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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
This plot had a lot of potential but really missed the mark in my opinion.
Just on the basis of page-turning speed, this book is a winner. My wife and I were each reading our own copy of the book at the same time, often in the same room, and enjoying it immensely. Clarke zeroes in on evangelical purity culture and a corrupt, manipulative pastor, a mysterious death, and a clueless congregation bent on protecting the pastor at any cost.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
What can I say? Mega churches & their pastors & the people who knowingly or intentionally prop up their lies, deceit and evil.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
Complicated
I saw this book at Barnes & Noble being credited as being written by a local author. I added it to my Libby list and it’s been sitting there for about a month waiting. I started this book and finished it in 2 days, getting the audiobook so I could go back and forth. This perfectly captured what living in a small town is like and showed the darker side.
Del returns to her hometown after her ex boyfriend dies under mysterious circumstances. She faces family and old friends and the megachurch, Messiah, and Pastor Rick, one of her biggest tormentors. This book touches on so much, and being a relatively new mother and Eve’s change of heart after having her child really resonated with me.
This is not a light read. A lot of triggers for religious trauma, sexual assault, suicide, murder, and poor family relations.
Del returns to her hometown after her ex boyfriend dies under mysterious circumstances. She faces family and old friends and the megachurch, Messiah, and Pastor Rick, one of her biggest tormentors. This book touches on so much, and being a relatively new mother and Eve’s change of heart after having her child really resonated with me.
This is not a light read. A lot of triggers for religious trauma, sexual assault, suicide, murder, and poor family relations.
At the start I thought this was going to be a kind of 'woman goes undercover in cult/evangelical religion (same diff), pretending to believe, in order to bring it down from the inside'. But instead it was 'former believer returns to intensely religious town where she grew up in order to solve the murder of her old boyfriend despite having no experience or relevant skills for solving murders, and also having very tedious feelings about religion'. Which I'm much less into. Also there was a lot of boring 'did you know conservative religions are very terrible for women' plotline written in a way that implied this was going to be news to the reader.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
What happens when the leader of a fundamentalist Christian congregation in a mid size town in Minnesota sees his empire being challenged? Pastor Rick Franklin comes to Brauer, Minnesota with his preaching style rooted in patriarchy and submissive women. He grows the Messiah Church into a cult-like entity that controls much of what happens in the town.
The story is told by two narrators; Del (Delilah) Walker who left town six years ago after her growing up best friend married the man Del had met at college and believed would be her husband. Del’s chapters are in the present time - when she returns to town after Lars, the love of her life and husband to her friend Eve, was killed in a tragic hunting accident. Our second narrator, Eve, mostly tells her story through her blog - “The Noble Wife”, a project she started as a teenager when Pastor Rick and his wife taught the girls of the Messiah Church to be good Christian women, modest in dress and demeanor and submissive to whatever their boyfriend/husband wants.
Delilah thinks she will come to the funeral and leave town - but - she sees Eve in an embrace with the associate pastor after the funeral, and, Lars’ parents, who always thought she (Delilah) would be their daughter-in-law, ask her to investigate Lars’ death. They are asking questions and not getting answers.
OK - so why Del would get answers when everyone at the church and in the town are closed mouthed and avoiding the truth - doesn’t make a lot of sense - but - I kept listening/reading.
In the end - it comes down to challenging the patriarchy. Book was published in the summer of 2023. Barbie challenged the patriarchy also - but without murder, fake suicides, and attempted murder.The ending was a bit of a disconnect for me. Del wondering how Finn was able to find her in Minneapolis - almost implying that she was afraid of him. And then - she tells of she and Finn going to Pastor Rick’s house - and Del videotaping the pastor while he confesses to killing Lars for finding out about the financial irregularities at the Messiah Church - and then Finn kills him.
The story is told by two narrators; Del (Delilah) Walker who left town six years ago after her growing up best friend married the man Del had met at college and believed would be her husband. Del’s chapters are in the present time - when she returns to town after Lars, the love of her life and husband to her friend Eve, was killed in a tragic hunting accident. Our second narrator, Eve, mostly tells her story through her blog - “The Noble Wife”, a project she started as a teenager when Pastor Rick and his wife taught the girls of the Messiah Church to be good Christian women, modest in dress and demeanor and submissive to whatever their boyfriend/husband wants.
Delilah thinks she will come to the funeral and leave town - but - she sees Eve in an embrace with the associate pastor after the funeral, and, Lars’ parents, who always thought she (Delilah) would be their daughter-in-law, ask her to investigate Lars’ death. They are asking questions and not getting answers.
OK - so why Del would get answers when everyone at the church and in the town are closed mouthed and avoiding the truth - doesn’t make a lot of sense - but - I kept listening/reading.
In the end - it comes down to challenging the patriarchy. Book was published in the summer of 2023. Barbie challenged the patriarchy also - but without murder, fake suicides, and attempted murder.