Phew. That's done.
Like I said when I started reading this book, it was a gift to me by someone who knew that I love to read, and who had no idea what kind of books I like to read. It was a very kind thought and so I felt a bit obligated to read it. I went in knowing I probably wouldn't like it...and I didn't, but to be completely fair to the author, if you like simple adorable cutesy little love stories, this is the book for you. I do not like simplistic adorable cutesy little love stories and have a special place of disdain in my soul for Christian romance in particular.
I do not get this genre. I really don't. 99% of Christian romance novels are sheer, unadulterated garbage. I say this as someone who has read a copious amount of them: Linda Chaikin, Lori Wick, Janette Oke, I've read all of them. And I do mean ALL of them. Not just I've read all three authors, but I've read everything those authors have written, along with half a dozen other christian romance authors, and while some are better than others most of them have the same ultimate flaw: they are books entirely obsessed with romance. Why is that a problem? No one lives their lives completely obsessed with romance. 'Eros' is not the end-all and be-all of relationships, it is not all-consuming, it is not the focus of every waking moment of every day. These people, these characters, literally think of nothing else! This chick goes to church and spends the entire time worrying about why this dude didn't come to church! Um....that's kind of missing the point of going to church. She goes to work and spends the whole time at work worrying about things she heard that someone else heard that he said. You can't be very engaged with your job or enjoy it very much if you spend the entire time ruminating about whether or not a guy actually said what people said he said or not. These people never get hungry, or tired, or achy, they just go from extremes of horrible depression over the most idiotic of things and ecstatic highs because the dude/chick noticed the other dude/chick. I mean, yes, we all have those kinds of irrational feelings and thoughts, but they occupy pieces of our days, they don't occupy our entire being...at the very least every now and again physical necessities like eating, sleeping and bathing should push them out and give you a moment of respite. You try being depressed about a boy/girl when you are super hungry, the only thing you can think about is food. But that's the problem with these romance novels, the only thing that exists is romance. It's annoying.
The other annoying thing is how simplistic they are. Utterly mundane and predictable. You can look at my notes, on page 133 "oh, the grandpa is gonna die", what do you know, a couple dozen pages later, the grandpa dies. Other predictions: death of grandpa and relationship with Bethany is going to be the impetus for a reconciliation between Micah and his dad. Check. My life is horrible, nothing possibly can go right, I'm mad at God, what do I do? Turn to alcohol! Check. Boring. Predictable. Are Christian women so destitute of imagination that these are the only struggles we can imagine? Can we not be like Jacob and wrestle with the nature of God, his balance of mercy and justice, the mystery of the trinity, election versus free will? No, we have pseudo struggles with alcohol that last for an entire week and are resolved when a tearful maiden comes and begs us to give up this terrible vice. Please.
The emotional manipulation was heavy-handed and galling. Especially so because it was successful and made me cry! I hate how easily moved to tears I am. It's like the end of the Return of the King where you have a ten minute focus on Frodo's face. Yes. I know that this is a moving moment. I know that this is the culmination of the entire journey to this point. I understand that this is the moment of catharsis. I don't need a director metaphorically screaming at me with an overabundance of emotional manipulation. I find it irritating. I am perfectly capable of bawling my eyes out over hints, I don't need an aside from the director: "Audience bursts into tears." And that's what I felt like this author was doing.....that didn't stop me from crying at the intended times. Just because I can see the manipulation doesn't mean I don't fall prey to it. Super annoying.
Finally, the last thing that got to me was Micah's character. It doesn't make sense. The way he talks doesn't make sense. I don't know anything about the Amish people. I really don't. I think they are a group that falls under Protestantism who live a particularly legalistic lifestyle. They drive horses and carriages and live an extremely isolated lifestyle because they want to avoid the corruption of the world. Most avoid the use of electricity and they keep to the fashions and customs of their ancestors. From my cursory google search it seems that most don't attend public school and are educated in their community. They do have a time of exploration where they go forth and taste the world before they make their decision to fully commit to the church, but it seems like they lead a fairly isolated lifestyle. Their linguistic patterns according to this novel have sprinklings of German terms and everyone speaks to each other in a very wholesome, but unique way. So my question is this: where did Micah pick up the term 'be alone to recharge my batteries'? Doesn't the use of that term imply a fairly up to date awareness of current American linguistics, culture, technology, and pop-psychology? People in other countries don't know that term (I know, because I've had to explain it to them), despite being bathed in the same level of technology and pop-psychology and a healthy dollop of exposure to American culture. So how would Micah? Who lives in a culture greatly separated, without the access to technology and education and entertainment from which to pick up such a phrase? More than that, Micah is a quiet soul. He doesn't enjoy talking in large groups and is rather reticent, how was he even in the position to pick up this phrase from the greater culture? I mean the guy is incredibly isolated. In the entire book not once is a person mentioned as knowing him other than Dawn and Bethany. He's nearly 30 years old. He's never had a male friend? He was so entirely wrapped up in this one girl that he literally mentions no one else's name in the entire novel? Dude. That's unhealthy. Expand your horizons a bit. And yet this same guy is going to get up and move to another state to go live with cousins that he's barely spoken to? How does that correlate with the guy who is aloof and keeps pushing people away?
It was a terrible book.