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Intended for Harm
1971: Jake Abrams is desperate to leave his oppressive home in Colorado and begina new life in college in LA, but his dreams are waylaid when he meets Leah, an antiwar protester who pushes him into marriage and family. Through four decades Jake struggles to raise a family, facing tragedy and heartbreak, searching for meaning and faith and challenging a silent God as he wanders through his life.
Intended for Harm is a contemporary family saga set between 1971 to present day loosely derived from the biblical story of Jacob and his family. The title comes from Gen 50:20: “What you intended for harm, God intended for good—for the saving of life...”
Intended for Harm explores the depth of a heart that doubts, and how it finds its way home to a God who has never been absent. It delves into the theme of harm—how those suffering loss and unmet needs intend harm toward others, but can find redemption through grace and humility.
Written in a contemporary flash-fiction style, Intended for Harm civers forty years, each chapter a year, with a theme from a hit song for that year. Each scene is a fifteen-minute snapshot of the Abrams family, a "photo album" of Jake's life of wandering "through the wilderness" and coming home to faith at the end of his life. Anyone familiar with the Bible will recognize many similarities to the famous story of Jacob and his son Joseph. At the heart of this story is an exploration of fathers and sons, of loyalty and betrayal. And mostly, how we often intend harm to others because of wounds we carry in our souls, often without our knowing.
Intended for Harm is a contemporary family saga set between 1971 to present day loosely derived from the biblical story of Jacob and his family. The title comes from Gen 50:20: “What you intended for harm, God intended for good—for the saving of life...”
Intended for Harm explores the depth of a heart that doubts, and how it finds its way home to a God who has never been absent. It delves into the theme of harm—how those suffering loss and unmet needs intend harm toward others, but can find redemption through grace and humility.
Written in a contemporary flash-fiction style, Intended for Harm civers forty years, each chapter a year, with a theme from a hit song for that year. Each scene is a fifteen-minute snapshot of the Abrams family, a "photo album" of Jake's life of wandering "through the wilderness" and coming home to faith at the end of his life. Anyone familiar with the Bible will recognize many similarities to the famous story of Jacob and his son Joseph. At the heart of this story is an exploration of fathers and sons, of loyalty and betrayal. And mostly, how we often intend harm to others because of wounds we carry in our souls, often without our knowing.
490 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2012
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July 7, 2012
Read my entire review here.
My husband caught me sniffling at my Kindle last night. Intended for Harm is that kind of book. You can read the prologue here.
Jake Abrams leaves Colorado and his brusk and off-putting father Isaac, his outdoorsman twin brother Ethan, and his long-suffering mother Rebecca to head off to college at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. Literally, as soon as he gets off the bus, he meets passionate Leah, a free-spirited war protester who sweeps the country boy off his feet, and before he can say "dropped class" he finds himself pressured into marriage and struggling to make the ends of both time and money meet.
Leah constantly berates Jake for not following what she thinks his dreams should be. However, his dream of a college education and her pathological need to be pregnant have collided, and Jake finds himself the father of Reuben, Simon, Levi and Dinah all within five years of marriage. College has fallen by the wayside. Jake works first in a door-making workshop and then a home improvement warehouse to make ends meet, and things could not be worse at home.
Although Reuben, their eldest, is born healthy and strong, Leah's postpartum depression turns her to alcohol, and Simon is born with symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. While Jake struggles to work during the day and do housework at night, Leah swings more wildly between the euphoria of pregnancy and postpartum depression, with both Levi and Dinah, scarcely ten months apart, revealing the ravages of prenatal drug abuse.
Leah's mental illness results in her abandoning her family in increasing increments until, with Dinah still a baby, she walks out on them altogether, never to return. Ms. Lakin explores the devastation Leah leaves in her wake, Jake's withdrawal into himself as tragedy after tragedy assault his very will to live, Rachel, his second wife's struggle to shoulder the burden of motherhood for his trouble children, Reuben's striving to be the perfect son, and Simon's bitter resentment which festers into burning hatred which drags himself and Levi into the same alcohol and drug abuse which beset Leah and nearly destroys their lives.
Despite the long cast of Leah's shadow, Jake and Rachel rejoice in their son Joseph, a blessing they must not replicate due to Rachel's difficult pregnancy and the pre-eclampsia which threatened her life. However, the inevitable happens, Jake's world is shattered, and he is left with six motherless children for whom he must somehow provide. He slips into autopilot to survive one day to the next.
Joseph shines as the one bright spot in his bleak and desolate world. Free of all the grief and guilt associated with Leah, unmarred with Rachel's death as is baby Ben, Jake treasures and pampers Joseph, a recipe for disaster. When Dinah is sexually assaulted and Simon and Levi take matters into their own hands in a doped-up rage, when Joseph can no longer live with the terrible secret his family conceals, matters come to a head and Jake suffers the loss from which none believe he will ever truly recover.
With the skill of Orson Scott Card and her own inimitable style, C.S. Lakin possesses the insight to understand these near-legends whose stories are anchored in the foundations of American society. She introduces the reader to real people in heart-rending situations and illustrates their characters, their motivations and their fears.
Like Card, she embraces the lexicon of her faith, reinvents their stories, translates them for a contemporary audience and makes them relevant to the here and now. True to life, she jumbles up the good and the bad in each character, giving them redemptive qualities and sympathetic points of view in addition to their flaws. She withholds judgment. She sheds light, infuses life, and pulls our heroes into our reach.
Intended for Harm is a story of forgiveness, redemption, and God's grace. Jake's quest for God, a forty-year epoch journey, comprises its central theme. As the biblical Jacob wandered in the wilderness, Jake roams aimlessly through the desolation of his life without rudder or sail, seeking without finding until he at last allows himself God's love.
As Jacob wrestled with God's angel and demanded a blessing, Jake wrestles with his faith, unwilling or unable to accept a god who allows such tragedies to happen. Eventually, unable to deny what he sees with his own eyes, he allows himself to admit there is a God who has blessed Joseph with the power to perform miracles. However, he cannot see himself as regarded or even known, let alone loved. His anger with God continues his banishment, and not until he allows himself to see the "blessing amidst the storm" can he truly come home.
Although she embraces religious themes, C.S. Lakin shuns the pedantic and overwrought. Rather than mount a soapbox, she reveals spiritual journeys more potent and important to her characters than any other they experience. She writes powerfully with the voice of personal knowledge. Her words speak heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul universal truths which transcend the fractures of denomination and organized religion.
Intended for Harm works its way through long bleak years rife with bitterness, anger and strife. Moments of happiness come few and far between and provide the reader little relief. Those accustomed to the typical "feel-good" Christian fiction fare may fail to appreciate the more difficult passages of this book and the grittier side of life Ms. Lakin chooses to portray.
The reader should be aware of a rape scene, a violent murder and all the trappings of teenagers caught up in drug and alcohol abuse, including theft, drug-dealing and illicit sex. Leah's struggle with mental illness includes adultery. However, CS Lakin guides Jake's journey from darkness into light with a deft hand, and manages to convey the stark realism of these situations without assaulting the reader with the coarse and crass.
Bottom line: Intended for Harm delivers dead-on reality skillfully merged with the less tangible but equally concrete world of faith in a manner appealing to her broad base of readers. I highly recommend this book.
My husband caught me sniffling at my Kindle last night. Intended for Harm is that kind of book. You can read the prologue here.
Jake Abrams leaves Colorado and his brusk and off-putting father Isaac, his outdoorsman twin brother Ethan, and his long-suffering mother Rebecca to head off to college at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. Literally, as soon as he gets off the bus, he meets passionate Leah, a free-spirited war protester who sweeps the country boy off his feet, and before he can say "dropped class" he finds himself pressured into marriage and struggling to make the ends of both time and money meet.
Leah constantly berates Jake for not following what she thinks his dreams should be. However, his dream of a college education and her pathological need to be pregnant have collided, and Jake finds himself the father of Reuben, Simon, Levi and Dinah all within five years of marriage. College has fallen by the wayside. Jake works first in a door-making workshop and then a home improvement warehouse to make ends meet, and things could not be worse at home.
Although Reuben, their eldest, is born healthy and strong, Leah's postpartum depression turns her to alcohol, and Simon is born with symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. While Jake struggles to work during the day and do housework at night, Leah swings more wildly between the euphoria of pregnancy and postpartum depression, with both Levi and Dinah, scarcely ten months apart, revealing the ravages of prenatal drug abuse.
Leah's mental illness results in her abandoning her family in increasing increments until, with Dinah still a baby, she walks out on them altogether, never to return. Ms. Lakin explores the devastation Leah leaves in her wake, Jake's withdrawal into himself as tragedy after tragedy assault his very will to live, Rachel, his second wife's struggle to shoulder the burden of motherhood for his trouble children, Reuben's striving to be the perfect son, and Simon's bitter resentment which festers into burning hatred which drags himself and Levi into the same alcohol and drug abuse which beset Leah and nearly destroys their lives.
Despite the long cast of Leah's shadow, Jake and Rachel rejoice in their son Joseph, a blessing they must not replicate due to Rachel's difficult pregnancy and the pre-eclampsia which threatened her life. However, the inevitable happens, Jake's world is shattered, and he is left with six motherless children for whom he must somehow provide. He slips into autopilot to survive one day to the next.
Joseph shines as the one bright spot in his bleak and desolate world. Free of all the grief and guilt associated with Leah, unmarred with Rachel's death as is baby Ben, Jake treasures and pampers Joseph, a recipe for disaster. When Dinah is sexually assaulted and Simon and Levi take matters into their own hands in a doped-up rage, when Joseph can no longer live with the terrible secret his family conceals, matters come to a head and Jake suffers the loss from which none believe he will ever truly recover.
With the skill of Orson Scott Card and her own inimitable style, C.S. Lakin possesses the insight to understand these near-legends whose stories are anchored in the foundations of American society. She introduces the reader to real people in heart-rending situations and illustrates their characters, their motivations and their fears.
Like Card, she embraces the lexicon of her faith, reinvents their stories, translates them for a contemporary audience and makes them relevant to the here and now. True to life, she jumbles up the good and the bad in each character, giving them redemptive qualities and sympathetic points of view in addition to their flaws. She withholds judgment. She sheds light, infuses life, and pulls our heroes into our reach.
Intended for Harm is a story of forgiveness, redemption, and God's grace. Jake's quest for God, a forty-year epoch journey, comprises its central theme. As the biblical Jacob wandered in the wilderness, Jake roams aimlessly through the desolation of his life without rudder or sail, seeking without finding until he at last allows himself God's love.
As Jacob wrestled with God's angel and demanded a blessing, Jake wrestles with his faith, unwilling or unable to accept a god who allows such tragedies to happen. Eventually, unable to deny what he sees with his own eyes, he allows himself to admit there is a God who has blessed Joseph with the power to perform miracles. However, he cannot see himself as regarded or even known, let alone loved. His anger with God continues his banishment, and not until he allows himself to see the "blessing amidst the storm" can he truly come home.
Although she embraces religious themes, C.S. Lakin shuns the pedantic and overwrought. Rather than mount a soapbox, she reveals spiritual journeys more potent and important to her characters than any other they experience. She writes powerfully with the voice of personal knowledge. Her words speak heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul universal truths which transcend the fractures of denomination and organized religion.
Intended for Harm works its way through long bleak years rife with bitterness, anger and strife. Moments of happiness come few and far between and provide the reader little relief. Those accustomed to the typical "feel-good" Christian fiction fare may fail to appreciate the more difficult passages of this book and the grittier side of life Ms. Lakin chooses to portray.
The reader should be aware of a rape scene, a violent murder and all the trappings of teenagers caught up in drug and alcohol abuse, including theft, drug-dealing and illicit sex. Leah's struggle with mental illness includes adultery. However, CS Lakin guides Jake's journey from darkness into light with a deft hand, and manages to convey the stark realism of these situations without assaulting the reader with the coarse and crass.
Bottom line: Intended for Harm delivers dead-on reality skillfully merged with the less tangible but equally concrete world of faith in a manner appealing to her broad base of readers. I highly recommend this book.
November 26, 2023
Was an okay story, some parts for me, were a bit slow, the end seemed rushed, but overall a nice retelling of Joseph's story...
April 18, 2018
Intended for Harm is a modern retelling of the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, one of my favorite stories in the Bible. As always in the retelling of a story, details are changed. This is a complex, generational story.
In the Bible, Isaac had twin sons, Jacob and Esau. He favored Esau, and his wife, Rebekah, loved Jacob.
In Intended for Harm, Isaac Abrams also had twin sons, Jake and Ethan. Ethan, his father’s favorite, stayed home to help run the family business. Jake left Colorado for UCLA after saving all his earnings for five years.
The Biblical Jacob fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Rachel. He agreed to work for her father for seven years in exchange for her hand in marriage. But the morning after his wedding, he discovered the woman behind the veil was Leah, Rachel’s older (and plainer) sister. When confronted, her father promises Rachel, too, for another seven years’ work.
In Intended for Harm, Jake meets a young woman named Leah as soon as he gets off the bus in Los Angeles. Leah is a poet, a musician, a free spirit, and a manic depressive. Jake falls in love with her, and they soon marry.
The Biblical Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter; with his wife Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah; with Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant: Dan and Naphtali; with Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant: Gad and Asher; and with his wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. The twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.
In Intended for Harm, Jake and Leah have four children in rapid succession: Reuben, Simon, Levi, and Dinah. Then Leah runs off with her band to go on tour, and she never returns, but sends Jake divorce papers.
Jake struggles to raise the kids on his own; the kids are damaged by their mother’s abandonment. Then Jake meets Rachel, who steps in to help him with the children. He needs her desperately, and they fall in love and get married. Soon, Rachel has a son, Joey, the apple of her eye. It’s a difficult birth, and she’s warned a second pregnancy would likely kill her, but she becomes pregnant again, and dies before giving birth to Ben.
In both stories, Joseph (Joey) tells his brothers he has dreams about his brothers bowing to him. In both stories, the brothers hate him.
In Intended for Harm, Joseph also seems to have a miraculous gift of healing, which he recognizes is not his own power, but God working through him. As a small child, he heals a crushed butterfly, and later his father, but when his mother collapses toward the end of her pregnancy, he is unable to help her, and he suffers from sorrow, failure, and guilt. When Ben is diagnosed with a serious kidney ailment, he knows his life’s purpose is to save his brother’s life.
Not to spoil the whole book for you, I’ll just say there are more parallels between the Bible story and Lakin’s book, but the final climaxes are quite different. Lakin weaves faith into some of the characters, while others have no use for God at all. The title of her book comes right out of the Biblical story.
I found the story interesting, but the characters’ musings got repetitive after a while. I’d give it 3 stars out of five.
In the Bible, Isaac had twin sons, Jacob and Esau. He favored Esau, and his wife, Rebekah, loved Jacob.
In Intended for Harm, Isaac Abrams also had twin sons, Jake and Ethan. Ethan, his father’s favorite, stayed home to help run the family business. Jake left Colorado for UCLA after saving all his earnings for five years.
The Biblical Jacob fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Rachel. He agreed to work for her father for seven years in exchange for her hand in marriage. But the morning after his wedding, he discovered the woman behind the veil was Leah, Rachel’s older (and plainer) sister. When confronted, her father promises Rachel, too, for another seven years’ work.
In Intended for Harm, Jake meets a young woman named Leah as soon as he gets off the bus in Los Angeles. Leah is a poet, a musician, a free spirit, and a manic depressive. Jake falls in love with her, and they soon marry.
The Biblical Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter; with his wife Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah; with Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant: Dan and Naphtali; with Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant: Gad and Asher; and with his wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. The twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.
In Intended for Harm, Jake and Leah have four children in rapid succession: Reuben, Simon, Levi, and Dinah. Then Leah runs off with her band to go on tour, and she never returns, but sends Jake divorce papers.
Jake struggles to raise the kids on his own; the kids are damaged by their mother’s abandonment. Then Jake meets Rachel, who steps in to help him with the children. He needs her desperately, and they fall in love and get married. Soon, Rachel has a son, Joey, the apple of her eye. It’s a difficult birth, and she’s warned a second pregnancy would likely kill her, but she becomes pregnant again, and dies before giving birth to Ben.
In both stories, Joseph (Joey) tells his brothers he has dreams about his brothers bowing to him. In both stories, the brothers hate him.
In Intended for Harm, Joseph also seems to have a miraculous gift of healing, which he recognizes is not his own power, but God working through him. As a small child, he heals a crushed butterfly, and later his father, but when his mother collapses toward the end of her pregnancy, he is unable to help her, and he suffers from sorrow, failure, and guilt. When Ben is diagnosed with a serious kidney ailment, he knows his life’s purpose is to save his brother’s life.
Not to spoil the whole book for you, I’ll just say there are more parallels between the Bible story and Lakin’s book, but the final climaxes are quite different. Lakin weaves faith into some of the characters, while others have no use for God at all. The title of her book comes right out of the Biblical story.
I found the story interesting, but the characters’ musings got repetitive after a while. I’d give it 3 stars out of five.
January 17, 2016
Author: C.S. Larkin
Published by: CSL
Age Recommend: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Raven Rating: 5
Blog Review For: GMTA
Review:
"Intended For Harm" by C.S. Larkin a very interesting long read that you will recognize as it is similar to the story in the Bible of Jacob /Joseph and his brothers. The title is coming from Genesis 50:20 "What you intended for harm, God intended for good ....for the saving of life"........ Ms. Larkins' did a wonderful job in her storytelling. Be ready for a story of a very emotionally intense adventure that will leave you saying WoW! That was very gifted and creative storytelling.... that is of fathers and sons loyalty and disloyalty.
The author tells this captivating story skillfully with Jake Abrams and his family over a range of forty years starting in the year of 1971 in Colorado and them we move on to LA. I loved the way the author of "Intended For Harm" is written with each chapter a year that has a theme from the hit tune of that year and these songs are really off the chart GOOD!
Truly, over these 40 years there is a lots of roaming ...'through the wilderness' and finally in the end.... coming back home where their is forgiveness, mercy, love, repentance, redemption ... results being a family that has been reunited.
The characters are very colorful and intriguing....Jake, Issac Abrams, Ethan, Leah, Rachel, Reuben, Simon Levi, Dinah, Aunt Abby, Joey, Ben, Mosey, and Rachel ...and I am sure someone I have left out. The best and the worst are really brought out in many of these characters bringing out how we can and should love each other and not judge.
"Intended For Harm" deals with a family breakdown...... illness with drugs and alcohol, and depression, hate, jealousy rape, murder and then there is a healing that will come for this family. You will just have to pick up the good read to find out just how this story is able begin this healing process.
"Intended For Harm" was truly of a family in the need of help from God through the healing power of forgiveness and in the end doing what is right. This novel was very beautifully written and I would definitely recommend this as a excellent read
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
Published by: CSL
Age Recommend: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Raven Rating: 5
Blog Review For: GMTA
Review:
"Intended For Harm" by C.S. Larkin a very interesting long read that you will recognize as it is similar to the story in the Bible of Jacob /Joseph and his brothers. The title is coming from Genesis 50:20 "What you intended for harm, God intended for good ....for the saving of life"........ Ms. Larkins' did a wonderful job in her storytelling. Be ready for a story of a very emotionally intense adventure that will leave you saying WoW! That was very gifted and creative storytelling.... that is of fathers and sons loyalty and disloyalty.
The author tells this captivating story skillfully with Jake Abrams and his family over a range of forty years starting in the year of 1971 in Colorado and them we move on to LA. I loved the way the author of "Intended For Harm" is written with each chapter a year that has a theme from the hit tune of that year and these songs are really off the chart GOOD!
Truly, over these 40 years there is a lots of roaming ...'through the wilderness' and finally in the end.... coming back home where their is forgiveness, mercy, love, repentance, redemption ... results being a family that has been reunited.
The characters are very colorful and intriguing....Jake, Issac Abrams, Ethan, Leah, Rachel, Reuben, Simon Levi, Dinah, Aunt Abby, Joey, Ben, Mosey, and Rachel ...and I am sure someone I have left out. The best and the worst are really brought out in many of these characters bringing out how we can and should love each other and not judge.
"Intended For Harm" deals with a family breakdown...... illness with drugs and alcohol, and depression, hate, jealousy rape, murder and then there is a healing that will come for this family. You will just have to pick up the good read to find out just how this story is able begin this healing process.
"Intended For Harm" was truly of a family in the need of help from God through the healing power of forgiveness and in the end doing what is right. This novel was very beautifully written and I would definitely recommend this as a excellent read
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
May 1, 2012
Oh my gosh! How to explain what I think about this book... I almost didn't read it after reading the first several pages because it seemed like nothing made sense, but then it got better and I decided to carry on reading it! Had I not read this at a time in my own life where I was going through a melancholy stage, it might not have seemed so intense and sad and even disturbing... it just seems like one tragedy after another... so depressing for me that I had to stop reading it and take a few weeks break. (It was due to my own emotional state at the time - the book itself wasn't extreme in any one part - it was more the continual flow of sadness and tragedy that evenutally got too much for me at a time when I probably should have been reading something uplifting.) HOWEVER the last part of the book took a turn away from so much pain and tragedy and I found it less disturbing to read! It was a fantastic ending and I shed tears as I read it. I loved the way the characters lives and names paralleled in many ways to the true story of lives in the Bible... that was VERY INTERESTING and will help me to remember the events of the Bible 'stories' even better! I would recommend this book only if you are not overly sensitive to hurts and pains of others to the point that it disturbs or depresses you as it did me (but as I said before, I read this at a time when I was already feeling low/down)... and even if you are, the ending shows God's redemption and plan and will fill you with such joy/good emotions that you could only experience after having read all the sad, tragic, painful parts! God it breaks my heart to think that there are families out there like the Abrams! But thank God we have unconditional love and forgiveness in HIM and that he can wipe away all the hurt and guilt... if we'll let Him! You know... I guess it's a pretty well written book that can cause so much pain you have to quit reading it for a while... so I chose to give it 3 stars. Not because I 'liked' (or enjoyed) what I read (I did enjoy the ending and a few parts before that I won't mention) but because it was so moving... isn't that what a good book is about?!
Read
August 27, 2012At the height of the Vietnam War in 1971, Jake Abrams is desperate to leave his oppressive home in Colorado and begin a new life in college in LA, but his dreams are waylaid when he meets Leah, an antiwar protester who pushes him into marriage and family. Jake tries to juggle school, his job, and raising four children, but Leah turns to drugs and drinking, and finally runs off with her rock band, leaving Jake reeling.
When he falls for Rachel and marries her, his children rebel. And when Joseph, their love child is born, Jake makes the same fatal mistake his own father did--he shows favoritism to this divinely gifted boy who has the power of healing. After Rachel dies in childbirth, bringing Ben into the world, Jake turns his back on God and buried himself in denial. His children are wild weeds, and as they grow, the older sons' resentment of Joseph's gifts fester until they can take it no longer. The family hides a dark secret of murder, which Joey threatens to spill out of righteous indignation and fear of God, and the only way to stop him is to kill him. The intend harm for him, but God has other plans for Joseph, and in a divinely orchestrated twist, years later Joseph confronts his brothers, who do not recognize him. True to the Bible story this is patterned after, Joseph is reunited with his estranged brothers, and Jake finally welcomes his long-lost son back into his arms, which brings closure and healing to his hurting family.
Written in a contemporary flash-fiction style, Intended for Harm covers forty years, each chapter a year, with a theme from a hit song for that year. Each scene is a fifteen-minute snapshot of the Abrams family, a "photo album" of Jake's life of wandering "through the wilderness" and coming home to faith at the end of his life. Anyone familiar with the Bible will recognize many similarities to the famous story of Jacob and his son Joseph. At the heart of this story is an exploration of fathers and sons, of loyalty and betrayal. And mostly, how we often intend harm to others because of wounds we carry in our souls, often without our knowing.
When he falls for Rachel and marries her, his children rebel. And when Joseph, their love child is born, Jake makes the same fatal mistake his own father did--he shows favoritism to this divinely gifted boy who has the power of healing. After Rachel dies in childbirth, bringing Ben into the world, Jake turns his back on God and buried himself in denial. His children are wild weeds, and as they grow, the older sons' resentment of Joseph's gifts fester until they can take it no longer. The family hides a dark secret of murder, which Joey threatens to spill out of righteous indignation and fear of God, and the only way to stop him is to kill him. The intend harm for him, but God has other plans for Joseph, and in a divinely orchestrated twist, years later Joseph confronts his brothers, who do not recognize him. True to the Bible story this is patterned after, Joseph is reunited with his estranged brothers, and Jake finally welcomes his long-lost son back into his arms, which brings closure and healing to his hurting family.
Written in a contemporary flash-fiction style, Intended for Harm covers forty years, each chapter a year, with a theme from a hit song for that year. Each scene is a fifteen-minute snapshot of the Abrams family, a "photo album" of Jake's life of wandering "through the wilderness" and coming home to faith at the end of his life. Anyone familiar with the Bible will recognize many similarities to the famous story of Jacob and his son Joseph. At the heart of this story is an exploration of fathers and sons, of loyalty and betrayal. And mostly, how we often intend harm to others because of wounds we carry in our souls, often without our knowing.
December 5, 2012
This is the second novel of C.S. Lakin’s that I’ve read, and I’m truly intrigued by her writing style. Once again, she kept me guessing about what would happen to the characters. The title is a bit misleading, but in a good way. Originally, with the name ‘Intended for Harm’, I assumed it would be a gripping, nail biting suspense novel about someone who eventually ‘gets what is coming to them’. What I ended up reading was an incredibly heart warming story about a family plagued with pain, despair and heartache from beginning to end.
The reader’s heart just bleeds for the main character, Jake, who has seemingly bad luck from the moment he is born. Until he leaves his parent’s home, he is abused, both physically and emotionally by his father and older brother. Then, after meeting his to be wife, he enjoys a few moments of sheer joy, only to be put through every possible human suffering from death, illness, deception, abandonment; the list goes on and on.
The strength in Lakin’s characters is the forefront of the story. Jake is introduced to God through his second wife. He struggles with his religious beliefs simply because he has been through so much. You hear him ask himself many times throughout the story, “If there is a God, why do I have to suffer through this?” The reader can relate to his cynicism as we follow him through challenges with his family, his children and himself.
While it is a lengthy novel, it is imperative that the reader feels a sense of how far Jake has come. By the end of the story, Jake has not only realigned his faith, but he also self actualizes and becomes reunited with a part of his life he thought was long gone. As a reader, I needed to see that in order to feel closure for Jake. Otherwise the story would’ve been incomplete in my opinion.
It was a very well written novel in that there isn’t a lot of dialogue, but the reader is carried through the characters thoughts in a unique way, that is both stimulating and poignant.
The reader’s heart just bleeds for the main character, Jake, who has seemingly bad luck from the moment he is born. Until he leaves his parent’s home, he is abused, both physically and emotionally by his father and older brother. Then, after meeting his to be wife, he enjoys a few moments of sheer joy, only to be put through every possible human suffering from death, illness, deception, abandonment; the list goes on and on.
The strength in Lakin’s characters is the forefront of the story. Jake is introduced to God through his second wife. He struggles with his religious beliefs simply because he has been through so much. You hear him ask himself many times throughout the story, “If there is a God, why do I have to suffer through this?” The reader can relate to his cynicism as we follow him through challenges with his family, his children and himself.
While it is a lengthy novel, it is imperative that the reader feels a sense of how far Jake has come. By the end of the story, Jake has not only realigned his faith, but he also self actualizes and becomes reunited with a part of his life he thought was long gone. As a reader, I needed to see that in order to feel closure for Jake. Otherwise the story would’ve been incomplete in my opinion.
It was a very well written novel in that there isn’t a lot of dialogue, but the reader is carried through the characters thoughts in a unique way, that is both stimulating and poignant.
June 25, 2012
C.S. Lakin sets each chapter of her novel Intended for Harm to popular music and lyrics from the 1970s onward, making the story sing. A modern-day allegory of the Biblical tale of Jacob, the writing is beautifully musical and the characters are depicted with depth and honesty.
This isn’t just a retelling of the Biblical tale. Events are changed and the setting is very real. from rural Colorado to inner-city Los Angeles. Jake/Jacob is a pleasant young man who readers will long to save as his trials increase. When reminders of the Biblical story appear, they lend a sense of direction and hope, lifting the novel above the family's struggles into the realms of possible redemption.
Touches of magic in the person of Joseph, the perfect son, blend with sincere faith and longing in the prayers of Rachel for her spouse. The story includes several discussions on the nature of faith and God but they never feel long or preachy or out of place because the characters have already become so real.
With the Biblical tale foreshadowing disaster, and Biblical faith foreshadowing hope, C.S. Lakin’s novel blends religion and reality, sin and forgiveness, mistakes and healing, into a thoroughly human and pleasing novel of redemption and trust where even those named for the greatest of believersstill have much to learn.
Disclosure: I was lucky enough to find a free ecopy of this novel. It’s one I’d definitely consider buying in paperback to share with friends and family.
This isn’t just a retelling of the Biblical tale. Events are changed and the setting is very real. from rural Colorado to inner-city Los Angeles. Jake/Jacob is a pleasant young man who readers will long to save as his trials increase. When reminders of the Biblical story appear, they lend a sense of direction and hope, lifting the novel above the family's struggles into the realms of possible redemption.
Touches of magic in the person of Joseph, the perfect son, blend with sincere faith and longing in the prayers of Rachel for her spouse. The story includes several discussions on the nature of faith and God but they never feel long or preachy or out of place because the characters have already become so real.
With the Biblical tale foreshadowing disaster, and Biblical faith foreshadowing hope, C.S. Lakin’s novel blends religion and reality, sin and forgiveness, mistakes and healing, into a thoroughly human and pleasing novel of redemption and trust where even those named for the greatest of believersstill have much to learn.
Disclosure: I was lucky enough to find a free ecopy of this novel. It’s one I’d definitely consider buying in paperback to share with friends and family.
September 18, 2015
Intended for Harm by C.S. Lakin covers the life of Jake Abrams over a period of forty years. While the writing is eloquent and expressive, the book is not without its flaws. The first part deals with Jake's marriage to Leah, a woman prone to depression and who loves being pregnant more than caring for her children. After Leah abandons her husband and four children, Jake marries Rachel and has another two children. During this second portion of the book, the Biblical overtones become a bit heavy-handed, even understanding that the novel loosely follows the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers. The middle of the book seems overly long in contrast to the end, which seems to wham-bam want to wrap things up too quickly without dwelling fully exploring the feelings of Joseph and his relationship with his family, particularly his brothers. The chapter titles are hit songs from the year in which each chapter occurs. While early in the work, there is some interspersion of lyrics with the writing, this fades quickly leaving the reader wondering why the theme wasn’t fully carried through the book.
I have to admit I don't like reading "inspirational" or "Christian" books and probably would not have started this one, knowing it was a retelling of a Biblical story. However, the writing was lovely, and I found I couldn't put the book down.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
I have to admit I don't like reading "inspirational" or "Christian" books and probably would not have started this one, knowing it was a retelling of a Biblical story. However, the writing was lovely, and I found I couldn't put the book down.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
September 20, 2013
This is an interesting book from so many angles. I purchased it after reading a blurb about it in a ARC of the author's writing-craft book, but then put off reading it for some time, just because of the sheer length of the book. But Lakin's handling of the material within this lengthy family saga is one of the most brilliant things about it. She approaches a timeline of about forty years by breaking the story down into bite-size chunks. Each scene covers roughly fifteen minutes in the family's life, from the point of view of one character or another. The technique creates snappy little episodes that keep the story afloat at all times, without at all lending itself to an episodic feel.
As for the story itself, Lakin's created a compelling modern take on the Biblical story of Jacob and his sons. Aside from just the general fun of following along with a well-known story and waiting for certain events to occur, it was interesting to look at the story through the new light of a modern setting. Although I'm curious about some of the choices the author made as far as additions or subtractions from the source story, I found the book as a whole compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking.
As for the story itself, Lakin's created a compelling modern take on the Biblical story of Jacob and his sons. Aside from just the general fun of following along with a well-known story and waiting for certain events to occur, it was interesting to look at the story through the new light of a modern setting. Although I'm curious about some of the choices the author made as far as additions or subtractions from the source story, I found the book as a whole compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking.
December 20, 2012
Intended for Harm is beautifully written, packed with poetic language, with lyrical descriptions of situations and emotional states. It is also packed with unforgettable characters that are placed in impossible and heart-wrenching situations. The heart of the story is the final communion with God of the main character, and the redemption of two of his sons. From the appearance of Jake’s second wife, Rachel, who could hardly be more different to his first wife Leah, God seems to become a character in the story, manifesting itself in the gift bestowed upon their child Joey. Joey, like Joseph in the Bible, has prophetic dreams and is left for dead. Eventually he is in a position to save his whole family and forgive them for their cruelty. I am not a reader of Christian Fiction usually, and at times the discussions about God’s role in the world, fate, human will…I felt detracted somewhat from the other aspects of the story. On the other hand, although the ending was hardly surprising, I could not help feeling touched and emotional about it.
This is not an easy and quick read, but it will make you reflect and pull at your heartstrings.
This is not an easy and quick read, but it will make you reflect and pull at your heartstrings.
October 15, 2012
This is the first book I've read by C.S. Lakin but it certainly won't be the last. Her writing is richly descriptive without bogging down the story. I loved the well-drawn characters and found myself thinking about the story as I went about my day. With a modern day setting beginning in the sixties, the framework of this tale is the Biblical story of Joseph, his father Jacob, and his brothers. Lakin begins with Jacob leaving his family's home in Colorado for California. As a writer myself, I kept wondering how Lakin would develop this story in a modern setting. It is well done. Perhaps this saga could have been in two volumes. Although the story is full of detail, I felt some scenes could have had more follow up, instead of jumping to another time and place. However, it is always a plus when a reader longs for more not less.
March 10, 2013
I've attempted three times to expand on my previous rating and have failed each time. The bottom line is that while I understand this to be an allegory, it is based on the biblical narrative of Jacob.
The best fiction will always have some factual basis from which to grow. That foundation is essential in order for a believable structure to be built.
While C.S. Lakin does a fairly good job with the story, I believe she has taken too much liberty in this book. If the reader has no prior knowledge of the biblical narrative, this book could be read in its entirety and be none the wiser. The names of her characters are similar, but that is where the similarities end.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this book due to the worldly nature of the story. Too much reference to drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and murder to be based in the Word of God.
The best fiction will always have some factual basis from which to grow. That foundation is essential in order for a believable structure to be built.
While C.S. Lakin does a fairly good job with the story, I believe she has taken too much liberty in this book. If the reader has no prior knowledge of the biblical narrative, this book could be read in its entirety and be none the wiser. The names of her characters are similar, but that is where the similarities end.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this book due to the worldly nature of the story. Too much reference to drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and murder to be based in the Word of God.
October 24, 2012
It has been years since I have read this type of book however once I started reading, I couldn't stop. It was a very modern take on an old bible story with a message about love, forgiveness and faith which needs to be told and retold. I will definitely be checking out the author's other work.
Marianne Curtis
Author of Finding Gloria
Marianne Curtis
Author of Finding Gloria
May 6, 2014
A story about family and all the strikes against them. Alittle paranormal thrown in there too. I liked the parts of the story showing the family members struggles and feelings. I was frustrated with Jake (dad) for being so blasé throughout his whole life. Some chapters got way too religious for me and I wound up skimming through the wordage. 3 1/2-4 stars.
May 11, 2014
This book was a complete diversion to the type of books I typically read. I am sorry to say it was like cotton candy to me. Easy to eat, with no nutritional value. She has some creativity in her craft turning the biblical story of Jacob into a contemporary yarn. But it just wasn't satisfying because I felt so guilty reading it.
December 3, 2012
It was an interesting story, paralleling the story of Joseph and his brothers from the Bible. Much more graphic than i had ever thought of a Christian novel. It did keep me wanting to finish the book.
July 9, 2014
This book started off rediculously...it seemed so pretentious and over written. I'm glad I stuck with it (even thought the terrible editing was very distracting) because I eventually connected with the characters and appreciated the connection to the biblical story of Jacob.
October 29, 2013
An enjoyable take on a modern version of Joseph and his family.
February 15, 2015
I liked this book. I wish it would have let us know more of what happened with Leah. All and all a good modern upgrade to the story of Joseph.
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