July 30, 2012

• What I'm Reading...

  

  I have been fortunate enough to get a little extra reading in these last few weeks.

  Summer is flying by, but the days at home are fairly long and I am happy for the opportunity to have a little extra chill time.

  I read two books within the last few weeks that I wanted to do a review on.

  Plus, I am Re-re-re-re-reading (that means I am reading it for the 4th time, at least) Ann Voskamp's "1000 Gifts."  Yes, I think it is THAT good!!

  I read this book a couple of weeks ago. I had picked it up at a garage sale.

  
  

  

  
  

  I have visited various Hutterite colonies over the years and I mostly enjoyed my time there.

  Although, the most embarrassing moment of my entire life did happen at a Hutterite colony.  It involved me laughing loudly at a somewhat inappropriate joke that my new Hutterite friend had told me, and then being called out by the visiting BISHOP in front of the entire roomful of Hutterite people and my Bible school friends.  It was brutal.

  The book was interesting, but not real attention grabbing.  The writer was an ex-Hutterite whose family left the colony when she was about 10.  Over 1/2 of the book is about the way of life on the colony and the rest of the book is about their transition out of the colony and the huge challenge that was.

  There was a lot of detail in the book and while some of it was interesting, sometimes I felt like I had lost the main story line among the details.

  A few things that struck me:  The way the Hutterites are very brash and bold.  The way they communicate with each other does not include a lot of social graces. And they all seem fine with that. 

  The absolute power that the colony leader has.  He even forbade the writer's Dad from taking their sick child to the hospital because he thought it wasn't serious enough.  And, as usual, along with absolute power comes corruption.  That part made me sad.  And was, ultimately, the reason that the writer's family left the colony.

  The strength of community that they have.  Everyone just helps everyone else.  They are very organized and efficient and hard workers. Even the little children have to pitch in.  On the other hand, the individual parents don't even really raise their children. Its pretty much a community effort, just like everything else.

  Read this:  If you have a strong interest in learning more about Hutterite colony life.  It is somewhat fascinating to me to read about.  Also, if you don't mind some extra details.

  Bottom line:  Interesting, but not necessarily compelling.  I did really like the personal aspect of this story and the way she conveyed her emotions about things.  I found myself really feeling badly for her in certain parts of the story.

  Audrey's rating:  **

  
  

  
  

  The other book that I just finished a day or two ago was by Susan Wiggs.

  

  
  

  This is just one of your typical novels.  I generally do not read a lot of novels...I concentrate more on non-fiction and memoirs, etc., but I had picked this one up (again, at a garage sale) and thought it looked kind of interesting.

  This story follows the life of a navy pilot who works on a huge carrier ship and is gone for 6 months out of the year.

  At the time most of the book takes place, he has been in the navy for over 20 years, he and his wife are middle aged and have three teenage children.

  I have realized that, as a reader, I care more about the relationship portrayal in a book than I do about the actual story-line.  When I am reading, I want to feel something, learn something, and I really want to and like to read about the inner-workings of relationships.  I feel like this book does a good job of that.

  As a navy wife, Grace had poured her heart and soul into her husband's career. She stayed home with their kids and held things down on the homefront when he was out at sea. And she did it well.

  But somewhere along the way, she lost herself. She quit asking "What do I want?" and became discontent with her life.

  Could their marriage survive these changes she was going through?  She bought a house, got a dog and started her own business...all things that they as a couple had agreed they were not going to do until her husband was retired from the navy.  He was not very open to discussion on these things, so she ended up just going ahead with it while he was gone.

  Tragedy strikes on his ship and he is forced to consider what is really important in life. 

  Read this:  I think that someone who is in the army or navy would especially relate to this book and the life of a military family. (I thought of Meg often when I was reading this book!)  Also, if you like books about marriage and about the rough patches that we all go through, you might relate.  All ends well, so read this if you like happy endings.

  Bottom Line:  Interesting read.  Well written.  You find yourself really pulling for this middle aged couple and their family. 

  Audrey's rating:  *** and a 1/2

  • 7:26 am
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