Book Review: The Good Dream

The Good Dream 

by Donna VanLiere

About a year ago, a friend and former colleague of mine (also an English teacher) asked if I had any good books out there that I’d recommend for a book club she had joined, but with the following criteria: 1) it couldn’t be a “Christian Fiction” book (as this was for a meeting with all unbelievers except herself); 2) it couldn’t be “too deep or long”; and 3) it needed to have some kind of Gospel themes or truths in it that she could use as a means to engage in Gospel conversations with the other women. At the time, I had nothing to recommend – I read a lot of non-Christian fiction, but most probably qualified as either too long or too deep (most of it not current fiction).

That request was the springboard for me to start doing some more reading – into more current fiction that I could use as a means to engage biblically with the culture of those around me. I gleaned a number of book ideas from places like WORLD Magazine (a Christian publication with a number of book reviews) and from the blogs of theologians like Russell Moore and Albert Mohler – I greatly appreciate theologians who read. One article in particular by Russell Moore really helped me affirm why I as a Christian could and should read good fiction that is not necessarily written by other Christians. As he states, “Good fiction stories aren’t a ‘waste of time’ because … they are rooted in an endlessly creative God who has chosen to be imaged by human beings who create. “ (If you want to read the whole article, click here.) And I am now excited to have added a number of books to my library that meet all the criterion: good fiction, not too long or deep, and with some great Gospel themes.

One of the first books I read (that was recommended in WORLD Magazine) was one that I got from our local library entitled The Good Dream, by Donna VanLiere. When I first began it, I had no idea of the emotional journey that it would take me on. I’m not what you’d call a “crier” when it comes to books and movies (although I’ve gotten more so since having kids). But by the end of this book, my heart was in knots and my throat was full of lumps (note: non-criers have to be strong, especially if someone is in the room watching you read. Hence, lots of lumps.) 

It’s a beautiful story, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of 1950's Tennessee, and centers around Ivorie Walker – an unmarried woman in her 30's who has recently lost her aging parents. She has her own home, works a garden, and makes weekly visits to the nearby General Store and to various townsfolk. Picturesque, right? She’s like many of us, quietly working through life while maintaining a mode of security and respectability, even while enduring the normal trials. But what she doesn’t expect is to be confronted with an outcast boy whose mere presence challenges her to get outside of her world. However, by taking on this challenge – the challenge of all Christians to minister to “orphans in their affliction” – she is threatened with losing everything: her home, her reputation, even her life. And by the end the reader knows that Ivorie will stop at nothing to rescue this little boy from the pit of depravity he’s trapped in. As I sat there later, reflecting on this story, I couldn’t help but see the parallels: Someone willing to sacrifice everything – home, reputation, even life – to rescue me from the ravages of sin. All I could think was “Hallelujah! What a Savior!” This story reaffirmed the message of the Gospel for me in new ways – ways that only made me more thankful and humbled at what my rescuer did for me. I am thankful that there is this kind of truth in many works of fiction, even non-Christian fiction, as we are all image-bearers of God. And so I’ll continue to search for these affirmations of Bible truth as I read – and pass them along as I do.

Megan
for The Sisterhood