A gripping tale of spiritual discovery coupled with astute religious history.
A historical novel set in the first century about a young Jewish man’s encounter with Jesus Christ’s teachings.
Eli was raised in a traditionally Jewish household, and his family suffered at the hands of Roman persecution. His father, Galal, died during a rebellion; now, his mother frets about Eli’s fascination with Jesus, whose teachings she considers rank blasphemy. Eli, however, is skeptically drawn to the teachings, initially; he’s impressed by the devotion of Jesus’ martyrs but also concerned about the ways that his sayings deviate from the Torah and suspicious about alleged miracles. But when Eli takes a lonely pilgrimage and has spiritual visions, aided by psychedelics, he decides that he wants to learn more about Christianity. After he witnesses the horror of the destruction of the Second Temple during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, he meets Joses, the brother of James and Jesus. Joses becomes something of a mentor to Eli and awakens him to the truly revolutionary core of Jesus’ ministry, which singularly focuses on love, and the inclusiveness that such an emphasis demands. The story also tracks Eli’s spiritual transformation through his romantic travails; he pines for a beautiful woman, Aylah, who lives outside the faith, but their union is opposed by both his mother and her violent brother, Hakim. Debut author Mitchell, who graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, displays a deep knowledge of the historical period, and this erudition particularly shines through his depiction of the era’s contentious theological disputes. Eli emerges as a complex character, neither a skeptic nor a fanatical true believer: “Eli considered himself more a seeker than an agnostic. He knew he didn’t know the truth, and he didn’t claim to know or feel the need for certainty.” Also, within the drama, the author sketches an unconventional interpretation of Jesus’ chief message, shorn of excess doctrinal and institutional baggage, which presents his teachings as more radical than often suggested.
A gripping tale of spiritual discovery coupled with astute religious history.Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5372-8267-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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