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“The Case for Faith” – Lee Strobel
Atheist-turned-Christian journalist Lee Strobel accepts the challenging task of defending the Christian faith in his book, “The Case for Faith.”
Strobel, prepared with eight objections, conducts interview after interview to get at the heart of his protests. In each interview, Lee Strobel dives right in with tough questions that many have struggled with in their faith.
In this book, which is a follow up to “The Case for Christ,” Strobel pinpoints every aspect, every question that people cannot seem to find answers for when thinking about their faith. For example, Strobel questions whether or not the Bible can be trusted. And, in each interview, Strobel’s questions are answered by people with doctorates who explain things logically and intellectually with easy-to-understand language. Each interview brings out a new insight to faith, a different way of jumping the hurdle to faith. One by one, Strobel breaks down the emotional walls guarding spirituality that most face in their faith.
“PUSH” – Sapphire
Told in a first person narrative, Harlem’s Precious Jones captures the heart of her audience. At just 16 years old, Precious is a mother of one, with another on the way. The father of these children is Precious’s own father, who frequently rapes her. Unable to turn to her mother because she is guilty of abusing her as well, Precious struggles through life alone. The school system does nothing to help her either. She is disregarded by the adults around her. Precious explains her lonely life and how just one person can change her attitude. She reveals to the reader the strength that she draws from an untraditional teacher who pays attention, cares, and encourages her. And, she shows the reader how all that changes her life.
Although this novel is a work of fiction, Sapphire draws a very fine line between reality and illusion. The Precious Jones story is very real to the hearts and minds of Harlem’s society.
The language in Sapphire’s novel is crude, profane, and blunt. It is written as if Precious, who can barely read herself, is narrating. The language is the in-your-face language that people in Precious’s world use everyday. Sapphire holds nothing back. The result: an extremely heart-touching, eye-opening, all-too-real depiction of life.
“The Corrections” – Jonathan Franzen
Remember how out of touch with society the Brady Bunch was in “The Brady Movie”? Well that is how life is like in Jonathan Franzen’s novel, “The Corrections.”
Franzen’s main characters, the Lamberts, find themselves lagging behind a fast-paced world. Being stuck between the past and present signifies a difficult challenge for Alfred Lambert, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, and his wife Enid, who does not face the reality of her family situation. Even Alfred and Enid’s three children are just as delusional as their parents. Gary, Chip, and Denise, all radically different, suffer from their own individual problems, and cannot seem to solve them.
In the midst of the rising society, everything is moving fast and the Lamberts seem to be stuck in slow motion. However, they want a quick solution to their problems. They come across a new drug, Corecktall, which appears to be the answer they are looking for. Needless to say, this pill does not even come close to solving the problems of this family.
However, with his humorous style, Franzen end with each character finding a “correction” for themselves, a sort of happy ending after all.
