Mesu Andrews

Dear Readers,

This is one of those books that you need to read all the way to the end before you pass judgement on it.  You must also read the Author's note at the end of the book.  You may read it before you read the book, but it does give away several storylines and I personally wouldn't like that.  I recommend Author's notes all the time as it really gives you a peek into what the author was thinking or why they did the book.

Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews is a very good story.  It does have a storyline that I am a bit uncomforable with.  She wrote the story of Job, but she also included as a main character Dinah, Jacob's daughter.  If you don't know who she is, she is a young lady in the Bible who is raped and then her brothers kill her rapist who had fallen in love with her.

I know that the traditionally held thought on Job is that he was alive before Abraham.  There is also a thought that he might not even be a real person, but just an example to us all.  I have to say that I understood that and I guess I pretty much accepted that.  It was part of this story that I had a problem with and yet I didn't.

Job returns from a visit to his Uncle Jacob and that night his children, wealth and business are wiped out by raiders and storms.   He loses his children to a building collapse.  His wife blames him and his God and quickly so do other people.  There are only a couple who stand by his side to help him through the grief and to tend to the sores that develop over his body.

This is from the Bible story that we know.  He does lose everything.  He does develop sores and he does stand firm in his beliefs in God. That you can find in the Bible, but some of it you can't. 

I talked to a couple of guys here at the store and asked them questions about it.  One is uncomfortable with Biblical fiction all together, they both were not excited to hear that Mesu had put Dinah into the story of Job. They both have studied the Bible or are studing the Bible in college.  So I do trust what they have to say. 

With all that said, I want to say this is a good book.  I did have some issues with things she did, but I also understand where she got her information from.  It makes for an interesting read and once again shows us that God's greater plan is not always what we have planned. 

Happy Reading