The Language of Sycamores

I have mixed emotions about this book, The Language of Sycamores by Lisa Wingate

The story in general was entertaining; the overall message of family love and focusing on internal rewards was good. The writing was very well done--except... Except for these little overtly Christian paragraphs that would be thrown in the middle of a perfectly good story like a commercial in the middle of a movie. It reminded me of a bad novel where right in the middle of a great suspenseful scene everything would suddenly be resolved by a totally unbelievable happenstance that interrupted the whole story to get it back on track. Here, the paragraphs were even more of an interruption because they did nothing to move the plot forward, did nothing to rescue the characters. Truly, they felt like a commercial break.

In this case, the plot was better than average because it would have all worked fine without the religious dogma being thrown into the middle of the story. People can really behave well without being Christian. People can really rediscover their love of family love without being Christian. People can really learn to accept people . People can really do good things in the midst of turmoil without thinking "God must have a plan here."

I've read much more religious books where the religion was just part of the character and part of the story development. Here it felt false. It felt like the author suddenly jumping in and waving her arms about to say "I'm a good Christian so keep on reading!"

So if you like Christian stuff, this is a great story. If you don't like Christian stuff but can just fast forward over a few paragraphs every hundred pages or so, mainly at major plot points, it's also a decent read. If neither of those fits you, skip it. It's a feel-good story but you won't feel good if the religious interloping paragraphs are snapping at your brain cells.

There were a few other weak points, primarily with the "bad guy" whose only proven fault was that he drank and was racist. But hey, good Christians supported slavery for many years so I'm not sure whether the bad guy was just an old fashioned Christian or what. There's a hint of something more, perhaps some abuse of the central child figure, but it's never resolved or explained. A few DUIs get him out of the picture when convenient, with no other explanation.

I did read it all the way through, which is better than I do with really bad books. And I guess that's what is frustrating to me. It's not a bad book. The writing is really well done, but I'm guessing that doesn't mean as much to the author as her Christian beliefs. I've not written bad reviews here before and I don't mean this to be one. The writing is good. The story is good. If you can ignore the intrusive non-essential bits, it's an enjoyable read.