Road Home, The
by Mark Andrew Olsen, Tommy Tenney
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark Andrew Olsen, Tommy TenneyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-01
ISBN: 0764205889
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Bethany House
Book Reviews of Road Home, The
Book Review: A huge disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm surprised by the positive reviews this book garnered.
Fiction based on the Biblical narrative is a powerful draw for me - especially one based on my namesake. The Book of Ruth is rich and deep; It's about jealousy for God, about a woman who turns her back on the worldly influences she grew up in and became beautiful inside. The climax of the story is that this transformation, mostly internal, attracts an upright, Godly man. The Biblical Ruth is a template of the woman we should strive to be - obedient, teachable, loyal, humble, wooed by God and with a servant's heart. None of these elements (except perhaps loyalty) are part of Tenney's book!
In "The Road Home" Ruth is not drawn to God by Naomi's faith walk, she just likes the "comfort" of Naomi's family life (Naomi doesn't even have a recognizable relationship with God through most of the book). While the journey home in the Biblical narrative takes up about 1 verse, Tenney wastes three quarters of the book on a road-trip that does more to ruin the character of Ruth than redeem her. At the end of it, she is perceived as a worldly-wise, self-protective, hard woman instead of one gentled by the love and protection of God. Boaz, instead of being a Godly man in his community, is the once-Mennonite, now who-knows-what owner of a large flea-market called "The Green Dragon" (a detail that Tenney should have avoided - since dragon is an alternate name for Satan in the Bible and no Godly man would choose to call his establishment by such a name). And there is no attempt to draw parallels between the laws God provided (and Boaz honored) to protect the poor in a Godly community to similar provisions in the Amish community.
This plot had some potential but none of it was realized. It should have been about a heart changed by the Love of God. It could have been about a Godly community that wrestles with an outsider. It might have offered hope to those healing from early sexual abuse (instead this sub-plot seemed thrown in simply for shock value). Why Tenney chose to make it a road trip book about an unredeemed woman is beyond me.
Even the writing lacked excellence.
I recommend you read Francine River's book "Unshaken" if you want an excellent fictional adaptation of the Ruth Story.
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