*edited from 5 stars to 3 stars about 2 years after reading it. I listened to this podcast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbiLcxEsm_A) and it helped to explain why I both loved the book but also had a hard time recommending it. ( )

I can certainly see why this book has a lot of controversy, but I really enjoyed it and found it to be quite a moving story. Angel grew so much throughout the book and it was just good to see. ( )

LENTEN AND FUNERAL SONGS

Month of February 2022: Christian Fiction

My daughter has been on me to read this for a while, and here we are in February. “Redeeming Love” comes out in the movie theaters this month, and we girls are planning a girl’s night out. So, while I’m at it, this month I’ll knock out some of my other Christian fiction books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while now.

This novel is “loosely” based on the story of Hosea (in the Book of Hosea in the Old Testament) who was told by God to go marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her. He chose Gomer. I say “loosely” because this is, afterall, a novel and there are many differences. What is the same, though, is Hosea’s and Michael Hosea’s (from the novel) obedience to God’s words.

Sorry to say, but I found the story, in general, a bit amateurish and literally exhausting! For 3/4’s of the book, you are going back and forth through the minds of the two main characters, Michael Hosea, the strong God-believing farmer (which I wished the author would have developed better) and Angel, the prostitute. Michael is the “perfect” human being throughout the novel, always praying and pleading with God to show him how to love Angel. And Angel, is CONSTANTLY questioning how there’s no way Michael could truly love her because of her past...and on and on, and over and over again, through her head we go. She kept running away from him, for her sake, for his sake, for her new friend’s sake. He kept going after her and bringing her back (if only there were such a man with that kind of perfect love, right?). There was no logic in her constantly running away from such a great man who treated her better than any man before. Once she began to feel comfortable and began trusting him, the next morning she would be gone. Just up and ran away. The story didn’t flow.

The other thing I could not wrap my head around was a biblical type character, such as Michael Hosea, in 1850’s California gold rush days. For me, the two did not mesh well at all. I didn’t feel the characters or time era development was thorough enough.

.The only scene I found half exciting was in Chapter 23: the John Wayne kiss. Angel had run away again and ended up in Sacramento, working at Michael’s friend’s store. She’s miserable every second she was away. Joseph had sent word that Angel was safe and sound. One day she turned around and, of course, there’s big glorious Michael, standing there in the doorway. He shuts the door and turns the door sign to “Closed” and slowly walks up to her and grabs her in his arm and gives her the John Wayne kiss...just what she needed to remember how much she loved him. That was cute.

INTERESTING TIDBIT ON NATURE

P. 310: Michael explains to Angel about God’s creatures. They planted corn and she was mad, driving off the birds for eating the corn. But, he planted plenty for themselves and the birds and explained to her, “They’re the guardians of the land…The swallows, swifts, and hawks guard the air, filling themselves on insects that would otherwise overload it. The woodpeckers, creepers, and chickadees feed on the grubs and beetles that would destroy our trees. The warblers and fly catchers feed on insects that attack the leaves. Grouse and prairie hens eat the grasshopper‘s that would devour our crops.”

I can’t wait for next month’s genre reads: NATURE!

BOOK-TO-MOVIE

“Redeeming Love” (2022), starring Abigail Cowen as Angel, Tom Lewis as Michael Hosea. ( )

Material for compelling screenplay. ( )