Suncatchers

Derby #1

by Jamie Langston Turner

Perry Warren is sent by his agent to South Carolina to research small-town Southerners. He expects to write an expose on how backward these people are, but then he meets the Rafferty family. Eldeen, the family matriarch, is an expansive woman whose belief is as big as her heart--and her family shows Perry what faith really is.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Contemporary, Novels, Southern, Ebooks

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Jamie Langston Turner is the award-winning author of seven novels, including Sometimes a Light Surprises, Winter Birds, and Some Wildflower in my Heart, and has been a teacher for more than forty years. She is currently a professor of poetry and creative writing at Bob Jones University. Jamie lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with her husband.

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a re-read for me, but I didn't realize it at first. As I got into it more I thought, hmmm, I think I've read this... and checked my goodreads list. Sure enough. But as a re-read, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Jamie Langston Turner is such a talented author. She doesn't whitewash Christianity, but rather confronts the bias that all of us hold toward humanity, evangelistic or no. Turner writes with humor and inserts situations into the plot to expose how often we can mistake our own perceptions and judge without truly knowing the full circumstances of a person's heart and life.

"Suncatchers" is a character-driven novel and as far as "Christian fiction" goes, cannot be put in the 'typical of Christian writing' box. The author does a clever job of keeping the reader guessing even in the parts that may be a bit predictable. Turner creatively exposes within the story and lives of the characters, the all-too-common stereotyping of Christian fundamentalist beliefs.

I so enjoyed reading this book! Perry, an established author, moves out of his home at the request of his disenchanted wife and is fortunate that his sister offers him a place to stay while she is away. His closest neighbors happen to be 'those fundamentalist Christians', and his agent wants him to write an expose of modern churches and their overzealous members. The problem is, the more his neighbors invite him into their lives, the more he finds he can identify with.

I loved the way the author does Eldeen, Perry's elderly neighbor:

"...she grabbed Perry's arm. "Oh, here it is right here! Turn in here!" She took hold of the steering wheel and gave it a strong yank to the right. Perry's heart lurched as the Toyota careened into the driveway of the bank, barely missing another car headed out. The other driver honked and shook his head. Eldeen waved. "That was Terrence Barnett, I think," she said. "His daughter teaches school with Jewel. She's the gym teacher and has the longest muscles I've ever seen on a woman. You should see her!"

Perry applied the brakes, and they jerked to a halt. Eldeen's purse slid off her lap onto the floor. "We've come in backwards," Perry said, looking at the three cars lined up facing them in the separate drive-in lanes."

Turner, I think, has done a great job of using the main character, Perry Warren, his marital, family and personal problems, and his objectivity, to reveal how modern society often both views and pokes fun at Christianity, while at the same time using real-life events to weave the common thread of humanity within us all.

"Perry wrote them all down, a whole list of depressing human burdens. He wondered as he was writing down the one about Grady's medical insurance being canceled whether it ever disturbed anybody in this church that this God they claimed to be so loving and so powerful allowed their lives to be so fraught with problems. He wondered how Jewel dealt with that, how she could reconcile the idea of a loving God with a God who had permitted her husband to die - perhaps even ordained it, if he understood the theology of these Christians."

The novel is a cleverly tongue-in-cheek attempt at writing about what it means to be a Christian and the various 'flavors' that church members have. Perry is constantly trying to find answers to his questions in this book and seemingly making no headway:

"He read over what he had just written. The sermon had been so simple, and Perry couldn't help marveling that he had been seated in the midst of over a hundred people who by all appearances truly believed life was this easy. Do this and this will happen. Push that domino and all the others will respond in swift, orderly succession. Be good and you'll be happy. Love God - how did you do that anyway? - and He will enfold you in His embrace. Love others as yourself - now there was a hefty assignment, or was it?"

This is not a novel that moves along with fast-paced action, although there are difficult events in the book (a visit to the emergency room, for example). It is a 'quiet' novel, much of it written to examine Perry's attempt at recording the lives of his neighbors, and the author is not afraid to ask questions that go unanswered (at least within the book itself). I enjoyed the quiet nature of the book and found myself wondering what conclusions Perry was going to make and whether he would make any changes in his personal life. A little lengthy near the end, I still highly recommend this one!

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is more about the life in a small Southern town surrounding a 150 member Christian church group than it is a heavily plotted action novel. It's filled with sweet and/or quirky characters who reflect and respond to their strong faith and good intent. The protagonist character who moves there for one year and studies the congregation for his non-fiction project? He was hard to take for that many pages, as he over-thinks in general, and in his most ordinary cognition, is close to entirely self-involved and nuclear (self being star and actor of every show) aware.

The characters who have pain, trouble, endless familial complications; most of them don't give out what they tend to get in return here. Which is totally refreshing for this reader. Faith matters toward actions too. This book postulates some of those situations and reasons why it also shines to a sharing.

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jamie Langston Turner, unlike most authors of CF, knows how to draw complex and interesting characters. Perry Warren is an ethnographer sent to observe (and disparage) a fundamentalist Christian community in South Carolina. He doesn't really know why his wife has asked for a divorce. As the story unfolds, he discovers that Christians aren't the lunatics he had supposed and finds healing for some of his many hurts. Turner does a wonderful job showing how weird church must be for first-timers. After the congregations sings about how Christ "saved a wretch like me," and died for "such a worm as I," I laughed out loud at Perry's observation that Christians do not have a very high opinion of themselves.

But to be honest, I did not love this book. Eldeen, the Christian dingbat, seemed like a caricature, and the preachiness was laid on pretty thick. I'm glad I read JLT's Winterbirds first, which is a much better novel.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a little slow in the beginning, but again I enjoyed the book

[Louise Leetch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really, really, really boring, tedious,tiresome, mind numbing. Too much fundamentalism for a book about an author who's supposed to write a book exposing fundamentalism. I'm happy for these people. They're so content in believing that Jesus is in charge of just about everything, including finding the right laundry detergent or dog. It's just too much like listening to the nuns in school who tied God into just about everything on earth; french, history, english, math. God didn't make Pythagoras formulate, he only gave him the tools. God didn't let Hitler kill millions, he gave him a free will to choose.
God may well be in charge of all that, I don't doubt it for a minute. But let's just not beat it to death. Believe what you like and shut up about it! Why do people think they have to "save" everyone. How dare they decide who is and is not saved. Who died and made them god? Just like missionaries of old and of new, why can't you leave people with the god they have always known. Who says your god is better than their god? Who says you have to pray in a circle and drop down on your knees everytime you want to pray. Don't you think god can hear you, can hear your thoughts? Prayer doesn't have to have form; it doesn't have to suck up to god before you ask what you want or thank him for something. God knows everything, including the hearts of people who are just full of it; talking to make a show of being holy when they're really horrible miserable excuses for humanity.
Subtlety will get you nowhere. I didn't like this book, I only kept reading it because I'm waiting for copies of two more books to review.

[Dodger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally, I would never want to read a book that's 90% self dialog, but somehow it just works in this story. It may work for me because I have many of the odd and random thoughts Perry has, and sometimes they take over my mind so much that I leave the present and lose my way just as he does.

This is a good book, and though it drags at times, it fits together perfectly similar to a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. This is the first book I've read by this author. I really liked it and definitely plan to read more of her books. If I enjoy them as much as I did this one, I'll be adding JLT to my list of favorite authors.

[Bethany Robinson-betts · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually give a book to a hundred pages to get my interest and decide on it. I only made it to 70. It just kept going on and on and not going any further in the progress of events

[Jocelyn Green]

Completely character-driven story, with lots and lots of interior reflection in the narrative. The pace was slower than what I'm usd to, which fits the small-town setting and the nature of the sociologist protagonist, whose minute and thorough observations definitely come through in the style and tone of the entire book, although it's written in third person, not first.

There is such a wide range of Christian fiction these days, from the clean story without any explicit spiritual content on one end, to a story whose whole plot revolves around the conversion of one of the characters. Suncatchers is a novel on that latter end of the spectrum. If you're looking for a contemporary story in which the Gospel is clearly demonstrated and explained, multiple times, this is for you. In that sense, it reminds of the novel Fly Away by Lynn Austin.

[Jeni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really get to know the characters in Ms. Turner's books, and this one is no exception. The people are so human, with quirks and foibles and failings, and yet they are likable and you can empathize with their struggles. They face real problems, unlike some Christian/inspirational "fluff" and they react like many people would, not with some over-spiritualized holiness. Her storytelling is not preachy or so message-laden that you lose sight of the story itself. If you enjoy well-written stories about people, you should enjoy this book.

[Margaret Chair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was was fantastic! It was not your average Christian fiction book. I loved the main character, Perry! I just loved the way his mind worked & found myself chuckling throughout the book at his observations. He is a writer - and I would tell you more, but truly you have to find out for yourself. A friend shared this book with me and I'm so glad that I decided to read it. Reading a second book by the same author. Highly recommend! Truly, I feel my faith & boldness for the Lord strengthened after finishing this book.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with the other reviewers who found this book slow and tedious. My husband laughed as I groaned and said Let me keep reading this snail-paced book. But there was something about it. I enjoyed the characters and stayed with the book because I wanted to be sure that all ended well. Yes, I may have received a little religion in the process, but, frankly, is that such a bad thing? If it had moved along at a better pace, it would have been a 5.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book by Jamie I had ever read. She writes with such beautiful prose. Her books are full of humor, hope, compassion, and love. She has such a way of writing that I reread some sentences several times just to ponder and be amazed. I hope, when I see Jesus in Heaven, the place He has prepared for me will have a bookcase full of her books so I can read them over and over again. I also hope she'll be able to continue writing for all eternity!

[Trish Boese · Rating 5 out of 5]

5* This story spoke to my heart and inspired me. At first I did not identify with Perry, the worldly main character, who sets out to observe and write a book about Christians. But when he darkens the door of a little Southern church, and the church service comes alive with hymns and people just like my own, I was hooked! I found the character cast irresistible. The author skillfully portrayed how they lived out what it means to be a Christian, and how Perry slowly began to understand.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book, I was not really sure about it because the author's writing style is so unique. The author creates such strong characters. This is her 1st book, and I recommend reading it 1st. Love the character Eldeen. As I read other books written by this author, it was a pleasant surprise to find her previous characters pop up when you least expect it.

[Kristie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised by this book. I needed a book to read while I was out to pick up my husband for work. I ran into a flea market and picked up this book for a buck. At first I was concerned, I had just finished a book about a rocky marriage and wasn't thrilled with the ending. But this book was amazing. If I could have another child I would name her Eldeen!

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Make sure you read this revised Bethany House edition, rather than the earlier Lion edition titled "The Suncatchers". She greatly improved the book, including the ending, when it was accepted by Bethany (after they published her second book, "Some Wildflower in My Heart." This book introduces the character Eldeen, who is a minor character in several later books. Unforgettable!

[Jill Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was,hard reading this one after Some Wildflower in my Heart (AMAZING BOOK!!!). It wasn't as good overall. but we did get a,glimpse of Birdie Freeman. this book was sweet, slow, with a happily ever after. sometimes we need more like that

dolly reading challenge 2015-- a book with a one word title.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the story line - a man moves to Derby to research a church for a new book and discovers true love. The relationships he makes in his neighborhood and church restore his hope in humankind, his life and his marriage. The book was a bit boring, though, and plodded along. Otherwise, it's a heartwarming story that tells the gospel without preaching.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man moves to a new place to study and write a book about a christian church and they end up teaching him a lot about how to treat people. The characters were nice people trying to do the right thing but they might drive you nuts in real life! Christian literature.

[Laurie Simmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the setting and supporting characters in this book, but I wanted a description about how Perry was feeling about his new choice instead of being left with the sense of "with knowledge comes responsibility". Jamie Langston Turner is a popular author, do her sequential books get better?

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good; I do like her writings. This one, as others have said about her writings, dragged occasionally, was perhaps a bit long, but overall was a solidly written book with a clear message of faith.

[Deborah Hambrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story.

I loved everything about this book. The characters, the way they were described. I felt like I knew them personally. I will recommend this book to everyone I know.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Jamie Langston Turner's character-driven books. Her characters are well-developed and it's easy to empathize with their motivations and desires. Her rambling, stream of consciousness story telling hits home with me, since that's how I think.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Turner's first novel kept me coming back for more. All of her novels are well written and memorable. I highly recommend her!

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised. I do not know this author, but she has WAY too much insight into the male ego for my comfort. Recommended

[Elaine]

Suncatchers (book, novel)
c. This one was okay – not as good as “Some Wildflower in my Heart” but better than “Winter Birds.”

gave to library

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will find and read more from this author.

[Cat]

Family read

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book; it was good.