Book Review: Forgiving Paris

Reading is becoming increasingly difficult. So many of the modern books I wish to read (to keep my blog on the front lines of literature), offer excellent premises but underlying agendas and common filth. Time after time, I get sucked into a novel and then toss it aside because it is clearly pushing societal perspectives I cannot embrace. Why must every. single. book. promote this agenda? Thus, I often swing the pendulum in the other direction and seek books I can be certain will provide a clean read. This doesn't solve the problem. These novels may provide a great premise, interesting characters, and a riveting plot, but are so often muddied with intense preachiness and saccharine simplicity.

As for Christian fiction, Karen Kingsbury is a quite capable author. Her writing is outstanding. She takes on realistic life-problems and portrays timely characters. Yet, I felt toward this one, the same as I have for much Christian fiction. I may agree 100 percent with the "lesson," yet I don't want that message to crowd out or overrun the narrative. 

Ashley Baxter Blake is an artist living in Indiana and invited to showcase her talent in a Paris art gallery. This has been her life's dream. Her deceased mother predicted she would make it one day. But, as Ashley and her husband cross the ocean to celebrate their anniversary and seize this life goal, she is overwhelmed by images of her compromised past during a visit to Paris in her twenties. The sin she committed back then led to the joyous birth of her firstborn, Cole. Can she forgive Paris for that bump in her road? Can she forgive herself for her personal mistakes?

Yes, this was a great reminder that God will take our sins and turn them around to bring good from the bad. He will redeem our brokenness. Yes, there are plenty of times when God saves us from evil all around us. Even, I imagine, with protecting angels. But, oh, the wallop of the message. 

Are there truly secular readers out there picking up these books and saying, "this story packs a powerful punch of things I have never considered"? Why such polarization? Both sides are pushing messages. On the one hand, you get the worldly perspective of what is acceptable and good, and that message is contrary to God's will. Yet, they won't allow a single book to be produced without pounding it repeatedly. On the other, you get a godly perspective, but equally hammered. 

Who will direct me to a clean read, free of the pervasive perspectives touted in our society today? Where are the writers who can convey a decent story, in line with godly lifestyles, without overshadowing the story with a driving Christian message? God is big enough to appear within pages without even being mentioned. His solutions to the problems in our world continue to be the only solutions I find viable. Never have I been so discouraged with the choices available to me in my reading pursuits. I'm ready to wave my white flag and close the books. Books are now used as weapons and I'm fed up with the war.