Sunday's Silence: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: chigaco tribune review
Review: "A bold, passionate tale of fanaticism and seduction. Sensitively and vividly rendered. Exotic, mythic, a tale told by a Sheherazade...parts of the tale told on different nights, each fascinating in its own right, each contributing to the story but also telling more than the story needs. Nahai lays her story of a strange folk and the enigma of charisma against a background rich in hisotry. 'Sunday's Silence' is an ambitious and entertaining novel that will please fans of Nahai's novels. It could also win her new readers."

Rating:
Summary: Los Angeles Times review
Review: Exquisite...Because Nahai is not interested in sensationalizing such extreme religious notions, "Sunday's Silence" demands that we pay them attention and lets us understand a little better their powerful lure." Los Angeles Times Book Review

Rating:
Summary: Well crafted and lyrical, but just not believable
Review: This book is set in the present, in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee. Isolated by geography and culture, the reader learns about the Holy Rollers and their snake handling religion, and meets some interesting and well-developed characters.

Ms. Nahai weaves a wonderful tale, full of passion and seduction as well as sadness and brutality. There is suffering and also love. And an acceptance of the forces of religion to shape lives. The story moves fast and I couldn't stop reading, enjoying the quality of her writing as much as I wanted to know what would happen next.

I was disappointed however. No matter how rich the description or how hard the author tried to make me understand her characters, she never quite succeeded. I never could identify with any of them or the forces that drove them. And while the details of their pasts were described in detail, I just couldn't believe them. Because of this, while I do acknowledge the author's craftsmanship, I can only give this book a mild recommendation.