Could not put it down! | Redeeming Love

Beautiful story! | Redeeming Love | Francine Rivers

books:


	• Redeeming Love Francine Rivers Multnomah Books, 1997 - 479 pages average customer review:based on 726 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

WORTH IT!

What an awesome story line and cast of characters! I didn't want this book to end... I cried, I laughed, I understood and I related! Thank you Francine for bringing God's love to life through your brilliant writing and understanding of a true and real journey with Christ and those we love!! Favorite book ever!

Could not put it down!

From the cover of this book, it made me skeptical to want to even open it, but once I did, I could NOT put it down. Francine Rivers is a very gifted and talented writer. I can not wait to read more of her books.

Beautiful story!

I loved this story so much. I was hooked immediately. This is my first book by this author and I found it absolutely delightful. I only wish the author would have elaborated about their intimacy rather than skipping over it and allowing the reader to use their imagination. Other than that it was fantastic whether you're a Christian or not.

for more information click here

Why Did I Wait So Long To Read This?

Once I started reading this book I could not put it down! It truly is one of the best books that I have read in a very long time.

Sucks You In, but Doesn't Hold You

The first Rivers novel I came upon was one of her old, secular ones. I thought it was amazing, and got so excited when I found out she was now a Christian novelist. The highlights of this book are the plot and the characterizations. The internal conflicts are wonderfully deep.

But just a few points. *SPOILERS*

Why are all of the Christian characters so intuitive to the needs and feelings of others? Just because someone is Christian does not mean they know everything going on in someone's head. It was one thing for Michael, the husband, to know something was wrong with his wife when she wasn't acting like it. But then a million other characters are like "I'm so understanding and sympathetic. I can tell something is wrong with you because I'm just so intuitive." Elizabeth, Michael, Miriam, John, Susanna, Jonathan, etc. Honestly. Not everyone is like that, and after a while, the book started to get...not boring, but just...expected? It definitely made all Rivers' secondary characters far too static. Paul is actually the only interesting one out of them, and that's because he's a sinner. Okay, I'm not being fair to Miriam. She could be my best friend. Adored her. But then Susanna shows up, and it's like "okay, so here's another Miriam. big whoop."

As a Catholic, I was kind of stunned by the anti-Catholic undertones in this novel. I've read tens of inspirational novels - and I am definitely not the kind of person to pick up on such undertones - so that is why this kind of surprises me. Because if I noticed it, I can't be the only one. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and it was completely unintentional by Rivers. But I'm not the one who can say that.

Angel's mother, Mae, was a devout Catholic who carries her rosary beads and prays to God for help and deliverance. Her lover turns her out because she refuses to abort her child, her devout Catholic parents turn her out, and then so does the priest at the church...conclusion: All of Mae's Catholic resources were not enough to save her. Her God didn't help her. Then miraculously, years later, Protestant Michael Hosea rescues Angel from a brothel because he was open to the Word of God.

Page 246, when Angel tells the Altmans that her mother was Catholic, what happens? "Andrew's mouth fell open. 'Brother Bartholomew said they worship idols.' Elizabeth blushed bright red at his comment, and John coughed. Andrew apologized. 'No need,' Angel said. 'My mother didn't worship any idols that I remember, but she prayed a lot.' Not that it ever did her any good." From this blip, we learn that the Altman parents don't see a need to correct their child's misunderstanding of a faith he does not know - either because they believe Brother Bartholomew is correct or they themselves just don't know. If the problem is that they just don't know, wouldn't the natural response be "Andrew, we don't talk about things we don't know enough about."? But the worst is the thought Angel has right after she says her mother used to pray a lot. "Not that it ever did her any good." That's right. Nothing good comes from a Catholic praying. I know Rivers is just writing what Angel would think, but the least Rivers could do is extend us the courtesy of clarifying later that it wasn't Mae's faith that never gave her any help. There are lousy people in every faith.

Toward the end of the novel, Angel, at the end of her rope, still openly refuses charity from a priest - it is clear that her anti-Catholicism is deep set. But Rivers wraps up her problems in a two-sentence "Some priests are very nice people" sentiment. Hey, thanks for the shout out. But did you know it's not just the priests?

The two-sentence sentiment brings up another point: passage of time. There's a phrase some editors and critics use that's something like "That book read itself." It connotes that the book is fast-paced and exciting. Ordinarily, that's a great thing. In this book...I can't be the only one who had trouble knowing what season it was at times and what month and what year. Heck, I never even knew how OLD Angel was. She was 8 when she was sold into prostitution, and then...is it 10 years later she meets Michael? And how old is Michael? 25? 30? 45? The book seems to move at a pretty slow pace to start, then in the middle months go by in one chapter. Then Angel leaves and six more months go by. Then years. What? Three years went by in the turning of a page? I hate that so much. Can't anyone just write a book that doesn't just skip time arbitrarily?

In all, the book is an excellent read if you're looking for main characters with intense internal conflict. The passage of time and static secondary characters can be overlooked when a novel's principals are so excruciatingly in love. I will probably try to read more of Rivers' novels, but if the anti-Catholic thing comes up again, I might have to give her up. I love inspirational novels, and we should all get along.

for more information click here

Can God?s Love Save Anyone?

Bestselling author Francine Rivers skillfully retells the biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea in a tale set against the exciting backdrop of the California Gold Rush. The heroine, Angel, is a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Michael Hosea is a godly man sent into Angel?s life to draw her into the Savior?s redeeming love. This remarkable novel has sold over a million copies and is among the top twenty on the ECPA fiction bestsellers list for four years running. A six-part study guide, suitable for individual use or group discussion, is included in this bestselling novel.

ALSO AVAILABLE: Now own this beloved classic in the keepsake hardcover edition!

California?s gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep.

Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.

Then she meets Michael Hosea.

A man who seeks his Father?s heart in everything, Michael Hosea obeys God?s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel?s every bitter expectation until, despite her resistance her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband?s pursuing love, terrified of the truth she can no longer deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael Hosea does?the One who will never let her go.

A powerful retelling of the book of Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God?s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love.

Story Behind the Book

?Writing Redeeming Love was a form of worship for me. Through it, I was able to thank God for loving me even when I was defiant, rebellious, contemptuous of what I thought being a Christian meant, and afraid to give my heart away. I had wanted to be my own god and have control of my life the way Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Now I know to be loved by Christ is the ultimate joy and fulfillment. Everything in Redeeming Love was a gift from the Lord: plot, characters, theme. None of it is mine to claim.?

for more information click here