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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
The back woods people of Kentucky(?) about 1850 have some interesting superstitions including the sin eater. He is an outcast who comes to funerals to take away the sins of the recently departed. (Isn’t that the job of Jesus?) Really slow plodding along at first with the main character, Cadi (about 10 years old) seeking the sin eater to help her absolve her guilt for a secret that happened years ago. The people of the village are eventually enlightened but not before there are a lot of contention, fighting, and changing beliefs that have existed for eons. Last half moves along faster than the first half of the book.
This book is awesome. It keeps you hooked and interested. A great story
Such a compelling story, told in a whole new to me way. Just beautiful!
This book is endlessly beautiful. Of course the imagery and characters and plot were excellent, but what I mean is the message and what it now means to me. I seriously think that this book has changed the way I think. While reading about the people being saved, I felt like I was hearing the gospel for the first time again. This is the new book that I will recommend to absolutely everyone (and by recommend I mean talk about it until they read it, lol)!!!
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
As other reviewers identified, the author creates a believable, engaging world and characters that by the middle unravel into something irritating, implausible, and incongruent with the beginning. What could have been a great story gets no further than being a good premise greatly marred by the over-simplified and heavy-handed spiritual aspects brought in without being properly fleshed out first.
My bookish blogging friends challenged my disdain for Francine Rivers (which I picked up from my fav. college lit professor, who called Rivers Christian crap-o-rama). Maybe I was being too harsh. Maybe there was a depth to Rivers that is often missing in popular Christian fiction.
Well - if Francine Rivers has a greater depth than most, it wasn't evident in "The Last Sin Eater". I didn't like it. I mean, I actually really liked the concept, but about half-way through the novel the concept started unraveling into a simplistic evangelical salvation presentation. I don't have a problem with Christian art and literature or with the Christian presentation of salvation, but I do have a problem with bad Christian art and literature and overly simplistic, misleading mini-sermons.
See, the idea of a "sin-eater" is apparently from old Scotland and Wales, where communities would a assign one member the duty of "eating" the sin of community members that passed away. This insured that only one member of the community had to carry the guilt of sin and everyone else would be purified at their death.
Obviously, that is a very, very cool metaphor that parallels with the gospel very clearly. Thing is, while it started as a metaphor set in a superstitious mountain community, it was turned into a modern gospel pitch, and it just didn't fit culturally so it wasn't believable. It might have worked as a kids story... but I kept thinking, "You can't make the jump from not knowing anything about Christianity to suddenly talking like a 70-year-old pastor! That's cultural lingo - it's not imparted by 'praying the prayer'!".
Anyways - I didn't like The Last Sin Eater.
Well - if Francine Rivers has a greater depth than most, it wasn't evident in "The Last Sin Eater". I didn't like it. I mean, I actually really liked the concept, but about half-way through the novel the concept started unraveling into a simplistic evangelical salvation presentation. I don't have a problem with Christian art and literature or with the Christian presentation of salvation, but I do have a problem with bad Christian art and literature and overly simplistic, misleading mini-sermons.
See, the idea of a "sin-eater" is apparently from old Scotland and Wales, where communities would a assign one member the duty of "eating" the sin of community members that passed away. This insured that only one member of the community had to carry the guilt of sin and everyone else would be purified at their death.
Obviously, that is a very, very cool metaphor that parallels with the gospel very clearly. Thing is, while it started as a metaphor set in a superstitious mountain community, it was turned into a modern gospel pitch, and it just didn't fit culturally so it wasn't believable. It might have worked as a kids story... but I kept thinking, "You can't make the jump from not knowing anything about Christianity to suddenly talking like a 70-year-old pastor! That's cultural lingo - it's not imparted by 'praying the prayer'!".
Anyways - I didn't like The Last Sin Eater.