Saturday, December 31, 2011

Faith by Jennifer Haigh

Published in 2011. 318 pages.


Excellent writing, with a story replete with thought and emotion: What is faith? What is family? What is love? How do humans, with their innate brokenness, become whole? Given that we all transgress, what role does forgiveness play in each of our lives?

Here is a favorite passage:

It was a thing I'd always known but until recently had forgotten: that faith is a decision. In its most basic form, it is a choice.

Faith was reminiscent of one of my favorite reads of 2010, Any Bitter Thing by Monica Wood. I was also reminded of some of Anne Tyler's characters, people with whom I have little or nothing in common but for whom I can feel a good deal of empathy, simply because of their real-ness, their humanity.

This is the second of Haigh's books that I've read. Mrs. Kimble was the first, back in 2004. When I really like one book by an author, I'm sometimes hesitant to read another one for fear of being disappointed. Faith did not disappoint at all! (I guess I now ought to read Baker Towers and The Condition.)

2011.86

2 comments:

  1. I'm really glad you liked this one so much. I didn't care for it at all. :( I think a lot had to do with how it was told. I prefer more dialog.

    Happy New Year, Alisonwonderland!

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  2. Yeah, a good candidate for a character development novel to read. Perfect for some thinking time. There are days when that's just the kind of book I want to get lost in.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Happy New Year!

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