Review: The Devil's Arithmetic

Title: The Devil's Arithmetic
Author: Jane Yolen
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

This critically acclaimed novel by award-winning author Jane Yolen is now available in a beautifully designed new edition. Hannah dreads going to her family's Passover Seder—she's tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village in the year 1942, where she becomes caught up in the tragedy of the time. "Readers will come away with a sense of tragic history that both disturbs and compels." 

Review:

I have a thing for Holocaust books.  I and I definitely have a thing for people who refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust so I really liked this book if only for those two reasons.  I get (sorta) how Hannah is sick of remembering her past, especially when she sees it just as a boring religious ritual that is only enjoyed by the adults.  I love the time she spent in the past and how it wasn't just a dream.

However, I hated spending most of the book with her questioning everything as a dream (and me thinking it was an alcohol-induced hallucination/collapse), and then telling the people how right she was.  I hate when people are like that, thinking they are all knowing.

Once her memories faded though I love how she found her inner strength and then the book was all neatly, satisfyingly wrapped up in the end.

I'm normally extremely sad at the end of Holocaust books, this time I was relieved/happy/content.  It was odd.  I highly recommend the read though (then again, when do I post a review and not recommend the book?  Maybe I should try that some day)

Review: The Chance

Title: The Chance
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Rating: 5/5

Summary:

In The Chance, New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury delves deeply into a theme that resonates with us all: It’s never too late for those willing to take a chance.

Years ago, the day before Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other, and sealed them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later and read them. But now, as that date arrives, much has changed. Ellie, bereft of the faith she grew up with, is a single mom living in a tired apartment trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches television to catch a glimpse of her old friend —Nolan, now an NBA star, whose terrible personal tragedies fueled his faith and athletic drive in equal measure. But Nolan also suffers from a transcendent loneliness that nothing has ever eased.

Review:

I have a general hate for religious books/movies/spouting people.  BUT Karen Kingsbury is my exception to this.  She is such an amazing writer, and yes, God is on every other page.  She has this amazing way of intermingling her faith in her characters, and putting all the characters into such a position that you're not so much itching to know how the story ends, but to know what the characters have grown and learned.

Character love:

Ellie - I see her as the "sane/normal" one, I suppose because I see a lot of myself in her.  She has a hard life, but she does the best she can, and through the whole story she questions her faith every step of the way, but she never gives up on the life she's built.

Nolan - PERFECT MAN!  Yes, he's way religious, but in such a sexy way.  Is that possible?  To be religious in a sexy way?  I say yes.  He is the all american good boy who has grounded family values and life goals he actually fulfills.

Caroline - Don't have a huge opinion on her, even though she was one of the biggest catalysts of the whole book.  I believe she made a huge mistake, but I love how she never gave up on Ellie and her part in the ending.

Alan - HATED HIM until the last couple chapters.  If you read, you'll see why.

Kinzie - Best little ball of sunshine in the entire book.

A must read for everyone of any faith who wants a story with values, morals, and something that isn't written just for the sake of getting to the end and finding out the resolution to all of life's problems.

I think I'm going to post an author profile on Karen Kingsbury next, so keep a look out for that.