If you know how the biblical story ends, it won’t spoil anything for you to know that this book has a happy ending. Getting...
Best-selling author Evans takes the biblical story of Joseph and transposes it to contemporary times in Denver, Chicago and New York.
This novel turns biblical archetypes into authentic, believable characters and uses an interesting and credible plot to convey an important message. Joseph Jacobson, or J.J as he likes to be called, is his father’s 12th son, one of two sons born of his father’s fourth wife. His 11 brothers are jealous of him because he is also his father’s favorite. The biblical coat of many colors is, in this modern tale, the father’s Navy flight jacket from Vietnam decorated with the colorful patches of his deployment. Joseph’s father chose to give him this precious gift at a family dinner on the same night he celebrated his favorite son’s success in saving an account for the family advertising firm. And so the story begins. The oldest brothers find a way to banish their hated younger brother to a different company in Chicago, where he rises above hardships only to fall and rise again. Each chapter begins with one of the narrator’s dreams, and these dreams turn out to be symbolically prophetic, just as Joseph’s dreams in Egypt turned out to be. The first-person narrative voice feels familiar and endearing, and the conversations among the various characters are authentic. Readers will relate to these characters, be moved to tears and laughter by them, and most importantly, be inspired by them.
If you know how the biblical story ends, it won’t spoil anything for you to know that this book has a happy ending. Getting there is a journey you should definitely take.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4516-2803-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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