Book Reviews

– book reviews by Quincy Wheeler –

 

I am a firm believer that good art – literature, films, music, paintings –gives insight into Scriptural truth. Its creators may not always realize or intend to give this insight, but when someone portrays truth, they are, by the nature of truth itself, exposing something about what God has displayed for us in Jesus Christ. I feel that I have benefited greatly by accompanying my immersion in the Scriptures with the consumption of great literature, and I’d like to encourage you to consider doing the same.

 

In the previous edition of Cross Style Connection, I suggested Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the former published in 1956 and the latter in the late 1800’s. You might be saying, “Man, those were written before computers existed! Is there any great literature written since I was born?” The answer is, “Not much,” but the following is a list of great books I’ve encountered that were written within the past forty years or so:

 

First Circle – Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1968 – but updated with new material at a fairly recent date). What is it about living in Siberia that produces good writers… and long novels? Solzhenitsyn spends many pages examining the lives of prisoners in the “first circle” of Communist “Hades” in the Soviet Union. Be aware that, since we are looking at the lives of prisoners, Solzhenitsyn’s works contain some rough language at points, but he is a strong believer in Christianity whose books always demonstrate the devastatingly awful consequences of believing in self-sufficiency and human effort, while also presenting the hope and life of living in the Cross Style.

 

Angle of Repose – Wallace Stegner (1971). Stegner’s books usually engage his readers in the consideration of marriage, relationships, and day-to-day things that make up their lives. This novel shows us a man writing about the lives of his grandparents. There is tragedy, here, but there is also hope, and that is very true to life. Most importantly, the novel challenges us to count the cost of love and not hold back. Stegner’s prose is simple and beautiful.

 

Watership Down – Richard Adams (1972). You may have read this novel in school, and if you have, you might be surprised I am recommending to adults a novel about rabbits. But, in the adventures and quests undertaken by the furry protagonists of this story, Adams shows valuable, timeless truths about the nature of leadership, courage and heroism. As always, self-sacrificial love is the common factor that sets a hero above the crowd.

 

Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (1989). This book is the only novel written since the 70’s I’ve read that I consider “great”. In it, Ishiguro shows us the danger of pretending, acting, “doing,” instead of living, engaging, “being.” These effects are seen in the life of an English butler in the 1940’s, but are also connected to events of significance in the world at large.