Winter Birds
By Jamie Langston Turner
2006 Bethany House Publishers
I had a hard time getting into this book. Publisher’s Weekly (starred review) said,
”Genuine humor and well-crafted characters make this a memorable and inspiring
novel.”
But I had a hard time finding the humor although I do agree
that the characters are well crafted,
but maybe that is because I am in the sandwich generation and see the
pain that Sophia Hess is still struggling with at 80 years of age. This is a woman that has not experienced much
joy in those years and bears many scars. Most of the humor is in the form of
Aunt Sophia’s personal snide thoughts about the people who are her chosen
care-takers and their friends. She is
extremely intelligent, but not very easy to like.
This is not your typical Christian novel with lots of Bible
quotations or a coming to faith although her nephew, Patrick and his wife,
Rachel, display a Christian walk that grows as the book develops and even
brings out the better side of cantankerous, Aunt Sophia.
I liked the book more as the story developed and community
surrounding Sophia, Patrick and Rachel was developed. This book is definitely not sappy and
reflects life for what it is, the good, the bad and the ugly.
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