THE JOURNEY OF CHRISTOPHER

A Christian teenager finds his faith tested during the holiday season in this inspirational debut novel.

It’s Christmastime in Chicago, but 16-year-old Christopher is having trouble getting into the holiday spirit: “Christopher was starting to think the whole celebration was nothing more than a clever lie. Santa Claus wasn’t portrayed accurately, and it wasn’t really Jesus’ birthday. He wondered what was real about the holiday.” He begins to question whether Jesus or God is even real. One night, he finds a gift box in his bedroom. When he opens it, a bright light comes shining out and the room begins to spin. Christopher gets sucked into the box, where he finds himself in a void that takes on the shape of Soldier Field. Here he meets a tall, athletic being named Michael—the same name as his father—who teaches Christopher that seeing isn’t necessarily the same as believing. Armed with only the crystal cross Christopher received as a gift for his Confirmation (and subconsciously reached for as he was being pulled into the box), they begin a journey across the galaxy. Christopher visits alien worlds where the locals still believe in Jesus—though some have fared better than others. Can this trip through the universe help Christopher rekindle his faith in Jesus? DiSalvo’s prose is conversational and clearly imbued with a Chicago-centric worldview. Here Christopher’s father, Michael, is described: “He epitomized the cliché of what a man from Chicago should have been: hardworking, blue collar, and strong yet compassionate.” The novel is essentially a retelling of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, though it is more Jesus-specific and involves aliens. (Whether that sounds like an improvement or not is probably a good measurement for how much readers will enjoy the book.) Even for such an obviously allegorical work, the characters are thin: Christopher and his dad are both stand-up guys whom the whole neighborhood respects. The lessons Christopher learns along his journey do not feel particularly Christian, moral, or personal (à la Ebenezer Scrooge), but rather vaguely fantastical. This may please those looking for some new Christmas fiction, but many readers will be left scratching their heads.

An earnest but odd addition to the Christmas literary canon.