I was intrigued by the summary of this book, as I've always loved books where we get to peek behind the scenes and see what God is doing in the background, even if the characters don't understand it themselves. But even though I've read other books with that theme, I can honestly say I've never read one quite like this!
The style was absolutely unique and hardly ever stayed the same for two chapters in a row. Past tense, present tense, first person, third person--even a chapter of second person (Yes, dear reader, "you" are included in one scene of this story!)--diary entries, emails, online chats, sermon notes; the style was quite literally <u>all</u> over the place! But as strange as it sounds (and as oddly as I stared at a couple of chapters at first), it really served its purpose. First, it gave a definite real-life flavor to everything that was going on (although a couple of bits got slightly more stream-of-consciousness than what most people would actually write, but that's a small quibble). Second, it did a great job of helping to differentiate the characters and make you feel like you were moving among different worlds that were beginning to collide in startling ways. A note--there were two chapters narrated from the point of view of the Holy Spirit, which had me a bit on edge for a moment, but I thought the author handled them well. No statements that made me chew on the possible theological ramifications, just a very clear picture of God's presence, leading, and love.
Another thing that was different from other stories I've read was the way that the people involved actually got to see parts of their stories connecting. Maybe not the whole thing, but there was a definite sense that God was moving, and many of the actors did more than just mindlessly pass along a $5 bill. It became obvious rather quickly that something special was going on, and even though no one knew the full story, it was really neat to see people taking the blessing they had been given and sharing it.
And the characters were so diverse! I know that's a buzzword these days, but I'm not really talking about racial lines here (although that was present as well). These characters were from all different walks of life with different problems, different backgrounds, different manners of expression. They ranged from faithful church members to new believers to atheists, from upstanding community members to thieves to drug runners. High school students. A passionate but disheartened pastor. A wealthy financial adviser. Restaurant servers. A custodial worker. A homeless man. Hair stylists. Regular people, every single one of them. (Although Rita was probably my favorite, and I loved the role she played so much! <3 Not telling you which one she is, though.)
This book doesn't shy away from difficult topics and situations, but it handles them with both truth and grace. God is holy and He is forgiving--it's never an either/or argument. And He is working in this world to bring people to Himself. Through the entire book, there was never a question of Whose hand was working through "chance" meetings, intricate timing, and sometimes just a simple nickname to weave the tapestry of these lives. The small-town setting was perfect and just close enough to make all the little connections not stretch the bounds of believability. There were a couple of times that I couldn't remember where I'd heard a certain name before, but I never felt like the characters were piled on unnecessarily, and seeing everything come together in the end was amazing!
Because of some of the issues in different people's backstories (particularly those relating to drugs), I would recommend this for older teens and up. That said, I felt like everything in the story served a purpose rather than being added for shock value, and none of the sins the characters were involved in was glorified in any way. This is a great story with a powerful message, and I'm glad I got the chance to read it.
