This is the story of Gabriel, whose life–at the age of five–is dramatically changed by the death of his father. The little boy’s life is completely altered when he is uprooted from his home by a beautiful river in the mountains of Colorado, to the flat, hot plains of Kansas. The rest of Gabriel’s childhood, followed by his teen years, are extremely difficult because of the significant losses and changes in his life.
It is especially important that the sections “from an entry in a journal” and “prologue” be read before reading the book. The author cleverly starts the story here and, besides being very interesting and well-written, these sections add a lot to the coming story.
Geographically, there are some mistakes concerning the setting of the boy’s Kansas home, and its location to other big cities, especially St. Louis, MO. Whether Gabriel’s hometown was real or fictitious, no place in Kansas would have St. Louis as its closest big city, or KMOX as its strongest radio station.
There are some really odd occurrences that were dropped into the story-line. These events really don’t make sense, and were never explained as the story went on. The last event was especially odd, and had a paranormal feel to it. Hopefully, God was supposed to be at the center of these events, but they were confusing, and it is basically anybody’s guess.
A big part of the Gabriel’s life is spent trying to recover from the sudden shock of his father’s absence in his life. The book goes into great detail about how difficult this was for Gabriel to try to live through, and how painful it was for his loved ones to watch Gabriel carry this burden. As the boy grew, it was a mystery to Gabriel why he couldn’t get rid of the burden–especially since he didn’t like that about himself. Sadly, Gabriel didn’t know how to change the situation.
As a Christian, I would hope God would be seen as the answer to all this unhappiness. But despite the story being set in a small Kansas town in the 1950’s, God is never acknowledged as a solution. In fact, God is really not mentioned in the book other than table grace said at mealtime, and once when a character sort of looks up and says, “thank you”. Since the book has a Christian publisher, God’s absence in this story is even more disappointing.
This is a clean story, although it is marred with at least one mild profanity. I would not call it Christian fiction. The author’s descriptions are well done. I could almost feel the hot, dusty Kansas plains, as well as, the cool beauty of the mountains, forests and river in Colorado. I love the forests and mountains, so a book that includes part of its story in that area appeals to me.
I give this book a 3 star rating. The story needs to be smoothed out. If a reader has hung in there with Gabriel’s story, suffering through all the drama and angst, the reader deserves a few more crumbs of Gabriel’s life at the end. For instance, did he get married, if so, to whom? The strange occurrences need more explanation, and the mistakes in geography need to be fixed. Getting past that, the story has interesting characters, an appealing chronicle of Gabriel’s family and life, along with good descriptions of the outdoors.
The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through Thomas Nelson Publishing for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own, and I have not been compensated in any other manner. Despite my receiving the book free, it has not influenced my judgment, and I have given an honest opinion.
The Author’s Web Site: http://www.michaelneale.com/
