Book Review: "The Choice" by Suzanne Woods Fisher
One moment Carrie Weaver was looking forward to running away with Lancaster Barnstormers pitcher Solomon Riehl--plans that included leaving the Amish community where they grew up. The next moment she was staring into a future as broken as her heart. Now, Carrie is faced with a choice. But will this opportunity be all she hoped? Or will this decision, this moment in time, change her life forever?Faithful readers of mine will know that yes, I do enjoy reading Amish fiction. However they also know that I am quite picky about my Amish fiction. If I feel that it is too contrived or preachy, I don't like it. I prefer my Amish fiction to focus on the lifestyle and explain it without making me feel guilty for liking electronics. I also don't mind when they discuss in great detail about Amish food.
I will say that this book had a lot of surprises for me while I was reading. There were events and characters that completely caught me off guard. I thought the situations created were interesting and especially thought that Solomon playing in minor league baseball team was really cool. My favorite character was probably Yonnie. She seemed to be the backbone of the family and was willing to do anything to take care of them. She does have that one little secret but it was quite shocking to read that. Also LOVED what happened to Emma!
I did have a few problems with this story. I don't want to spoil anything but I just felt that quite a few too many characters died in this story and created quite a bit of unnecessary drama. To be honest, the whole story could have been an episode of an Amish soap opera. All the elements were there. Secrets, deception, broken hearts, hasty marriages, criminals. I just felt like it was one bump in the road after another. I also found Veronica incredibly insensitive to the Amish culture. It was as if she was completely ignorant and refused to learn anything about them.
Overall, I would have to just say this was an ok read for me. It wasn't anything totally outstanding and I didn't really learn anything new. There were some signs that could have been interesting and controversial but they were quickly dropped. I really wanted the situation with Abel reading out of The Message version of the Bible and having a personal relationship with Christ brought up more but it never evolved. In fact it seemed to have completely shut down. I was disappointed as I felt that Carrie and the other Amish mentioned are the type to not really be Christians. Also the name Carrie is bit odd for an Amish woman. Anyways, I still think I will read the rest of the books of the series when they come out because I am still interested in this village and am hoping that more about that situation will come to light.
The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher is published by Revell (2010)
This review copy was provided by the publisher
I pretty much felt the same way about the story. Way too much drama. It was a good jump start for a new author though. She writes quite well. I think she will prove to be a success for the general Amish fiction reader.
ReplyDeleteI disapproved how Emma went about her situation. Naturally she has the right to chose what life she wants to live...I have brothers who have left the Hutterite lifestyle (I still consider them to be Christians). But I felt she was disrespectful about it. When plain ppl choose to leave their former lifestyles a lot depends on the way they leave. If they want to come back and be received with warmth and respect, don't leave with a stink as long as the Mississippi River. That's how I felt about Emma. She went about it in an ignorant, immature way. Sorry for being "preachy."