non-Christian which made her appear more open-minded in general. I very much appreciated that no one tried to browbeat Cole with their beliefs, and he came to God completely of his own free will and in his own time because of their quiet show of faith.
Even though I thought Through a Glass Darkly could have been better, it wasn't a bad book. If anything, I came away from my re-read with a rather ambiguous feeling, acknowledging that it had both its good points and not-so-good points. Considering that this was Sara Mitchell's first published romance, it was a pretty decent first effort. To the best of my recollection, it is the only book by her that I have ever read, and although I may not re-read it again, I am open to trying some of her other works. In fact, I believe I have one of her more recent novels written for the Love Inspired line on my TBR, and maybe after having had more than a couple of decades to season her writing, it will be a smoother ride than this one was.
February 15, 2018
[Back Cover tagline]
"She was the life of the party...delightfully zany, radiantly alive, with more talent and personality than any girl had a right to have. But what the world didn't see was a chink in her armor."
[Back Cover review]
"Sheila Jamison is well on her way to success as a designer of inspirational greeting cards when an automobile accident leaves her stricken with intermittent periods of total blindness.
Blessed with a buoyant sense of humor and an innate faith in God, even these resources seem to fail her as doubts and fears shake the serenity of her well-ordered life.
Then Cole Hampton enters her world. Cole is a Vietnam veteran whose only faith is in his determination to control his own destiny.
Together they must learn that, while modeled after the perfection of Jesus Christ, 'Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.'"
"She was the life of the party...delightfully zany, radiantly alive, with more talent and personality than any girl had a right to have. But what the world didn't see was a chink in her armor."
[Back Cover review]
"Sheila Jamison is well on her way to success as a designer of inspirational greeting cards when an automobile accident leaves her stricken with intermittent periods of total blindness.
Blessed with a buoyant sense of humor and an innate faith in God, even these resources seem to fail her as doubts and fears shake the serenity of her well-ordered life.
Then Cole Hampton enters her world. Cole is a Vietnam veteran whose only faith is in his determination to control his own destiny.
Together they must learn that, while modeled after the perfection of Jesus Christ, 'Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.'"
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews