Thursday, June 13, 2013

Book Review: "Seeing Things" by Patti Hill


Birdie Wainwright, 72, isn’t concerned about seeing things that others can’t. For a woman who still climbs mountains with her dog (Miss Bee Haven) and likes to tango, the impractical visions brought on by macular degeneration are just another gift from God, adding more adventure to life. But when a tumble down the stairs breaks her ankle and leads back to her son’s home in Denver where she must convalesce, Birdie’s imagination really takes flight. Following a conversation with her grandson about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, she begins to see and speak with the unkempt literary character himself on a regular basis. As the line between reality and whimsy turns brittle, faith is tested among friends and loved ones, and hope is reborn.
Seeing Things is a story about family, reconciliation, and hearing from God in unexpected ways. - from Amazon.com

I am not a big fan of Christian Fiction, though, I have come across a few that have a good story without feeling like the religious part is being forced on the reader. This is one of those books, that don't force it on you, but make it clear that it is there. I enjoyed the author's way of sharing the story, as a first-person view, as if they were sitting down and telling you face to face (plus added details like exact conversations, etc.). The main character has AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) which I know nothing about, except how it is described in the book. I found it a bit odd that there was as much detail regarding the settings, since the person supposedly had a 'gray cloud' centered in their vision constantly. Either way, this character eventually has a hallucination (for lack of better word) that they interact with several times throughout the time frame of the story. Why it Huck Finn, I only guess due to events in the story (read it and you will see what I mean).

Character development was a bit lacking, and sometimes I felt I couldn't tell why the author included certain events that happened - as in I felt it did not help any for the story, but word count only. Clean, decent read for anyone looking for a general fiction quick read.

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