Queen Maker - India Edghill

Queen Maker is a fiction adaptation of a Biblical story, comparable to The Red Tent or Orson Scott Card's Women of Genesis series. Allow me to highlight a word in the previous sentence, fiction. The heroine of the novel is Michal, daughter of Saul and first wife of David. There is not much in the Bible about Michal, so as you can imagine India Edghill had to fill in the lines a lot. Many basic plot elements remained true to the Bible, but where the author used the most artistic license (or just downright distortion) is with the character and motives of David. We all know David committed many wrong acts, but in this novel there is nothing redeemable about him. In addition, the story of Amnon and Tamar was completely changed into a loving, consensual relationship - which is blatantly untrue. Now that I may have said enough for you to never want to even pick up this book, let's look at it from another angle.

If you read this book as fiction, then you will find it completely believable, heart-wrenching, and even empowering. I found that the best way to read this book was to forget that it was supposed to be an adaptation of anything and imagine the king has a name other than David. I felt as though I learned and grew along with Michal. I felt her pain and admired her wisdom. And at its heart, this book is about letting go of hate, turning from revenge and realizing how much it can cost. I also encourage that if you read this book, to then go and read it in the Bible. I do wonder sometimes about David, but if nothing else I will take him as an example of God's great love and mercy for us.

Positives: Great portrayal of the emotions of the characters. Kept the plot fresh, even though it was already familiar. I felt as though I grew along with the character.

Negatives: Definitely NOT biblically accurate - take it with a grain of salt. A few characters I felt were left too shallow, I wished she had delved further into their motivations. A couple slow moments with the plot. Many typos (in my book)!

Rating: 4 - this was a good book.

Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is one of those authors that has a pretty large group of readers who have to read everything she writes. I am not one of those people. I have only read one of her books before, Nineteen Minutes, but I keep her on my list just to see what all the hype is about.

Keeping Faith is about a little girl who starts talking to God, like one would an imaginary friend and later micraculous events occur around her. However, her mother is the main character and most of it revolves around her struggles with her divorce, her identity as a mother, and depression.
This was definitely a worthwhile read. It was engaging and suspenseful. I knew it had a religious topic and was a little concerned that it would seemed forced to be "controversal" and in fact she did manage to include depression/suicide and a child custody case, but despite her use these plot devices, at the core the characters were honest and heartfelt. In some ways, I felt like I waited for a big, revealing climax that never happened. And Picoult nearly abandoned her plot devices with little conclusion. She did allow the characters emotional closure and, I assume, made the point she intended to. In a way, I feel as though Picoult disguises her books as an intellectual, suspenseful "realistic fiction" but this one was little more than good chick lit. I am not trying to detract from the novel, just stating it has no potential to be a classic, which I sometimes get that indication from the hype. Nevertheless, I did enjoy this book.

Positives: Good character development. She managed an interesting and intriging plot, but it did not overpower the entire novel as some do. A page turner and thought-prokoving.

Negatives: It was overwhelming to me, but I could see that some people might feel she had an agenda with the religious overtones of the plot. A couple cliche and stock characters that I could care less about.

Rating: 4 - this was a good book