From master storyteller Walter Wangerin, Jr. comes this familiar biblical saga told in a fresh, transfixing way. You’ll feel you’ve never heard it before! Melding historical accuracy with imaginative detail, Wangerin uses the biblical books of Judges and Ruth to explore themes of love, faith, grief and community set against a backdrop of war and political instability. The widow Naomi grieves the … the deaths of her two adult sons after the shocking murder of a beloved adopted daughter, while pondering her responsibilities toward her Moabite daughters-in-law. Ancient Israel is in chaos. When her daughter-in-law, Ruth, begs to return to Israel with Naomi, events are set in motion that will change the course of history. But wait…this isn’t the tame, flannel graph story you heard in Sunday School. In the tradition of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent and Elissa Elliott’s Eve: A Novel of the First Woman, Wangerin imbues his tale with strong female characters and an earthy realism that gives the timeless Old Testament narrative so much power. You’ll find echoes of contemporary issues throughout: deceit, heartbreak, loss, war, and, of course, the power of love. Naomi’s combined strength and tenderness becomes the pivot upon which a nation turns; her decisions ultimately lead to the founding of the family lineage of Jesus Christ. Breathtaking descriptions, shocking violence, and inspirational courage make this spellbinding novel by a beloved award-winning author a story you won’t soon forget. It’s the perfect novel for your book group, and a satisfying read for those who love thoughtful biblical fiction.
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Knowing the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, I read this entire book, hoping that there would be some redeeming value to it, at least at the end. I am so very disappointed by this book. The Bible story of these three people is so filled with honor, blessing, hope, patience, service, kindness, love. This book was raw and dark, ugly in all the ways of this broken world. I understand that there was more to the lives of these three individuals than the four chapters in the book of Ruth. I am also aware that they were human, prone to sin, subjected to the darknesses of this world, no matter their role in the Divine lineage. But the way in which they were portrayed, in fact, the over- and undertones of this entire book were so repulsive to me, that I became increasingly grateful that I had just completed a personal Bible study on the book of Ruth to help me see all the ways this book didn’t just fall short, but missed the mark by miles. Otherwise, I think this “telling” would have hurt my very soul, rather than merely disgusting me.
This book is NOT Biblical fiction. It’s not even Christian fiction. It’s not even really historical fiction. It’s just pure fiction. I realized this about 30 pages in and hoped that by casting it in the proper light, I might at least find a good story told. I never did. Good Christian fiction brings us a lesson and concludes with hope and some sort of restoration or redemption: this book offered none of these things. I haven’t read much Biblical fiction, and I’m going to try not to allow Naomi and Her Daughters to deter me, as I am sure that there are better examples of it out there. I have to believe that, much like good historical fiction, the story is heavily colored by fact and research. Mentioning some people and places from the Bible, alluding to a few of the events that take place, does not make a book Biblical fiction, just like randomly sprinkling in a few historical references does not make a book historical fiction. I was hoping that the end would, at the very least, include an author’s note, as my favorite historical fiction authors often use to share where they took liberties and why. It provides context, shows integrity in its honor of the known facts. These liberties should enhance the facts that we know, giving them color and life, not rewrite history and then sell it as based in reality. This book went so far sideways, it wasn’t “out of the box” nor a “retelling,” but an entire work of fiction with some familiar names and places scattered about. Not even good fiction, it was fragmented, jerking back and forth in time, the sentence and paragraph structures awkward and jerky.
I am utterly disappointed. The truth of it is that I only finished this book so that I could write this review without any chance I was going to be inaccurate or incomplete with my assessment.