Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.
Christian-fiction writer Martin (The Dead Don’t Dance, not reviewed) chronicles the personal tragedy of a Georgia heart surgeon.
Five years ago in Atlanta, Reese could not save his beloved wife Emma from heart failure, even though the Harvard-trained surgeon became a physician so that he could find a way to fix his childhood sweetheart’s congenitally faulty ticker. He renounced practicing medicine after her death and now lives in quiet anonymity as a boat mechanic on Lake Burton. Across the lake is Emma’s brother Charlie, who was rendered blind on the same desperate night that Reese fought to revive his wife on their kitchen floor. When Reese helps save the life of a seven-year-old local girl named Annie, who turns out to have irreparable heart damage, he is compassionately drawn into her case. He also grows close to Annie’s attractive Aunt Cindy and gradually comes to recognize that the family needs his expertise as a transplant surgeon. Martin displays some impressive knowledge about medical practice and the workings of the heart, but his Christian message is not exactly subtle. “If anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart,” Reese notes of his medical studies. Emma’s letters (kept in a bank vault) quote Bible verse; Charlie elucidates stories of Jesus’ miracles for young Annie; even the napkins at the local bar, The Well, carry passages from the Gospel of John for the benefit of the biker clientele. Moreover, Martin relentlessly hammers home his sentimentality with nature-specific metaphors involving mating cardinals and crying crickets. (Annie sells crickets as well as lemonade to raise money for her heart surgery.) Reese’s habitual muttering of worldly slogans from Milton and Shakespeare (“I am ashes where once I was fire”) doesn’t much cut the cloying piety, and an over-the-top surgical save leaves the reader feeling positively bruised.
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.Pub Date: April 4, 2006
ISBN: 1-5955-4054-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: WestBow/Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2006
In this modern-day allegory, Trott (Divorcing Daddy, 1992, etc.) infuses the popular notion of the wise man on the mountain with a keen intelligence and a surprisingly wry humor. Joe runs a hermitage (not a hermitage in the strictest sense, since fellow monks keep him company) atop a mountain in an unnamed country. During the summer months, thousands of hopefuls line the single-file path leading to his door for a chance to bend his ear. Each day during visiting hours, a small, nondescript man opens the door to the next pilgrim in line, asking, ``Yes?'' Invariably, the pilgrim, anxious after such a long wait, replies with a hasty ``I have come to see the holy man.'' The man then asks the pilgrim to follow him and takes off at breakneck speed through the house until he reaches a door—a door that turns out to be the exit leading to the single-file path down the other side of the mountain. When the visitor whines, ``But I have come to see the holy man,'' the monk replies, ``You have seen me.'' Most times, he adds, ``If you look on every one you meet as a holy person, you will be happy.'' Eventually, the initially stunned pilgrims find the jewel in the monk's words: If everyone deserves to be treated as holy, then they are holy in some way too. If this rings cheesy, it is...and it isn't. Because Trott surrounds the clichÇd nuggets of wisdom with sharp wit (the story of the famous man who, in his attempt to bypass the line by stealing the robes of a monk in town for supplies, winds up beating up the holy man himself) and weighty experiences (the drunkard who, while waiting in line for advice, makes the nine-mile journey back into town for more booze so often that he becomes fit enough, physically and mentally, to give up alcohol). Endlessly entertaining and gently profound. (Book-of-the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Book Club selections)
Pub Date: March 22, 1995
ISBN: 1-57322-002-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
A second tragedy-laden southern coming-of-age tale from Reynolds (Bitterroot Landing, 1995)—this one, set in a strict and punitive religious community, with a good, gothic allure despite its lamentably plodding prose. Ninah Huff is 14 when she really begins to chafe at the confines of her small world. Her grandpa Herman, founder of the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind, keeps harsh control over their small South Carolina community, which is populated mostly by Ninah's extended family. Those who stray from the righteous path know to expect treatment that can range from whippings with a leather strap to sleeping overnight in a newly dug grave. And Grandpa Herman is always ready with Scripture to justify any of these punishments. Ninah, meanwhile, finds herself dreaming more and more about forbidden things, especially her strong physical attraction to James, one of the few boys around who's not her blood kin. When she winds up pregnant, it sparks tragedy within her family and shock waves throughout the community. But Ninah insists that she's not guilty of the sin of fornication, that what she and James did together was a form of pure prayer. And, sure enough, when baby Canaan is born, he appears to bear a sign from God—his hands are joined at the palms like someone perpetually praying. Grandpa Herman proclaims him the New Messiah, and he's taken away from Ninah to be raised by others. This time out, Reynolds burdens her story with some unworkable metaphors—a rug that grins?—and much awkward dialogue, but, in all, she creates a strongly compelling tension between family feeling and religious fervor. The fate of Ninah and her son is uncertain until the small epiphany (or, really, anti-epiphany) at book's end—a moment that seems just right. Fire and brimstone that goes tepid at times but is really chilling overall. (Literary Guild alternate selection; author tour)
Pub Date: Jan. 3, 1996
ISBN: 0-399-14112-X
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1995
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