Marcia Schuyler - Grace Livingston Hill

I know this is a very old book, (published exactly 100 years ago!), but I love it. I first discovered it at my local library, when I needed a break from the Sweet Valley Twins, and I really never went back to those vapid little blond bimbos.

Summary: Sometime in the early nineteenth century, Marcia Schuyler, sweet, unassuming younger sister of the more beautiful, but headstrong and selfish Kate, wakes up the morning of her sister's wedding to realize that her sister has eloped during the night with someone else. Grieved at the thought of her good-hearted, God-fearing brother-in-law suffering embarassment at being abandoned, she agrees to marry him instead. Though just seventeen, Marcia settles into her role as Madam David Spafford, and is treated as a cherished younger sister by her still-grieving husband. Eventually, the two fall in love. Vindictive Kate and a devious man try to drive a wedge between Marcia and David, but true love wins out, and the unjust are justly punished for their crimes.

It seems like a simple story. Almost too simple. My aunties don't like Grace Livingston Hill because the 'good' characters are too good, while the bads are just bad to the bone. But Marcia Schuyler is deeper than that. David Spafford, for all his noble intentions, eventually realizes that he's being an absolute shmuck for loving one sister while being married to another. He also realizes that his love for Kate was built upon shallow obsession, not an actual knowledge of her as a person, with strengths and weaknesses. Though one of the defining features of early twentieth-century fiction is moral ambiguity, Grace Livingston Hill goes against the grain, presenting a clearly defined right and wrong, and many wonderful character lessons within. Miranda, the scatterbrained neighbour girl who befriends the new bride Marcia, incurs the wrath of her grandmother by helping Marcia out on several occasions, but rests quite contentedly in her punishment, virtue being it's own reward. In this day and age, who thinks about that? I love contemporary fiction, but there is little discussion of real, everyday virtue, and I miss it. Good deeds might be rewarded, yes, or even unrewarded, but then the good-doer is allowed to grieve their mistreatment, while Hill simply insists that virtue is it's own reward.

Hill is a master at description. I can see the fluffy white bread, the quivering jellies, the delicate folds of Marcia's pink chintz gown. You will be drawn into this world, and you will love every moment of it.

Highly recommended as a good classic Christian read for a rainy Sunday afternoon. But try to get the newer editions of the book, perhaps the one put out by Barbour in 2000, as the older version contains inappropriate references to race.

Only Uni - Camy Tang

The second book in Tang's Sushi series (Zondervan) begins with the same vibrant energy that characterized Sushi for One. Only Uni sticks with the same basic cast of characters as the first book - cousins Lex, Trish, Jennifer and Venus, their loud, proud extended Chinese-Japanese family, and the friends that live alongside them in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley, but focuses in on the story begun in the first novel about Trish, whose passionate nature has landed her in uncomfortably hot water.

An obsessive relationship with brooding artist Kazuo has left Trish on shaky terms with her friends and family. Determined to start over, prove herself as a devoted Christian, she establishes a set of dating rules for herself. However, as the complications in her life mount, it quickly becomes apparent that a godly life is more about faith than rules, and that God does not send love into our lives in a prescribed fashion.

I love the Sushi series for the fact that it doesn't shy away from the painful realities of life, and Only Uni holds up to this well. Tang hits on some of the darker elements of the modern Christian life, including alcohol use, divorce, premarital sex, and, to my delight, the petty jealousies and cruelties that can divide a church. Trish, who throws her heart and soul into musical worship, is treated with disdain by other worshippers in her congregation, who feel that she's too 'over-the-top'. Very few writers have the courage to admit that modern churches have the same elitist, clique-ish social structure as the rest of the community. Good fiction doesn't preach, but holds up a mirror to life so that we might examine ourselves. Tang gives a beautiful and painful reflection of modern congregational society, and will cause every one of her readers to pause and think.

Only Uni is a great story, fast-paced, tightly written, engaging, with every bit of the hilariously energetic dialogue and delicious descriptions of it's prequel. You'll walk away thinking, praying, examining yourself... and craving those sweet pork dumplings once again.

Highly Recommended

Sushi for One - Camy Tang

I was thrilled to see the Sushi series (Zondervan) by Camy Tang. Christian fiction is painfully lacking in Asian characters presented in a non-imperialist point of view, and Tang's casual, irreverent style fits that void magnificently. Tang taps into many of the sociocultural experiences that define young singleness in the new milennium - text messaging, fusion cuisine, Christian pop culture, and the 'framily', the close group of friends who serve as a surrogate family. Four cousins, the only Christians in their large, extended Chinese-Japanese family struggles as one of the very few Christians in the clan to maintain her faith while living up to the family's expectations. Tang, blessedly, avoids descending into the stock stereotypes that permeate Asian characters in fiction and media today, but instead presents a richly layered cast of characters, from Lex, the sports nut who holds a dark, painful secret, to beautiful, flirtatious Trish, who is so caught up in the passion of her new boyfriend that she loses her faith and her friends, to Grandma, the matriarch who rules her family with an iron fist, but bears some startling vulnerabilities. Tang's descriptive skills are stellar - you can almost taste the crunchy noodles and sweet dumplings she describes. It's a romance and a buddy comedy and a family drama, and you will turn the last page just wanting to know more and more about this fantastic gang of characters. Sushi for One focuses on Lex, who struggles to find love, though she's hindered by a series of hilarious bouts of bad luck and the memory of an awful experience in the past. You laugh and cry in turn, and are left craving more story as well as a good unagi roll. Tang is unafraid to present flawed, multifaceted Christian characters, women with fears, needs, wants, tempers, materialistic desires, and resentments. The arguments between friends and family are both real and hilarious. Tang is a great writer, and her website Camy's Loft http://www.camytang.com/ is well worth checking out.

Highly, highly recommended. Reviews on the rest of the Sushi Series to come.

Leota's Garden - Francine Rivers

I love Francine Rivers. I truly do. I was hooked from the Atonement Child (to be reviewed soon) onwards, but this book was disappointing for several reasons. The first of these is the numerous logistical errors within the text. The dates make no sense. Characters are too old or too young to have lived through the historical events they supposedly lived through. Physical descriptions are altered. On one page, a young woman is described as tall enough to be a model, while a chapter later, she's supposedly the same height as her five-foot-tall grandmother. Eye colours change. The problems go on and on. Rivers is an experienced author, and ought to be beyond this type of error. As usual, she does create some wonderfully fascinating, layered characters, including Corban, an athiest university student who is drawn into this world of feuding mothers and daughters, and struggles to comprehend their Christian faith within the structure of his own sociological training. However, other characters are disappointingly two-dimensional. The main conflict of the novel, a misunderstanding between a mother and a daughter, is painfully forced, the daughter's errors in thinking so blatant her character seems unbelievably ignorant. Literally. I did not believe it. One might argue that the message is more important than the medium, and in the case of this novel, the message is excellent. Christian life and growth is compared to a garden - the heart and mind need constant care, pruning, and tending, just as a garden does. There are also questions of the value of life for the old and sick, and Rivers presents this with a great deal of intelligence and sensitivity. She offers up the lives of her characters for our examinations, their sins and triumphs, their faith and failures, and manages to teach without preaching. It is an overall wonderful story, that I believe would have benefitted from more editing time. For readers who don't care about logistical problems, this could be a wonderful read. In my opinion, though, a Christian message is no reason for the myriad of errors within this novel. Such a stellar message should not be wrapped in such substandard packaging.

Recommended for the message, not the medium.