Leota's Garden

Rating:
Summary: Leota's Garden full of lessons
Review: Delightful to read! The book immediately puts you in the middle of the action with Nora's short fuse and Anne's determination to not be her mother's puppet anymore. That, along with Corban's paper project, sets the stage for the 400+ pages of conflict to be resolved.

A bitter mother, a lonely old woman, a sacrificing grandaughter, a determined college student, a few good friends... This book had a wide variety of characters which made it plausible for many readers to relate. Rivers had so many story lines going on, yet they all came back to affecting the same woman: Leota. It did indeed cover lots of social issues: euthenasia, abortion, racial reconciliation, generational reconciliation, Christianity to name a few, but all were handled delicately and portrayed as truthfully as possible.

Rating:
Summary: Great read! Couldn't put it down!
Review: Frankly, this book surprised me. As a man who was reading a book that is primarily intended for women, I didn't think that a book about an old lady and her garden could make for much of a plot. Wrong! Francine Rivers is a masterful fiction writer who really knows how to weave a great story. Just when you think you have the plot figured out and heading in a straight line to the finish, she throws in a gentle twist that makes you blink in surprise. This is her second book that examines in depth the relationship between three generations of women (the first being The Last Sin Eater). It is a subject that Francine has obviously given a lot of thought to. Her observations of the interworkings between the generations are excellent, and the interaction between the characters totally believeable. Leota's Garden is definitely a five star work of fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A refreshing change of pace
Review: I usually hesitate to read Christian fiction, because I usually think of Amish soap operas between covers or predictable, trite romances. However, someone had this book in the lunchroom at work, and once I started reading it, I knew I was going to have to finish it.

It was very interesting to me. Francine Rivers gives her characters believable situations and personalities. Things aren't perfect - in fact, they're incredibly and realistically less than ideal. A neglected grandmother, an over-achieving mother, and a know-it-all college student who's living with a girlfriend among others. The way the author depicted the Thanksgiving dinner fiasco really hit home, because it's so sadly realistic: Men retreat to the TV to watch a ball game while everyone's stressed out and unhappy and not communicating well. I've been there, and can relate.

Another thing I appreciated was the fact that romance was not at the centre of the story: This author had a real message to convey, and she didn't make it depend on romance. It was about relationships from beginning to end, and about love, but it was not a romance at heart. It's about learning to unconditionally show even the most unlovable Christ's love through the way we live and react, and about the eventual blessings reaped from such an attitude. The book didn't end with a wedding, and it didn't need to. That was not the point, and that made me glad.

Nor did everything end perfectly, but there was an incredible measure of hope that in time all would be well again.

I definitely recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Leota's Garden by Francine Rivers
Review: Leota's Garden was a joy to read! It not only is good, readable fiction, but it encouraged me to allow my feelings to be vulnerable to become a part of the story. As I read, I felt the feelings of the characters and was able to place myself in situations that I do not daily experience.

Francine Rivers has become one of my favorite authors and I highly recommend Leota's Garden to any reader who has not yet experienced the joy of a Christian fiction book!

Rating:
Summary: A GOOD read
Review: Leota's Garden was one of the best Christian novels I have read to date.

Rivers does a good job of telling the story of a reunion between a grandaughter and grandmother without too much syrupy emotion. It's a near-realistic tale of family tensions and misunderstandings. The story is anything but sweet, but it is anything but vulgar, either. The main character's naivety is meaningful and believable, as is the grandmother's irritability. Rivers has the strength to not let the book become a morality play or an evangelistic utopia in which all the character's problems are solved through easy faith, even though you hope they will.

Though it plainly portrays moral and emotional trials of life, it doesn't quite reach deep enough into the emotions or processes behind the behaviors of the characters. If Rivers had reached a little deeper into the soul and psyche of each character, the story would have been transformed from a good read into a truly great novel.

But over all, a very good book. I really cared about the characters in the end, even if they weren't quite developed enough.