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Rating: 
Summary: way to give Christians a bad name
Review: Clearly written by a Christian, for Christians, but an incredibly poor execution of Christian values. This book reeks of smugness, arrogance, cultural and religious intolerance, and yes, even racism. For a book that champions evangelism and proselytization, it is not likely to win many converts with its condescending attitude towards non-white Christians. Not content to praise Christianity, Chaikin engages in sensationalistic Hindu bashing, often resorting to outright distortions of Hinduism. By her own admission, India is "rooted in religious convictions", but then she cannot resist adding the words "however dark". She writes of India as a country deep in the grips of "satanic bondage" and describes Lord Shiva, a member of the Hindu Trinity as an "idol of death and destruction". Of Hindu mothers casting their children to crocodiles and of men castigating their flesh to appease Hindu gods. Indian officials are "gaudily dressed" while dandified and heavily bemedalled British officers are dignified and handsome. Chaikin clearly has some knowledge of India, enough to throw out names and places and give the impression of familiarity. But her knowledge is superficial. She gives Muslim characters Hindu names (and vice versa) and mixes up Hindu and Muslim characters in ways that would never have happened during the era she writes about. She writes about relationships between Indian men and women, who were (and in many places still are) strictly segregated, as if they mingled as freely as Westerners. She delves into the underbelly of Hinduism and generalizes to all Hindus. All cultures and all religions have members who distort behavioral norms and religious teachings. Human sacrifice and widow burning (sati) are no more representative of Hinduism than pedophile priests and snake handling Charismatics are of Christianity. The latter is far more common, in fact. In my lifetime, I have only heard of one sati (which is illegal and was loudly condemned by Hindu India) and I have never heard of a single child sacrifice. How many times has one heard about sexual abuse of children by Christian priests on the evening news? As for Hindu men who hang their bodies from hooks, has the author never heard of Christian monks who practice(d) mortification of the flesh or self-flagellation? Such bodily mortification is about as common among Hindus as it is among Christians. Again perhaps even less so -- try looking up self-crucifixion in the Philippines during Easter. It is a contemporary phenomenon. Finally, Chaikin's use of Hindi is awkward and stilted and sometimes, just plain wrong. This is a relatively trivial complaint, but curious nevertheless. I can't help wondering why she sticks to outmoded and incorrect anglicized spellings of Indian words instead of using the contemporary standardized format. She has an Indian character refer to an English character as "Sahib Buckley" as if Sahib is a direct translation of Mister. It is an honorific all right, but it comes AFTER the name, as in "Buckley Sahib". She translates "Jai Ram" or "Ram, Ram" as a greeting, but completely misses the sanctity inherent in the words -- Ram is another name for God and "Jai Ram" literally translates as "Victory to God" or colloquially "God be with you". But perhaps Chaikin thought it would be blasphemous to acknowledge expressions of Hindu devotion. To give her credit, the author depicts Indians as both positive and negative (or good and evil) characters, as she does the British. But her treatment of Indians, even Indian Christians, is so condescending that she cannot escape the taint of racism. In one incredible episode, the heroine who is given sanctuary in an Indian home orders her hostess about like a servant. Good Christian attitude that. God is best served by love and devotion. Does the author really believe that Jesus Christ is pleased by her contemptious depiction of deeply held religious beliefs? How Christian is it to condemn love and devotion because it assumes a form that the author fails to understand -- and clearly does not want to? I would not recommend this book to anybody. It is a pity because the basic premise is a good one, but the book is so deeply embued with false pride, arrogance, ignorance and intolerance that it is beyond salvage. An exceedingly poor homage to Christianity.
Rating:
Summary: way to give Christians a bad name
Review: Clearly written by a Christian, for Christians, but an incredibly poor execution of Christian values. This book reeks of smugness, arrogance, cultural and religious intolerance, and yes, even racism. For a book that champions evangelism and proselytization, it is not likely to win many converts with its condescending attitude towards non-white Christians. Not content to praise Christianity, Chaikin engages in sensationalistic Hindu bashing, often resorting to outright distortions of Hinduism. By her own admission, India is "rooted in religious convictions", but then she cannot resist adding the words "however dark". She writes of India as a country deep in the grips of "satanic bondage" and describes Lord Shiva, a member of the Hindu Trinity as an "idol of death and destruction". Of Hindu mothers casting their children to crocodiles and of men castigating their flesh to appease Hindu gods. Indian officials are "gaudily dressed" while dandified and heavily bemedalled British officers are dignified and handsome. Chaikin clearly has some knowledge of India, enough to throw out names and places and give the impression of familiarity. But her knowledge is superficial. She gives Muslim characters Hindu names (and vice versa) and mixes up Hindu and Muslim characters in ways that would never have happened during the era she writes about. She writes about relationships between Indian men and women, who were (and in many places still are) strictly segregated, as if they mingled as freely as Westerners. She delves into the underbelly of Hinduism and generalizes to all Hindus. All cultures and all religions have members who distort behavioral norms and religious teachings. Human sacrifice and widow burning (sati) are no more representative of Hinduism than pedophile priests and snake handling Charismatics are of Christianity. The latter is far more common, in fact. In my lifetime, I have only heard of one sati (which is illegal and was loudly condemned by Hindu India) and I have never heard of a single child sacrifice. How many times has one heard about sexual abuse of children by Christian priests on the evening news? As for Hindu men who hang their bodies from hooks, has the author never heard of Christian monks who practice(d) mortification of the flesh or self-flagellation? Such bodily mortification is about as common among Hindus as it is among Christians. Again perhaps even less so -- try looking up self-crucifixion in the Philippines during Easter. It is a contemporary phenomenon. Finally, Chaikin's use of Hindi is awkward and stilted and sometimes, just plain wrong. This is a relatively trivial complaint, but curious nevertheless. I can't help wondering why she sticks to outmoded and incorrect anglicized spellings of Indian words instead of using the contemporary standardized format. She has an Indian character refer to an English character as "Sahib Buckley" as if Sahib is a direct translation of Mister. It is an honorific all right, but it comes AFTER the name, as in "Buckley Sahib". She translates "Jai Ram" or "Ram, Ram" as a greeting, but completely misses the sanctity inherent in the words -- Ram is another name for God and "Jai Ram" literally translates as "Victory to God" or colloquially "God be with you". But perhaps Chaikin thought it would be blasphemous to acknowledge expressions of Hindu devotion. To give her credit, the author depicts Indians as both positive and negative (or good and evil) characters, as she does the British. But her treatment of Indians, even Indian Christians, is so condescending that she cannot escape the taint of racism. In one incredible episode, the heroine who is given sanctuary in an Indian home orders her hostess about like a servant. Good Christian attitude that. God is best served by love and devotion. Does the author really believe that Jesus Christ is pleased by her contemptious depiction of deeply held religious beliefs? How Christian is it to condemn love and devotion because it assumes a form that the author fails to understand -- and clearly does not want to? I would not recommend this book to anybody. It is a pity because the basic premise is a good one, but the book is so deeply embued with false pride, arrogance, ignorance and intolerance that it is beyond salvage. An exceedingly poor homage to Christianity.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book on intrigue, and adventure in exotic India....
Review: I believe this series is one of Linda Chaikin's best that she has ever written. She is great at creating complicated plots that work out smoothly to the end. Jace Buckley, a major in the British army in 1800 India is caught in intrigue that threatens his life, Gem's life and Coral's. He is on a mission to find Coral's missing adopted son but Coral's Uncle Hugo stands in the way of getting to Gem in his own quest for political gain. Coral's heart and mind is set upon building a school for the India's forgotten children, the untouchables. With the help of Dr. Ethan Boswell, she builds the school of her dreams but not without the disapproval of the natives there. Ethan is the man that her family wants Coral to marry. Will Coral find her true love? Will Jace find what his heart is longing for? Can he get to Gem in time? So much to say about this book that will certainly thrill you about the culture of India, how the British lived among the natives and the Hindu religion. Linda Chaikin weaves a great story about love, danger, betrayal and sacrifice in this final book of the HEART OF INDIA trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Sad that it ends
Review: The fight scenes in this last installment of Chaikin's Heart of India series are as usual in Chaikin's writing quite good really. She keeps the whole thing masculine, as it should be, instead of playing things down completely for the women readers. Coral and Jace continue their love story in much the same way as in the first two books, and everything is righted in Coral's world at the end. All in all, this was a good read that the avid Chaikin reader will enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Sad that it ends
Review: The fight scenes in this last installment of Chaikin's Heart of India series are as usual in Chaikin's writing quite good really. She keeps the whole thing masculine, as it should be, instead of playing things down completely for the women readers. Coral and Jace continue their love story in much the same way as in the first two books, and everything is righted in Coral's world at the end. All in all, this was a good read that the avid Chaikin reader will enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Heart of India- Great Series!
Review: The series of Heart of India told a great story about the lives of the charters, the history of English occupation, and about the greed that overtakes some individuals. Linda Chaikin does a super job!
Rating:
Summary: solid Christian fiction
Review: This book, though not particularly memorable, was very enjoyable to read. If you enjoy Christian fiction, this is probably the best you can get. It's probably better than Janette Oke. The story isn't particulary original-- it follows the same pattern of heroic-man-rescues-helpless-woman-and-they-fall-in-love plotline. Granted, it follows the pattern well and I think it's a nice pattern to follow, but it is a little bit Christian Romance Cookie Cutter style.
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