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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
This book was just okay. I didn't really want to give it 4 stars, but I felt like it deserved a bit more than just 3 stars. I enjoyed Julie's character and appreciated how it showed that God will reward you for doing what's right, and He's with you even through the hard things.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
This is based on a true story, at least the flood part of it, and it was quite interesting, but I remember one part that at least for my 13-year-old mind was a little too graphic, and maybe more than one. I guess overall it was good, though.
I love rereading books that were favorites when I was a teenager.
Summary: Marshall, author of the classic Christy, drew on her life experiences for this coming-of-age story in which a young girl discovers herself and the strength of her faith.
Julie, is a heartwarming, coming of age story about the struggles a young lady enounters with her family in post-depression Pennsylvania. Julie's family purchase the small town's local newspaper, and in doing so, enouncouter financial, political, and faith-based, tests. Her father's chronic illness, propels Julie in to a position of leadership and responsibility at the newspaper. Her talent as an investigative reporter also uncovers devestating news about a improperly built dam, that will prove prophetic and catastrophic.
Juile was our book group selection for the month of May. It was a delightful read, reminiscent of the work of L. M. Montgomery.
Julie, is a heartwarming, coming of age story about the struggles a young lady enounters with her family in post-depression Pennsylvania. Julie's family purchase the small town's local newspaper, and in doing so, enouncouter financial, political, and faith-based, tests. Her father's chronic illness, propels Julie in to a position of leadership and responsibility at the newspaper. Her talent as an investigative reporter also uncovers devestating news about a improperly built dam, that will prove prophetic and catastrophic.
Juile was our book group selection for the month of May. It was a delightful read, reminiscent of the work of L. M. Montgomery.
The cover alone takes me back. I remember not liking the male characters as much as the ones in Christy, but loving the newspaper/dam story line. Some day I'll have time to reread all these:) Maybe good gifts ideas for Meg.
1st time reading, excellent story.
Listened on audio, the narrator was great!
Listened on audio, the narrator was great!
My mom read this book to me when I was little—probably in elementary school sometime. (I’d all but forgotten about Catherine Marshall until my husband mentioned a book by Peter Marshall, her husband, that we ought to read together sometime.) It’s always interesting to revisit a story I only knew as a child to see how it hits me differently as an adult. In this case I remembered nearly nothing about it, except for really one spectacular scene at the end, and a vague recollection of a love triangle (which turned out to be a love square: one girl, three guys).
The story follows 18-year old Julie Wallace during the Great Depression. Her family moves to the small town of Alderton after her father abandons his post as a pastor and instead buys the struggling Alderton newspaper. To make ends meet, her father has only one employee, and Julie eventually becomes one of the primary reporters on the paper, even though she is still in high school. The primary conflict is the fact that the low elevation Alderton community is only protected from the massive Kissawa River by a dam which is in sad need of repairs. But because of where it is situated, the dam is the sole property of the wealthy Tom MacKeever Senior, who owns a country club. MacKeever refuses to perform the needed repairs, because doing so would bankrupt him. Every time there is a heavy rain, the Alderton community tends to flood, in part because the waters of the lake are only a few feet below the top of the dam. The Wallace family’s fight against the MacKeevers is reminiscent of George Bailey’s fight against Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life”: it’s David vs Goliath, and as the Wallaces resist, things only go from bad to worse. But the more impossible things look, the more spectacular the victory from unexpected quarters. I definitely teared up a few times.
Overall impressions: first, I’m impressed that Catherine Marshall manages to write overtly Christian fiction without making it cheesy or heavy-handed. I almost never read Christian fiction for this reason, because ‘cheese’ almost invariably seems to be the result. I wish I knew why. Yet unlike most such stories, Julie comes off more like a tale that just happens to involve a young girl’s faith journey, but not because the author is necessarily trying to beat the reader over the head with her evangelistic message. It just is what it is, and she can’t tell the story without including that aspect of it. God is essentially both a character and an indispensable part of the story’s context. (I also happened to agree with the author’s theology, which helps.)
Also, I was surprised (and amused) by the culture Marshall describes: I guess I expected that a pastor’s wife writing about the 1930s would have a very old fashioned idea of courtship. But Julie dates and makes out with multiple men at a time (behavior that would earn her the title of “player” today), and even goes to drinking parties, though sort of on accident. But she’s far more honest and forthright with her feelings than teenagers (or really, people of nearly any age) are today. At times I thought she was so direct for an 18-year old that her character stretched belief… she should have been a little more guarded with her own feelings. But it was also sort of refreshing, and for her culture, it seemed to fit.
Julie did get off to a slower start, and while I enjoyed the story, it wasn’t extraordinarily memorable. It was uplifting, though, in a way that felt authentic. It’s the sort of book I might read again someday.
The story follows 18-year old Julie Wallace during the Great Depression. Her family moves to the small town of Alderton after her father abandons his post as a pastor and instead buys the struggling Alderton newspaper. To make ends meet, her father has only one employee, and Julie eventually becomes one of the primary reporters on the paper, even though she is still in high school. The primary conflict is the fact that the low elevation Alderton community is only protected from the massive Kissawa River by a dam which is in sad need of repairs. But because of where it is situated, the dam is the sole property of the wealthy Tom MacKeever Senior, who owns a country club. MacKeever refuses to perform the needed repairs, because doing so would bankrupt him. Every time there is a heavy rain, the Alderton community tends to flood, in part because the waters of the lake are only a few feet below the top of the dam. The Wallace family’s fight against the MacKeevers is reminiscent of George Bailey’s fight against Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life”: it’s David vs Goliath, and as the Wallaces resist, things only go from bad to worse. But the more impossible things look, the more spectacular the victory from unexpected quarters. I definitely teared up a few times.
Overall impressions: first, I’m impressed that Catherine Marshall manages to write overtly Christian fiction without making it cheesy or heavy-handed. I almost never read Christian fiction for this reason, because ‘cheese’ almost invariably seems to be the result. I wish I knew why. Yet unlike most such stories, Julie comes off more like a tale that just happens to involve a young girl’s faith journey, but not because the author is necessarily trying to beat the reader over the head with her evangelistic message. It just is what it is, and she can’t tell the story without including that aspect of it. God is essentially both a character and an indispensable part of the story’s context. (I also happened to agree with the author’s theology, which helps.)
Also, I was surprised (and amused) by the culture Marshall describes: I guess I expected that a pastor’s wife writing about the 1930s would have a very old fashioned idea of courtship. But Julie dates and makes out with multiple men at a time (behavior that would earn her the title of “player” today), and even goes to drinking parties, though sort of on accident. But she’s far more honest and forthright with her feelings than teenagers (or really, people of nearly any age) are today. At times I thought she was so direct for an 18-year old that her character stretched belief… she should have been a little more guarded with her own feelings. But it was also sort of refreshing, and for her culture, it seemed to fit.
Julie did get off to a slower start, and while I enjoyed the story, it wasn’t extraordinarily memorable. It was uplifting, though, in a way that felt authentic. It’s the sort of book I might read again someday.
I recently read Marshall's Christy book for the first time, and enjoyed it immensely. (I now understand why -- spoiler alert! -- Christy and Dr. MacNeill married! I'd long been a fan of the TV series' David Grantland, but after reading the book -- MacNeill fangirl all the way.) So when the opportunity arose to read Julie, my excitement definitely increased. More Catherine Marshall? (And, frankly, a deadline to do so?) Yes, please!
I absolutely adored Julie -- even more than Christy. I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on, and writing stories like nobody's business! To this day I love stories about journalists and writers of any kind, and she certainly fit that bill. That made it very easy to relate to Julie as a character; I found her likable and endearing, and saw a fair bit of myself in her. Her story brought back many memories of editing and writing for school papers (and even the Everett Herald at one point)!
This book definitely kept me up several nights in a row until I finished it. I look forward to re-reading it in years to come.
I absolutely adored Julie -- even more than Christy. I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on, and writing stories like nobody's business! To this day I love stories about journalists and writers of any kind, and she certainly fit that bill. That made it very easy to relate to Julie as a character; I found her likable and endearing, and saw a fair bit of myself in her. Her story brought back many memories of editing and writing for school papers (and even the Everett Herald at one point)!
This book definitely kept me up several nights in a row until I finished it. I look forward to re-reading it in years to come.
Sooooo good! I had read Christy years ago and loved it...saw Julie on the library shelf and thought I'd give it a whirl. Great story about a young woman finding her way through life and love in the midst of the depression. Well, that sounds lame, but it really was a great book...historical fiction, a search for faith, with a little bit o'love trials in the midst.