As of page 143, this is definitely a book that falls into the category I was describing earlier, a novel written from a Christian viewpoint but without being “Christian fiction” in the sense in which we most commonly see that genre in the USA. First, it’s historical fiction without being about the American West, the American South, or World War II. Second, it’s written by a man and (judging by what I know of men as an observer but clearly not a member of that gender) it would be appealing to men. It’s well-known that the primary reader of a Christian fiction novel in the US is female.
What makes this book even more interesting is that it’s not written from an Evangelical Christian or even Protestant Christian perspective.
No, not Catholic either.
Orthodox! It’s an Orthodox novel without being an Orthodox novel. The author is simply writing the characters, and some of the characters are Orthodox.
An Orthodox novel of any kind is a shocking piece of news, in my opinion. There just aren’t that many of them.
According to the “hold the open book up and see which half is fatter” test, I’m about halfway through this novel. I am pleasingly unable to predict which characters will be dead or alive by the end, although I could venture a guess in some cases, and I’m not in the least bored. I’m a very quirky, impatient, choosy, capricious reader, so I think this all means that I will probably like the second half of the book also.
We shall see.
Pingback: Orthodox Collective
August 13, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Awesome! Look forward to hearing more about it.
August 13, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Reading as fast as I can (in between real life….)! Can’t wait to finish.