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wwatts1734's review
4.0
Written by promising new Catholic novelist Mark Andrews, "The Joy of the Lord" is an apocalyptic novel set in a Chicago area family scenario in present times. Now, I normally get very leery about relgious fiction in the apocalyptic genre, since these novels tend to be the Frankenstein Monster of Christian fiction; they create a story from the severed body parts of dead theologies, they shock the monster to life with an unbelieveable storyline and then they set the monster on the Christian community to terrorize the village.
Not so "The Joy of the Lord". Mark Andrews creates a very plausible and loveable context of a Suburban Chicago family. Regina Marie, the 12 year old heroine of the novel, is an ordinary girl who has visions of scriptural times. Guided by the angel Gabriel, she sees the Holy Family through the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary; the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation at the Temple and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. In the midst of these visions, Regina Marie is surrounded by the difficult circumstances of her family and friends. Unlike many other apocalyptic novels that strip the happenings from any context, this one provides a tremendous amount of discussion about scripture and events in Church history that illustrate what is happening to the characters. Even more exciting is that the characters undergo very real and believable conversions. They don't shed their human natures when they convert, nor do they cease to struggle with sin, but they encounter their increasing difficulties with renewed strength. The characters are deep and rich and the reader is drawn to them. The story also contains a strong element of CS Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters", and has scenes of angels and demons battling over the souls of people. The novel is written in a very easy style and the action of the plot keeps the reader's attention throughout. This novel is 400 pages long, but I finished it very quickly and was amazed at how fast the pages were turning.
My only criticisms of this novel are two. First, the novel was written from the point of view of a twelve year old girl so the writing seems a bit childish at times, almost like a children's novel except that it dealt with very adult themes. This perhaps can't be avoided given the age ranges of the characters. The other issue that I have is that the novel seems to imply that all human action is directed by either angels or demons. The Church teaches that temptations to sin come from three sources; our own sinful nature, pressures of society and demonic forces; the three sources called "the flesh", "the world" and "the devil". Because Andrews uses a spiritual warfare theme, he overemphasizes #3 at the expense of the first two. The greatest novels that I have read with Christian themes, particularly Dickens and Dostoyevsky, masterfully deal with "the flesh" and "the world" in their description of the battle against sin. I think that if Andrews had done more of this, this novel would have been 5 star quality for sure.
This is an excellent effort by a first time novelist, and I highly recommend it. The book is self-published by the author and is available on Amazon.com. The author says that he is planning two more novels that develop the themes contained in "Joy of the Lord." I can't wait to read them, and also to look forward to the author's development and creation of even better novels than this!
Not so "The Joy of the Lord". Mark Andrews creates a very plausible and loveable context of a Suburban Chicago family. Regina Marie, the 12 year old heroine of the novel, is an ordinary girl who has visions of scriptural times. Guided by the angel Gabriel, she sees the Holy Family through the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary; the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation at the Temple and the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. In the midst of these visions, Regina Marie is surrounded by the difficult circumstances of her family and friends. Unlike many other apocalyptic novels that strip the happenings from any context, this one provides a tremendous amount of discussion about scripture and events in Church history that illustrate what is happening to the characters. Even more exciting is that the characters undergo very real and believable conversions. They don't shed their human natures when they convert, nor do they cease to struggle with sin, but they encounter their increasing difficulties with renewed strength. The characters are deep and rich and the reader is drawn to them. The story also contains a strong element of CS Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters", and has scenes of angels and demons battling over the souls of people. The novel is written in a very easy style and the action of the plot keeps the reader's attention throughout. This novel is 400 pages long, but I finished it very quickly and was amazed at how fast the pages were turning.
My only criticisms of this novel are two. First, the novel was written from the point of view of a twelve year old girl so the writing seems a bit childish at times, almost like a children's novel except that it dealt with very adult themes. This perhaps can't be avoided given the age ranges of the characters. The other issue that I have is that the novel seems to imply that all human action is directed by either angels or demons. The Church teaches that temptations to sin come from three sources; our own sinful nature, pressures of society and demonic forces; the three sources called "the flesh", "the world" and "the devil". Because Andrews uses a spiritual warfare theme, he overemphasizes #3 at the expense of the first two. The greatest novels that I have read with Christian themes, particularly Dickens and Dostoyevsky, masterfully deal with "the flesh" and "the world" in their description of the battle against sin. I think that if Andrews had done more of this, this novel would have been 5 star quality for sure.
This is an excellent effort by a first time novelist, and I highly recommend it. The book is self-published by the author and is available on Amazon.com. The author says that he is planning two more novels that develop the themes contained in "Joy of the Lord." I can't wait to read them, and also to look forward to the author's development and creation of even better novels than this!
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