It’s time for the best book I read this month and The Cephalopod Coffeehouse hosted by The Armchair Squid. We gather once a month to talk about the best books we’ve read over the past few weeks.
Mercy’s
Rain
by Cindy K. Sproles is set in the late 1800s and traces the journey of Mercy
Roller, a young girl living in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, who must
come to terms with her angry, revengeful heart brought on by a childhood of
abuse and brutality.
Mercy’s father, Pastor Roller, is a cruel man with a
desire to inflict pain and anguish on his wife and children under the guise of spiritual
cleansing and holiness. He sexually and physically abuses his daughter and tries
to burn and freeze his wife to death; he hits, hangs, drowns, and commits
infanticide. He is evil incarnate and Mercy, finally reaches her breaking point
when he kills a local boy.
Her heart full of hate, Mercy shows no mercy when it
comes to The Pastor’s punishment for his crime, and years later she readily
confesses to herself and others that she had a hand in her own father’s killing.
Once she leaves her home and all of its terrible memories and settles among
friends who need her child-minding help, Mercy experiences a different life—one
that could offer happiness and redemption. Even so, she is haunted by her
memories and struggles to forgive herself and those who have hurt her, and
experience the very quality after which she is named. Mercy must decide whether
she will allow herself to love and let go of the past, finally accepting God’s
grace and healing.
Mercy’s
Rain
is an intense, emotional story, beautifully developed and constructed by
Sproles’s fine prose. It is not a novel for the faint-hearted, but it is one
for the broken-hearted. Mercy’s journey from broken, bitter, and angry to a
girl who desires to love and be loved rings true and is not at all contrived.
The novel’s painfully realistic portrait of domestic abuse is part of what
makes it so powerful. This is not feel-good inspirational fiction; this is gritty,
soul-searching, life-changing story telling—a rushing river of realization that
people experience this sort of brokenness every day and must choose between
hating and forgiving. Mercy’s hurt is a deep well, and she must decide if God’s
love is enough to fill it.
If you'd like to look at some other good reads, check out some of my fellow coffeehouse bloggers' favorite reads this month.
What’s the best book you’ve read this month?
Wow, sounds intense - and powerful.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was intense. I had to read in smaller doses, but it wasn't overly graphic, so that helped.
DeleteI think it's all the more impressive that the author managed to maintain the intensity without getting overly graphic. There's a lesson there!
DeleteWow, I agree what the Armchair Squid said; sounds intense, but also redeeming I bet. Must put it on my list to read :)
ReplyDeleteI finished this week Goodnight Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson; very good book! Hard to put down at times.
betty
I love reading those books you just can't put down!
DeleteHoly smokes! It's clearly a book that can twist a reader around the bend. I truly cannot fathom having such a hatful parent, but god knows they exist!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
V :)
Mercy's Rain sounds like a very good book, though perhaps hard to read at times. That would be a deep well to climb out of.
ReplyDeleteOh My Goodness, what a book and review !
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I could read this but what a powerful story.
cheers, parsnip
It was not easy to read in parts, but the end was great!
DeleteYou've written a great review but I think it might be a disturbing book to read.
ReplyDeleteWow. It sounds intense and dark...I like lighter reads! Or books that delve deep but not DARK, like yours!
ReplyDeleteSally and Stephanie, yes, I do have a tendency toward serious reads. BUT, this month I'm reading much, much lighter. Romances, in fact! :)
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