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A review by egbella
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
5.0
Okay, I've heard stellar reviews of this book for YEARS. And while I do think highly of Francine Rivers, and have enjoyed some of her previous works (like the Lineage of Grace series), I was always just a bit wary of the fact that Redeeming Love is so popular. Add the more adult subject matter and the fact that it's a romance (a genre I rarely read), and it just didn't seem like it'd be the book for me.
However, after hearing more and more good things about it recently, I decided to just give it a try so I'd know what everyone was talking about. And I am so glad I did! This is definitely not a book for young readers (while Rivers never goes into descriptive detail with intimate or violent scenes, there are still plenty of scenes and enough context to be disturbing) and if you're uncomfortable with even reading about things like prostitution and abuse, this is probably not a good book for you. However, what changed it all for me was that none of those things were glorified AT ALL. Rivers gave a gritty, realistic, and heartbreaking portrayal of how sin affects lives, and I think because she didn't shy away from showing the darkness, the light of Christ shines all the brighter.
I know Rivers' writing style isn't for everyone, but I personally found myself so engrossed in the story itself that the few oddly-worded sentences I caught didn't bug me. The characters were realistic and nuanced and sympathetic, the truths woven into the story touched me deeply, and I put down the (substantial!) book finally understanding why so many of my friends and family call it one of their favorites.
So again, while it's not an easy read, it was a very worthwhile one for me, and left me newly inspired to write the kind of fiction that can touch others as much as this touched me.
However, after hearing more and more good things about it recently, I decided to just give it a try so I'd know what everyone was talking about. And I am so glad I did! This is definitely not a book for young readers (while Rivers never goes into descriptive detail with intimate or violent scenes, there are still plenty of scenes and enough context to be disturbing) and if you're uncomfortable with even reading about things like prostitution and abuse, this is probably not a good book for you. However, what changed it all for me was that none of those things were glorified AT ALL. Rivers gave a gritty, realistic, and heartbreaking portrayal of how sin affects lives, and I think because she didn't shy away from showing the darkness, the light of Christ shines all the brighter.
I know Rivers' writing style isn't for everyone, but I personally found myself so engrossed in the story itself that the few oddly-worded sentences I caught didn't bug me. The characters were realistic and nuanced and sympathetic, the truths woven into the story touched me deeply, and I put down the (substantial!) book finally understanding why so many of my friends and family call it one of their favorites.
So again, while it's not an easy read, it was a very worthwhile one for me, and left me newly inspired to write the kind of fiction that can touch others as much as this touched me.