Angela Hunt

Dear Readers,

 

I put off reading The Offering by Angela Hunt as my book club was going to read the book for November.   I have enjoyed many of Angela's books, but the note in the back said she has written 115 books, well I have to say I have not read them all.

 

The Offering is about Amanda and her want of a house and a way to pay for her daughter's music education.  With her husband Gideon being in the military and her only able to work part time that just doesn't seem possible right now.  When she meets an expectant mother and finds out she is a gestational carrier, Amanda believes she has found the answer to their problems.

 

Amanda goes home, does some research and decides that this is a great way to earn money.   She loved being pregnant and here is a chance for her to help her family with no cost to them.  The baby's parents will pay for everything including clothes, doctor visits and even a maid if she needs one.  How hard can this be?

 

Our discussion last night was quite lively and I don't think we ever came to a conclusion on whether we are all for or against, but we did talk about it.  It was fun because we have an interesting mix of ladies.  Because one couple in the group had adopted kids and most of them are related to people who have adopted, it made for an interesting aspect of the story.

 

One lady related how a relative was unable to have children and how hard that was on the wife.  Now when this was happening, science hadn't gotten as far as it has now so IVF wasn't available, but the woman said she had thought about carrying a child for the relative but knew she would never had been able to give the child up at the end.

 

This is a topic where Angela doesn't really give you the answers to your questions, she lets you decide whether you find it morally ok or not.  She does touch on the frozen embryos and what happens to the ones that are not used, which is a whole different topic and could fill another whole book. 

 

One thing I did find interesting, we all struggled with the main character and I am sure Angela wrote her that way on purpose, we didn't like her.  It didn't take away from us liking the book and the topic, but it made for another discussion on why she did what she did. 

 

Happy Reading