This one was for my bookclub.  Generally speaking, if it’s historical fiction, my bookclub will want to read it.  Generally this genre makes me a little wary.  While there have been several books of this type that I’ve enjoyed, they tend to be a bit formulaic.

The first bit of formula is that there must always be a modern day heroine following or investigating the life of the historical heroine.  In the tenth gift we have Julie Lovat and Catherine Tregenna respectively.  For a while I was worried that they would somehow be the same person (reincarnated) or related or some such — particularly when Julie’s cousin points out that they have the very same handwriting!  Thankfully Johnson does not follow down the path that Labyrinth took.

Julie receives an embroidery book as a gift, an embroidery book that happens to be hundreds of years old and once belonged to the above mentioned Cat Tregenna.  In between the patterns and notes, Cat keeps a diary of sorts.  And while Johnson endeavors to explain why Cat knows how to write — her employer wants to do well by her and see her educated — it seems very unlikely that any woman of cat’s station in the early 1600s would know how to write.  Suspension of disbelief.

Cat’s diary tells of her dreams to leave her village home, her horror at the prospect of marrying her cousin Rob (really?  “Rob”?  It just seems so informal for 1625…) and eventually her capture by Barbary pirates who intend to sell her into slavery.

Some criticisms first:

Gosh Cat and Julie fall in love rather easily.  Here is where The Tenth Gift becomes formulaic again.  Both women fall in love with Morrocan men.  I can only assume this happens because the author herself fell in love with a morrocan man while she was there doing research for the book, because she really doesn’t show us why they fall in love.  We don’t get to know either man well enough to understand it — particularly in Cat’s case, where the man she loves is the man who captured her and her friends and family.

Having Rob go all the way there, spend months as a slave, only to have Cat turn him down was just MEAN.

Gosh Anna was awfully forgiving.  Too forgiving, in my opinion.

Not only are Julie and Cat far too similar, but the two men who died at the Cornwall house both write the exact same goodbye note to their wives?  Because one potentially haunts the place?  What?

The book was a captivating read, in spite of these flaws.  I finished the whole thing in one sitting and was very interested in seeing if the plot would follow through what I felt the rest of the pattern was.  It did, and despite being wildly predicable, it was entertaining.

I am sad. I know it’s mostly for his characters. But I was one of those 10 year old girls who LOVED dirty dancing. I think I saw it 10,000,000 times on sleepovers. And when I discovered Patrick played Darry from “The Outsiders” the ultimate big brother, a pseudo father figure for me at 13, well.

He fought hard against a form of cancer that I hear is awful.

To you, patirick. A class act to the young girl I once was.

This is not a book I would normally have picked up, to be quite honest. But my Mom kept hounding me about it — for weeks she would ask, almost every time we talked, “Have you read the book yet?” So finally I bought it and read it just so I could say yes, I have.

So, the Shack instantly comes across as one of those Inspirational books that will Change Your Life merely from the blurb on the back cover. It attempts to answer the question “Where is god in this world of unspeakable pain?” through the story of Mack. Mack has lost his 8 year old daughter; she was kidnapped and murdered while the family was on a camping trip. In the midst of his gut wrenching depression and anger, Mack receives a note telling him to back to the scene of the crime. It is here is ostensibly gets the answer to the question posed on the back of the book.

I am a natural skeptic of these types of books. I want them to mean a lot to me, as they seem to be trying so hard to do so, but it is the trying too hard that turns me off. For example:

1) The faux non-fiction type of writing, as if it was a true story and Mack a real person. I’m not sure what the point of that was, beyond emotional manipulation.

2) God as a big, black woman. Great idea, i totally get what Young was trying to do here, I do. It was an attempt to show people that god is not something that is stereotypical, he is not necessarily male, or white or whatever. And the other two parts of the trio were very United Colours of Beneton as well. But I guess it just seems that by doing this Young is trying to be edgy.

3) God as “Papa”. Sigh. I don’t know why this makes me so squirmingly uncomfortable. But it does. I like the idea as god as a father, and calling him “father” doesn’t bother me. “Papa” seems too familiar, too intimate. I suppose that may be the point. But unlike Mack, I couldn’t get over it.

Despite these negative points, I did enjoy the book. It had a message, although sometimes it was hard to figure out exactly what that was. Young does paint god as a very compassionate, approachable deity, which is a refreshing change.

“I am not evil. You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. But your choices are not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome”

And this bit was particularly interesting too:

“Who said anything about being a Christian? I’m not a Christian.”

So, overall, a worthwhile read, just to make you think. It certainly did that for me, and I read it all in one sitting, late into the night. So go into it expecting interesting discussion on religion and life, and you will be satisfied. Go into it expecting to suddenly end up in church next sunday — well, you may have missed the point entirely.