A well-written, frankly religious tale for all ages.
In Anderson’s warmhearted, family-friendly debut Christian novel, ceramic figurines of the three wise men come to life at Christmastime and work small miracles of faith with far-reaching consequences.
A Christian Chinese factory worker’s impulsive blessing imbues a Nativity set’s three wise men and their camel with consciousness. After the figurines (Uncle, Chip, Harold and the camel, Thunder) arrive at a London gift shop, an angel tells them that the Lord has plans for them: Each year, from December 12 until sunrise on Christmas Eve, the foursome will be able to think and reason, and for the duration of Christmas Eve, they will come fully to life. As Christmases come and go, the figurines are passed from place to place: an orphanage, a military submarine, a naval hospital, a retired couple’s home, a pastor’s house and others. They use their once-a-year gift of life to aid and comfort human beings young and old, rich and poor, black and white. In the book’s dramatic finale—a confrontation with the demonic forces of darkness and despair—the angel reappears and shows the little wise men how their seemingly unrelated small acts of faith over the years were all connected. Anderson leavens this Christian book’s evangelism with deft humor, likable characters and a buoyant sense of magical adventure. His small heroes are fully realized individuals with appealing quirks, questioning minds and humble compassion, and they grow toward spiritual maturity. As they “learn about human characteristics of love, devotion, tenderness and kindness,” they reach their own happy ending. The epilogue’s sly little cautionary surprise is also a nice touch.
A well-written, frankly religious tale for all ages.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475144598
Page Count: 198
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
A charming and incisive debut.
Four young nuns wind up running a halfway house full of quirky characters in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Four Catholic sisters live with the elderly Sister Roberta in upstate New York. All on the edge of turning 30, the young women are at loose ends: Their day care is shuttered, and Sister Roberta is retiring. However, the four women refuse to be parted: “We were fixed to one another, like parts of some strange, asymmetrical body: Frances was the mouth; Mary Lucille, the heart; Therese, the legs. And I, Agatha, the eyes.” Eventually, the Buffalo diocese decides to transfer them to Rhode Island, where they are put in charge of running Little Neon, a “Mountain Dew”–colored house for residents trying to get sober and get back on their feet. When the local Catholic high school needs someone to teach geometry, the sisters volunteer Agatha, who is labelled as the quietest but the smartest of the quartet. As Agatha immerses herself in her new life, she finds the residents of Little Neon, from parolee Baby to Tim Gary, whose disfigured jaw prevents him from finding love, open her eyes to new realities, as do her colleagues and students at the high school. Eventually, Agatha can no longer ignore that the church, and most of all she herself, is changing. Luchette’s novel, her first, is structured in small chapters that feel like vignettes from a slightly wacky indie film. The book is frequently vibrant with resonant images: Agatha learning to roller skate in Little Neon’s driveway or a resident drunk in a sequined dress riding a lawnmower through the snow. But even though the book feels light, Luchette does not turn away from the responsibility of examining the darkness undergirding the institution of the Catholic Church.
A charming and incisive debut.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-26526-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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