Rachelle Dekker

Dear Readers,

When I first heard Rachelle Dekker, Ted’s daughter, was writing a novel, I was a bit worried what it would be like.  I have seen more than one book from a child of a bestselling author come through the bookstore and they don’t always live up to the hype.  Some can be pretty bad.

The Choosing by Rachelle is a very interesting read.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it, but I had so many people ask me about it I thought I should and I am really glad I did.  It is a dystopian novel, set in America after the Ruining.   Washington DC area to be exact in the year of 2257.

The Choosing is a time of great anticipation in a young woman’s life.  From the day she is born a girl child is groomed for the Choosing.  She will be chosen to be a bride of one of the eligible young men and to “not be chosen would yield a cruel fate of your own making.”  If you are not chosen you become a Lint, the lowest level of society.  A person who no longer exists to her family or anyone else for that matter.  Someone who will be trained to a trade and must plan to do that trade until the day she dies, uncared for and unloved. 

When Carrington goes unchosen, she knows her life is over and she is not sure she can live as a Lint.  When she connects with Larkin, a young lady from her school, she is given the chance to meet Aaron.  Aaron and his followers are different, they are loved no matter who they are.  What they believe goes against everything the Authority says and Carrington believes. 

All her life Carrington is taught that the Authority is to be followed without question and now she knows many people who are giving her a different view of life.  When another chance to be Chosen becomes available, Carrington believes she has a second chance at life, but is she stepping into a bigger hell than being a Lint? 

This was quite a thought provoking book for me.  There were several parallels that I saw to established religion and I was worried that Rachelle was trying to show how horrible the church is, but I also saw that she was trying to be sensitive to that and didn’t really attack the church so much as people who run a church and don’t seem to have any grace or forgiveness in them.  Where sometimes they hold onto ‘tradition’ too tightly to be able to find a new way to reach others. 

There is a lot I would like to discuss about this book, but it would take time and I think it would only be fair if you have read it also.  So go get a copy, read it and we can discuss the message or messages you got out of the book.  I will wait.

Happy Reading,