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鈥з勜� 丕賱賲丨乇乇鈥�
賰丕賳 兀賱賷賰爻 爻鬲丕賮購賾賵乇丿 賰賲丕 賯丕賱鬲 毓賳賴 賲丕賲丕 鬲賲丕賲賸丕. 胤賵賷賱 丕賱賯丕賲丞貙 兀爻賲乇 丕賱亘卮乇丞貙 賱賲 鬲乇賻 爻丕乇丞 兀噩賲賱 賲賳賴. 丨鬲賻賾賶 廿賳賻賾賴貙 賮賷 孬賷丕亘 乇賰賵亘 丕賱禺賷賱 丕賱賲睾亘賻賾乇丞 賵卮毓乇購賴 賲亘賱賵賱賹 亘丕賱毓賻乇賻賯貙 亘丿丕 卮亘賷賴賸丕 亘丕賱兀購賲乇丕亍 賮賷 丕賱賯氐氐 丕賱鬲賷 賯乇兀鬲賴丕 賲丕賲丕. 賵賯丿 禺賮賯 賯賱亘 爻丕乇丞 亘賮乇丨賺 睾丕賲乇 賵賮禺乇賺 賳丕丿乇. 賮賱賷爻 亘賷賳 丕賱丌亘丕亍 丕賱丌禺乇賷賳 丕賱匕賷賳 卮丕賴丿鬲賴賲 賮賷 丕賱賰賳賷爻丞 賲賻賳 賷購卮亘賽賴購賴購.
706 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1991
9122 people are currently reading
178722 people want to read
About the author
Francine Rivers
62听books19.9k听followersNew York Times bestselling author Francine Rivers continues to win both industry acclaim and reader loyalty around the globe. Her numerous bestsellers include Redeeming Love, A Voice in the Wind, and Bridge to Haven, and her work has been translated into more than thirty different languages. She is a member of Romance Writers of America's coveted Hall of Fame as well as a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).
Twitter: @FrancineRivers
Twitter: @FrancineRivers
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 20,776 reviews
March 24, 2009
I'm not even going to attempt to review this one because I doubt that I could do it justice. Besides, there's over a thousand reviews of this book on GR (hard to believe--I must have been one of the few people who haven't read this book)! Anyway, it was definitely the best book I've read all year, and probably one of the best books I've EVER read. It was easy to read (the story flowed very smoothly), yet emotionally, it was very difficult to read. Parts of the book just tore me up inside, and I had to take frequent breaks to wipe my tears. I loved the broken and bitter prostitute heroine, Angel, and the saintly, patient (too good to be true) farmer hero, Michael. But to categorize them that way seems so unfair, because they were so much more than that.
I guess this book could be called religious fiction, or inspirational romance, but don't let that scare you. It's based on the bible story of Hosea and Gomer, but you don't have to be up on your bible studies to enjoy this one. And it gets just slightly preachy at the end, but you won't care because you'll be too wrapped up in Angel and Michael. The book deals with some really horrible and heartbreaking stuff (child rape, prostitution, incest)(but not in real explicit terms) and just when you think you've read the worst, something else is revealed that will break your heart all over again. But please try to get through those moments, because there is a beautifully written romance, too, about unconditional love, faith, and hope. I must have cried buckets while reading the last 100 pages, but it was worth it. I don't think I'll forget this story for quite a while--5 stars!
I guess this book could be called religious fiction, or inspirational romance, but don't let that scare you. It's based on the bible story of Hosea and Gomer, but you don't have to be up on your bible studies to enjoy this one. And it gets just slightly preachy at the end, but you won't care because you'll be too wrapped up in Angel and Michael. The book deals with some really horrible and heartbreaking stuff (child rape, prostitution, incest)(but not in real explicit terms) and just when you think you've read the worst, something else is revealed that will break your heart all over again. But please try to get through those moments, because there is a beautifully written romance, too, about unconditional love, faith, and hope. I must have cried buckets while reading the last 100 pages, but it was worth it. I don't think I'll forget this story for quite a while--5 stars!
September 26, 2011
I recieved this as a part of the First Reads program.
I was repulsed by this book.
It's supposed to be a Christian romance novel. Full disclosure, I'm an atheist, so I wasn't expecting to exactly fall in love with the book. But I found the concept of the story of Hosea being retold during the Gold Rush interesting, or else I wouldn't have picked it up.
So you may ask, why was I so repulsed by this book? Looking past the forced marriage, rape, beatings and child rape described in the book. Also looking past the flat, one dimensional characters, that are by the way, stunning and physically beautiful (how boring is that). Not to mention, looking past the horrible source material that is the Old Testament. I'm repulsed by the ideas that this book reinforces for women. I'm disgusted that this drivel was written by a woman. And after reading some reviews prior to recieving the book, I'm appaled that some people found this book moving, positive and uplifting. The plot device of using these characters to represent god and his unconditional love that he supposedly has for his children was weak. This was represented by the two main character's and Angel. So god talks to him(I'll leave that one alone) and tells him to marry her. He has a priest marry the two of them while she's pretty much unconsious. She runs away after being forced to work for and take care of him. I wonder why she would run away. So she finally meets a family who is willing to take care of her. She's in a good place. And then he comes back for her. She for some unknown reason, goes back to him. The worst part is the ending, because she wants nothing more than to please him and bear him a son.
This book does nothing more than subjugate women. In my own opionion, so do gods and religions, but that's a different story for a differnt time. What positive message is there in this for anyone? Be a good wife and devote all your time to making babies. I think we all know there is more to life than that.
Please don't waste your time reading this book, get something else that will celebrate life and the worth of an individual, or something that you will learn something from. I'll be trading mine in at the local book mine, to get something of more worth.
I was repulsed by this book.
It's supposed to be a Christian romance novel. Full disclosure, I'm an atheist, so I wasn't expecting to exactly fall in love with the book. But I found the concept of the story of Hosea being retold during the Gold Rush interesting, or else I wouldn't have picked it up.
So you may ask, why was I so repulsed by this book? Looking past the forced marriage, rape, beatings and child rape described in the book. Also looking past the flat, one dimensional characters, that are by the way, stunning and physically beautiful (how boring is that). Not to mention, looking past the horrible source material that is the Old Testament. I'm repulsed by the ideas that this book reinforces for women. I'm disgusted that this drivel was written by a woman. And after reading some reviews prior to recieving the book, I'm appaled that some people found this book moving, positive and uplifting. The plot device of using these characters to represent god and his unconditional love that he supposedly has for his children was weak. This was represented by the two main character's and Angel. So god talks to him(I'll leave that one alone) and tells him to marry her. He has a priest marry the two of them while she's pretty much unconsious. She runs away after being forced to work for and take care of him. I wonder why she would run away. So she finally meets a family who is willing to take care of her. She's in a good place. And then he comes back for her. She for some unknown reason, goes back to him. The worst part is the ending, because she wants nothing more than to please him and bear him a son.
This book does nothing more than subjugate women. In my own opionion, so do gods and religions, but that's a different story for a differnt time. What positive message is there in this for anyone? Be a good wife and devote all your time to making babies. I think we all know there is more to life than that.
Please don't waste your time reading this book, get something else that will celebrate life and the worth of an individual, or something that you will learn something from. I'll be trading mine in at the local book mine, to get something of more worth.
October 11, 2014
Utterly heart wrenching. Gripping. Riveting. Extraordinary...I could go on and on and still not justify the magnitude of this story's brilliance鈥� what it means, what it stands for, and how deeply it has affected me.
Reading Redeeming Love was an intensely humbling and inspirational experience. It isn't about drama or angst or sexy loves scenes...it is a powerful, eye-opening story focused on faith and redemption; on rising up from the dust of despair and finding yourself worthy. It's about the unparalleled ways love and faith can conquer all, and I could not have been more pleased with this loving and fulfilling journey.
Sarah, aka, Angel is a beautiful, damaged woman who remains a prisoner of a past that heartlessly sold her into prostitution as a child. She was abandoned, abused, and alone, and my heart shattered for her. Selling her body was all she'd ever known...so when Michael attempts to show her an honest life, she is untrusting and feels unworthy to receive it. Angel had a quiet strength and I was completely blown away by her transformation. Her quest for freedom was relentless and she easily became one of my most beloved heroines.
Michael, in my opinion, was saint-like. His patience and love for Angel was astonishing, and his faith in himself and in God--inspiring. I've never before felt such a strong sense of love and acceptance through a character. Angel and Michael's connection stands as a pure example of love in its most honest and unconditional state...exactly how it's meant to be.
The writing simply wow'd me. It was eloquent and its grace brought this story to life. I felt every pain and heartache displayed within these broken characters, as well as every rejoice.
This was my first Christian Fiction novel and I was initially unsure what to expect. Although faith in God plays a big role in this story, having faith in oneself is an equally apparent theme鈥攐ne to which anyone can relate. The element of religion was heavily pronounced, but I didn't find it to be preachy 鈥� in fact, I found it comforting and enlightening. It wasn't over-the-top; it was delicate and its message seemed to transcend the structures of organized religion. Freedom does not come from without, but is instead brought forth from within.
Book Stats:
鈻� Genre/Category: Christian Fiction/Romance
鈻� Steam Caliber: Clean
鈻� Romance: Emotional and heartbreaking. Beautifully evolves.
鈻� Characters: Expertly composed. Patient, kind, loving hero. Tragically broken, but lovable heroine.
鈻� Plot: Centers largely on redemption, faith, and the healing power of love. Substantial depth.
鈻� Writing: Accomplished and exquisite execution. Inspiring narrative.
鈻� POV: Third person perspective.
鈻� Cliffhanger: None
Reading Redeeming Love was an intensely humbling and inspirational experience. It isn't about drama or angst or sexy loves scenes...it is a powerful, eye-opening story focused on faith and redemption; on rising up from the dust of despair and finding yourself worthy. It's about the unparalleled ways love and faith can conquer all, and I could not have been more pleased with this loving and fulfilling journey.
Sarah, aka, Angel is a beautiful, damaged woman who remains a prisoner of a past that heartlessly sold her into prostitution as a child. She was abandoned, abused, and alone, and my heart shattered for her. Selling her body was all she'd ever known...so when Michael attempts to show her an honest life, she is untrusting and feels unworthy to receive it. Angel had a quiet strength and I was completely blown away by her transformation. Her quest for freedom was relentless and she easily became one of my most beloved heroines.
Michael, in my opinion, was saint-like. His patience and love for Angel was astonishing, and his faith in himself and in God--inspiring. I've never before felt such a strong sense of love and acceptance through a character. Angel and Michael's connection stands as a pure example of love in its most honest and unconditional state...exactly how it's meant to be.
The writing simply wow'd me. It was eloquent and its grace brought this story to life. I felt every pain and heartache displayed within these broken characters, as well as every rejoice.
This was my first Christian Fiction novel and I was initially unsure what to expect. Although faith in God plays a big role in this story, having faith in oneself is an equally apparent theme鈥攐ne to which anyone can relate. The element of religion was heavily pronounced, but I didn't find it to be preachy 鈥� in fact, I found it comforting and enlightening. It wasn't over-the-top; it was delicate and its message seemed to transcend the structures of organized religion. Freedom does not come from without, but is instead brought forth from within.
My song for Sarah
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free...
Book Stats:
鈻� Genre/Category: Christian Fiction/Romance
鈻� Steam Caliber: Clean
鈻� Romance: Emotional and heartbreaking. Beautifully evolves.
鈻� Characters: Expertly composed. Patient, kind, loving hero. Tragically broken, but lovable heroine.
鈻� Plot: Centers largely on redemption, faith, and the healing power of love. Substantial depth.
鈻� Writing: Accomplished and exquisite execution. Inspiring narrative.
鈻� POV: Third person perspective.
鈻� Cliffhanger: None
December 5, 2012
5 Inspiring Stars!! I'm soooo happy!! Where's a box of tissues when you need them?? I have to listen to the end again. Oh my, I can't stop crying!! Michael...he is the power of love!!
No review I could ever do, would give this book the justice it is so deserving of! You have to experience it to understand all the meaning that it holds. Thank you to KarLyn who was the first to tell me about this book, and then all my other friends who encouraged me to read it. It's an amazing journey I will NEVER forget!
November 4, 2024
5 stars
Honestly, I almost never read historical romance. It just doesn鈥檛 interest me as much as contemporary does. I saw this on my libraries page and it had been recommended to me in the past, so I picked up the audiobook. I鈥檓 so glad I did. This book was fantastic and I loved it so much!
This book takes place in California in the 1850鈥檚. Michael is a farmer who goes into town to sell some of his things, and that鈥檚 when he sees Angel. Angel鈥檚 life has been hard and even though she鈥檚 young she鈥檚 been through so much. She is a prostitute who has been owned by others since a young age.
Michael feels called to marry Angel and even though she鈥檚 resistant to the idea, eventually she comes around. Michael treats Angel well and shows her what real love and partnership is. She doesn鈥檛 know how to accept this and never feels good enough, and it causes issues between them. No matter what, though, Michael never gives up on her.
Redeeming Love is, above all, a story of unconditional love. It鈥檚 based on the bible story of Hosea and Gomer which is a parable of God鈥檚 love for us and his willingness to always take us back, no matter what our mistakes.
Angel/Sarah and Michael鈥檚 love story was beautiful and I was on the edge of my seat through most of this story. I didn鈥檛 know how things would turn out, but by the end I was so happy. This is a clean/inspirational romance and it gave me so many feels and had such an amazing hero and I adored it so much.
"Love cleanses, beloved. It doesn't beat you down. It doesn't cast blame. My love isn't a weapon. It's a lifeline. Reach out and take hold, and don't let go.鈥�
Honestly, I almost never read historical romance. It just doesn鈥檛 interest me as much as contemporary does. I saw this on my libraries page and it had been recommended to me in the past, so I picked up the audiobook. I鈥檓 so glad I did. This book was fantastic and I loved it so much!
This book takes place in California in the 1850鈥檚. Michael is a farmer who goes into town to sell some of his things, and that鈥檚 when he sees Angel. Angel鈥檚 life has been hard and even though she鈥檚 young she鈥檚 been through so much. She is a prostitute who has been owned by others since a young age.
Michael feels called to marry Angel and even though she鈥檚 resistant to the idea, eventually she comes around. Michael treats Angel well and shows her what real love and partnership is. She doesn鈥檛 know how to accept this and never feels good enough, and it causes issues between them. No matter what, though, Michael never gives up on her.
Redeeming Love is, above all, a story of unconditional love. It鈥檚 based on the bible story of Hosea and Gomer which is a parable of God鈥檚 love for us and his willingness to always take us back, no matter what our mistakes.
Angel/Sarah and Michael鈥檚 love story was beautiful and I was on the edge of my seat through most of this story. I didn鈥檛 know how things would turn out, but by the end I was so happy. This is a clean/inspirational romance and it gave me so many feels and had such an amazing hero and I adored it so much.
Though fallen low, God raised her up, an angel.
January 30, 2018
I didn't get very far into this before realising that it was R rated. Luckily I got it free so haven't wasted any money and can happily throw it away. One of the most troubling things about this book is that there are a number of reviews from non-Christians commenting on the graphic nature of this book and stating that they wouldn't have thought the writer was a Christian. That alone explains why Christian authors need to be careful with their content, they are representing Jesus.
I am aware that this is meant to be based on the book of Hosea in the Bible. However, Rivers presents her main character as a prostitute prior to her marriage...
What are the moral implications of God鈥檚 command for Hosea to marry a prostitute? It appears best to see Gomer as chaste at the time of marriage to Hosea, only later having become an immoral woman. The words 鈥渢ake yourself a wife of harlotry鈥� are to be understood proleptically, i.e., looking to the future. An immoral woman could not serve as a picture of Israel coming out of Egypt (2:15; 9:10), who then later wandered away from God (11:1). Chapter 3 describes Hosea taking back his wife, who had been rejected because of adultery, a rejection that was unjustifiable if Hosea had married a prostitute with full knowledge of her character.
()
The first few chapters dealt with child rape, child trafficking, brothels, drunkenness, adultery, death.....that was enough. If Rivers was trying to relay events in Hosea, I don't understand why she felt the need to include child rape and trafficking in her narrative. It just makes a tragic story even more depraved. The point of Hosea is God's love towards unfaithful Israel despite their waywardness. It is not focused on the graphic exploits of Gomer.
I don't recommend this book which is full of graphic detail for shock value. For those who will no doubt comment that the book of Hosea also contains graphic scenes of a similar nature. It doesn't. The whole focus is on Israel's unfaithfulness and God's pending judgement. It is not on the details of Gomer's sin.
The popularity of this book and some of the comments are representative of the "God as love" or some kind of "divine romancer" beliefs that are prevalent, as if God needs us and is desperate for us, rather than the other way around. The author writes that God says, "Though you deny me, I love you with an everlasting love." That is not in line with Scripture, where God does not love with an everlasting love those who deny Him. God hates sin (and sinners) and demands obedience. Yes, God loves us and forgives us when we sin if we approach Him through trust in Jesus, but that doesn't give us a licence to sin or to presume upon His grace. Redemption (the supposed theme of this book) should lead to a complete transformation of heart and life.
For those seeking a cleaner read by Francine Rivers (and to prove that I'm not just being deliberately controversial) try The Atonement Child [/review/show...] or And the Shofar Blew [/review/show...] or even The Last Sin Eater [/review/show...] but avoid Bridge to Haven [/review/show...]. The Scarlet Thread is mediocre [/review/show...]. Enjoy!
Check out my Francine Rivers shelf!
I am aware that this is meant to be based on the book of Hosea in the Bible. However, Rivers presents her main character as a prostitute prior to her marriage...
What are the moral implications of God鈥檚 command for Hosea to marry a prostitute? It appears best to see Gomer as chaste at the time of marriage to Hosea, only later having become an immoral woman. The words 鈥渢ake yourself a wife of harlotry鈥� are to be understood proleptically, i.e., looking to the future. An immoral woman could not serve as a picture of Israel coming out of Egypt (2:15; 9:10), who then later wandered away from God (11:1). Chapter 3 describes Hosea taking back his wife, who had been rejected because of adultery, a rejection that was unjustifiable if Hosea had married a prostitute with full knowledge of her character.
()
The first few chapters dealt with child rape, child trafficking, brothels, drunkenness, adultery, death.....that was enough. If Rivers was trying to relay events in Hosea, I don't understand why she felt the need to include child rape and trafficking in her narrative. It just makes a tragic story even more depraved. The point of Hosea is God's love towards unfaithful Israel despite their waywardness. It is not focused on the graphic exploits of Gomer.
I don't recommend this book which is full of graphic detail for shock value. For those who will no doubt comment that the book of Hosea also contains graphic scenes of a similar nature. It doesn't. The whole focus is on Israel's unfaithfulness and God's pending judgement. It is not on the details of Gomer's sin.
The popularity of this book and some of the comments are representative of the "God as love" or some kind of "divine romancer" beliefs that are prevalent, as if God needs us and is desperate for us, rather than the other way around. The author writes that God says, "Though you deny me, I love you with an everlasting love." That is not in line with Scripture, where God does not love with an everlasting love those who deny Him. God hates sin (and sinners) and demands obedience. Yes, God loves us and forgives us when we sin if we approach Him through trust in Jesus, but that doesn't give us a licence to sin or to presume upon His grace. Redemption (the supposed theme of this book) should lead to a complete transformation of heart and life.
For those seeking a cleaner read by Francine Rivers (and to prove that I'm not just being deliberately controversial) try The Atonement Child [/review/show...] or And the Shofar Blew [/review/show...] or even The Last Sin Eater [/review/show...] but avoid Bridge to Haven [/review/show...]. The Scarlet Thread is mediocre [/review/show...]. Enjoy!
Check out my Francine Rivers shelf!
August 17, 2012
There are many things, good and bad, that could be said about this book, but I have only one thing to say.
Forced sex is rape. Every time. When her brother in law drives her through the wilderness and commands her to have sex with him or he will abandon her there, he is using physical and emotional force. That is pure rape.
What makes me sick is that she has to "find forgiveness" for this, that he never repents, that the book never recognizes rape for what it is. Especially after all the rape and systematic sexual abuse this woman grew up with.
This sounds like rape in the real world, where the victim is blamed and the real sin goes unnoticed and unaddressed. It's time to wake up and call it what it is.
It also deeply disturbs me that so many people read this book and do not see this sickness.
Forced sex is rape. Every time. When her brother in law drives her through the wilderness and commands her to have sex with him or he will abandon her there, he is using physical and emotional force. That is pure rape.
What makes me sick is that she has to "find forgiveness" for this, that he never repents, that the book never recognizes rape for what it is. Especially after all the rape and systematic sexual abuse this woman grew up with.
This sounds like rape in the real world, where the victim is blamed and the real sin goes unnoticed and unaddressed. It's time to wake up and call it what it is.
It also deeply disturbs me that so many people read this book and do not see this sickness.
October 14, 2019
I think the purpose of this book was overshadowed by the very dark subject matter. A lot of people have called this a Christian Romance, I find that very hard to believe. The story is about a young girl sold into prostitution at the age of eight who later is rescued by a man named Michael. The books goes into shocking, disturbing detail of the sad life she led. She run鈥檚 away from her devoted husband multiple times, which also got old. The whole thing was very depressing and I only continued to read hoping it would get better. I also didn鈥檛 like that her husband was suppose to be so understanding yet was still sleeping with her before she even loved him or before they really had a decent relationship. If he really had respect for her and what she had been through he would have waited until she was ready. The book was way too long and way too gloomy. For the subject matter and details given, I would give it an R rating. I wish I hadn鈥檛 bothered reading it.
January 22, 2024
乇賵丕賷丞 賰賱丕爻賷賰賷丞 賵賮賷賴丕 丨鬲丞 乇賵賲丕賳爻賷丞 賷賲賰賳 鬲賰賵賳 賲卮 賵丕賯毓賷丞 賮賷 夭賲丕賳丕 丕賱丨丕賱賷..丕賱鬲乇噩賲丞 賲毓噩亘鬲賳賷卮 兀賵賷 賰賲丕賳..
毓賱賷 丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 賰賱 丿丞 夭丕卅丿 丨噩賲賴丕 丕賱賰亘賷乇 廿賱丕 廿賳賴丕 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞..賰廿賳賰 亘鬲鬲賮乇噩 毓賱賷 賮賷賱賲 賯丿賷賲 賵毓丕乇賮 丕賷賴 丕賱賱賷 丨賷丨氐賱 亘爻 賲爻鬲賲鬲毓 賮賷 賳賮爻 丕賱賵賯鬲..
賷毓賳賷 丨爻賷鬲賴丕 賲賳丕爻亘丞 賱賱噩賵 丕賱賰卅賷亘 亘鬲丕毓 丕賱賷賵賲賷賳 丿賵賱.. 乇賵丕賷丞 鬲丿毓賵 廿賱賷 丕賱丨亘 賵丕賱鬲賮丕丐賱 賵丕賱兀賲賱 廿賳 亘賰乇丞 丨賷賰賵賳 兀丨賱賷 乇睾賲 賰賱 丕賱丨丕噩丕鬲 丕賱氐毓亘丞 丕賱賱賷 亘賳賲乇 亘賷賴丕 賮賷 丨賷丕鬲賳丕...
毓賱賷 丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 賰賱 丿丞 夭丕卅丿 丨噩賲賴丕 丕賱賰亘賷乇 廿賱丕 廿賳賴丕 乇賵丕賷丞 噩賲賷賱丞..賰廿賳賰 亘鬲鬲賮乇噩 毓賱賷 賮賷賱賲 賯丿賷賲 賵毓丕乇賮 丕賷賴 丕賱賱賷 丨賷丨氐賱 亘爻 賲爻鬲賲鬲毓 賮賷 賳賮爻 丕賱賵賯鬲..
賷毓賳賷 丨爻賷鬲賴丕 賲賳丕爻亘丞 賱賱噩賵 丕賱賰卅賷亘 亘鬲丕毓 丕賱賷賵賲賷賳 丿賵賱.. 乇賵丕賷丞 鬲丿毓賵 廿賱賷 丕賱丨亘 賵丕賱鬲賮丕丐賱 賵丕賱兀賲賱 廿賳 亘賰乇丞 丨賷賰賵賳 兀丨賱賷 乇睾賲 賰賱 丕賱丨丕噩丕鬲 丕賱氐毓亘丞 丕賱賱賷 亘賳賲乇 亘賷賴丕 賮賷 丨賷丕鬲賳丕...
March 23, 2017
Hm, hard review to write! I appreciate the story of redemption Rivers set out to tell, but I didn't like how she went about it. The story was riveting at first, drawing me in, so that I read the first 100 pages without even setting it aside. But I had to lay the book down to complete a task, and as I did it, I realized that I was feeling...dirty.
Truly, a great deal of the book is focused on sordid and dirty details. Even after we are away from the subjects of child rape, human trafficking, auctioning of women, and seduction, it talks a great deal about nakedness and marital relations. I didn't like what I'd gotten into, frankly. I also didn't like how Michael tried to control her every thought and action in an attempt to hold onto her and not let her go.
It wasn't a strict retelling of the story of Hosea, but I felt that choosing to give Michael the name of Hosea was too forced. Yes, we have him losing her three times. We don't have her doing so because of wanting to return to the life she knew. Her situation is portrayed as very bad, and instead of having Michael a bright light of God still chasing her like the hound of Heaven, we have a very flawed man not fully understanding who she is past her protective walls, a man letting her run back into independence because he labors under a misconception of what she's gone to do. This isn't an illustration of the redemptive side of marriage, where the man is to show what Christ is willing to do for the church...Michael failed her at the end. He gave up on her and stayed on his farm in discouragement, instead of chasing after her and making sure she is safe.
The real, biblical Hosea kept after his wife, chasing her down and dragging her out of sin even when she made the choice to go back into it. Hosea was a picture of God reaching out to sinning Israel and dragging her back to a clean life.
Sarah's story is a powerful one. I felt that it often went too far into the descriptions of what she was feeling...thus, instead of giving the facts, it presented images and drew out emotions where bare facts would have been much less sensual. We didn't have to go down into the depths to feel how revolting her life was. We didn't have to spend two chapters on her being sold at the age of eight and raped by a monster, over and over again, over the next number of years.
So, in the end, it fails as an allegory; Michael doesn't chase after her quite as the real Hosea did; Sarah isn't wanting to return to a life of sensual fulfillment as Gomer was. Also, it tipped over the edge more than once into sensationalism, ending in being more like a soap opera than like a story focused only on the redemption of a soul and a lifestyle.
I welcome thoughtful comments...I'm quite willing to explain my thoughts further, but don't want to spend too much time on the review.
Truly, a great deal of the book is focused on sordid and dirty details. Even after we are away from the subjects of child rape, human trafficking, auctioning of women, and seduction, it talks a great deal about nakedness and marital relations. I didn't like what I'd gotten into, frankly. I also didn't like how Michael tried to control her every thought and action in an attempt to hold onto her and not let her go.
It wasn't a strict retelling of the story of Hosea, but I felt that choosing to give Michael the name of Hosea was too forced. Yes, we have him losing her three times. We don't have her doing so because of wanting to return to the life she knew. Her situation is portrayed as very bad, and instead of having Michael a bright light of God still chasing her like the hound of Heaven, we have a very flawed man not fully understanding who she is past her protective walls, a man letting her run back into independence because he labors under a misconception of what she's gone to do. This isn't an illustration of the redemptive side of marriage, where the man is to show what Christ is willing to do for the church...Michael failed her at the end. He gave up on her and stayed on his farm in discouragement, instead of chasing after her and making sure she is safe.
The real, biblical Hosea kept after his wife, chasing her down and dragging her out of sin even when she made the choice to go back into it. Hosea was a picture of God reaching out to sinning Israel and dragging her back to a clean life.
Sarah's story is a powerful one. I felt that it often went too far into the descriptions of what she was feeling...thus, instead of giving the facts, it presented images and drew out emotions where bare facts would have been much less sensual. We didn't have to go down into the depths to feel how revolting her life was. We didn't have to spend two chapters on her being sold at the age of eight and raped by a monster, over and over again, over the next number of years.
So, in the end, it fails as an allegory; Michael doesn't chase after her quite as the real Hosea did; Sarah isn't wanting to return to a life of sensual fulfillment as Gomer was. Also, it tipped over the edge more than once into sensationalism, ending in being more like a soap opera than like a story focused only on the redemption of a soul and a lifestyle.
I welcome thoughtful comments...I'm quite willing to explain my thoughts further, but don't want to spend too much time on the review.
June 7, 2024
This book will always be the first time I saw God鈥檚 voice in a story that spoke directly to my heart鈥檚 longing to know His love for me.
October 13, 2023
Every time i think "this is the worst book I have ever read" I think it'll be the last. This will be the last. This is the worst fucking book I have ever read in my entire life.
November 5, 2024
Listening Length: 17 hours 17 minutes.
I'm so excited that the movie comes out next week. (2022)
_________________
*Just finished doing a re-read via audiobook this time (September 2020). Still my all-time favorite book. I'm excited that next year there will be a movie of this book releasing.
**Read this book about 10 years ago. Re-reading it now! (March 14th, 2013) I finished and this book is still my all-time favorite book! Deserves more than 5 stars.*
This book is based on the love story from the Bible of Hosea and Gomer. Gomer is a prostitute and Hosea is a Godly man told to marry her. It's their struggle (she finds it hard to turn away from the life she has always known and basically born into).
This is the ultimate love story!
I loved reading about Michael & Angel's love story. There were so many things I wanted to highlight throughout this book.
One of my favorite lines was: "Hello, Sarah. I'm very pleased to meet you. Finally!"
Also this written on the cross was very touching:
The song reminds me of this book:
Michael is definitely my book husband. He isn't someone you just date. He is someone you marry.
Standalone
I'm so excited that the movie comes out next week. (2022)
_________________
*Just finished doing a re-read via audiobook this time (September 2020). Still my all-time favorite book. I'm excited that next year there will be a movie of this book releasing.
**Read this book about 10 years ago. Re-reading it now! (March 14th, 2013) I finished and this book is still my all-time favorite book! Deserves more than 5 stars.*
This book is based on the love story from the Bible of Hosea and Gomer. Gomer is a prostitute and Hosea is a Godly man told to marry her. It's their struggle (she finds it hard to turn away from the life she has always known and basically born into).
This is the ultimate love story!
I loved reading about Michael & Angel's love story. There were so many things I wanted to highlight throughout this book.
One of my favorite lines was: "Hello, Sarah. I'm very pleased to meet you. Finally!"
Also this written on the cross was very touching:
Though fallen low
God raised her up
An angel.
The song reminds me of this book:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Michael is definitely my book husband. He isn't someone you just date. He is someone you marry.
Standalone
July 12, 2020
I am no longer a supporter of this book.
I can't get past how much the main female protagonist is talked down to and slut-shamed by her own husband (and that's not even all).
Yes, I am a Christian but that shouldn't be an excuse for why I should endorse this book and I'm tired of being told I should.
p.s. I am expecting your hate comments.
I can't get past how much the main female protagonist is talked down to and slut-shamed by her own husband (and that's not even all).
Yes, I am a Christian but that shouldn't be an excuse for why I should endorse this book and I'm tired of being told I should.
p.s. I am expecting your hate comments.
December 20, 2014
Please note: I read the Kindle version which apparently is the clean Christian version. The original paperback is what I should have read. Darn.
4 Angel Stars
This is a Christian based love story about a prostitute finding redemption and spirituality with her farmer husband. This book quotes a lot of scripture and the story itself is based on the Bible story of Hosea and Gomer.
Set in California in the 1950鈥檚 during the gold rush, Sarah is working as a high priced prostitute after years being owned since she was just eight years old. She catches the eye of a farmer named Michael. God speaks to Michael and tells him that Angel/Sarah is to be his wife. Michael sets out to wed the closed off Angel and offers her a home and freedom.
"Love cleanses, beloved. It doesn't beat you down. It doesn't cast blame. My love isn't a weapon. It's a lifeline. Reach out and take hold, and don't let go."
Michael and Angel/Sarah were wonderful characters and their love was epic but somewhere around 78 percent the story went pretty preachy for my tastes. Nonetheless the writing was strong and it is a nice story of redemption and spiritual rebirth.
鈥漈hough fallen low, God raised her up, an angel.
4 Angel Stars
This is a Christian based love story about a prostitute finding redemption and spirituality with her farmer husband. This book quotes a lot of scripture and the story itself is based on the Bible story of Hosea and Gomer.
Set in California in the 1950鈥檚 during the gold rush, Sarah is working as a high priced prostitute after years being owned since she was just eight years old. She catches the eye of a farmer named Michael. God speaks to Michael and tells him that Angel/Sarah is to be his wife. Michael sets out to wed the closed off Angel and offers her a home and freedom.
"Love cleanses, beloved. It doesn't beat you down. It doesn't cast blame. My love isn't a weapon. It's a lifeline. Reach out and take hold, and don't let go."
Michael and Angel/Sarah were wonderful characters and their love was epic but somewhere around 78 percent the story went pretty preachy for my tastes. Nonetheless the writing was strong and it is a nice story of redemption and spiritual rebirth.
鈥漈hough fallen low, God raised her up, an angel.
September 13, 2011
乇賵丕賷丞 鬲囟毓 兀賲丕賲 丕賱賯丕乇卅 丨賯丕卅賯 亘丕賱睾丞 丕賱丿賯丞 毓賳 丕賱賮乇賯 亘賷賳 丕賱賲賯丕賷賷爻 丕賱亘卮乇賷丞 賵丕賱賲賯丕賷賷爻 丕賱兀賱賴賷丞 賮賷 丕賱鬲毓丕賲賱 賲毓 丕賱兀丨丿丕孬 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓鬲乇囟 丨賷丕丞 丕賱亘卮乇 . 賵鬲賰卮賮 丕賱丨賰賲丞 賲賳 丕賱毓匕丕亘丕鬲 賵丕賱氐毓丕亘 丕賱鬲賷 鬲毓氐賮 兀丨賷丕賳丕 亘丨賷丕丞 丕賱兀賳爻丕賳 賵丕賱鬲賷 賷賯賮 丕賱毓賯賱 毓丕噩夭丕 毓賳 丕爻鬲賷毓丕亘賴丕 兀賵 賮賴賲賴丕.賲丕 賱丕 賷賮賴賲賴 丕賱亘卮乇 亘卮賰賱 毓丕賲 鬲賰賲賳 賵乇丕亍賴 丨賰賲丞 丕賱賴賷丞 賵禺賷乇 毓賲賷賲 . 賵賱丕 賷賯賵賶 毓賱賶 丕爻鬲賷毓丕亘 賲鬲賳丕賯囟丕鬲 丕賱丨賷丕丞 賵兀賴賵丕賱賴丕 廿賱丕 賲賳 鬲爻賱丨 亘丕賱廿賷賲丕賳 丕賱毓賲賷賯 .
鬲毓丕賲賱丕鬲 賲丕賷賰賱 賲毓丕賴丕, 賵鬲毓丕賲賱丕鬲賴丕 賲毓 賲丕賷賰賱, 賴賲 氐賵乇丞 丨賷丞 賱毓賱丕賯鬲賳丕 賲毓 丕賱賱賴 丕賱匕賷 賱丕 賳爻鬲賵毓亘 賲丨亘鬲賴 賵賯亘賵賱賴 丕賱賮丕卅賯 賱賳丕 賲賴賲丕 賰丕賳 丨丕賱賳丕.
廿賳 賰賱 賰賱賲丞 賮賷 丕賱賯氐丞 賱賴賷 丿乇爻 毓賲賷賯 賷乇賷 賮賷賴丕 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賳賮爻賴 賲賰丕賳 鈥溫池ж必┾€� 賵賷賱鬲賲爻 丨亘 丕賱賱賴 賮賷 卮禺氐 鈥溬呚з娰冑勨€� 丕賱亘胤賱
鬲毓丕賲賱丕鬲 賲丕賷賰賱 賲毓丕賴丕, 賵鬲毓丕賲賱丕鬲賴丕 賲毓 賲丕賷賰賱, 賴賲 氐賵乇丞 丨賷丞 賱毓賱丕賯鬲賳丕 賲毓 丕賱賱賴 丕賱匕賷 賱丕 賳爻鬲賵毓亘 賲丨亘鬲賴 賵賯亘賵賱賴 丕賱賮丕卅賯 賱賳丕 賲賴賲丕 賰丕賳 丨丕賱賳丕.
廿賳 賰賱 賰賱賲丞 賮賷 丕賱賯氐丞 賱賴賷 丿乇爻 毓賲賷賯 賷乇賷 賮賷賴丕 丕賱賯丕乇卅 賳賮爻賴 賲賰丕賳 鈥溫池ж必┾€� 賵賷賱鬲賲爻 丨亘 丕賱賱賴 賮賷 卮禺氐 鈥溬呚з娰冑勨€� 丕賱亘胤賱
August 18, 2014
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers has undeniably earned a coveted spot on my top bookshelf of classically flawless stories. This is a book that I will probably find myself reading over and over again until it simply falls apart at the seams. Such a beautiful love story that I could not separate myself from both mentally and emotionally.
I read this book while I was traveling, and I truly don鈥檛 know how I made my connector flights or found my departing gate terminals, or even who sat next to me on the airplane. Forget all the flight instructions about cabin pressure, oxygen masks and floating devices, I was lost in my book as I was more concerned about the turbulence in Michael and Angel鈥檚 life and their ultimate destination than anything I was experiencing at the moment. I think I must have sighed a hundred times from heartbreak and angst for these characters and forget about keeping track of my facial expressions, but I treasured every moment irregardless of what people around me must have witnessed.
First off, one thing I must note about this book, and it鈥檚 probably the one small element that held me off from reading it sooner than I did, or reading it at all for that matter. The book is categorized as Contemporary Christian Fiction as it鈥檚 based on the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. Wait!! Don鈥檛 let that turn you off just yet. Just give me a few more moments to share its fabulousness; I swear I鈥檓 not a religious fanatic (See?? I鈥檓 swearing!). But before I move on let me explain my reading preferences.
I pick up books for fictional journeys, normally young adult, paranormal, and dystopian. For me to pick up a book with a religious/spiritual tone, well鈥� let鈥檚 just say I鈥檇 never think that would happen, and I鈥檓 just being honest. Secondly, I鈥檇 be lying if I called myself a devout anything鈥� Christian or Catholic. Nope, that鈥檚 not me鈥� the devout part that is... so when the situation feels preachy, I get uncomfortable. I鈥檓 not saying I have absolutely no faith鈥� not the case at all. I just wouldn鈥檛 normally read a book about religion, faith or spirituality. And, I鈥檓 not going to feel guilty about that because God and I have our private convos, and let鈥檚 just say鈥� we鈥檙e good. Okay, so keeping that in mind, I still picked up this book and I was wowed鈥� Not in a spiritual sense mind you. It was more like it showed me how when you really love someone, you鈥檙e willing to sacrifice a piece of yourself and forgive your partner鈥檚 grievances no matter how much it might hurt sometimes. I saw it from more of an emotional perspective rather than a spiritual sense. So if I missed the mark鈥� oh well鈥� it was mine to miss.
Overall, this book does a masterful job of blending love and betrayal, hope and despair, self-destruction and ultimate redemption. I fell in love with these characters as Michael and Angel experienced a turbulent journey towards trust, hope, love and ultimate faith. Michael Hosea was the true angel in this story for the number of times he forgave Angel鈥檚 transgressions and painful, ongoing betrayal. He was such a gentle and trusting soul and just an all around, too good to be true person. His faith in God and his belief in his purpose as dictated by a higher being were heartfelt and poignant. As for Angel, for all of the mistakes and sins she committed, I still held a soft spot for her and cared for her character deeply, and that never wavered. My heart broke when her back-story was revealed, and I read about how she was betrayed, destroyed and used. No matter how awful her choices were and how badly they hurt Michael, I still wanted to come to her defenses. What an emotional ride!
Another thing I want to share about this book. It has one of the most beautiful scenes I鈥檝e ever read. There is a part in the story, right after Angel betrays and abandons Michael (and not for the first or last time) that he takes her to an unknown destination. She is frightened that he鈥檒l hurt her as punishment, and their journey through the dark forest to get where they were going was intense. He ultimately leads them to the crest of a mountain and he points to the moon鈥� yes, that ball of cheese in the sky, and he holds her tightly. After resisting him for some time, she finally stops to look at the beauty around her as the hours pass, the moon descends and the sun begins to set. He doesn鈥檛 say much, but he shows her the hope held in the renewal of a new day and the absolute beauty around you if you just stop to look and listen, rather than destroy it or pretend it doesn鈥檛 exist; and he simply tells her, 鈥淭his is the life I want to give you.鈥� *tear...sob*
Am I a total sap if I admit it reminds me of the song Moonlight? Noooo, not the Barry Manilow version鈥� more like the Jason Castro rendition. :) So for me to quote a sappy love song, you know I was moved by this book! Gah!!! *head desk*
I鈥檝e been pegged as being a sucker for melodramic love stories. Well, I鈥檓 good with that and willing to own it because it鈥檚 books like Redeeming Love that remind me some of them are just worth it. Absolutely worth it! There are some books you want to convince everyone to read and then there are some that you want to keep to yourself because you鈥檒l be disappointed if someone bashes to pieces something you just absolutely adore. I鈥檒l tell you right now, I loved this book, but if it doesn鈥檛 gain traction by many, I鈥檒l feel comforted that it鈥檚 safe and treasured on my bookshelf.
Now here are the lyrics to Moonlight and I鈥檒l just end with that. :)
Midnight, not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory, she is smiling alone
In the lamplight, the withered leaves, collected my feet
And the wind begins to moan
Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days, it was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life, and I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory, too
And a new day will begin
Burnt out ends of smoky days, the stale cold smell of morning
The street lamp dies, another night is over, another day is dawning
Touch me, it's so easy to leave me, all alone with the memory of my day in the sun
If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is
Look a new day, has begun
*sniffle... sniffle... tear... tear*
I read this book while I was traveling, and I truly don鈥檛 know how I made my connector flights or found my departing gate terminals, or even who sat next to me on the airplane. Forget all the flight instructions about cabin pressure, oxygen masks and floating devices, I was lost in my book as I was more concerned about the turbulence in Michael and Angel鈥檚 life and their ultimate destination than anything I was experiencing at the moment. I think I must have sighed a hundred times from heartbreak and angst for these characters and forget about keeping track of my facial expressions, but I treasured every moment irregardless of what people around me must have witnessed.
First off, one thing I must note about this book, and it鈥檚 probably the one small element that held me off from reading it sooner than I did, or reading it at all for that matter. The book is categorized as Contemporary Christian Fiction as it鈥檚 based on the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. Wait!! Don鈥檛 let that turn you off just yet. Just give me a few more moments to share its fabulousness; I swear I鈥檓 not a religious fanatic (See?? I鈥檓 swearing!). But before I move on let me explain my reading preferences.
I pick up books for fictional journeys, normally young adult, paranormal, and dystopian. For me to pick up a book with a religious/spiritual tone, well鈥� let鈥檚 just say I鈥檇 never think that would happen, and I鈥檓 just being honest. Secondly, I鈥檇 be lying if I called myself a devout anything鈥� Christian or Catholic. Nope, that鈥檚 not me鈥� the devout part that is... so when the situation feels preachy, I get uncomfortable. I鈥檓 not saying I have absolutely no faith鈥� not the case at all. I just wouldn鈥檛 normally read a book about religion, faith or spirituality. And, I鈥檓 not going to feel guilty about that because God and I have our private convos, and let鈥檚 just say鈥� we鈥檙e good. Okay, so keeping that in mind, I still picked up this book and I was wowed鈥� Not in a spiritual sense mind you. It was more like it showed me how when you really love someone, you鈥檙e willing to sacrifice a piece of yourself and forgive your partner鈥檚 grievances no matter how much it might hurt sometimes. I saw it from more of an emotional perspective rather than a spiritual sense. So if I missed the mark鈥� oh well鈥� it was mine to miss.
Overall, this book does a masterful job of blending love and betrayal, hope and despair, self-destruction and ultimate redemption. I fell in love with these characters as Michael and Angel experienced a turbulent journey towards trust, hope, love and ultimate faith. Michael Hosea was the true angel in this story for the number of times he forgave Angel鈥檚 transgressions and painful, ongoing betrayal. He was such a gentle and trusting soul and just an all around, too good to be true person. His faith in God and his belief in his purpose as dictated by a higher being were heartfelt and poignant. As for Angel, for all of the mistakes and sins she committed, I still held a soft spot for her and cared for her character deeply, and that never wavered. My heart broke when her back-story was revealed, and I read about how she was betrayed, destroyed and used. No matter how awful her choices were and how badly they hurt Michael, I still wanted to come to her defenses. What an emotional ride!
Another thing I want to share about this book. It has one of the most beautiful scenes I鈥檝e ever read. There is a part in the story, right after Angel betrays and abandons Michael (and not for the first or last time) that he takes her to an unknown destination. She is frightened that he鈥檒l hurt her as punishment, and their journey through the dark forest to get where they were going was intense. He ultimately leads them to the crest of a mountain and he points to the moon鈥� yes, that ball of cheese in the sky, and he holds her tightly. After resisting him for some time, she finally stops to look at the beauty around her as the hours pass, the moon descends and the sun begins to set. He doesn鈥檛 say much, but he shows her the hope held in the renewal of a new day and the absolute beauty around you if you just stop to look and listen, rather than destroy it or pretend it doesn鈥檛 exist; and he simply tells her, 鈥淭his is the life I want to give you.鈥� *tear...sob*
Am I a total sap if I admit it reminds me of the song Moonlight? Noooo, not the Barry Manilow version鈥� more like the Jason Castro rendition. :) So for me to quote a sappy love song, you know I was moved by this book! Gah!!! *head desk*
I鈥檝e been pegged as being a sucker for melodramic love stories. Well, I鈥檓 good with that and willing to own it because it鈥檚 books like Redeeming Love that remind me some of them are just worth it. Absolutely worth it! There are some books you want to convince everyone to read and then there are some that you want to keep to yourself because you鈥檒l be disappointed if someone bashes to pieces something you just absolutely adore. I鈥檒l tell you right now, I loved this book, but if it doesn鈥檛 gain traction by many, I鈥檒l feel comforted that it鈥檚 safe and treasured on my bookshelf.
Now here are the lyrics to Moonlight and I鈥檒l just end with that. :)
Midnight, not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory, she is smiling alone
In the lamplight, the withered leaves, collected my feet
And the wind begins to moan
Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days, it was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life, and I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory, too
And a new day will begin
Burnt out ends of smoky days, the stale cold smell of morning
The street lamp dies, another night is over, another day is dawning
Touch me, it's so easy to leave me, all alone with the memory of my day in the sun
If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is
Look a new day, has begun
*sniffle... sniffle... tear... tear*
February 20, 2016
5 STARS
Wow. So much to say about this book. And I don鈥檛 even know where to begin. The emotions incited were overwhelming. My chest still hurts from the feelings I have. I must say, I don鈥檛 cry often when I read. And when I do, it is more often out of sorrow and pain. But this book made me cry out of sheer joy. It chokes me up still to think about it. Very inspiring read.
This story follows the life of a girl who has believed from her earliest memories that she was a mistake. Not meant to be born. A burden to everyone she encountered.
And as she grew up, her beliefs were reinforced time and time again. She lost any hope she had of love and happiness in her life. She鈥檇 had to trade those frivolous needs for mere survival. And she knew deep down to the bottom of her soul that those things were not meant for her.
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It was the 1850鈥檚, and the California gold rush was in full swing. And it wasn鈥檛 long before Angel found herself in the midst of chaos.
Enduring the ship alone to get there was enough to take her sanity. The freedom she thought she would find upon her arrival had quickly turned into a fight to survive. Penniless and alone, she was quickly drawn right back into the life she had tried so hard to escape.
There was no freedom. There was no happiness. Not for her. Not ever. But then something happened. And his name was Michael Hosea.
Now this was a man who was told by God, that he should marry Angel and deliver her from her bondage. But Angel wasn鈥檛 buying it. The more he tried to convince her, the more convinced she was of his insincerity.
Until fate eventually gives her up to him, just like she knew it would鈥� but she wouldn鈥檛 go easily.
This book was a struggle for one woman to overcome the power of her own self worth. And in a way, it proved that although food and water are needed to nourish our bodies, they may not be as important to our survival as faith and hope and trust.
I don鈥檛 want to say much more. I will say though that this one will go straight to my favorites list. I鈥檓 sorry, I know this review is lacking in so many ways鈥� but the book is definitely not. I will leave you with a few quotes, and photos, and my updates photos as well.
I cannot recommend this one enough.
BTW... my update photos are better. ;)
She thought she had been saved by his love for her, and in part she had been. It had cleansed her, never casting blame. But that had been only the beginning. It was loving him in return that had brought her up out of the darkness.
Wow. So much to say about this book. And I don鈥檛 even know where to begin. The emotions incited were overwhelming. My chest still hurts from the feelings I have. I must say, I don鈥檛 cry often when I read. And when I do, it is more often out of sorrow and pain. But this book made me cry out of sheer joy. It chokes me up still to think about it. Very inspiring read.
This story follows the life of a girl who has believed from her earliest memories that she was a mistake. Not meant to be born. A burden to everyone she encountered.
And as she grew up, her beliefs were reinforced time and time again. She lost any hope she had of love and happiness in her life. She鈥檇 had to trade those frivolous needs for mere survival. And she knew deep down to the bottom of her soul that those things were not meant for her.
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All they saw was her beauty, a flawless veil wrapped around a frozen heart, and they were enthralled. They looked into her angel eyes and were lost.
It was the 1850鈥檚, and the California gold rush was in full swing. And it wasn鈥檛 long before Angel found herself in the midst of chaos.
Enduring the ship alone to get there was enough to take her sanity. The freedom she thought she would find upon her arrival had quickly turned into a fight to survive. Penniless and alone, she was quickly drawn right back into the life she had tried so hard to escape.
There was no freedom. There was no happiness. Not for her. Not ever. But then something happened. And his name was Michael Hosea.
Now this was a man who was told by God, that he should marry Angel and deliver her from her bondage. But Angel wasn鈥檛 buying it. The more he tried to convince her, the more convinced she was of his insincerity.
What was it about this man that got to her? She preferred the numbness to this stirring of emotion. Hope was torment. Hope was an enemy. And this man was a thorn in her side.
Until fate eventually gives her up to him, just like she knew it would鈥� but she wouldn鈥檛 go easily.
She was the blackest night, and he the starlight piercing it, creating an unfolding pattern in her life.
This book was a struggle for one woman to overcome the power of her own self worth. And in a way, it proved that although food and water are needed to nourish our bodies, they may not be as important to our survival as faith and hope and trust.
She stared at those aristocratic hands, hands without calluses, pale and manicured. Beautifully shaped hands that were capable of unspeakable cruelty.
She remembered Michael鈥檚 hands, large and strong, clearly used to hard labor. They were callused and rough. His hands had looked so cruel and yet been so gentle. His touch had healed her body and opened her heart.
I don鈥檛 want to say much more. I will say though that this one will go straight to my favorites list. I鈥檓 sorry, I know this review is lacking in so many ways鈥� but the book is definitely not. I will leave you with a few quotes, and photos, and my updates photos as well.
I cannot recommend this one enough.
BTW... my update photos are better. ;)
October 8, 2024
update: I watched the movie and 馃槳馃槳馃槳 Michael was just as perfect as in the book ughh. It was actually very true to the book but not everything could be included of course. The book was still better and I still don't like Paul馃ぃ It should have been a limited series or something imo.
_________________________________________________________
audio: ummm it wasn't good. the narrator portrayed no emotions while narrating, it was like reading a textbook for her. It kind of took away from my enjoyment of the book :/ To be fair this is a very old book and the audiobook was produced in 2001 I think.
plot: 4 stars
"Love cleanses my beloved, it doesn't beat you down, it doesn't cast blame." He kissed her again. "My love isn't a weapon, it's a lifeline."
Disclaimer: This is a historical romance(my first ever) moderately relying on the Christian religion. I am a Muslim, but I think anyone from any religion can read this book because the overall theme is not restricted to Christianity. This is a retelling of the biblical story of Hosea (which I believe is present in Christianity and Judaism). I had never heard of this story before so I read up a little about it before going into the book just to have a sense of what I would be getting into.
This book is about a love that never gives up, a love that lifts you and saves you even if you don't want it to. The fmc angel was sold into prostitution at the age of 8, all she has ever known is the cruelty of men so naturally she is distrustful of them. Michael Hosea, a religious man, sees her one day and hears the voice of God telling him that she is the one he has been waiting for his whole life. He stops at nothing to marry her and get her to love him.
If you look up the word patience in the dictionary, you would find Michael Hosea. The faith and patience this man had was honestly unmatched and I don't think I will ever read about an mmc that had this much patience and faith in God and the woman he loves.
Angel/Sara was a strong yet broken character. She grew and changed throughout the story and had a very satisfying character arc imo.
I liked all the side characters, except for Paul. Try as she might, but Mrs. Rivers could not make me forgive Paul for what he did and I don't think anyone should have ESPECIALLY MICHAEL, but that's just me. He is actually the main reason I removed one star.
This book is very polarizing, people either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it for its content. This book has mentions of rape, child abuse, violence but it is not at all graphic. nothing is described at all. Everything is alluded to, so some of the hate towards the book for those reasons made no sense to me. There is also hate towards how women are portrayed and treated in this book, but this book is set in the 1800s; that's how women's lives were actually like. Okay we don't like that that's how it was, but our opinions don't change history馃槄
The whole message of the book is the enduring power and love of God and how God will never leave you no matter how bad things get. God will forgive you if you repent and accept his love. Honestly this message could not have come at a better time for me during the horrible events plaguing my country now. God will come through for us and of that I am sure.
_________________________________________________________
audio: ummm it wasn't good. the narrator portrayed no emotions while narrating, it was like reading a textbook for her. It kind of took away from my enjoyment of the book :/ To be fair this is a very old book and the audiobook was produced in 2001 I think.
plot: 4 stars
"Love cleanses my beloved, it doesn't beat you down, it doesn't cast blame." He kissed her again. "My love isn't a weapon, it's a lifeline."
Disclaimer: This is a historical romance(my first ever) moderately relying on the Christian religion. I am a Muslim, but I think anyone from any religion can read this book because the overall theme is not restricted to Christianity. This is a retelling of the biblical story of Hosea (which I believe is present in Christianity and Judaism). I had never heard of this story before so I read up a little about it before going into the book just to have a sense of what I would be getting into.
This book is about a love that never gives up, a love that lifts you and saves you even if you don't want it to. The fmc angel was sold into prostitution at the age of 8, all she has ever known is the cruelty of men so naturally she is distrustful of them. Michael Hosea, a religious man, sees her one day and hears the voice of God telling him that she is the one he has been waiting for his whole life. He stops at nothing to marry her and get her to love him.
If you look up the word patience in the dictionary, you would find Michael Hosea. The faith and patience this man had was honestly unmatched and I don't think I will ever read about an mmc that had this much patience and faith in God and the woman he loves.
Angel/Sara was a strong yet broken character. She grew and changed throughout the story and had a very satisfying character arc imo.
I liked all the side characters, except for Paul. Try as she might, but Mrs. Rivers could not make me forgive Paul for what he did and I don't think anyone should have ESPECIALLY MICHAEL, but that's just me. He is actually the main reason I removed one star.
This book is very polarizing, people either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it for its content. This book has mentions of rape, child abuse, violence but it is not at all graphic. nothing is described at all. Everything is alluded to, so some of the hate towards the book for those reasons made no sense to me. There is also hate towards how women are portrayed and treated in this book, but this book is set in the 1800s; that's how women's lives were actually like. Okay we don't like that that's how it was, but our opinions don't change history馃槄
The whole message of the book is the enduring power and love of God and how God will never leave you no matter how bad things get. God will forgive you if you repent and accept his love. Honestly this message could not have come at a better time for me during the horrible events plaguing my country now. God will come through for us and of that I am sure.
January 20, 2022
10000000000/5 stars!!!!! This book was so very good! Rivers did not shy from the hard questions and deals with them biblically. I think Redeeming Love will prove moving to everyone, Christian or not. Highly recommended!
April 22, 2024
New England 1835
Seven year old Sarah was living in a beautiful cottage in the countryside with her loving mother.
She was a happy child and the only thing that made her heartsick was the absence of her father in her life.
Her mother told her that she was not old enough to meet her father yet.
Every time he would visit, her mother would have the servant take Sarah away from the cottage.
That particular day her mother told her it was time to meet her father. Sarah was ecstatic but her father did not seem happy to meet her.
She was sent outside and Sarah eve dropping through the open window learned that her mama was actually her wealthy, married father's mistress.
Her father wished Sarah had never been born, he did not care about her and was angry that mama had tricked her father into seeing Sarah that day.
Sarah's father did not come back after that day and her mama grew thin, wan and depressed.
When he did show up it was to tell mama that he wanted them out of the cottage.
Mother and daughter ended up in the slams of New York's docks and her mother had to prostitute herself to survive.
That winter mama became ill and died.
Eight year old Sarah was sold into prostitution.
At the age of 18 we find Sarah working in a brothel in a Gold mining town in California.
She was damaged inside. She was bitter, cold and cynical.
She lived for the day having no dreams and hopes and wishing she was dead but having no courage to end her life.
The last ten years were tremendously abominable.
She did not know how to do anything other than prostitution.
Michael Hosea was a farmer and a man of God.
He was lonely and asked God to give him the right woman to love and marry.
One day while in the Gold mining town, he saw a beautiful young woman in black and was enthralled by her.
To his surprise God told him:
"This is the woman l have chosen for you".
Michael had a hard time believing it as the girl was a prostitute at the local brothel.
He'd visited her that night and asked her to go away with him and be his wife.
Sarah thought he was crazy.
He kept coming back over and over. He wasn't like a hundred others who paid and
Played. He wasn't like anyone she had ever known.
She found herself thinking of him at odd times. Sarah didn't want to risk going with Michael Hosea.
He was by far a darker unknown. She rebuffed him over and over.
Frustrated and angry Michael lashed out at God:
"Why do you tell me to marry a harlot? It's not going to work. She doesn't want anything to do with me".
Sarah had been badly beaten by the brothel guard after asking for the gold she'd earned, and suffered many injuries.
Half conscience and delirious, Sarah agreed to marry Michael. He took her to his farm and nursed her.
She'd made it clear to him that she did not want to be there with him. She was just staying because she was injured to leave.
Michael knew Sarah was giving him her body but not her heart and soul and that knowledge was eating up on him. She kept telling him she did not belong there.
Deep down she knew she did not deserve any better than been a prostitute.
She did not know how to love.
She'd run away and got back into being a prostitute. Michael found her and brought her back.
She would leave him two more times.
The last time she had left him, it took 3 years for the two to get back together again.
Each and every time he forgave her transgressions.
Michael and Sarah had a turbulent journey toward love, trust and redemption.
I think Michael was saintly. I am amazed at Michael's patience and perseverance.
He saw her worth and inner beauty right from the start.
Sarah's life was full of unimaginable horrors.
She would eventually find her self worth but it was an uphill self struggle.
The book left me emotionally drained and exhausted as the plot is heart wrenching but at the same time l am glad l read it.
The story is based on, and inspired by the story of Hosea and Gomer from the bible.
This book is not for the faint hearted.
Seven year old Sarah was living in a beautiful cottage in the countryside with her loving mother.
She was a happy child and the only thing that made her heartsick was the absence of her father in her life.
Her mother told her that she was not old enough to meet her father yet.
Every time he would visit, her mother would have the servant take Sarah away from the cottage.
That particular day her mother told her it was time to meet her father. Sarah was ecstatic but her father did not seem happy to meet her.
She was sent outside and Sarah eve dropping through the open window learned that her mama was actually her wealthy, married father's mistress.
Her father wished Sarah had never been born, he did not care about her and was angry that mama had tricked her father into seeing Sarah that day.
Sarah's father did not come back after that day and her mama grew thin, wan and depressed.
When he did show up it was to tell mama that he wanted them out of the cottage.
Mother and daughter ended up in the slams of New York's docks and her mother had to prostitute herself to survive.
That winter mama became ill and died.
Eight year old Sarah was sold into prostitution.
At the age of 18 we find Sarah working in a brothel in a Gold mining town in California.
She was damaged inside. She was bitter, cold and cynical.
She lived for the day having no dreams and hopes and wishing she was dead but having no courage to end her life.
The last ten years were tremendously abominable.
She did not know how to do anything other than prostitution.
Michael Hosea was a farmer and a man of God.
He was lonely and asked God to give him the right woman to love and marry.
One day while in the Gold mining town, he saw a beautiful young woman in black and was enthralled by her.
To his surprise God told him:
"This is the woman l have chosen for you".
Michael had a hard time believing it as the girl was a prostitute at the local brothel.
He'd visited her that night and asked her to go away with him and be his wife.
Sarah thought he was crazy.
He kept coming back over and over. He wasn't like a hundred others who paid and
Played. He wasn't like anyone she had ever known.
She found herself thinking of him at odd times. Sarah didn't want to risk going with Michael Hosea.
He was by far a darker unknown. She rebuffed him over and over.
Frustrated and angry Michael lashed out at God:
"Why do you tell me to marry a harlot? It's not going to work. She doesn't want anything to do with me".
Sarah had been badly beaten by the brothel guard after asking for the gold she'd earned, and suffered many injuries.
Half conscience and delirious, Sarah agreed to marry Michael. He took her to his farm and nursed her.
She'd made it clear to him that she did not want to be there with him. She was just staying because she was injured to leave.
Michael knew Sarah was giving him her body but not her heart and soul and that knowledge was eating up on him. She kept telling him she did not belong there.
Deep down she knew she did not deserve any better than been a prostitute.
She did not know how to love.
She'd run away and got back into being a prostitute. Michael found her and brought her back.
She would leave him two more times.
The last time she had left him, it took 3 years for the two to get back together again.
Each and every time he forgave her transgressions.
Michael and Sarah had a turbulent journey toward love, trust and redemption.
I think Michael was saintly. I am amazed at Michael's patience and perseverance.
He saw her worth and inner beauty right from the start.
Sarah's life was full of unimaginable horrors.
She would eventually find her self worth but it was an uphill self struggle.
The book left me emotionally drained and exhausted as the plot is heart wrenching but at the same time l am glad l read it.
The story is based on, and inspired by the story of Hosea and Gomer from the bible.
This book is not for the faint hearted.
January 21, 2014
賯乇兀鬲 賴匕賴 丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 賱兀賵賱 賲乇丞 賮賷 賷賵賲賷賳 貙 孬賲 兀毓丿鬲 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕 亘毓丿 匕賱賰 兀乇亘毓 賲乇丕鬲 毓賱賶 賲丿丕乇 孬賱丕孬 爻賳賷賳 貙 亘爻丕胤鬲賴丕 賵 毓賲賯賴丕 鬲噩亘乇丕賳賰 毓賱賶 丕賱賵賱賵噩 賮賷 丕賱兀毓賲丕賯 丕賱廿賳爻丕賳賷丞 賰賲丕 賱賲 鬲賮毓賱 賲賳 賯亘賱 ..
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賷丨丿孬 兀丨賷丕賳丕賸 兀賳 鬲賳鬲夭毓賰 丕賱卮丿丕卅丿 賲賳 賳賮爻賰 丕賳鬲夭丕毓丕賸 貙 鬲賮賯丿 毓賱賶 廿孬乇賴丕 丕賱賯丿乇丞 毓賱賶 丕賱賲賵丕氐賱丞 賵 鬲睾丿賵 爻賯賷賲丕賸 賮賷 兀毓賲丕賯賰貙 賰丕賮乇丕賸 亘賰賱 丕賱賳毓賲 丕賱賲丨賷胤丞 亘賰 貙 賱賰賳 丨賷丕鬲賰 賯丿 鬲賳賯賱亘 廿孬乇 氐丿賮丞 貙 賲噩乇丿 氐丿賮丞 鬲賱賯賷 賮賷 胤乇賷賯賰 丨亘丕賸 毓馗賷賲丕賸 賵 鬲爻丕賲丨丕賸 兀毓馗賲 貙 氐丿賮丞 鬲賴亘賰 丕賱乇丕丨丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲賳卮丿 丨鬲賶 賱賵 馗賳賳鬲 賮賷 丿丕禺賱賰 兀賳賰 賱丕 鬲爻鬲丨賯賴丕 .. 賰賱 賲丕 賷鬲賵噩亘 毓賱賷賰 賵賯鬲賴丕 兀賳 鬲賮鬲丨 賳賵丕賮匕 賯賱亘賰 賱賱卮賲爻 賵 兀賳 鬲賵胤賾賳 乇賵丨賰 賱丕爻鬲賯亘丕賱 丕賱賲丨亘丞 貙 賮亘丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 賰賱 賲丕 丨丿孬 貙 兀賳鬲 廿賳爻丕賳 賲賳 丨賯賰 兀賳 鬲丨亘 賵 賲賳 丨賯賰 兀賳 鬲賰賵賳 賲丨亘賵亘丕賸 ..
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April 12, 2009
This is a difficult book to rate because at times it鈥檚 a 1 and then a 3 and I can even see how readers could give it a 5 star rating. It鈥檚 an inspirational romance that at times is quite heavy on the religious aspect in my opinion. If the idea of a kind of self-sacrifice to the extreme that doesn鈥檛 seem to benefit anyone apart from God (but even then that鈥檚 debatable) appeals to you, then you鈥檒l probably like this book. I didn鈥檛 particularly enjoy it, but I could appreciate it.
It鈥檚 not the greatest writing in the world. It鈥檚 very simple in style and reminded me of something like the Good News Bible where Biblical verse is written in a more modern, accessible way with a simplistic approach to what is otherwise complicated religious dogma when you really look at it. The relationship between the two frontier families is a bit too utopian but fits in with this striving-to-be- like-God ideal and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with that, but I think you have to like reading about that sort of 鈥渨holesomeness鈥�. There鈥檚 a note from the publisher that says it鈥檚 a PG 13 novel and maybe for people who read inspirational romances it is but I didn鈥檛 think so. There was one very brief disgusting scene but given the situation and the period I thought that was misleading to brand it PG 13. There is virtually no physical intimacy in this book, apart from the odd kiss, and any sex is glossed over leaving you wondering if they had sex or not. The violence in the novel is treated the same way and I think it鈥檚 a disservice not to 鈥渟how鈥� the reader what the author is seeing. You get these one liners about horrific beatings, great sex on a very spiritual level but no detail. The author shows a lot about God but not enough about the h/h together as a married couple. Emotional, spiritual and physical intimacy make for better rounded characters I think and I felt short changed not to get all that. The book could probably be a good 4 陆 stars if this aspect of the writing had been developed.
The hero and the heroine are very well-drawn. Michael is a true saint and if you took away his devout belief in God he鈥檇 make one of the best romance heroes around. He gets kicked in the teeth so many times but he still keeps coming back for more. He reminded me of poor Job at times. His self-sacrifice skirts the incredulous and I still can鈥檛 see what he got out of it during those years of waiting. His character鈥檚 endless patience reminds me of Sarah McCarty鈥檚 Asa in Promises Linger. As for Angel/Sarah, she is such an irritating/stupid woman. She has heaven in hand and she keeps throwing it away. Her life is a nightmare and it鈥檚 a wonder she never killed herself to get out of it, but I had a hard time understanding that after so much unconditional love from Michael that she felt too she ended up leaving him.
It was difficult to believe all this love at first sight and God speaking to these people in mysterious ways. It鈥檚 the Old Testament mysterious mean God in this story at times who takes everything away and you get to live in emotional hell. Why I don鈥檛 know and that鈥檚 what I really didn鈥檛 like about this book from a romance perspective. Michael鈥檚 a good guy why keep testing him? Angel has been through hell and back why have her leave her haven incessantly? I guess you could say that they both had things to do first before they could be together but I think they really wasted some very valuable time that they could鈥檝e been better spent together.
The epilogue is quite moving and God finally decides to give something back apart from just his love which is supposed to be the true reason for living, but I didn鈥檛 really see what kind of happiness it brought these people because without each other they were horribly sad and lost.
If you take the novel as a retelling of the Book Hosea(what little I know about it) it鈥檚 pretty good, but if you read it as a romance you may be disappointed. So two stars for romance, four for the retelling of the Book of Hosea for me.
FYI: If devout believers who see God in everything as well as true faith being the only way to find happiness in life bother you, you may want to pass on this book.
It鈥檚 not the greatest writing in the world. It鈥檚 very simple in style and reminded me of something like the Good News Bible where Biblical verse is written in a more modern, accessible way with a simplistic approach to what is otherwise complicated religious dogma when you really look at it. The relationship between the two frontier families is a bit too utopian but fits in with this striving-to-be- like-God ideal and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with that, but I think you have to like reading about that sort of 鈥渨holesomeness鈥�. There鈥檚 a note from the publisher that says it鈥檚 a PG 13 novel and maybe for people who read inspirational romances it is but I didn鈥檛 think so. There was one very brief disgusting scene but given the situation and the period I thought that was misleading to brand it PG 13. There is virtually no physical intimacy in this book, apart from the odd kiss, and any sex is glossed over leaving you wondering if they had sex or not. The violence in the novel is treated the same way and I think it鈥檚 a disservice not to 鈥渟how鈥� the reader what the author is seeing. You get these one liners about horrific beatings, great sex on a very spiritual level but no detail. The author shows a lot about God but not enough about the h/h together as a married couple. Emotional, spiritual and physical intimacy make for better rounded characters I think and I felt short changed not to get all that. The book could probably be a good 4 陆 stars if this aspect of the writing had been developed.
The hero and the heroine are very well-drawn. Michael is a true saint and if you took away his devout belief in God he鈥檇 make one of the best romance heroes around. He gets kicked in the teeth so many times but he still keeps coming back for more. He reminded me of poor Job at times. His self-sacrifice skirts the incredulous and I still can鈥檛 see what he got out of it during those years of waiting. His character鈥檚 endless patience reminds me of Sarah McCarty鈥檚 Asa in Promises Linger. As for Angel/Sarah, she is such an irritating/stupid woman. She has heaven in hand and she keeps throwing it away. Her life is a nightmare and it鈥檚 a wonder she never killed herself to get out of it, but I had a hard time understanding that after so much unconditional love from Michael that she felt too she ended up leaving him.
It was difficult to believe all this love at first sight and God speaking to these people in mysterious ways. It鈥檚 the Old Testament mysterious mean God in this story at times who takes everything away and you get to live in emotional hell. Why I don鈥檛 know and that鈥檚 what I really didn鈥檛 like about this book from a romance perspective. Michael鈥檚 a good guy why keep testing him? Angel has been through hell and back why have her leave her haven incessantly? I guess you could say that they both had things to do first before they could be together but I think they really wasted some very valuable time that they could鈥檝e been better spent together.
The epilogue is quite moving and God finally decides to give something back apart from just his love which is supposed to be the true reason for living, but I didn鈥檛 really see what kind of happiness it brought these people because without each other they were horribly sad and lost.
If you take the novel as a retelling of the Book Hosea(what little I know about it) it鈥檚 pretty good, but if you read it as a romance you may be disappointed. So two stars for romance, four for the retelling of the Book of Hosea for me.
FYI: If devout believers who see God in everything as well as true faith being the only way to find happiness in life bother you, you may want to pass on this book.
January 26, 2022
Didn't quite finish but I cannot keep reading this drivel. I usually don't leave reviews for books I don't finish, but I'm making an exception here because I have strong opinions.
I can forgive a book for bad ideas/theology if it is well-written. I can even forgive inappropriate content if I feel that it is necessary for moving the plot of a well-written story forward. What I cannot forgive in a book is bad writing.
This book gets two stars from me (I almost gave it one) because it is poorly written. It is objectively bad. The story is unbelievable as a whole. The characters are flat, boring, and undeveloped. The allegory is forced and weak. The entire plot pivots around sex which is shallow and annoying. And this book is SO. LONG. The author could have condensed it to 200 pages and it would have been better.
I can understand the appeal, and I think the content itself - as a Christian story - is okay. The allusions to sex are not graphic or gratuitous, though the material is dark. I can understand the message Rivers was trying to communicate and I applaud her for the attempt. But even so, this book would have been so much better if Edith Wharton or Thomas Hardy had written it. Francine Rivers just didn't manage it.
I love Christian fiction. CS Lewis, George MacDonald, JRR Tolkien, Louisa May Alcott, GK Chesterton, Elizabeth Prentiss, John Bunyan - they all wrote such beautiful, morally high stories: Art. This book is not that. I criticize it not because I don't like Christian fiction, but because I don't like it when authors write bad novels, slap some Christian themes and a Christian label on them, and then believers are expected to praise it to the ends of the earth. Nope, won't do it. So this is my harsh but honest review of a badly written novel.
*Note: I don't want to get much into the topic of content because, like I said, I can forgive content. But one major issue I had in this book is the issue of consent in Sarah and Michael's marriage. He expects her to be faithful to him, but she did not want to nor consent to marrying him. The whole premise of the novel falls apart right there, in my opinion. Furthermore, it is so hard to suspend disbelief with a character who glimpses a hot woman and immediately "falls in love with her". I know that the book claims it was a message from God, but this really just sounds like the Christian version of "love at first sight" and it's just as unbelievable as in a secular romance novel or a Hallmark movie.
**Edit to add: I am aware that the novel is loosely based on the Book of Hosea. Francine Rivers made it abundantly clear (her main character is named Michael Hosea for goodness sake and she references the book a thousand times). Just because she based the book off of a bible story does not mean that she did a good job writing this novel. Further, this is not a good retelling of Hosea. Gomer was a "whore" and many scholars believe that she was not a prostitute before she married Hosea, but rather chose to commit adultery after they had married. Hosea then chose to love her again and again in spite of her betrayal. Sarah in the story was sold into prostitution as a child and has suffered immense psychological trauma. She does not want to marry Michael and doesn't consent to the marriage, and when she leaves him it isn't to return to prostitution, but to break free and be on her own for the first time in her life. The allegory is flawed, and Rivers' writing is so poor that there is no way I can overlook it.
I can forgive a book for bad ideas/theology if it is well-written. I can even forgive inappropriate content if I feel that it is necessary for moving the plot of a well-written story forward. What I cannot forgive in a book is bad writing.
This book gets two stars from me (I almost gave it one) because it is poorly written. It is objectively bad. The story is unbelievable as a whole. The characters are flat, boring, and undeveloped. The allegory is forced and weak. The entire plot pivots around sex which is shallow and annoying. And this book is SO. LONG. The author could have condensed it to 200 pages and it would have been better.
I can understand the appeal, and I think the content itself - as a Christian story - is okay. The allusions to sex are not graphic or gratuitous, though the material is dark. I can understand the message Rivers was trying to communicate and I applaud her for the attempt. But even so, this book would have been so much better if Edith Wharton or Thomas Hardy had written it. Francine Rivers just didn't manage it.
I love Christian fiction. CS Lewis, George MacDonald, JRR Tolkien, Louisa May Alcott, GK Chesterton, Elizabeth Prentiss, John Bunyan - they all wrote such beautiful, morally high stories: Art. This book is not that. I criticize it not because I don't like Christian fiction, but because I don't like it when authors write bad novels, slap some Christian themes and a Christian label on them, and then believers are expected to praise it to the ends of the earth. Nope, won't do it. So this is my harsh but honest review of a badly written novel.
*Note: I don't want to get much into the topic of content because, like I said, I can forgive content. But one major issue I had in this book is the issue of consent in Sarah and Michael's marriage. He expects her to be faithful to him, but she did not want to nor consent to marrying him. The whole premise of the novel falls apart right there, in my opinion. Furthermore, it is so hard to suspend disbelief with a character who glimpses a hot woman and immediately "falls in love with her". I know that the book claims it was a message from God, but this really just sounds like the Christian version of "love at first sight" and it's just as unbelievable as in a secular romance novel or a Hallmark movie.
**Edit to add: I am aware that the novel is loosely based on the Book of Hosea. Francine Rivers made it abundantly clear (her main character is named Michael Hosea for goodness sake and she references the book a thousand times). Just because she based the book off of a bible story does not mean that she did a good job writing this novel. Further, this is not a good retelling of Hosea. Gomer was a "whore" and many scholars believe that she was not a prostitute before she married Hosea, but rather chose to commit adultery after they had married. Hosea then chose to love her again and again in spite of her betrayal. Sarah in the story was sold into prostitution as a child and has suffered immense psychological trauma. She does not want to marry Michael and doesn't consent to the marriage, and when she leaves him it isn't to return to prostitution, but to break free and be on her own for the first time in her life. The allegory is flawed, and Rivers' writing is so poor that there is no way I can overlook it.
July 15, 2017
DNF @ page 50
I was supposed to read this to page 200 as punishment for lost bet but I'm gonna be dishonorable scum and just bail out of it because I just can't go on with this. This book is probably good if you are into this kind of stuff but religious romance about redeeming love for anti-romantic, cynical atheist like me was just torture.
I was supposed to read this to page 200 as punishment for lost bet but I'm gonna be dishonorable scum and just bail out of it because I just can't go on with this. This book is probably good if you are into this kind of stuff but religious romance about redeeming love for anti-romantic, cynical atheist like me was just torture.
April 20, 2015
Well, I only have myself to blame for this one. Actually, myself and all the rave reviews on 欧宝娱乐 saying this was such a moving, inspirational book. Now that I've finished it, I'm left wondering what exactly should have inspired me about it. As a reader I didn't like this book. As a woman -- I loathed it.
Maybe in some alternate reality I could have gotten over the poor writing style, the one-dimensional characters, their often irrational behavior, perhaps, though I doubt it, even over the fact that God actually speaks in this book, I cannot and will not get over the crap Angel was put through because she was a woman. The double standards for men and women is something that pisses me off all the time, and here I almost wanted to burn the damn book. Why, you might ask. The part of the book that made me hate it is the part where Paul, Michael's brother-in-law made Angel have sex with him as payment for letting her travel with him. I admit, I wanted Angel to at least argue with him, but nevertheless, he was a disgusting son of a bitch that asked it, and then did it. What a decent human being that really has the moral high ground when it comes to prostitutes. I believe the little sleezeball was just pissed that he was never a good enough client to even get to Angel. When I find prostitution like this in a book, I feel sorry for the prostitute. I especially felt bad for Angel. She was forced into it by a pedophile when she was only eight years old. For her, I had sympathy, but for those men that came to her, I only had contempt. Paul -- I despised that man with all my might. And if forcing Angel to have sex with him wasn't bad enough, when she ultimately came back to Michael, he still treated her as garbage. He showed his hatred towards her every chance he got. Hey, Paul, I've got news for you! You're garbage! You're despicable! If you think prostitutes are that filthy and unworthy, well, guess what, you went to them, so you're much, much worse!
And Michael was behaving like nothing happened. All forgiven. I don't know... I'd expect my loving, protective husband to kill the bastard, or at least beat the crap out of him, and never speak to him again. But that's just me. Oh, that's not all. Angel spent the whole time blaming herself, trying to redeem herself, justifying Paul. In the end, she actually apologized to him. What the fuck was that all about?! I was reading it, and I couldn't believe it. It's okay to rape a prostitute? Is that it? She had it coming? Putting the blame on the victim is something I can't stand. The way almost every man in Angel's life treated her, she should have shot them all.
I also hated the fact Angel's past was showed as her sin. She was abused in every way for at least ten years. I know there weren't any psychologists there, but for God's sake talk to her, help her, don't ignore it, and pretend it never happened. The victim of such abuse needs therapy, not forgiveness for something they were forced into.
In the long list of my problems with this book was also the part where Angel said the purpose of a woman's life is to bear children. Okay, having children if you want them is all great, but are we really implying that women who can't have children, or perhaps end up with men who can't, have meaningless lives?
And sure, even though Angel couldn't have children, she ended up having them because I guess God reversed whatever that "doctor" did to her to make sure she never got pregnant again.
I've mentioned at the beginning some of the other things that bothered me while reading. I haven't got the energy to go into them, though they bothered me a lot. But, never mind, I'm just glad I'm done with this book, and that now I know never ever to pick this type of book again.
Maybe in some alternate reality I could have gotten over the poor writing style, the one-dimensional characters, their often irrational behavior, perhaps, though I doubt it, even over the fact that God actually speaks in this book, I cannot and will not get over the crap Angel was put through because she was a woman. The double standards for men and women is something that pisses me off all the time, and here I almost wanted to burn the damn book. Why, you might ask. The part of the book that made me hate it is the part where Paul, Michael's brother-in-law made Angel have sex with him as payment for letting her travel with him. I admit, I wanted Angel to at least argue with him, but nevertheless, he was a disgusting son of a bitch that asked it, and then did it. What a decent human being that really has the moral high ground when it comes to prostitutes. I believe the little sleezeball was just pissed that he was never a good enough client to even get to Angel. When I find prostitution like this in a book, I feel sorry for the prostitute. I especially felt bad for Angel. She was forced into it by a pedophile when she was only eight years old. For her, I had sympathy, but for those men that came to her, I only had contempt. Paul -- I despised that man with all my might. And if forcing Angel to have sex with him wasn't bad enough, when she ultimately came back to Michael, he still treated her as garbage. He showed his hatred towards her every chance he got. Hey, Paul, I've got news for you! You're garbage! You're despicable! If you think prostitutes are that filthy and unworthy, well, guess what, you went to them, so you're much, much worse!
And Michael was behaving like nothing happened. All forgiven. I don't know... I'd expect my loving, protective husband to kill the bastard, or at least beat the crap out of him, and never speak to him again. But that's just me. Oh, that's not all. Angel spent the whole time blaming herself, trying to redeem herself, justifying Paul. In the end, she actually apologized to him. What the fuck was that all about?! I was reading it, and I couldn't believe it. It's okay to rape a prostitute? Is that it? She had it coming? Putting the blame on the victim is something I can't stand. The way almost every man in Angel's life treated her, she should have shot them all.
I also hated the fact Angel's past was showed as her sin. She was abused in every way for at least ten years. I know there weren't any psychologists there, but for God's sake talk to her, help her, don't ignore it, and pretend it never happened. The victim of such abuse needs therapy, not forgiveness for something they were forced into.
In the long list of my problems with this book was also the part where Angel said the purpose of a woman's life is to bear children. Okay, having children if you want them is all great, but are we really implying that women who can't have children, or perhaps end up with men who can't, have meaningless lives?
And sure, even though Angel couldn't have children, she ended up having them because I guess God reversed whatever that "doctor" did to her to make sure she never got pregnant again.
I've mentioned at the beginning some of the other things that bothered me while reading. I haven't got the energy to go into them, though they bothered me a lot. But, never mind, I'm just glad I'm done with this book, and that now I know never ever to pick this type of book again.
April 25, 2009
wow, a very powerful story! I listened to this one on my iPod. I tried so hard not to cry (especially toward the end) but I finally had to pull over and wipe my eyes when it ended. So much grief, redemption and joy. A fantastic story that drew me in and kept me glued.
Its a historical romance set in mid 1800's gold country region of California. Angel is a damaged young woman working a brothel and struggling with many horrors from her past. Michael is a devout Christian who believes God wants him to marry Angel - a soiled dove.
Apparently this is a retelling of a bible story. I think this may be only the second Christian themed novel I've ever read, which means its the first one I ever finished. While it was very inspirational it refrained from being preachy.
Its not a light read, and at times was even depressing. But the writing was so spot on and the characters so real I couldn't stop. And it does end with a great ending. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to crawl into the book to talk with Angel, hug Michael, slap his brother, kill a bad guy, shelter a person down on their luck...etc. I can see why it has such high ratings by sooooo many people. But my next book will be a light read. I don't think I could take two books like this in a row!
Its a historical romance set in mid 1800's gold country region of California. Angel is a damaged young woman working a brothel and struggling with many horrors from her past. Michael is a devout Christian who believes God wants him to marry Angel - a soiled dove.
Apparently this is a retelling of a bible story. I think this may be only the second Christian themed novel I've ever read, which means its the first one I ever finished. While it was very inspirational it refrained from being preachy.
Its not a light read, and at times was even depressing. But the writing was so spot on and the characters so real I couldn't stop. And it does end with a great ending. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to crawl into the book to talk with Angel, hug Michael, slap his brother, kill a bad guy, shelter a person down on their luck...etc. I can see why it has such high ratings by sooooo many people. But my next book will be a light read. I don't think I could take two books like this in a row!
November 27, 2022
Hm.
I had a difficult time with this book. When I first read this, I loved it. Even though my opinion has changed, I can see why this book continues to remain so popular. Many people who love this book often express how they appreciate that Rivers is unafraid to tackle such heavy topics. But after reading this a second time, I question if most of the content in this book is necessary for conveying the story. It鈥檚 really quite a depressing book, filled with descriptions of child abuse, rape, prostitution, human trafficking, violence, sexual intimacy, and more. While I won鈥檛 go so far as to say that all of the descriptions are graphic, they are all very painful to read and leave little to the imagination.
One of my big problems with this book is how most of the content in this book feels like it鈥檚 there purely for shock value than for anything else. I understand there are harsh realities and how this book can open the door to conversations and compassion toward those trapped in a similar situation to Angel鈥檚, but I don鈥檛 need heavy descriptions of deeply traumatic experiences to sympathize with her. Because of how much Rivers made Angel endure, her trauma just feels romanticized and the story of redemption is overshadowed by the intensity of her suffering. Additionally, I find it absolutely repulsive that the terror of a young girl being forced into prostitution was written in a Christian fiction book as entertainment.
Because this is advertised as an allegory to Hosea, I really struggled with the theological aspects of this book, mainly because of the romantic element of the story. The allegory in this story is not only incredibly flawed, but far removed from the actual prophetic biblical story. Whether it was intentional or not, Michael is often compared to God just as the readers see themselves as Angel. While it is true that God loves us and continually is pursuing us, having Him compared to Michael romanticizes God into someone He isn鈥檛. Michael is a flawed romantic 鈥渉ero鈥� who, to be honest, I find quite unlikeable. To have any comparison between him and our perfect, holy God is just concerning to me.
Even if you remove the allegory from the romance, the romance is still not the best. Just the fact that Michael marries Angel when she鈥檚 barely conscious to 鈥渞escue鈥� her is questionable. Then, he calls her names that she repeatedly asks him not to (Does he really think calling her Mara/bitter is going to warm her up to him?), focuses way too much on her physical beauty, and is intimate with her far too soon. I find his compassion for her lacking, and he often tells her that she needs to obey him. Is he the worst guy I鈥檝e ever read? No. But he鈥檚 certainly not on my list of favorite book heroes.
I鈥檓 glad many people have found this book to be a blessing. I can certainly see it鈥檚 appeal and why it鈥檚 remained so popular, but for me it鈥檚 just too much. The reality of life on earth is that it is filled with sorrow and hardship, and many readers want books that reflect this reality. Though my book preferences sit more on the side of wholesome, I'm not opposed to "realistic" content. My concern with Redeeming Love is that in the effort to write a book about the grittiness of life, there is content in this book that Christians should be wary of consuming. Because of this and how uncomfortable I felt reading it, I can no longer recommend this book.
I had a difficult time with this book. When I first read this, I loved it. Even though my opinion has changed, I can see why this book continues to remain so popular. Many people who love this book often express how they appreciate that Rivers is unafraid to tackle such heavy topics. But after reading this a second time, I question if most of the content in this book is necessary for conveying the story. It鈥檚 really quite a depressing book, filled with descriptions of child abuse, rape, prostitution, human trafficking, violence, sexual intimacy, and more. While I won鈥檛 go so far as to say that all of the descriptions are graphic, they are all very painful to read and leave little to the imagination.
One of my big problems with this book is how most of the content in this book feels like it鈥檚 there purely for shock value than for anything else. I understand there are harsh realities and how this book can open the door to conversations and compassion toward those trapped in a similar situation to Angel鈥檚, but I don鈥檛 need heavy descriptions of deeply traumatic experiences to sympathize with her. Because of how much Rivers made Angel endure, her trauma just feels romanticized and the story of redemption is overshadowed by the intensity of her suffering. Additionally, I find it absolutely repulsive that the terror of a young girl being forced into prostitution was written in a Christian fiction book as entertainment.
Because this is advertised as an allegory to Hosea, I really struggled with the theological aspects of this book, mainly because of the romantic element of the story. The allegory in this story is not only incredibly flawed, but far removed from the actual prophetic biblical story. Whether it was intentional or not, Michael is often compared to God just as the readers see themselves as Angel. While it is true that God loves us and continually is pursuing us, having Him compared to Michael romanticizes God into someone He isn鈥檛. Michael is a flawed romantic 鈥渉ero鈥� who, to be honest, I find quite unlikeable. To have any comparison between him and our perfect, holy God is just concerning to me.
Even if you remove the allegory from the romance, the romance is still not the best. Just the fact that Michael marries Angel when she鈥檚 barely conscious to 鈥渞escue鈥� her is questionable. Then, he calls her names that she repeatedly asks him not to (Does he really think calling her Mara/bitter is going to warm her up to him?), focuses way too much on her physical beauty, and is intimate with her far too soon. I find his compassion for her lacking, and he often tells her that she needs to obey him. Is he the worst guy I鈥檝e ever read? No. But he鈥檚 certainly not on my list of favorite book heroes.
I鈥檓 glad many people have found this book to be a blessing. I can certainly see it鈥檚 appeal and why it鈥檚 remained so popular, but for me it鈥檚 just too much. The reality of life on earth is that it is filled with sorrow and hardship, and many readers want books that reflect this reality. Though my book preferences sit more on the side of wholesome, I'm not opposed to "realistic" content. My concern with Redeeming Love is that in the effort to write a book about the grittiness of life, there is content in this book that Christians should be wary of consuming. Because of this and how uncomfortable I felt reading it, I can no longer recommend this book.
Read
August 12, 2013I can safely say that I should have never started this book.
I have heard about this book for ages. It pops up from time to time on friends' feeds, and with over 70,000 欧宝娱乐 ratings and over 1,600 Amazon ratings, I'd say it is a pretty popular book. When I saw this come up on NetGalley, I was hesitant to give this a try. However, the Kindle book costs $9.99, so I figured this was my only shot to see what all the fuss was about. I asked a few GR friends if they thought that this book was appropriate for someone who isn't Christian or religious, and they all said yes, that it was more of an uplifting love story than anything else.
I have to respectfully say that they were wrong.
This book is very heavy on the religious themes. There is a case of insta-love (as dictated by Jesus) and God saving a woman from a life of despair and prostitution.
The theme of the story is based on the Book of Hosea from the Bible, where God told the prophet, Hosea to marry a prostitute.
"Go marry a prostitute and have children with her."
I can see how people who have a religious background and like the idea of Jesus leading them to their soul-mate would love this book. It is a love and God conquers all type of story. However, religious content aside, this book is just not my speed. The beginning of this book is actually very sad and depressing. It features child abuse and neglect, all of which I dislike reading about. Also, technically speaking, I wasn't too impressed with the writing style. It often dove into the realm of "cheesy" and "eye-roll-inducing". Besides, the insta-love is annoying in any setting.
I won't do a long, picky review of this book. I didn't finish it and I'm not rating it because I recognize that I am not the target audience for this story. Despite what people might say, this is 100% a Christian book and should be read only by those that enjoy religious fiction. I'm glad that many of my friends have loved this one but this certainly isn't for me.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
I have heard about this book for ages. It pops up from time to time on friends' feeds, and with over 70,000 欧宝娱乐 ratings and over 1,600 Amazon ratings, I'd say it is a pretty popular book. When I saw this come up on NetGalley, I was hesitant to give this a try. However, the Kindle book costs $9.99, so I figured this was my only shot to see what all the fuss was about. I asked a few GR friends if they thought that this book was appropriate for someone who isn't Christian or religious, and they all said yes, that it was more of an uplifting love story than anything else.
I have to respectfully say that they were wrong.
This book is very heavy on the religious themes. There is a case of insta-love (as dictated by Jesus) and God saving a woman from a life of despair and prostitution.
The theme of the story is based on the Book of Hosea from the Bible, where God told the prophet, Hosea to marry a prostitute.
"Go marry a prostitute and have children with her."
I can see how people who have a religious background and like the idea of Jesus leading them to their soul-mate would love this book. It is a love and God conquers all type of story. However, religious content aside, this book is just not my speed. The beginning of this book is actually very sad and depressing. It features child abuse and neglect, all of which I dislike reading about. Also, technically speaking, I wasn't too impressed with the writing style. It often dove into the realm of "cheesy" and "eye-roll-inducing". Besides, the insta-love is annoying in any setting.
I won't do a long, picky review of this book. I didn't finish it and I'm not rating it because I recognize that I am not the target audience for this story. Despite what people might say, this is 100% a Christian book and should be read only by those that enjoy religious fiction. I'm glad that many of my friends have loved this one but this certainly isn't for me.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
February 17, 2012
Okay, before getting too far into reading this, understand that I only read this book because it was required of me for a book club. I wouldn't normally review something I felt this unkind towards because I would not finish it. Nor would I expect to like it.
Fair warning.
Redeeming Love is a part of the genre we like to call "Inspirational Fiction" where the word "Inspirational" is a more friendly and inclusive way to say "Jesus-y" or "religious" or, as I like to say it, "Jesus C fiction where the "C" stands for "Centric" AND "Christ."
And in this case, I don't mean that Jesus is an important figure in the characters' lives or that their belief system informs their decisions. I mean that god literally speaks to the characters. In case you're wondering, god's words are differentiated by being in bold. On the plus, you can just flip through and still catch most of the god stuff. I kind of feel like god would have the graphic design sense to have his own font, but what do I know?
To briefly summarize, Angel is a prostitute, and Michael is pretty much the best guy ever who comes along and hears god's voice telling him to marry Angel, which he does. They go back and forth a bit, she leaves him three times and bangs his brother, Paul, on the side of the road. A family traveling to Oregon comes across their land at one point, and Michael invites them to live on the land with them. They have children who Angel likes, and that brings ups the fact that Angel has undergone some sort of barroom hysterectomy, which apparently didn't take because the epilogue explains that she inexplicably has kids anyway, Paul marries one of the cross-country travelers after he and Angel make peace, and all accept god as being The Man.
I can sort of understand the appeal of this book in some ways. It's compulsively readable in the sense that you can read 100 pages in a sitting, easily. Lots of stuff happens, and there's a pacing to it that keeps it all moving.
But aside from that, I really have a problem with a lot of what this books sees as love.
For starters, if there was a god who literally spoke to me and told me that a particular person was "the one" that would simplify things quite a bit. Seriously, if god used his god-to-brain telephone to let me know that someone crazy, Courtney Love let's say, was the one, then I'd really have no choice but to pursue that person because nobody else would make me equally happy. I probably wouldn't wait until a pimp beat the holy bejeezus out of her to make my move and ask her to marry me the way Michael did in the book, but I'm just saying the path is a little clearer-cut.
But life isn't that easy. It's really not, and perhaps Courtney Love is the one for me, but I don't suspect that she is, and therefore I won't be busting my ass to try and convince her that a Derk/Love wedding is the ultimate fulfillment of god's plan. If it were, the good news is that we could at least all come together on the fact that good is crazy and has very bad taste in Fleetwood Mac covers.
One of the unfortunate, difficult things about love is that there will always be uncertainty. I've talked to people who have been with lots of partners, and they're never sure. I've talked to people who married the only person they've ever dated, and there's uncertainty there too. I'm not saying it's the kind of uncertainty that causes infidelity or wandering or whatever, but part of loving one person exclusively is accepting a certain level of doubt and learning how to put that aside or work through it. Or spending a lot on flowers and tennis bracelets.
The one kind of person I've never talked to is the kind that says god literally told him or her, in an audible voice, who "the one" was.
So if god tells you directly that California's hottest prostitute is the one, I would highly suggest getting a second opinion. St. Francis maybe? Is that a guy?
Now, I don't know enough about the romance genre to say whether this is endemic within it, but I have seen my fair share of romantic comedies, and there is a sort of love narrative that I don't approve of.
A lot of romcoms push the assumption that Person A can love Person B so much that it doesn't really matter that Person B doesn't love Person A. And in the romcom world, it is acceptable to pursue someone with a naked aggression that would never be acceptable in real life.
Imagine some of the things that people do in romcoms to show their love. If someone came sprinting through Manhattan traffic to catch you on the other side of the street, wouldn't you question his sanity? If you caught a woman peeping into your house from a position in a high-up tree branch, wouldn't you consider updating your security system to include some sort of lasers or robotic dogs? If Lloyd Dobler was playing a boombox outside your window, would that really change your feelings about him? (actually the correct answer to that one is "No" but only because you loved Lloyd Dobler immediately and always)
The point is, I don't belive in loving someone so much that they eventually love you, and maybe some couples end up together because one person engaged in an untiring pursuit, but I would think it's very rare that several rejections end with an equally shared love. Wearing someone out to the point that it's easier to say Yes than No is not really the same as making them love you. It'll do in a pinch, and if you're a lot better at being annoying than charming it's worth a shot, but overall it's not the best plan.
Let's talk about characters for a minute.
Michael, the main guy, couldn't me more flat if he were digitally rendered for the Atari 2600. All this guy does is listen to god, and then forgive his wife for everything. Relationships have to be about forgiveness to some extent, but I don't think you should forgive your wife for banging your brother on the side of the road for no apparent reason. Or your brother, for that matter (unless, as we discussed earlier, your brother happens to be Lloyd Dobler, in which case who can blame them?). I mean, if my brother banged my wife, I think this would warrant, bare minimum, a heated discussion over a dinner that I don't even finish because I'm too busy being mad at my brother and wife equally.
There is somethig about this Michael character that we are supposed to see as very strong, but to me comes off as the worst kind of weak. His entire purpose in the book, the entire scope of his life, is putting up with a woman who takes a very long time to actually love him. He apparently has nothing in his life and is a simple, empty vessel waiting for the right woman to come along and not only make him complete, but be his Wizard of Oz and give him brains and a heart and whatever the hell else those other losers got.
This character is a bad example for men and women alike. Men should not strive to be like him because his forgiveness extends so far that it would make any real person extremely unhappy. Also, following his example means living a life that is devoid of purpose outside of having a romantic relationship, which means you are an empty, soulless person, and good luck attracting someone else if you have no interests, no passions, and nothing about yourself that you've built or cultivated.
He has no personality, nothing that sets him apart from other men other than he's on the "good" side of the line that ALL characters in this book could be categorized by. Seriously, this really is like an Atari game in that you could easily divide the characters into two camps: good guys and bad guys.
Through the lens of Angel, we discover that there are two kinds of men in the world: sex-crazed maniac murderers, and the nicest guys ever who still only vaguely manage to suppress their sexual urges through a close relationship with god. Basically, all men in the book are tormented by their relationship with sex, and it's all about whether or not they "give in." Even with a spouse, there's some sex that's okay and some sex that's not okay because it's "giving in."
What a terrible way to look at the world. I personally believe there are many men out there who have healthy relationships with sex. Lord knows I'm not one of them, as my internet browsing history could easily confirm, but I strongly believe that those men exist, and I also think there are men who struggle with sex without forcing their struggles on others. Sex or sexual desire can be something a man wrestles with a little without becoming a crazed sex maniac who bangs his brother's wife on the side of the road. I'm really obsessed with that, in case you can't tell.
The author doesn't understand men at all. If you think the ideal man is an empty vessel waiting to be filled, then buy a blowup doll and whisper your prayers into it every night until he's full. Then wish for him to be a real boy and see how far that gets you.
And what about Angel, the female lead?
Ah, the hooker with a heart of gold.
The idea of the hooker with a heart of gold is very odd to me because it makes some very unfair assumptions. First, why would we assume that someone who has sex for money does not have a good heart? Why would our default assumption be that this person is heartless and mean as opposed to having a good heart? Why is this the only profession that we hear this about? When someone says their husband works at a grocery store, they don't throw in, "but he has a heart of gold." I've never heard of a baker with a heart of gold. And flipside, if these gold-hearted hookers are such an anomoly, how come I never read stories about hookers with hearts of wet garbage, or hearts of heart meat that perform their functions adequately if a bit coldly?
I do have a great idea for a steampunk novel called Hooker with a Heart of Gold about...well, exactly what it sounds like. And somehow the mechanical heart gives her fuck powers. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I suspect the end involves her 40 years later living in a small cabin, the one bullet she stopped still lodged in her golden heart. If only she'd been able to stop the other...
Anyway, I thought I would have more to say about Angel, but she's just as empty as Michael. She's empty in a different way in that she seems like a self-contained unit piloting her way through the novel, going whichever way she is steered by the various characters. At least she had a career of sorts so she wasn't totally empty. And I didn't mean that as a hooker pun, but once you start denying hooker puns you've already kind of lost the battle.
The most redemptive part of the book is the idea that Michael is constantly forgiving Angel for her past. I suppose that's a somewhat enlightened view of things, and I wouldn't expect that many men of god living during the gold rush would be too excited at the prospect of making a hooker into a wife. Warts and all. LOTS of warts and all.
But, the book loses touch with reality because it's not about recognizing the past as something that has shaped a person into the person you love today. It's about getting over the past, hitting the reset button and starting a new life, which doesn't even work in the book because everything is thrown into total disarray everytime the past comes up, which it certainly will.
As an adult, you do have to reconcile with the past, both your own and your partner's. You have to recognize that the past shaped the person you're with today, and that's the person you love, so for better or worse things have sort of worked out.
What the book doesn't make clear is that you also have to balance the past. Yes, I think it's good that Michael can make peace with the fact that his wife was a hooker. I mean, it's a little easier to do and really doesn't bring up a lot of the core issues because she had no choice in the matter, but nevertheless, he didn't seem terribly judgmental of her past. But if your wife brings up the fact that she had sex with her own father in a revenge scenario, that's a huge red flag. If someone is angry enough at their own father, or confused enough or whatever, that when he walks into a brothel she has sex with him, it doesn't really matter how cool YOU are with her past because she obviously still has some stuff to work out there.
I don't know what kind of love people of the world are looking for. But I hope this isn't it. If you are expecting this story to match your own, I am very sad for you because I don't have very high hopes. I wish you the best of luck, however, and try not to fuck anyone's brother or your own father and you'll already be going down a better path.
Fair warning.
Redeeming Love is a part of the genre we like to call "Inspirational Fiction" where the word "Inspirational" is a more friendly and inclusive way to say "Jesus-y" or "religious" or, as I like to say it, "Jesus C fiction where the "C" stands for "Centric" AND "Christ."
And in this case, I don't mean that Jesus is an important figure in the characters' lives or that their belief system informs their decisions. I mean that god literally speaks to the characters. In case you're wondering, god's words are differentiated by being in bold. On the plus, you can just flip through and still catch most of the god stuff. I kind of feel like god would have the graphic design sense to have his own font, but what do I know?
To briefly summarize, Angel is a prostitute, and Michael is pretty much the best guy ever who comes along and hears god's voice telling him to marry Angel, which he does. They go back and forth a bit, she leaves him three times and bangs his brother, Paul, on the side of the road. A family traveling to Oregon comes across their land at one point, and Michael invites them to live on the land with them. They have children who Angel likes, and that brings ups the fact that Angel has undergone some sort of barroom hysterectomy, which apparently didn't take because the epilogue explains that she inexplicably has kids anyway, Paul marries one of the cross-country travelers after he and Angel make peace, and all accept god as being The Man.
I can sort of understand the appeal of this book in some ways. It's compulsively readable in the sense that you can read 100 pages in a sitting, easily. Lots of stuff happens, and there's a pacing to it that keeps it all moving.
But aside from that, I really have a problem with a lot of what this books sees as love.
For starters, if there was a god who literally spoke to me and told me that a particular person was "the one" that would simplify things quite a bit. Seriously, if god used his god-to-brain telephone to let me know that someone crazy, Courtney Love let's say, was the one, then I'd really have no choice but to pursue that person because nobody else would make me equally happy. I probably wouldn't wait until a pimp beat the holy bejeezus out of her to make my move and ask her to marry me the way Michael did in the book, but I'm just saying the path is a little clearer-cut.
But life isn't that easy. It's really not, and perhaps Courtney Love is the one for me, but I don't suspect that she is, and therefore I won't be busting my ass to try and convince her that a Derk/Love wedding is the ultimate fulfillment of god's plan. If it were, the good news is that we could at least all come together on the fact that good is crazy and has very bad taste in Fleetwood Mac covers.
One of the unfortunate, difficult things about love is that there will always be uncertainty. I've talked to people who have been with lots of partners, and they're never sure. I've talked to people who married the only person they've ever dated, and there's uncertainty there too. I'm not saying it's the kind of uncertainty that causes infidelity or wandering or whatever, but part of loving one person exclusively is accepting a certain level of doubt and learning how to put that aside or work through it. Or spending a lot on flowers and tennis bracelets.
The one kind of person I've never talked to is the kind that says god literally told him or her, in an audible voice, who "the one" was.
So if god tells you directly that California's hottest prostitute is the one, I would highly suggest getting a second opinion. St. Francis maybe? Is that a guy?
Now, I don't know enough about the romance genre to say whether this is endemic within it, but I have seen my fair share of romantic comedies, and there is a sort of love narrative that I don't approve of.
A lot of romcoms push the assumption that Person A can love Person B so much that it doesn't really matter that Person B doesn't love Person A. And in the romcom world, it is acceptable to pursue someone with a naked aggression that would never be acceptable in real life.
Imagine some of the things that people do in romcoms to show their love. If someone came sprinting through Manhattan traffic to catch you on the other side of the street, wouldn't you question his sanity? If you caught a woman peeping into your house from a position in a high-up tree branch, wouldn't you consider updating your security system to include some sort of lasers or robotic dogs? If Lloyd Dobler was playing a boombox outside your window, would that really change your feelings about him? (actually the correct answer to that one is "No" but only because you loved Lloyd Dobler immediately and always)
The point is, I don't belive in loving someone so much that they eventually love you, and maybe some couples end up together because one person engaged in an untiring pursuit, but I would think it's very rare that several rejections end with an equally shared love. Wearing someone out to the point that it's easier to say Yes than No is not really the same as making them love you. It'll do in a pinch, and if you're a lot better at being annoying than charming it's worth a shot, but overall it's not the best plan.
Let's talk about characters for a minute.
Michael, the main guy, couldn't me more flat if he were digitally rendered for the Atari 2600. All this guy does is listen to god, and then forgive his wife for everything. Relationships have to be about forgiveness to some extent, but I don't think you should forgive your wife for banging your brother on the side of the road for no apparent reason. Or your brother, for that matter (unless, as we discussed earlier, your brother happens to be Lloyd Dobler, in which case who can blame them?). I mean, if my brother banged my wife, I think this would warrant, bare minimum, a heated discussion over a dinner that I don't even finish because I'm too busy being mad at my brother and wife equally.
There is somethig about this Michael character that we are supposed to see as very strong, but to me comes off as the worst kind of weak. His entire purpose in the book, the entire scope of his life, is putting up with a woman who takes a very long time to actually love him. He apparently has nothing in his life and is a simple, empty vessel waiting for the right woman to come along and not only make him complete, but be his Wizard of Oz and give him brains and a heart and whatever the hell else those other losers got.
This character is a bad example for men and women alike. Men should not strive to be like him because his forgiveness extends so far that it would make any real person extremely unhappy. Also, following his example means living a life that is devoid of purpose outside of having a romantic relationship, which means you are an empty, soulless person, and good luck attracting someone else if you have no interests, no passions, and nothing about yourself that you've built or cultivated.
He has no personality, nothing that sets him apart from other men other than he's on the "good" side of the line that ALL characters in this book could be categorized by. Seriously, this really is like an Atari game in that you could easily divide the characters into two camps: good guys and bad guys.
Through the lens of Angel, we discover that there are two kinds of men in the world: sex-crazed maniac murderers, and the nicest guys ever who still only vaguely manage to suppress their sexual urges through a close relationship with god. Basically, all men in the book are tormented by their relationship with sex, and it's all about whether or not they "give in." Even with a spouse, there's some sex that's okay and some sex that's not okay because it's "giving in."
What a terrible way to look at the world. I personally believe there are many men out there who have healthy relationships with sex. Lord knows I'm not one of them, as my internet browsing history could easily confirm, but I strongly believe that those men exist, and I also think there are men who struggle with sex without forcing their struggles on others. Sex or sexual desire can be something a man wrestles with a little without becoming a crazed sex maniac who bangs his brother's wife on the side of the road. I'm really obsessed with that, in case you can't tell.
The author doesn't understand men at all. If you think the ideal man is an empty vessel waiting to be filled, then buy a blowup doll and whisper your prayers into it every night until he's full. Then wish for him to be a real boy and see how far that gets you.
And what about Angel, the female lead?
Ah, the hooker with a heart of gold.
The idea of the hooker with a heart of gold is very odd to me because it makes some very unfair assumptions. First, why would we assume that someone who has sex for money does not have a good heart? Why would our default assumption be that this person is heartless and mean as opposed to having a good heart? Why is this the only profession that we hear this about? When someone says their husband works at a grocery store, they don't throw in, "but he has a heart of gold." I've never heard of a baker with a heart of gold. And flipside, if these gold-hearted hookers are such an anomoly, how come I never read stories about hookers with hearts of wet garbage, or hearts of heart meat that perform their functions adequately if a bit coldly?
I do have a great idea for a steampunk novel called Hooker with a Heart of Gold about...well, exactly what it sounds like. And somehow the mechanical heart gives her fuck powers. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I suspect the end involves her 40 years later living in a small cabin, the one bullet she stopped still lodged in her golden heart. If only she'd been able to stop the other...
Anyway, I thought I would have more to say about Angel, but she's just as empty as Michael. She's empty in a different way in that she seems like a self-contained unit piloting her way through the novel, going whichever way she is steered by the various characters. At least she had a career of sorts so she wasn't totally empty. And I didn't mean that as a hooker pun, but once you start denying hooker puns you've already kind of lost the battle.
The most redemptive part of the book is the idea that Michael is constantly forgiving Angel for her past. I suppose that's a somewhat enlightened view of things, and I wouldn't expect that many men of god living during the gold rush would be too excited at the prospect of making a hooker into a wife. Warts and all. LOTS of warts and all.
But, the book loses touch with reality because it's not about recognizing the past as something that has shaped a person into the person you love today. It's about getting over the past, hitting the reset button and starting a new life, which doesn't even work in the book because everything is thrown into total disarray everytime the past comes up, which it certainly will.
As an adult, you do have to reconcile with the past, both your own and your partner's. You have to recognize that the past shaped the person you're with today, and that's the person you love, so for better or worse things have sort of worked out.
What the book doesn't make clear is that you also have to balance the past. Yes, I think it's good that Michael can make peace with the fact that his wife was a hooker. I mean, it's a little easier to do and really doesn't bring up a lot of the core issues because she had no choice in the matter, but nevertheless, he didn't seem terribly judgmental of her past. But if your wife brings up the fact that she had sex with her own father in a revenge scenario, that's a huge red flag. If someone is angry enough at their own father, or confused enough or whatever, that when he walks into a brothel she has sex with him, it doesn't really matter how cool YOU are with her past because she obviously still has some stuff to work out there.
I don't know what kind of love people of the world are looking for. But I hope this isn't it. If you are expecting this story to match your own, I am very sad for you because I don't have very high hopes. I wish you the best of luck, however, and try not to fuck anyone's brother or your own father and you'll already be going down a better path.
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