by Melody Carlson
I have an attraction for books that mention the Pacific Northwest. Of course it helps that I happen to live in this matchlessly beautiful region, but the region’s states, particularly Washington and Oregon, are rarely mentioned on the radar of national news coverage—and generally very briefly in all the geography textbooks I’ve read or skipped over. And novels authored by people who live in my home place, or novels set in my home place, are even better. This is partially why Love Finds You In Sisters, Oregon, written by Melody Carlson and published by Summerside Press in 2009, appealed to me more of the two books a good friend let me borrow. But of course, the content has to be judged more than the cover, and the basics of this book are the characters, the plot, and the Christian message.
I have an attraction for books that mention the Pacific Northwest. Of course it helps that I happen to live in this matchlessly beautiful region, but the region’s states, particularly Washington and Oregon, are rarely mentioned on the radar of national news coverage—and generally very briefly in all the geography textbooks I’ve read or skipped over. And novels authored by people who live in my home place, or novels set in my home place, are even better. This is partially why Love Finds You In Sisters, Oregon, written by Melody Carlson and published by Summerside Press in 2009, appealed to me more of the two books a good friend let me borrow. But of course, the content has to be judged more than the cover, and the basics of this book are the characters, the plot, and the Christian message.
Melody Carlson
writes in third person, and her main character is a
thirty-two-year-old woman named Hope Bartolli. The point of view of
Hope is used in the entirety of the book, which may or may not appeal
to some people; this same method is nearly complete in the novel I am
writing, though not totally, and I feel that POV switches help in
determining who the supporting actors and actresses are in the play
of the mind, as well as aiding from boredom. Hope’s character
herself is passably well thought out: she often feels guilt for
little to no reason, she is quick-tempered, and, in spite of her
name, not at all hopeful. Hope’s two sisters, Faith (“Faye”)
and Charity (“Cherry”) Lawson, also constitute a very large part
of the book: Faye is recovering from a divorce that sent her into an
insane, tongue-lashing grief; Cherry is “Little Miss Perfect” who
appears to have a wonderful family, a beautiful house, et cetera. And
then there’s Lewis Garson, the handsome attorney for Hope’s
recently deceased grandmother Nona.
The three sisters,
named after the Sisters mountains (Faith, Hope, and Charity), suffer
from a less-than-thriving relationship. Faye is six years older than
Hope, lived in Seattle, Washington, and just lately moved back to
Sisters in hopes of a fresh start, with her son Monroe. Grieved and
angered by her husband’s affair and the whole divorce process, she
lashes out at Hope when her younger sister tries to help with her
“rebelling” son. Cherry and Hope’s relationship has been
strained at best since Hope broke up with Drew Lawson in high school,
and Cherry proceeded to “steal” him, marrying him right outside
of graduation. The situation grows even more awkward after loving
Nona’s death: Cherry, who helped her in her later years, believes
she deserves some of the enormous amount of money stowed in Nona’s
bank account, even though Hope was the supposed “favorite”
granddaughter. But Hope, instead, gets everything—the house, the
near million-dollar fortune . . . all on the clause that she agrees
to stay for a full year in Nona’s house and care for Nona’s dog,
Andy. With the proceedings comes a friendship with handsome,
six-foot-four, yummy-eyed Lewis Garson, who has dramatically changed
from the shy “nerd” he was in high school. Unfortunately, Hope’s
crush is uncertain, as she continues to see Lewis and Charity
together, and wonders over their having an affair. But Lewis really
isn’t the type of guy to do that . . . right? And then of course
there’s Brian, her new contractor who’s working on Nona’s
house. . . . Add to this Monroe’s annoyance over his mother’s
craziness and Charity’s daughter Avery’s sweet wish to help her
aunt (but Cherry’s catty disapproval), and Sisters becomes a
sisterly feud.
And what about the
Christian message of this book? There’s just something about
professed Christian authoresses. A Christian romance, even a
Christian romantic suspense. They are often written badly, and
sometimes portray little of the faith. While I leave you to draw your
opinions over how well this novel is written, I can say
wholeheartedly that in reading this book you could forget God existed
. . . except, of course, for the times He suddenly crops up and you
remember. Hope recalls that when she was little, God was her best
friend, but she got older and the relationship went south. Readers, don’t you believe that
our relationship with Christ should only grow stronger as we grow
older, instead of languishing? Besides this fact, she seems to come
back to God, praying and “trusting” Him, and of course Jesus
always welcomes a truly repentant sinner back with open arms, but
there is no word or illusion about Hope’s repentance. Besides this,
there are affairs and divorces left (on Faith’s side) and right (on
Cherry’s side). (Of course, the affairs are certainly not condoned,
and the divorces are viewed as . . . well . . . about like any
lukewarm family views them. . . .) Add to that the fact that Miss
Carlson seems to fully accept the cultural norm of girls living with their guys prior to marriage, and you have a “Christian” novel
that doesn’t really qualify as Christian in my eyes . . . unless
you put it in quotation marks, as I did.
Basically, the
characters, the plot, and the faith tell the story of any book. In
fact, I used pretty much the same thesis for my review on Jane
Eyre. Characters are meant to be friends who can be viewed,
or imagined, as real; Carlson partially accomplished that. The plot
of this book, while less of a romance than others, was actually
fairly good, but its resolve? Well, I’ll leave you to find that
out. The faith could not be considered truly born-again Christian.
Love Finds You In Sisters, Oregon is not the best book I have
ever read. But is it the worst? Certainly not! If you want a book
that you don’t really have to think about while you’re reading,
go ahead and borrow it from somebody. But please use caution with
your money; this one doesn’t appear to be worth it.
Finally found this, Hannah!! Your design is perfect for fall!!
ReplyDeleteYou should think about adding a Google Freind Connect "box," as that makes it easier for people to keep connected with your posts.
I'll definantly be a loyal follower, as books are a major part of me. :) I love the way you wrote this, it will be interesting to finally be reading some of your writing!!
love,
Becca
Thanks for the compliment on the design, although I love what Britt ended up doing to it :) I did, amazingly, figure out the GFC box. I'm horrid at figuring things out.
DeleteI hope you've liked some of the excerpts from my book that I've posted :) I should be putting more of those up soon.
I Love your review! Definatly wish more "Christian" love stories had more of a Christian message. BTW love the design too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Emmy! It must be extremely hard to incorporate Christian messages into books . . . in fact, I have trouble with it too. But this book had barely enough to *qualify* as Christian. It wasn't really; all it did was mention God and church a few times.
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