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A Rhinestone Button
Gail Anderson-Dargatz, the acclaimed and bestselling author of The Cure for Death by Lightning and A Recipe for Bees, brings readers once again into the heart of rural Canada with A Rhinestone Button. As funny as it is tender, it is a novel full of true-to-life characters, natural wonder, and sweet surprises.
Despite growing up in the small farming town of Godsfinger, Alberta, Job Sunstrum was always a bit of an outsider. A thin young man with blond, curly hair, he loved baking and cooking, and certainly did not fit in with the rough-and-tumble farmboys around town. There wasn’t much understanding to be had at home on the family farm, either, where his domineering father and bully of a brother ran roughshod over his life. But even when Job takes over the farm after his father’s death and his brother’s departure to train as a pastor, his community remains his animals, and perhaps the church women with whom he shares his baking on Sundays. Lonely beyond belief, overwhelmed by religious guilt, and taut with fear at the thought of what life might have in store for him, Job can only turn to God and hope that someday, things will turn around: he will find a nice Christian woman to marry, and settle down to the farming life, as his father had before him. Only his synesthesia — his ability to see sounds as colours, and feel vibrations as solid forms — provides him with passing moments of solace, but it also reaffirms for him that he experiences the world in a way the other people of Godsfinger could not possibly understand. And that there is some sort of knowledge that everyone else shares, a certainty, that must have skipped him by.
Then one year, Job’s “tightly coiled” life begins to fall apart, and even the small sureties that got him through the days are torn away from him. His brother Jacob and his family return to live on the farm, pushing Job out of his home and into the hired hand’s cabin. His neighbour Will, the closest thing he has to a friend, is exposed to the town as gay and Job is consumed with guilt by association. The colours even disappear from sounds. Faced with change on every level and not knowing how to live outside the world he was brought up in, Job allows himself to be caught up in the Pentecostal drive of a preacher named Jack Divine, in hopes that clinging to his beliefs, proving his faith, and doing what others expect of him will make everything all right. But when his new-found religious fervour only accelerates his despair and his world continues to crumble, Job is surprised to find that true faith can be found in earthly experiences, and come from the most unlikely of sources. That a world without the familiar colours and shapes of sound is not half-heard, as he feared, but freed to break out in song.
Like Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s previous novels, A Rhinestone Button is a loving and magical portrait of small-town life that makes us question what we believe is real, and true. Just as sounds leap to Job’s eyes in vivid explosions of colour, the words on these pages are landmines of image and meaning, bringing the people and the landscape of Godsfinger to life in our own minds. We can hear the whistle of ducks’ wings as they fly overhead, and smell the warm grassy breath of curious cows as they cluster around our chairs. Characters break through the molds of what’s expected by their neighbours, and by us, and populate the towns of our imaginings. There’s Dithy Spitzer, the town oddball who patrols the streets with her water pistol and lectures people on safety, yet has an oracle’s ability to speak the truth; Darren, a messed-up, adultering husband haunted by the ghost of his father, whose past makes one wonder how he survived at all; Ed, Will’s ex-lover, who helps Job understand that being a good man is about more than who you have sex with; and of course Liv, a hippie waitress who doesn’t believe in God, but does believe, and ultimately leads Job to a new level of faith. And Gail Anderson-Dargatz brings her readers right along with him, on a synesthetic journey that reaffirms our faith in great stories, and great art.
From the Hardcover edition.
Despite growing up in the small farming town of Godsfinger, Alberta, Job Sunstrum was always a bit of an outsider. A thin young man with blond, curly hair, he loved baking and cooking, and certainly did not fit in with the rough-and-tumble farmboys around town. There wasn’t much understanding to be had at home on the family farm, either, where his domineering father and bully of a brother ran roughshod over his life. But even when Job takes over the farm after his father’s death and his brother’s departure to train as a pastor, his community remains his animals, and perhaps the church women with whom he shares his baking on Sundays. Lonely beyond belief, overwhelmed by religious guilt, and taut with fear at the thought of what life might have in store for him, Job can only turn to God and hope that someday, things will turn around: he will find a nice Christian woman to marry, and settle down to the farming life, as his father had before him. Only his synesthesia — his ability to see sounds as colours, and feel vibrations as solid forms — provides him with passing moments of solace, but it also reaffirms for him that he experiences the world in a way the other people of Godsfinger could not possibly understand. And that there is some sort of knowledge that everyone else shares, a certainty, that must have skipped him by.
Then one year, Job’s “tightly coiled” life begins to fall apart, and even the small sureties that got him through the days are torn away from him. His brother Jacob and his family return to live on the farm, pushing Job out of his home and into the hired hand’s cabin. His neighbour Will, the closest thing he has to a friend, is exposed to the town as gay and Job is consumed with guilt by association. The colours even disappear from sounds. Faced with change on every level and not knowing how to live outside the world he was brought up in, Job allows himself to be caught up in the Pentecostal drive of a preacher named Jack Divine, in hopes that clinging to his beliefs, proving his faith, and doing what others expect of him will make everything all right. But when his new-found religious fervour only accelerates his despair and his world continues to crumble, Job is surprised to find that true faith can be found in earthly experiences, and come from the most unlikely of sources. That a world without the familiar colours and shapes of sound is not half-heard, as he feared, but freed to break out in song.
Like Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s previous novels, A Rhinestone Button is a loving and magical portrait of small-town life that makes us question what we believe is real, and true. Just as sounds leap to Job’s eyes in vivid explosions of colour, the words on these pages are landmines of image and meaning, bringing the people and the landscape of Godsfinger to life in our own minds. We can hear the whistle of ducks’ wings as they fly overhead, and smell the warm grassy breath of curious cows as they cluster around our chairs. Characters break through the molds of what’s expected by their neighbours, and by us, and populate the towns of our imaginings. There’s Dithy Spitzer, the town oddball who patrols the streets with her water pistol and lectures people on safety, yet has an oracle’s ability to speak the truth; Darren, a messed-up, adultering husband haunted by the ghost of his father, whose past makes one wonder how he survived at all; Ed, Will’s ex-lover, who helps Job understand that being a good man is about more than who you have sex with; and of course Liv, a hippie waitress who doesn’t believe in God, but does believe, and ultimately leads Job to a new level of faith. And Gail Anderson-Dargatz brings her readers right along with him, on a synesthetic journey that reaffirms our faith in great stories, and great art.
From the Hardcover edition.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Gail Anderson-Dargatz
28 books338 followersWatch for Gail's new novel, The Almost Widow, a thriller, released May 2023.
GAIL ANDERSON-DARGATZ’s first novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the UK’s Betty Trask Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Vancity Book Prize. Her second novel, A Recipe for Bees, was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Spawning Grounds was nominated for the Sunburst Award and the Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and short-listed for the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Fiction. Her thriller, The Almost Wife was a national bestseller in 2021, and her most recent novel, The Almost Widow, is out in May 2023.
Gail also writes young adult and hi-lo books for the educational market. Her book Iggy’s World was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily Book Awards. The Ride Home was short-listed for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, as well as the Red Cedar Fiction Award and the Chocolate Lily Book Award.
She taught for nearly a decade in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of British Columbia and now mentors writers online. Gail Anderson-Dargatz lives in the Shuswap region of British Columbia.
GAIL ANDERSON-DARGATZ’s first novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the UK’s Betty Trask Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Vancity Book Prize. Her second novel, A Recipe for Bees, was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Spawning Grounds was nominated for the Sunburst Award and the Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and short-listed for the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Fiction. Her thriller, The Almost Wife was a national bestseller in 2021, and her most recent novel, The Almost Widow, is out in May 2023.
Gail also writes young adult and hi-lo books for the educational market. Her book Iggy’s World was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily Book Awards. The Ride Home was short-listed for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, as well as the Red Cedar Fiction Award and the Chocolate Lily Book Award.
She taught for nearly a decade in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of British Columbia and now mentors writers online. Gail Anderson-Dargatz lives in the Shuswap region of British Columbia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
November 29, 2014
3.5 STARS
"Despite growing up in the small farming town of Godsfinger, Alberta, Job Sunstrum was always a bit of an outsider. A thin young man with blond, curly hair, he loved baking and cooking, and certainly did not fit in with the rough-and-tumble farmboys around town. There wasn't much understanding to be had at home on the family farm, either, where his domineering father and bully of a brother ran roughshod over his life. But even when Job takes over the farm after his father's death and his brother's departure to train as a pastor, his community remains his animals, and perhaps the church women with whom he shares his baking on Sundays. Lonely beyond belief, overwhelmed by religious guilt, and taut with fear at the thought of what life might have in store for him, Job can only turn to God and hope that someday, things will turn around: he will find a nice Christian woman to marry, and settle down to the farming life, as his father had before him. Only his synesthesia — his ability to see sounds as colours, and feel vibrations as solid forms — provides him with passing moments of solace, but it also reaffirms for him that he experiences the world in a way the other people of Godsfinger could not possibly understand. And that there is some sort of knowledge that everyone else shares, a certainty, that must have skipped him by.
Then one year, Job's “tightly coiled” life begins to fall apart, and even the small sureties that got him through the days are torn away from him. His brother Jacob and his family return to live on the farm, pushing Job out of his home and into the hired hand's cabin. His neighbour Will, the closest thing he has to a friend, is exposed to the town as gay and Job is consumed with guilt by association. The colours even disappear from sounds. Faced with change on every level and not knowing how to live outside the world he was brought up in, Job allows himself to be caught up in the Pentecostal drive of a preacher named Jack Divine, in hopes that clinging to his beliefs, proving his faith, and doing what others expect of him will make everything all right. But when his new-found religious fervour only accelerates his despair and his world continues to crumble, Job is surprised to find that true faith can be found in earthly experiences, and come from the most unlikely of sources. That a world without the familiar colours and shapes of sound is not half-heard, as he feared, but freed to break out in song." (From Amazon)
Another gem by Gail Anderson-Dargatz! Well written plus engaging characters - quirky and fun.
"Despite growing up in the small farming town of Godsfinger, Alberta, Job Sunstrum was always a bit of an outsider. A thin young man with blond, curly hair, he loved baking and cooking, and certainly did not fit in with the rough-and-tumble farmboys around town. There wasn't much understanding to be had at home on the family farm, either, where his domineering father and bully of a brother ran roughshod over his life. But even when Job takes over the farm after his father's death and his brother's departure to train as a pastor, his community remains his animals, and perhaps the church women with whom he shares his baking on Sundays. Lonely beyond belief, overwhelmed by religious guilt, and taut with fear at the thought of what life might have in store for him, Job can only turn to God and hope that someday, things will turn around: he will find a nice Christian woman to marry, and settle down to the farming life, as his father had before him. Only his synesthesia — his ability to see sounds as colours, and feel vibrations as solid forms — provides him with passing moments of solace, but it also reaffirms for him that he experiences the world in a way the other people of Godsfinger could not possibly understand. And that there is some sort of knowledge that everyone else shares, a certainty, that must have skipped him by.
Then one year, Job's “tightly coiled” life begins to fall apart, and even the small sureties that got him through the days are torn away from him. His brother Jacob and his family return to live on the farm, pushing Job out of his home and into the hired hand's cabin. His neighbour Will, the closest thing he has to a friend, is exposed to the town as gay and Job is consumed with guilt by association. The colours even disappear from sounds. Faced with change on every level and not knowing how to live outside the world he was brought up in, Job allows himself to be caught up in the Pentecostal drive of a preacher named Jack Divine, in hopes that clinging to his beliefs, proving his faith, and doing what others expect of him will make everything all right. But when his new-found religious fervour only accelerates his despair and his world continues to crumble, Job is surprised to find that true faith can be found in earthly experiences, and come from the most unlikely of sources. That a world without the familiar colours and shapes of sound is not half-heard, as he feared, but freed to break out in song." (From Amazon)
Another gem by Gail Anderson-Dargatz! Well written plus engaging characters - quirky and fun.
August 16, 2016
3.5 stars Duplicate review. Twenty years or so after reading "The Cure for Death by Lightening", "A Recipe for Bees" and "A Rhinestone Button" I found myself mulling over the influence that Gail Anderson-Dargatz has had on my future literary exploration.
Twenty years ago, her novel was nominated for The Giller Prize, a literary award newly established in 1994 to celebrate excellent Canadian writers. Knopf Canada had launched a program, The New Face of Fiction in 1996, to bring more Canadian authors to the attention of the country's readers and Gail's first book was among them.
Because of her novel, I became a person who paid attention to The Giller Prize process, from the nomination stage to the win. I was introduced to vast talent, who I'd never met before and a plethora of previously undiscovered serious literary styles.
I didn't realize it at the time, but Gail introduced me to magical-realism in her novels, where I smoothly absorbed myself into the magical storytelling and emerged enchanted. Isabel Allende then held no rapture for me.
Gail's books led me to try authors which I would formerly have by-passed. The gentle magical realism, slightly fantastical turns in the novels of Sarah Allen Addison and Joshilyn Jackson further increased my appreciation for the genre.
Perla by South American author Caroline de Robertis, the lauded The Snow Child and the haunting critic's favourite Wolf Winter... I owe the risk-tasking and resulting pleasure to Gail Anderson-Datgatz.
Thank you so much, Gail.
Twenty years ago, her novel was nominated for The Giller Prize, a literary award newly established in 1994 to celebrate excellent Canadian writers. Knopf Canada had launched a program, The New Face of Fiction in 1996, to bring more Canadian authors to the attention of the country's readers and Gail's first book was among them.
Because of her novel, I became a person who paid attention to The Giller Prize process, from the nomination stage to the win. I was introduced to vast talent, who I'd never met before and a plethora of previously undiscovered serious literary styles.
I didn't realize it at the time, but Gail introduced me to magical-realism in her novels, where I smoothly absorbed myself into the magical storytelling and emerged enchanted. Isabel Allende then held no rapture for me.
Gail's books led me to try authors which I would formerly have by-passed. The gentle magical realism, slightly fantastical turns in the novels of Sarah Allen Addison and Joshilyn Jackson further increased my appreciation for the genre.
Perla by South American author Caroline de Robertis, the lauded The Snow Child and the haunting critic's favourite Wolf Winter... I owe the risk-tasking and resulting pleasure to Gail Anderson-Datgatz.
Thank you so much, Gail.
September 7, 2011
This novel was disappointing, because it's nowhere as good as "The Cure for Death By Lightning". I couldn't picture any of the characters, let alone care about them, and the story seemed laboriously constructed.
January 21, 2012
if you want to read this author, stick with a recipe for bees. this one wasn't great.
June 3, 2020
I say 'okay'..only because this damn book annoyed me greatly!! Just by being provoked I figure it got my 'notice' and so 2 stars.
Think..of all the animals on this planet..only the human takes another animal (including human) and tries to force it to be molded to what it wants, believes etc.
"I am human..I have the right to judge and rule..I will change any thing, any animal to what I want, believe etc."
What crap..we humans are the absolutely most disrespectful of all animals. Grrrrrr....
Think..of all the animals on this planet..only the human takes another animal (including human) and tries to force it to be molded to what it wants, believes etc.
"I am human..I have the right to judge and rule..I will change any thing, any animal to what I want, believe etc."
What crap..we humans are the absolutely most disrespectful of all animals. Grrrrrr....
May 16, 2018
Job is so vulnerable that I felt for him very step of the way. I liked the ending, because, although he went through many tribulations and confusion getting there, he never had to compromise his basic self or interests. I think he will be alright. Small town characters are really well depicted, as are despicable parental habits, farm demands, and especially, evangelical religious fervour. Friendship and family wrap this all into a somewhat nasty ball at times-or provide great support.
August 7, 2021
Loved this story. Read it in a day while having a luxurious day to myself! I recalled loving A Cure for Death by Lightening and A Recipe for Bees, so happily picked this up out of my aunt’s book pile. So glad I did!
I enjoyed meeting the characters in this story - even though I was frustrated by their inability to question their religious indoctrination and walk away from large and small abuses. I was cheering on many of the characters, obviously.
I enjoyed meeting the characters in this story - even though I was frustrated by their inability to question their religious indoctrination and walk away from large and small abuses. I was cheering on many of the characters, obviously.
April 13, 2023
Comparing this novel to other five-star reads by the same author, I have to give it only three stars (good but not great). Small town life in Alberta is portrayed as a grim trial with few redeeming qualities, and evangelical Christians as a bunch of lunatics. In this environment, our hapless protagonist Job (sometimes an annoying wimp) battles the odds to become a self-realized man. The writing as usual is great, but the story felt flat.
April 16, 2019
I enjoy reading books written by authors from countries other than my own - Aotearoa/New Zealand. It's fascinating to learn of the differences and similarities of people everywhere.
I enjoyed this book and realise that most of us have experienced synaesthesia to some extent especially as children "trailing clouds of glory".
I enjoyed this book and realise that most of us have experienced synaesthesia to some extent especially as children "trailing clouds of glory".
June 29, 2019
I really enjoyed this portrait of the Canadian praires. The characters are well written and the storyline is very engaging. I want to read her other novels now! The main character is very sweet and endeared himself to me. I liked how the importance of religion sort of developed and made itself clearer as the story went on.
April 24, 2024
I really like this authors writing style and ability to build characters. I've enjoyed other books by this author, but this one had just too much religious content to fully enjoy the story. In saying that, it didn't prevent me from finishing it and still rating it 'okay'. 3 stars ... just!
December 28, 2024
A very different story but the same great writing as ‘A Cure for Death by Lightening’. Includes very bad behaviour by fundamentalist Christians, which I really want to believe is truly fiction, but I have my doubts. #1508
March 21, 2018
a story of inner conflict and community told in a lovely, quiet and nearly timeless way.
July 13, 2019
Not worth the candle. By page 270 (of 311) Job the repressed man-child doormat is still figuring out how the world works. I found his continuing lack of self awareness and spine irksome.
November 8, 2022
This book was strangely compelling. I say strangely, as the protagonist is quite passive throughout. Maybe I kept reading because I just wanted him to do something!
July 4, 2023
3.75 lots of religious references, local references to Alberta and the Shuswap which I liked. Enjoyed her writing style.
October 20, 2023
An unusual book about a man who sees colours in sound, and with quite an unexpected ending.
April 28, 2023
Like many other readers, I loved ‘The cure for death by lightening’ and ‘A recipe for bees’, so when I found this book in a little free library, I was excited to give it a go.
Having lived in the edmonton area, I enjoyed the references to some familiar places. Those small details of everyday life and the habits and mannerisms of the characters really rang true for me.
Probably the biggest theme of the novel was religion. The author showed some of the negative aspects of organized religion: greed, control, hypocrisy, guilt, cruelty, and judgment. She also showed how a person can be kind, wise, and loving without a belief in God. Or, like with Job, how a person can find God on their own, without the need for organized religion.
Having lived in the edmonton area, I enjoyed the references to some familiar places. Those small details of everyday life and the habits and mannerisms of the characters really rang true for me.
Probably the biggest theme of the novel was religion. The author showed some of the negative aspects of organized religion: greed, control, hypocrisy, guilt, cruelty, and judgment. She also showed how a person can be kind, wise, and loving without a belief in God. Or, like with Job, how a person can find God on their own, without the need for organized religion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2011
I first read a Gail Anderson-Dargatz book in 2000, during my first CÉGEP English class. We had to choose among 3 books to write a final report & oral presentation, and I chose "The Cure to Death by Lightning", I can't exactly remember why - probably because the title was interesting. That book was just the kind of book that you read throughout, thinking it's not really anything special but compelling enough anyway, until you close the last page - and then it hits you. "A Rhinestone Button" is just the same, and I'm ready to bet many of her other books (that I absolutely have to read) also are.
Maybe it's the fact that they ARE indeed very simple. Simple people leading simple lives in a simple town, villages really, with simple adventures happening to them. A fight with the parents here, a family drama there, a break-up with a girlfriend, a hook-up with a guy friend, a fox that you like to watch, a cat which you like to pet...
But then there's also these extraordinary things happening, like a tornado that hits the village, a friend that rapes the heroin, the father or the mother that dies, or the Job, in "A Rhinestone Button", that can see colours and shapes when he hears sounds. But these extraordinary things are not presented has being all that extraordinary - they are simply mixed with the everyday life.
And maybe that's what gives this feeling of "nothing much but at the same time everything" to Anderson-Dargatz's books.
Maybe it's the fact that they ARE indeed very simple. Simple people leading simple lives in a simple town, villages really, with simple adventures happening to them. A fight with the parents here, a family drama there, a break-up with a girlfriend, a hook-up with a guy friend, a fox that you like to watch, a cat which you like to pet...
But then there's also these extraordinary things happening, like a tornado that hits the village, a friend that rapes the heroin, the father or the mother that dies, or the Job, in "A Rhinestone Button", that can see colours and shapes when he hears sounds. But these extraordinary things are not presented has being all that extraordinary - they are simply mixed with the everyday life.
And maybe that's what gives this feeling of "nothing much but at the same time everything" to Anderson-Dargatz's books.
November 23, 2015
Small village life in rural Canada.
I very, very nearly gave up on this book on the grounds that there was too much bible bashing - I attended my book group having read only 35% and they persuaded me to keep going, claiming that the ending put it all into context. I did finish, which is always satisfying, but it was only a three-star read for me.
I had expected more from the synaesthesia aspect of the novel - Job's ability to experience sound as something he could hold and/or see. He listened to the vacuum cleaner for hours on end because it produced an 'invisible egg with the smooth, cool feel of glass'. However, I didn't find these descriptions enlightening; in order to get anything out of them I had to stop reading and ponder the details and this curtailed the flow of my reading.
The author's strengths lay in her character descriptions - Job's dreadful brother and his brother's wife were truly cringeworthy, and Job's friend Will, really pulled on my heartstrings when he was punished later in the book. I also felt for Job when he had to move into the hired-hand's shed to allow room for his brother and family, giving up his beloved kitchen and the solace of cooking.
I was involved by the characters but not by the story, which pretty much left me cold.
I also found I had to remind myself that we were in Canada, as the village had the feel of Southern, 'Redneck' America.
Not the author's best work I am told, so I might give her another chance, we shall see.
I very, very nearly gave up on this book on the grounds that there was too much bible bashing - I attended my book group having read only 35% and they persuaded me to keep going, claiming that the ending put it all into context. I did finish, which is always satisfying, but it was only a three-star read for me.
I had expected more from the synaesthesia aspect of the novel - Job's ability to experience sound as something he could hold and/or see. He listened to the vacuum cleaner for hours on end because it produced an 'invisible egg with the smooth, cool feel of glass'. However, I didn't find these descriptions enlightening; in order to get anything out of them I had to stop reading and ponder the details and this curtailed the flow of my reading.
The author's strengths lay in her character descriptions - Job's dreadful brother and his brother's wife were truly cringeworthy, and Job's friend Will, really pulled on my heartstrings when he was punished later in the book. I also felt for Job when he had to move into the hired-hand's shed to allow room for his brother and family, giving up his beloved kitchen and the solace of cooking.
I was involved by the characters but not by the story, which pretty much left me cold.
I also found I had to remind myself that we were in Canada, as the village had the feel of Southern, 'Redneck' America.
Not the author's best work I am told, so I might give her another chance, we shall see.
February 16, 2017
So amazing! And I get to meet her tomorrow :)
December 4, 2012
Crop circles, a duck in a nappy, and a crazy lady who squirts a water pistol at those she thinks are out of line. Sounds like a quirky read, right?
So utterly disappointed that there wasn't more of this quirkiness, that more wasn't made of Job's synaesthesia and less of the less than likable, one dimensional, fanatical characters, many of whom exhibited abusive tendencies towards animals, to say nothing of their fellow men.
A story essentially of being different, of finding acceptance, of fitting in, A Rhinestone Button is based in the rural, God fearing community of the fictional Godsfinger where much of the story takes place in and around an evangelical church, the author taking great pains to describe various rituals including healing by the laying on of hands.
A less than satisfying read. I'm still trying to work out if the author was being ironic or not just as I'm still having difficulty understanding what the book's message was, for I feel certain that there was a message in there somewhere and I just wasn't getting it.
December 1, 2020
A story of Nebraska and the people in a small town surrounded by farms on vast open prairies. Religion is a large part of the story - its purpose and, treating homosexuality as a sickness that can be cured in a church. The story centres on Job, who all his life has done as he was asked, enduring a brutal beating father and has Synaethesia: where sounds have colours and pictures form from these beautiful things. He sees the beauty in the ordinary and navigates his way through a world peopled with others trying to survive the ludicrous religious dictums and social mores of a small town. The story has a perfectly sensible and fine ending. A tornado even makes an appearance that seems perfectly suited for this world. This book addresses serious issues: religious intolerance, homophobia, child abuse, abuse of women and the eternal prejudice against the different. It never trivialises the issues or becomes didactic. A good read.
June 13, 2011
I really had trouble with this novel. I enjoyed reading about the small town farming community, the overbearing evangelical church influences on young people still unsure of their sexual identity and the really lovely descriptions of the geography and power of nature in Godsfinger. However, I was overwhelmed by my visceral reaction to how the main character of Job Sunstrum was treated by everyone....I am sure that this is just what Anderson-Dargatz had intended for her readers, but it was just too upsetting for me. While it ends on a hopeful note, I was saddened for most of this novel.
July 27, 2016
This is the third novel I have read by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, and again I could not put it down. I fell in love with the main character Job, for all the way people in his small town misunderstand him and all his heaps of misfortune. Little do they know his magic. Little do we know each other's magic! Yet for all the heartbreak in this novel, it is imbued with great humour. I also loved the fact that it is set in Alberta, and mentions many places near my home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A very universal read, despite it's local nature.
August 17, 2009
This is the story of Jo Sunstrum – a farmer in god-fearing Alberta who is a late bloomer. After enduring the deaths of both his parents, the return of his pastor/proselytizing and arrogant brother (and his neurotic wife) and doubt about his own belief, Job finally manages to figure out what will make him truly happy.
May 8, 2013
While I did read this cover to cover in one night, there was something important missing from it. I closed the final pages and felt a sense of incompletion. There was no imparting sense of awe at the beauty of the words, at the cunning of the execution, nor any marvel at the feelings stirred up by the story.
January 5, 2016
I do love Gail Andeson Dargatz books!! So richly saturated in Alberta and rural life. I loved the ending to this book with it's basic message of living for the moment and cherishing all that you have. The descriptions of the senses were great also. I think I only have 1 of her books left to read so I hope she is working on another!!!!!
November 5, 2013
I was really into this book...enjoying both story and characters...but felt like she couldn't figure out how to wrap it up at the end. Just lost a bit of steam in the last few chapters and closed it off relatively predictably.
Good story, feels a bit unfinished.
Good story, feels a bit unfinished.
January 18, 2009
Great descriptions of sound into colour. Too much religion for me but great ending.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews