Life, and Death, and Giants

by Ron Rindo

A heart too big for this world.
A life that changes everyone.

Gabriel Fisher was born an orphan, weighing eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches long. No one in Lakota, Wisconsin, knows what to make of him. He walks at eight months, communicates with animals, and seems to possess extraordinary athletic talent. But when the older brother who has been caring for him dies, Gabriel is taken in by his devout Amish grandparents who disapprove of all the attention and hide him away from the English world.

But it’s hard to hide forever when you’re nearly eight feet tall. At seventeen, Gabriel is spotted working in a hay field by the local football coach. What happens next transforms not only Gabriel’s life but the lives of everyone he meets.

Life, and Death, and Giants is a moving story of faith, family, buried secrets, and everyday miracles.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Audiobook, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Family

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[Brady Lockerby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an unexpected favorite, I am kicking myself for letting it sit on my tbr for so long. An unwed Amish woman gives birth to an 18lb baby that continues to grow and grow and grow beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. His life story is told to us by the 4 people who have helped raised him and we watch his identity change while being pulled from his Amish family roots to the temptations of the English world. Full of twists and turns I never saw coming, this book is a masterpiece of heartbreak and emotion that will have you flipping the pages just needing to know what happens next.

[Shelley's Book Nook · Rating 5 out of 5]

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The Book Review Crew Blog

I loved this book so much. It's about an unmarried Amish woman who gives birth to an eighteen-pound baby (and I thought my babies were big at nine and eleven pounds) and dies shortly afterward. The baby, Gabriel, is raised by his older brother and then his grandparents. Gabriel is a gentle giant. He has a wonderful way with animals and is supremely athletic. As a result, he emerges from his shell and ventures into the world beyond his Amish community. He attends high school and even becomes a professional athlete. The book is told from the point of view of the vet who helped deliver him, his grandma, one of the locals, and his football coach.

This is one of the most profoundly moving and beautifully written stories I have ever read. From the very first page, Gabriel captured my heart and held on. Rindo wove a very human story. The idea to tell Gabriel's story through the people in his community was brilliant. It was a wonderful way to gain a multilayered perspective on how one person can impact the multitudes around them. Gabriel's story is a moving tale of faith, family, and community, but it is also about one remarkable individual. This is a book that will make you believe in the goodness of others and will stay with me for a very long time. An absolute must-read and an easy choice for All. The. Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Canadian Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unwed Amish woman gives birth to an 18lb baby boy. She doesn’t survive. The baby is brought up by his brother and becomes a baseball phenomenon until a tragic event upends his life.

This story is about Gabriel. The gentle giant. How his life was transformed by people who saw his physical capabilities as talent. At times, a struggle between the restrictions of being Amish and the potential opportunities that await in the world. Yet, tragedy after tragedy strike. Gabriel is resilient with amazing grace and humbleness.
Life is not without its bumps; its rivets.
A compelling read about faith and how it can be tested.
Themes of community, family, friendship.
It probably should have ended at least 20 pages earlier.
4.25⭐️

[Terrie R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing. Startling. Extraordinary. Moving...

This is the story about Gabriel Fisher, who was born unusually large to an unwed, shunned Amish mother, who doesn't survive his birth. He walks early, has an uncanny chemistry with animals, and an undeniable athletic ability that draws much attention. His growth continues to be off the charts, in fact, it seems Gabriel may never stop growing...

Life, Death, and Giants is told in alternating chapters through the perspective of the four main characters closest to Gabriel. My favorite chapters are those from Hannah Fisher, his Amish maternal grandmother, whose first-person narration is emotional, intimate, and enlightening. She's a standout character who opens her heart in the most unexpected ways.

This was an immersion read; the audiobook is narrated by Christina Moore, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, and Will Damron as the voices of the four main characters recounting this story. Each fits their character perfectly, making it an evocative and engaging listen. If you love listening to books, it's the way to go with this beautifully written story.

Life, and Death, and Giants is a special book that captured my heart and imagination—the way it's written, how the story unfolds, the mixture of characters, and how a community plays a significant part in Gabriel's life through unconditional love. I'm not sure I'll ever come across another book like this again, it's that unique. It's that good. I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy a multi-generational story with a magical flare!!💫

5⭐

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and Ron Rindo for the gifted DRC and ALC through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. It is full of BIG Characters with many moving scenes. Gabriel Fisher was born to an unwed Amish mother who would not name his father. She was shunned and cast out and unfortunately did not survive his birth. Gabriel has always been big - he was eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches at his birth. He continues to grow throughout this book as do the many characters who encounter him.

When Gabriel's older brother who is taking care of him dies, he moves in with this Amish Grandparents. Gabriel has always been big and as a teenager catches the eye of a local football coach in need of a second chance. As Gabriel's life changes once again, so do the lives of those he touches.

I enjoyed the emphasis on change, on community, on faith, on sports, on personal growth, on relationships, on love, and on family secrets. I found this book to be well thought out, moving, wonderfully written, gripping, and thought provoking. I enjoyed the fleshed-out characters, they are flawed, they hurt, they are good, they are supportive, and they make mistakes. Gabriel will capture your heart as will those in his life who rally around him and cheer him on in his life.

This is a book which will stay with me for some time. It is one that I picked due to the title but loved due to the storytelling. Do yourself a favor and give this book a read!

Gripping, moving, hard to put down and heartwarming!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life and Death and Giants is a moving, heartwarming, character rich story about a young man of uncommon size. There is a magical realism aspect to the story, which was very well done and felt totally natural.
The book takes its time setting up its premise. A young Amish woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock. When she refuses to name the father, she is excommunicated and forced to leave the community. She gives birth to a normal son but later becomes pregnant again to an overly large baby and dies. That son, Gabriel, goes to live with his Amish grandparents after his older brother dies. He grows up to be over 8’ tall. To put this in context, Andre the Giant was 7’4”.
The story is told from multiple POVs, including the Amish grandmother, a local bar owner who knew the grandfather as a child, the local veterinarian and the HS football coach. Despite Gabriel being the focus of the book, we never hear directly from him.
It handles the Amish religion thoughtfully and respectfully. I liked the juxtaposition between “English” interests, like sports, books or artworks, against the Amish beliefs about a simple life. While there are many sad scenes, overall it’s a heartwarming story about the multitude of people who look after Gabriel. The weaving of Emily Dickinson”s poetry into the story was just an added bonus.
Several times I was caught off guard to the point of gasping. I never saw the twists coming.
This would make a wonderful book club selection. There’s so much meat to this story and multiple themes about family, community, religion, forgiveness and values.
I listened to this and the cast all did a wonderful job.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a letter to his readers, Ron Rindo shared that the inspiration for Life, & Death, & Giants was Robert Pershing Wadlow, the tallest human ever documented. In the 1930s, Wadlow stood at 8 feet 11 inches, weighed 491 pounds, and wore a size 37 shoe. He suffered from hypertrophy of the pituitary gland, which accounted for his extraordinary size. Rindo pondered: what if such a giant appeared in the 21st century? While fly-fishing in rural Wisconsin’s Amish country, he imagined this happening within an Amish family, whose beliefs preclude modern medical intervention. As he explains, “This premise introduced the novel’s central tension, which pits our mainstream culture’s veneration of individual fame, wealth, and material excess against Amish values of community, humility, and simplicity.”

Life, & Death, & Giants opens with a gripping scene: a 17-year-old boy begs a veterinarian, Doc Kennedy, to help his mother in the throes of labor. Doc pleads with the boy, Jasper, to call a doctor, but he knows the Amish community’s resistance to “English” medicine. The result is the birth of an astonishingly large child—18 pounds and 27 inches long. Doc tries in vain to save the mother. The baby, named Gabriel, survives, fed goat’s milk, and grows to unimaginable height and weight. His mother, Rachel, had already been shunned by the Amish for bearing two sons out of wedlock, refusing to name their father. The Amish practice meidung (shunning), rare and usually a last resort, intended as a gentle corrective to bring transgressors back into the fold. For Rachel, however, it means isolation and poverty.

The reader soon meets Hannah Fisher, Rachel’s mother, one of the narrators of this character-driven novel. Hannah is portrayed as one of the kindest, most gentle female characters in recent fiction. Her convictions and reflections highlight both the beauty and the challenges of Amish life, particularly the tensions of living near the English world. The novel’s title comes from an Emily Dickinson poem; Hannah inherited a worn copy of Dickinson’s work from her mother. Though Amish beliefs prohibit English literature, Hannah viewed Dickinson’s poems as akin to devotions and solitary prayers.

Another voice belongs to Billy Walton, a local bar owner who grew up alongside the Amish and understands their ways as much as an outsider can. A sponsor of the town’s t-ball team, Billy sees the magnificence of Gabriel’s unusual size and strength. Later, Trey Beathard, a Texas-born high school football coach, witnesses Gabriel tossing 47-pound bales of hay as if they were pumpkins. Recognizing extraordinary talent, Trey takes an interest just as Gabriel enters Rumspringa—the period when Amish youth explore the English world before deciding whether to commit fully to their faith.

Through Hannah and Doc Kennedy, readers follow Gabriel’s extraordinary journey from infancy into adulthood. Billy Walton and Trey Beathard provide social commentary and perspective on his impact. All four narrators—compassionate, humane, and insightful—bring depth to Gabriel’s story, and to the cultural crossroads he represents.

With Life, & Death, & Giants, Ron Rindo contributes to a growing literary attention on Amish life in 2025. He portrays the quiet beauty of a peaceful religion while illuminating its complexities. Hannah Fisher, in particular, emerges as a character to admire and emulate.

A book with heart. A book with compassion. A book for lovers of literary fiction.

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (Semi-Hiatus-attempting return) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Life and Death and Giants by Rick Riordan completely took me by surprise in the best way. 🥹

This story follows a young boy caught between the ordinary world and something far bigger, where myth, identity, and personal loss begin to intertwine. As truths slowly come to light, the journey becomes not just about survival, but about understanding who you are and where you belong.

I’ll be honest, the beginning felt a little slow for me. It takes its time setting the stage and introducing the emotional threads. But once I hit the halfway mark and the reveals started unfolding, everything clicked into place. From that point on, the emotional weight of the story really hit, and I felt deeply connected to what the characters were going through.

The prose is beautiful and immersive, with a heartfelt quality that lingers. There’s a quiet depth to the storytelling that makes the heavier moments land even harder, and the themes of grief, resilience, and identity are handled with so much care.

The story behind it all is much darker and heavier than I’d initially expected, but made for such a compelling story!

This was such a meaningful read, and while the slower start kept it from a full five stars for me, but the second half delivered in a way that really stayed with me and more than made up for it.

Went out and grabbed this gorgeous hardcover for my shelf too!

💛 Coming of age
✨ Mythology-inspired
💛 Hidden identity
✨ Fate vs. choice
💛 Found family
✨ Emotional healing
💛 Ordinary world meets the extraordinary
✨ Self-discovery journey

✴︎a˚｡⋆ Connect with me on Instagram ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

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Wow I loved this story so much. I’ll be honest- I was a little worried at first- this started out a little slow for me but that second half hit hard.

4 stars full review soon

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every child should have the love of a grandmother like Hannah Fisher and guardian angels like the men in Gabriel Fisher’s life. Men like Billy Walton, the local bar owner and Dr. Kennedy, the vet who delivered Gabriel and Trey Beathard, his high school football ball coach .

Characters with big hearts with big love for Gabriel who tell his story in alternating narratives. With this structure, the story becomes about more than Gabriel’s life as an 18 pound baby who becomes an eight foot man . It’s about these characters as well, not just the impact that they have on Gabriel and the impact he has on them, but about these characters as individuals also . Gabriel, of course is special, but I fell for these other characters as I learned their stories and was heartbroken when they were and elated when they were lifted up by each other and also by the Amish community.

While Gabriel Fisher is the only giant by physical standards in this novel, there are other giants in this story as I believe the title implies. While there is death, there is so much life here. Nothing more to say other than it’s a beautiful and moving story.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author's writing spoke to my heart. This story is told with such extraordinary tenderness and compassion, and it will linger in my thoughts for a very long time.

Shunned by her Amish community in Lakota, Wisconsin, Rachel Fisher lives on her own and gives birth to an 18 lb., 27" baby boy. Orphaned at birth and not knowing who his father is, Gabriel Fisher ends up being raised by his older brother, his Amish grandparents, and the local veterinarian who delivered him. Over the years, Gabriel rapidly grows to become a giant in height and weight. He spends his entire life trying to fit in; both literally and figuratively. However, no matter his size or where he went, he was loved by animals and people alike.

Each chapter is told by either Gabriel's grandmother, the country vet, the local bar owner, or the high school football coach. In the telling, this story talks about the beliefs and lives of the Amish and how they contrast with those outside their community. But it also sheds light on the dichotomy between the beauty of nature, literature, and art, and the grit and fervor of contact sports like football and wrestling.

I couldn't wait to get back to reading this book. I wanted to ignore everything else I had to do. I became immersed in these character's lives and by the end, all of them had come to feel like friends, neighbors, or family members to me.

Ultimately, I absolutely adored this heartfelt story about love and friendship. I anticipate that readers are going to fall in love with Gabriel, and his story too. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know. This is definitely a five-star read and one that is going to show up on many readers list of favorites. I know that it will be on mine. This is a book that you don't want to miss.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC of this fabulous novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful story ❤️
Set in an Amish community in Wisconsin.
Hannah Fisher’s daughter Ruth lives alone with her son Jasper across the land from her Amish parents Hannah and Josiah.
Ruth has been banished from the church and community for many years since she was pregnant with Jasper. When this happens, the family is not supposed to interact with the family member anymore. Well, Ruth was the only child Hannah had in many years of marriage, so Ruth would sneak out to watch her from afar,, across the fields.
When Jasper is quite grown..Ruth is pregnant again.., she has never named the father of either child, with the second pregnancy she has grown so huge nothing fits. It looks like her skin will just burst open.. she goes into labor and Jasper drives her to the local veterinarian to deliver her in the back of his truck. She delivers a boy they name Gabriel, he is an 18 pound infant and very very long. She dies minutes later.
Jasper raises him and the vet, comes by and helps often.
As Gabriel grows, there is just something about him, all the farm animals just come right to him and people just love him.
Also as he grows he is recruited into baseball, then football at an older age and becomes famous.
There is a tragedy then and I will leave any other info for the reader to find out.
This author has written beautifully about nature, the Amish community, all the other characters in town who helped in Gabriel’s life and upbringing.
I just loved this so much!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Available Sep 9th

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this book made me weep. 😭

The title says it all.

Ron Rindo has indeed written a story about LIFE, DEATH, AND GIANTS.

Our storytellers:

🐐Hannah Fisher - An Amish daughter, mother, and grandmother. She wrestles with her faith and her role in the family. A hidden treasure in her mother's chest will be an unexpected blessing.

🍺Billy Walton - Owner of the Lakota, WI bar called Shaken, Not Stirred. A huge sports fan who invests in the success of local teams. He knows the gift Gabriel is to their community.

🐴Thomas Kennedy - A large animal vet who finds himself delivering Gabriel into the world. A past calamity gives him extra measures of grace to share.

🏈Trey Breathard - a disgraced coach who turns over a new leaf in Lakota. Then he discovers Gabriel Fisher.

Ron Rindo takes his time with the story -- doling out details through our narrators. It is like a patchwork quilts consisting of themes you have cherished. Another recent read that I could compare to this is Theo of Golden, but I did love this one more. Have your tissues handy!

For me, a bonus was having our last narrator end up just a few miles from where we parked our RV today. A book connection that I will treasure.

[Jenny Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written but be warned that every sad thing you could think of is in here.

[Meagan (Meagansbookclub) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5- giving it an added 1/2 star for the narration.

Over the last year, I have been recommended this book by many followers on instagram with little to no context as to why they “loved it.” For the May reading challenge to pick a book from a friends recommendation, I decided to read Life, and Death, and Giants and thankfully, it came available on Libby so I did not have to waste an audio credit. I was thrilled to see a full cast of narrators, including one of my favorites Will Damron!

The first 20-30% of the book, I would say I was pretty hooked to the story about Gabriel and the Amish family members. I was scratching my head why we never got a POV from Gabriel, but saw him from a distance from people “closest” to him, but it still felt like we never really knew Gabriel. After the 30% mark when the football storyline kicked in and we got the POV from the football coach, I stopped paying attention and pulled away emotionally from the story. The events that happened from 30% and on felt very emotionally manipulative and inserted for the shock factor. It was sad and shocking event one after another all the way to the end, and for me as a reader, if I am lacking emotional connection to the characters, I feel like the author is just pulling me along to elicit an emotion. It all felt shallow.

I cannot get over the way SA was handled in this book. Not only was the entire storyline convoluted and manipulative, the underhanded religious tone of “forgiveness” absolutely disgusted me. I could not believe that Hannah went back to her husband after he “admitted” that he knew about her father’s abuse to his daughter. INCEST! Oh my gosh, for all the recommendations for this book, not one person gave me a content warning. SA is awful, but there is an added layer of disgust when it is about incest. And the way it was handled by the author made me so disgusted. I really thought Hannah would have an enlightening moment where her religious beliefs were ultimately harmful and she didn’t want to live that life again. Instead, she forgives her husband and goes back to a man who lied to her and disregarded his daughter’s safety. Hannah’s character arc had potential and I kept reading hoping she would come around, but by the end when she went back to her husband, I almost threw the book across the room.

As for the story as a whole, I’m not sure who or what this book was about? Was it about Gabriel? Why didn’t we get his own personal POV chapters? The other POV did not support anything in this story. Were there glimmers of humanity? Sure. I think maybe if we had Gabriel’s chance to tell his story, we’d feel more connected to him, but everyone talked about it in a personal way, and yet, we didn’t feel connected to him at all.

Scratching my head, y’all. This was a miss for me.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

At age one, Gabriel Fisher weighed thirty-four pounds and stood forty-one inches tall. It was not only Gabriel’s unusual size that dazzled Thomas, but also his unusual way with animals. As a three-year-old boy, Gabriel would often sit on a milking stool beside Jasper’s chicken coop with a piece of bread hidden behind his back. He’d wait, watching the chickens scratch in the yard until his favorite hen, a barred rock named Betsy, eased her way close to his feet, and then he’d reveal the bread with a flourish. The other hens would race toward him, but Betsy would immediately hop on his lap and peck at the bread until she’d eaten it all. Afterward, Gabriel would cuddle her while he napped in the afternoon sunshine, and she’d turn her beak into the hollow under his armpit and fall asleep.

--------------------------------------

I recognized myself inside those pages. In a life devoted to goodness, devoted to God, there can still be yearning. A quiet mouth, a devoted heart, does not mean a quiet mind. Sometimes while reading, I found myself crying, overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of Miss Dickinson’s daring, by the baring of her soul.

Some books you rip through, eager, panting, for the resolution of a conflict and the presentation of the next one. Some books demand that you go through them slowly, a stroll hand in hand. Instead of a 5K. Life, and Death, and Giants is a book you want to take your time with, savor, taste, relish, feel.


Ron Rindo - image from Wisconsin Literary Map

Ron Rindo came across the story of the tallest person ever, from the 1920s and 1930s, and wondered how the modern world might react to a someone of like dimensions.

Just eight pounds five ounces at birth, [Robert Pershing] Wadlow stood eight feet 11.1 inches tall, weighed 439 pounds, and had size 37 feet at the time of his death, at age twenty-two, his extraordinary growth driven by hypertrophy of the pituitary gland. For a time, Wadlow toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus and promoted shoes for the International Shoe Company, but he seems to have sought a normal life, resisting efforts to define him exclusively as a circus attraction. He died of an infection in Manistee, Michigan, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Alton, Illinois. My musings about how the twenty-first-century world might react to a giant in its midst provided the initial inspiration for this novel. - from the Acknowledgments

Giants such as these may have a brief stay among us, but, unlike the “beetle at the candle” or the “Hopper of the mill” can maintain more than their mere accidental existence. (The title of the novel is taken from that of the poem by Emily Dickinson. There is a link to it in EXTRA STUFF.) Gabriel Fisher is a magical person, imbued with qualities of a different realm. It is not just his physical characteristics, which mimic those of an actual human being, or the athletic prowess that traveled with his inflated size, but his kindness, considerateness, his gentleness, and his Franciscan affinity for creatures wild and domestic. A Tom Bombadil comparison would also be apt.

He opened his mouth, bayed like a young coyote. “That’s the boy,” Thomas said, smiling. “Let everyone know you’re here.” From the woods just beyond Thomas’s yard, a red fox barked, and squirrels began chattering. A half mile down the road, farm dogs howled; cattle lowed in their sunny pastures.

But, as great a presence aas Gabriel is, it is the other characters in the novel who tell us what we need to know about him. He is a central hub around whom all the character spokes attach and it is their stories that make the novel roll.

“It’s a polyphonic novel, told from multiple perspectives, so in a sense, it’s five different stories,” says Rindo. “Hannah, Doc Kennedy, Billy Walton and Trey Beathards tell Gabriel’s story, but in the process, each of them tell their own story, too.” - from the Madison Magazine interview

Hannah Fisher is Gabriel’s grandmother. She loves him unreservedly, but the code of her Amish religion keeps her at a distance for far too long. Gabriel was born out of wedlock, his mother, who dies in childbirth, shunned by the community. Hers is one of the primary voices we hear throughout, as she struggles with the tensions between her faith, her love, and her sense of right and wrong.

Dr. Thomas Kennedy is a veterinarian, and the other primary voice here. Tragedy and unwarranted suspicion had driven him from a more urban life to this rustic town of Lakota, Wisconsin. He forms a life-time bond with Gabriel by virtue of delivering him into the world. Their connection is a thing of beauty, and will warm your heart. He also nurtures a friendship with Hannah. He is as good a person as you will come across anywhere.

Billy Walton manages a youth baseball team, and recruits the very oversized Gabriel to sign on. He is, of course a marvelous and dangerous player, given his power. Billy owns the local bar, and is making a place for himself after a lifetime of screwups.

Trey Beathards used to be someone, a football player, later a coach, then a drug addict and womanizer. There is much of Trey that is in need to rebuilding. He becomes Gabriel's high school football coach, and guides his next steps. Billy and Trey introduce us to the great sports myth piece of the novel as Gabriel’s prowess exceeds any reasonable expectation, becoming the stuff of legends.

Most of the primary life tales told here share an arc. A past with troubles, self-inflicted or not, then rising from their ashes to find hope, redemption, or something like it. It is in how the characters behave around Gabriel, how they help him, look after him, care about him that we see a community in action. I am trying not to say it takes a village, but it is unavoidable.

There is a set of secondary characters here who add to the community element of the story, a gay couple who take in a stray, a severe Amish husband who does not welcome any “English” influence, a crusty older Amish man who seems to have burned all his bridges, a brotherly caretaker who goes above and beyond in caring for another.

The lines between Amish and “English” can be difficult to traverse, but Gabriel has a foot in both worlds and helps bring them to a common cause. In a different way, Thomas tries to expose Hannah to possibilities beyond her Amish restrictions. Rindo’s handling of religious and secular perspectives is deft.

You will enjoy the occasional book references scattered throughout, both to specific novels and to other unnamed texts. In parallel with the split between seeking fame versus opting for retreat, there is the tension between looking outward for inspiration and looking inward.

In his day job, Rindo teaches, among other things, the poetry of Emily Dickinson. That appreciation makes its way into the novel in two forms, a book of Dickinson’s poems that Hannah’s mother had left for her, and work left by another maternal influence. The poet’s perspective is woven into the tale, in a concern for faith, for nature ,and for the struggle to figure out how to live one’s best life, alone and in community, and the many sorts of love one can enjoy.

There were multiple times while reading this book that I was moved to tears. Not just for the emotional content of the characters’ struggles, but for the poetic descriptions, particularly of natural events.

Sometimes we feel we are on the scent of hidden things, but we doubt ourselves. Sometimes it’s because we believe we must be mistaken. Other times, it’s because we fear we might be right and we don’t want to be, or can’t be, because of who we are or where we live. But then something comes along to reveal that what we have scented with our innermost soul simply is, and our fear subsides. This revelation was my mother’s legacy, a book of poems she’d hidden, like a pheasant in the orchard grass.

There is no need to fear anything here. Life, and Death, and Giants is a heart-warming novel that will bring tears to your eyes, but which will also prompt you to consider just how to live, and just how society might work with a baseline of respect. It is one of the great works of 2025.

Review posted - 09/12/25

Publication date – 9/9/25

I received an ARE of Life, and Death, and Giants from St. Martin’s in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.



This review is cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to Rindo’s personal and Instagram
Profile – from Wisconsin Literary Map

An English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Ron Rindo was raised in Muskego, Wisconsin, and lives with his wife, Jenna, on five acres of wooded land in Pickett, where they raised five children and keep an orchard and an array of vegetable and flower gardens. He has published three short story collections, Suburban Metaphysics and Other Stories (New Rivers Press, 1990); Secrets Men Keep (New Rivers Press, 1995); and Love in an Expanding Universe (New Rivers Press, 2005); and a novel, Breathing Lake Superior (Brick Mantel Books, 2022). His short stories and essays have also appeared in a wide variety of journals, and an essay, “Gyromancy,” was reprinted in The Best American Essays, 2010

Interviews
-----ABC National Radio - Greyhounds, dark academia and an Amish community in new fiction by Toni Jordan, R.F. Kuang and Ron Rindo - audio - from 37:22
-----Madison Magazine - This novel set in small-town Wisconsin is more than a 'tall tale' by Anna Kottakis

Music
-----Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 - in Chapter 8

Items of Interest from the author - Links to these short stories can also be found in Rindo’s website
-----Terrain.org - The Return of Migrating Birds
-----The Summerset Review - Horses
-----Wilderness House Literary Review - The Mystery in Summer Rain
----- The Trumpeter - The Song of the Tree Frog
-----Tikkun - A Theory of Everything

Items of Interest
-----All Poetry - Life, and Death, and Giants
----- Eddie Carmel

For what it's worth, I had the experience, growing up in the West Bronx, of seeing Eddie Carmel every now and again. He and his parents lived there. It's not like we ever had a conversation. But my pals and I spotted him climbing into a taxi or other car, feet planted in the front passenger seat. Tush in the rear. At that time of his life, he was afflicted with scoliosis, among other maladies, and walked with at least one cane. While it was startling to see someone that large (believe the 8'9" number. There is no way he was only 7'3") it was also very sad. It seemed from looking at him, his face, that this was a man who was in great pain. He was someone who was no longer able, if he had ever been able, to be comfortable in his own oversized skin. Awe was replaced with a very large feeling of pity.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Pshew, glad that’s over! Going against the grain here, most people loved this book. I started out thinking it was going to be a winner, but oh no. All the sudden I’m on a football field, reading play-by-plays in excruciating detail. This goes on forever, a good part of the first half of the book! I couldn’t wait to get off the field! It doesn’t help that I think it’s a horrid sport. Just a bunch of boys in tight outfits knocking people down, bruises and breaks and concussions. Nope, not for me. Seriously, an editor should have insisted on paring down the painfully long descriptions of games. The micro-attention and number of pages devoted to football made the book unbalanced. It was boring with a capital B, and I found myself skimming. I almost abandoned the book, because I worried that the whole thing was a football book disguised as literary fiction. But luckily the subject changed and we were off that god awful field.

The book is about a guy, Gabriel, who grows to be 8 feet tall and weighs about 600 pounds. He was born Amish but goes out in the world. He’s s sports hero. Everyone loves him, and I think the reader is supposed to, too. I didn’t. I didn’t have enough info to care.

The chapters alternate between his grandmother, a sweet veterinarian, a random friend of the family, and a coach. Because Gabriel doesn’t have any chapters, I didn’t get to know him. We’re just told he’s a nice guy, but mostly it’s just because he’s a giant and a sports star that people love him. Without any insight into what makes Gabriel tick (other than he loves sports, and secondly, animals), he appears flat, shallow. I needed some psychological insight, and there was none. I wasn’t attached to him in the least.

After football, Gabriel goes into wrestling, a sport I hate even more than football! There were some awful descriptions of people pretending to kill each other (god, stop it already!), but nothing as bad as the overly long football narration. Want to make me uninterested in a character? Make his true loves be football and wrestling!

There is some drama, some heartache, but I was pretty much Stoic Sally. I think the obsessive football talk just made me mad, I don’t know. There was also a fair amount of nature description, and I’m not a fan particularly, unless it gives me dynamite visuals interspersed within a glowing plot. These visuals were just ho-hum. Also, there was God talk, because Gabriel’s family were devout Amish people. The God talk didn’t bug me as much as it usually would. I guess I had the religious football talk bugging me more.

Toward the end of the book, there is one magical realism event that added a fairy-tale quality to the story. I was too annoyed to open my mind and appreciate the magical part. And it seemed too easy.

Another nit: There are too many characters at the beginning, and it’s hard to figure out the family relationships. My buddy abandoned the book early on. She showed me her notes, which were all questions about who was who. Yes, a problem!

Oh, and the ending went on too long and seemed extraneous. I was so ready for it to be over!

Geesh, a ton of items on my Complaint Board! I will say that the writing was decent and the plot itself, the drama, was mostly interesting. Two reveals late in the book were real surprises, and good ones. The story of the grandmother did interest me; she was well fleshed out. And learning about the Amish community, its traditions and rules, was interesting.

Honestly, I don’t understand why this book is getting rave reviews. But we all react differently to stories, and this one just didn’t do it for me. If you love football and wrestling, and would like to see it thrown into your literary fiction, this may be the book for you!

[Rosie Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟 for me! a unique storytelling of gabriel’s life through the perspective of people in his life. I genuinely was bored to bits with all the sports talk and felt like that took away from the story. but also go Badgers! I also found it interesting we never heard from gabriel himself through the chapters but it was a good book and I understand why people love it

[Marialyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can be said about a book that wraps itself around your heart and pulls you in sentence by sentence and character by character? This book sent me down an emotional highway where you followed a young man named Gabrielle, born to an unwed mother, Rachel. Gabriel is unusual, weighing in at eighteen ponds at birth. Sadly, his mother does not survive the birth and she never reveals the father.

Gabriel is raised by his older brother and then his grandparents members of an Amish community with its strict rules, devotion to God, and avoidance of the secular world.

However Gabrielle seems destined to be a part of the "English" life and forms deep attachments to his grandmother, his coach, (for Gabriel is a natural in sports), and a veterinarian for Gabriel enjoys a special relationship with animals.

He eventually goes to a public high school where he excels in football and then is off to college, once again proving to be outstanding in his sport. He is almost undefeated until a tragedy occurs and Gabriel suffers the loss of what he loved.

Back to his loving grandmother he goes, but soon knows that he needs to live elsewhere. So to the veterinarian's home he goes, where he finds he needs to be involved in the secular life once again.

Traveling the world, enjoying the fruits of popularity, he is again hit with tragedy and returns home to what he really needs, family, friends, and loved ones.

Truly this was an inspiring story. A giant of a baby becomes a giant of a man and centers the lives of many who cross his path.

[Lee Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? You want a tear-jerker the likes of A Prayer for Owen Meany but a couple hundred pages shorter with the same gut punch? Read the damn book...

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well that was weird.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A professor of Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin, Rindo takes the reader to the town of Lakota where an enclave of Amish reside. Unlike the majority, the Amish feign modernization and view society through the lens of the Bible. Its here that young Harriet Fisher gives birth to Gabriel, a 18 lb baby, the father unknown. As the story plays out, we find Gabriel is mild mannered, loves animals and enjoys spending time with the town veterinarian, Dr. Kennedy. Able to walk at 8 months, his rapid evolution is reminiscent of fairy tale giants.

Put simply, its the story of an unusual young man who grows to 8' tall and tips the scales at nearly 500 lbs. The high school football coach feels he's ideal and once trained Gabriel is unstoppable on the field. When he's about to graduate every college in the nation offers a sports scholarship but he chooses the University of Wisconsin to be close to his kin. Under the tutelage of the UW football coach the team achieves historic heights due to his size and unique talents. As typical the media shines a spotlight on 'the giant' resulting in fame and fortune.

The B plots toggles back and forth between Dr. Kennedy, Gabriel's grandmother Hannah and high school coach. In the course of things we learn how the Amish refer to others as "English" and view them as sinners; over time, Hannah warms up to the 'outsiders' due to her grandson's success. As with most stories about star athletes, a severe accident disrupts his career and Gabriel is no different. Unable to play football, he becomes a wrestling star and over time is afflicted by serious illness due to his size and sports injuries.

Unfortunately I found the plot, characters and story predictable and the outcome as well. Since writing is art and individual tastes vary, its my feeling predictability diminishes reader engagement as will mediocre characters. As the saying goes, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. That said, I can't recommend adding it to your list

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feel very conflicted with this one. At times, this felt both realistic and magical. It read a little like a fable and I loved all the details about smalltown Amish life and this mysterious giant boy born into this private, religious Amish community. I loved the format of the novel and all the many POVs that recorded Gabriel's extraordinary life, most especially his grandmother's perspective; she was my favorite character.
But, I can't say I was enjoying the reading experience. At times, it felt disjointed to me and was overall a very melancholy book with a slow moving plot. However, a few weeks removed from the novel, and I am still thinking about it, so I do think it will be a story that stays with me and may increase my rating of it over time.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story well told based on the life of the tallest man to have ever lived. It starts with his birth where his weight was over 18 lbs and continues through his life. Much of it takes place in Wisconsin, where my roots remain. Rindo does a wonderful job at creating characters the reader can engage and root for. There is a strong Amish presence in this story. I grew a little tired of the reminding of their dictates but it was well used in the story. It is a well written story with great characters and I recommend it both on audio or print. I used both in my reading. It was most hard not to rush through but I tried to linger and just fall into the story. Rindo even lands the ending. Sending it to my sister soon. I'm sure she will love it too.

P.S. as a retired midwife I was enthralled with the birth scene.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life, and Death, and Giants is such a big-hearted coming-of-age story, centered on Gabriel—a boy of extraordinary size, born to Rachel, an Amish woman in Wisconsin. Rachel dies after giving birth to an 18 pound boy, delivered by the local veterinarian, Thomas. She never names the father. After another family tragedy, Gabriel goes to live with his grandparents, Hannah and Josiah. The story of Gabriel unfolds through several unforgettable characters —Hannah, Thomas, a tavern owner, and a football coach. It’s an unexpected mix, but it really works beautifully.

What surprised me most is how deeply you come to know Gabriel without ever hearing directly from him. Instead, we see of him through the people whose lives he changes—whether he’s impressing the town by hitting a baseball 200 feet at five years old or catching the eye of a college football coach. His physical capabilities are remarkable, but the emotional weight of the story comes from the way the community responds to him.

Ron Rindo treats the Amish community with care and respect, especially around issues of faith and the pushback Gabriel faces as he grows into talents that don’t neatly fit within their strict traditions. I didn’t know much about Amish life beyond the lack of electricity and cars, so the details here were fascinating without laying it on too thick. Hannah’s own crisis of faith becomes one of the most compelling threads, and I loved how it deepened the story for me.

There are even touches of the miraculous, woven in gently enough to feel believable within this world. I love how Rindo writes about nature and animals. Ultimately, this is a novel about an extraordinary life and the many ways one person can touch the lives around them. It’s tender, emotional, and surprisingly expansive, and I felt it in my heart. Highly recommend! 4.5 stars

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gabriel Fisher wasn't like any other boy. His huge birth size caused his mother's death. He ends up being the tallest man in the world. Despite his sheer strength and impressive size, he's a gentle giant.
He's got a special way of dealing with animals, so the local veterinarian, who also had delivered him, gets Gabriel to help him on his rounds.

Gabriel has Amish roots; he gets immersed in that community when he ends up living with his Amish maternal grandparents.

Gabriel's life is a puzzle solved through other narrators: Dr Kennedy, the veterinarian, Billy Walton, his coach, and through his lovely Amish grandmother, Hannah Fisher. They all have their own personal traumas, regrets, and sorrows. They all love Gabriel.

This is a novel that will make you feel deeply. The writing was beautifully evocative, the characters complex, interestingly, Gabriel was the simplest, least developed character.

"Life, and Death, and Giants" was such a beautiful, heart-warming, and, at times, heart-wrenching novel.

The audiobook narrators, Christina Moore, Will Damron, Roger Wayne, Johnny Heller, were all excellent.

[Scott Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really loved this… ESPECIALLY the ending… wow… the ending was 5 stars for sure. I think the meat of the story was very good, but at times seemed to drag for a short book, but do not be deterred… this is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that’s worth reading.

Gabriel was born to his Amish mother who dies during childbirth. Gabriel is very large… 18 pounds! And so begins his larger than life, both figuratively and literally! This book is told from the perspective of the people who know him. His grandmother, the local veterinarian who helped deliver him, and his old football coach. A beautiful story about the literal title of the book… a story about Life, Death, and Giants.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely beautiful book this was. Gabriel’s story is told in alternate chapters by those who love and care for him most. The support this community has for this special young boy was just so heartwarming. I loved the setting of Wisconsin, the Amish community, the author’s writing that will make you feel as if you’re right there with them. This book is quiet and gentle and one that will make you want to be a better human being.

“ Even when we have strayed far from the path, when our hearts burn with the fire of anger, or ache with the numbing cold of despair, when we are wallowing in the swamp of doubt, even when we feel forsaken, and none more deserving of it, we may discover the Lord has been with us all along.”

[Joy · Rating 0.25 out of 5]

As a Lancaster County, PA native, I thought this was atrocious. The first 25% was really good and I thought I was going to love this. But by the end, I decided this is what you’d get if the Brothers Grimm wrote a story about Amish people — a crazy dark fairytale where wildly unrealistic things occur and most of the characters are either all good or all evil. Repeat the part about wildly unrealistic things occurring.

Sadly, many people who read this are going to think some of this crazy-town representation of the Amish is correct (and that many Amish grandfathers commit incest, for instance, or that an Amish grandmother might go to a professional wrestling match, or that Amish people are so uneducated that they would tape shut a pregnant woman’s belly with duct tape, etc etc). But this thing was full-on crazy-town. Like the little “escape” Hannah had—in which she left her Amish husband and wore English clothes and lived with another man but then went back to her Amish husband?!!—it’s all part of the crazy dark fairytale aspect of this thing. It’s out of whack and completely unrealistic and I fear will wildly misinform people who don’t know any better.

I’m not wildly pro-Amish per se, but I hated the way this book ultimately portrayed them. And I don’t even know where to begin with Gabriel as a “giant”, pro wrestling as an Amish wrestler. What even was this book?! I just felt this whole thing was ridiculous and ultimately very offensive to Amish people.

I’m annoyed I read this, but it was a book group pick, and I had no idea what I was getting into. I would not recommend that anyone, anywhere, read this drivel.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

LIFE, & DEATH, & GIANTS
By Ron Rindo
Narrated by Christina Moore, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, and Will Damron

A Giant in So Many Ways—

4.5 stars (rounded up)

This was such a moving and emotionally satisfying read, with a gentle sprinkle of magical realism. The character development is exceptional. Sometimes a character—or several—nestles into my heart and stays there, and that’s exactly what happened with Gabriel, his grandmother, and Thomas the veterinarian.

Set in a rural Amish community in Wisconsin, this is the story of Gabriel, who is born weighing a whopping eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches long. After the deaths of his mother and brother, Gabriel moves in with his Amish grandparents. As he grows—both in size and in interests—his life begins to stretch beyond the boundaries of the Amish household. His presence impacts not only those in his community, but eventually the world beyond it.

The characters are real, layered, and flawed, making this an excellent choice for book club discussion. This is a story of faith, hope, values, family, love, secrets, and belonging.

The narration was flawless and captivating, truly enhancing the emotional depth of the story. Hannah, the grandmother, was the heart of the book for me, and Christina Moore’s performance was absolutely spot-on—bringing warmth and authenticity that made it easy to connect with her.

The writing is beautiful in its clarity and simplicity. Plot is secondary to emotional impact, and the pacing is unhurried and reflective. If you like stories that are thoughtful, character-driven, and emotionally resonant, then you will like this.