Christian Goodreaders discussion

During the month of December, Katherine, Jessica and I (and anyone else who wants to join in!) will be doing a buddy read of Passing by Samaria. The beginning of the month will be a busy time for me, so I thought it would be a good idea to get this discussion thread posted and ready now. :-)

I started the book a little early and am a few chapters in now. The author definitely has a distinctive writing style. Within the first few chapters there is a point where the main character starts to experience some strong emotions. I found it very interesting how the author anthropomorphized these emotions. There are times in life when emotions are so strong and persistent it is as though they have a voice and physical presence of their own.

I started last night and am five chapters in. I'm liking it so far. The authors writing style is very unique. slightly choppy, but very emotive.

I started it on Wednesday, and I'm now in Chapter 9 (which is short). So far, I'm also very impressed with the writing.

Jessica, I definitely agree with what you said above about the "anthropomorphized" emotions! I'm finding this a very deep and powerful reading experience so far. It's an unsparing exploration of American racial relations (which is unfortunately still as topical today as it was in the 1919 setting); but it's also a look at individual psychology, gender relations, coming of age, and of course the significance of the Christian gospel for human life. Whenever I'm reading it, Foster has me glued to the page!

I slowed down a bit when Alena first arrived in Chicago. The story was not grabbing me as much at that point, but after taking a break for a few days I found myself interested again. I think I'm about a third of the way through now. The choppy writing style, which is more choppy at some points than others, does throw me a bit, but there is certainly a lot going on in this story in terms of deep topics to explore.

I'm now into chapter 30, and I have to say that I've found all of the recent chapters especially tense and gripping. (The short chapters don't bother me personally; for me, they just help the narrative to flow more rapidly.)

For some background historical information on events in Chicago in the summer of 1919, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago... .

I finished the book yesterday, and reviewed it last night. For anyone who's interested, that five-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

I finished the book a few days ago and had a rather different opinion of the book. Though there was certainly a lot of deep content there, in my opinion the book started out decent, maybe just because it was written so differently that I was somewhat intrigued, and then just kind of went downhill with a few points of slightly higher interest here and there. I've read worse, but for me this book was a promising story line with lots of deep subjects to back up that story line that was poorly executed and became a slog to get through, which prevented the deep subject matter from having the impact it should have had. I gave it 2 stars.

I finished this a while back. I haven't been on here much lately (sorry, I'm pretty bad at this buddy reads thing).
In the end, I liked this well enough. I liked the story, but I feel the execution could have been better. maybe its just not my style? I don't read modern fiction all that much. my personal rating is 3 1/2 stars.

There's a strong subjective element of personal taste in how we respond to different writing styles; and comparing our different personal reactions is one of the things that makes Goodreads fun, and interesting. :-) Some readers had commented above that the writing here is "choppy." Foster definitely does employ short chapters (some shorter than others), and uses them at times to switch viewpoints. For me, that wasn't a problem, and served to move the tale along rapidly; but it's not to everybody's liking.

Werner wrote: "There's a strong subjective element of personal taste in how we respond to different writing styles; and comparing our different personal reactions is one of the things that makes Goodreads fun, an..."

I didn't mind the short chapters (I have no problem with those at all) but I found the narrative style somewhat choppy. many repeated words in the narration. sudden switching from deep, angsty, personal turmoil, to comparatively distant third person narrative. Also the end felt kind of rushed.
In the end I still liked it, but it didn't have the ability to really draw me in.

I agree. seeing the reactions of other readers is always interesting.

Katherine wrote: "Werner wrote: "There's a strong subjective element of personal taste in how we respond to different writing styles; and comparing our different personal reactions is one of the things that makes Go..."

I agree, the short chapters did not bother me at all, or even the short sections, but the short and truncated sentences bothered me a lot. As did the repetition and sudden switches in type of narrative style that you mentioned. In my experience, people are entirely capable of thinking and speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences, but the characters in this book rarely did.

Jessica, have you posted a review of this book yet? If so, we'd be glad to have the link! (I was going to look it up through your bookshelf, but your profile is private.)

Jessica wrote: "Katherine wrote: "Werner wrote: "There's a strong subjective element of personal taste in how we respond to different writing styles; and comparing our different personal reactions is one of the th..."

Well.... Not speaking (or thinking for that matter) in grammatically correct sentences, can be perfectly correct for some characters. that part doesn't really bother me. some characters did speak with proper, or mostly proper grammar, James for example.
I have known people (and met many more) who speak much like some of the characters in this book. there are still many regional differences, even in this age of mass communication and easy travel.
Now, one thing I would have liked was deeper characterization. the bad guy was a rather generic psychopath. if you've seen much TV anyway. And I don't even watch modern TV on average.
I also felt some characters, like Pearl, held promise for story that was never fully realized.

Werner wrote: "Jessica, have you posted a review of this book yet? If so, we'd be glad to have the link! (I was going to look it up through your bookshelf, but your profile is private.)"

Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks, Jessica!