Covers

     You know, I'm beginning to think that I should never pick a critically-acclaimed modern novel again.   And by modern, I mean written within the past twenty–thirty years or so.   Believe me, I'll still be picking up the likes of Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and C.S. Lewis, but there have been two books I've read in the past few months that have been applauded and praised and fell absolutely flat in my eyes.

     The first was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, published in 2005.   The story takes place in Nazi Germany, and when the setting is as demure as such, there needs to be some serious hope.  But as I kept pushing through the novel, I was disappointed over and over again. Where was the hope?   The narrator was death, and seriously, if you're gonna see things through the doorway from life to afterlife, you need to talk about the afterlife.  But no, God was only mentioned in passing about two times, and it had no indication as to where souls go after Death carries them out of their bodies.   Where did all the characters who died go?   Only in Christ do we have the assurance of life, on both sides of death, but His name was only mentioned in a swear.  I couldn't find any lightheartedness even though there was a lot humor.  The dark morbidness of it didn't lift the undertone of the book at all.   The feel of the story is exactly as the cover portrays it.
     Yet, I know the dark mood is not wholly attributed to its setting. The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, is the true story of a woman who hid Jews in occupied Holland.   Though every account Corrie describes becomes more and more perturbing, hope is never lost, for her and her family's hope was in Christ.  She was even taken to a concentration camp and endured and witnessed horrible things (some of which make gag just thinking about, so I try not to).   The Book Thief never described oppression to such an extent, but the whole feel of The Hiding Place is inspiring and uplifting.   God's love and peace drench every page.   Again, the feel is reflected by the cover.
     I suppose now I have to talk about the second modern “classic” I've read.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower.   Oh, I cringe just thinking about this story.   It was only when I finished the book that I saw the MTV logo on the spine.   Envision me cringing again, but this time imagine a little sob escapes.   If you know anything about MTV, you know they are probably the worst media corporation as far as moral standards go.   So, I was expecting this to be a...oh goodness, I suppose...good story that would leave me feeling light inside and inspired (remember, this was before I realized MTV published it).   But nearing the end of part one, I began to realize maybe this wasn't what I expected it to be.   I, being one not to judge a book until I've read every page, plunged forward.  About half way through, a heavy lump of queasiness had made a home in the core of my stomach, not that anything particularly vile or horrible happened (except if you truly think about the reality of abortion and that one of the characters paid for her own baby to be slaughtered).   But I was just beginning to understand the lack of a boundary between right and wrong within the book.   It literally makes me sick to my stomach, all the drugs, sex, and the questionable morals.   Ugh.   Even the color of the cover makes me want to vomit.   A not-quite lime green.   The would-be color of radioactive puke.
     On a less-want-to-make-you-barf note, I still have three more books to fly through.   A dystopian futurama which I'm hoping will be at least slightly decent, the final book in the Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers (the first two were superb so I'm really looking forward to this one), and one I've read and feel in love with before The Last Sin Eater also by Rivers.   It has the weirdest name, but once you read and understood, oh it makes total and wonderful sense!   Oh, I'm drooling to read it again, but I'm nearly drooling while dozing over my keyboard.
     Ever yours,

NA