Quaker Summer
Don’t read this book if you’re happy with your comfortable Christianity. This book will challenge you to step outside of that little box you’ve put your faith-walk in, and open your heart and life up to real hands-and-feet Jesus-following Christianity. Reading this book made me squirm. In a good way.
Heather Curridge is a surgeon’s wife, complete with all the perks. She has everything most of us could ever want, but she still wants more. Her shopping habits have gotten out of control and driven a wedge between her and her husband. She keeps driving past the home of some old class-mates because she can’t forgive herself for the way she treated them. And she’s constantly questioning what it means to follow Christ. Is it enough to give your money to those who need it? Is it enough to minister inside the safe walls of your comfy church? Or does God ask us for more?
Quaker Summer is the story of Heather’s awakening to the call of God on her life. God uses a kangaroo, her 15-year-old son, a couple of elderly sisters with their own real-life faith, a Catholic nun who loves the addicted and forgotten, and a drug dealer to speak His love and direction into her life. And she listens. Her name is “Curridge,” after all.
This beautiful story is written in Lisa Samson’s signature first-person style. I will never know how she is able to so deftly give each of her main characters their own distinctive voice. But she does. Those of you familiar with Lisa’s books will be thrilled with the fact that Lark Summerville, the character from Women’s Intuition, is one of Heather’s closest friends. I’m going to have to pick up Lark’s story again soon; it’s been awhile.
One warning: do not read this book on an empty stomach! The descriptions of fried pork chops, crab cakes, potato salad, and cake – oh, the cake – left my mouth watering. her description of tea even made me want to get me some – and I’m not a tea drinker!
4 out of 5 stars
After I tried my first Lisa Samson book (“Straight Up”) and wasn’t as thrilled as everyone else seemed to be with it, Lisa told me I probably wouldn’t like any of her other books, either. But I can’t help but want to try another one. Maybe this will be the one.
March 4th, 2007 at 8:09 pmOh crud… it wouldn’t let me make italics, and then it took my punctuation and turned it into an emoticon. Oh well, you know what I was trying to do!
March 4th, 2007 at 8:10 pmI’m not too crazy about either cake (diabetic with a hatred for sugar) or tea, but I LOVE stories that treat the aging with respect. It sounds like this one might be one story that I would enjoy reading.
March 4th, 2007 at 10:53 pmThank you for sharing your book review! It sounds like a great one to read!
March 5th, 2007 at 8:43 amKaren – each of Lisa’s books has a different “voice” – so I would definitely give one more a try.
Birdie – yes, the characters in this book definitely burst the stereotype of senior citizens as old and decrepit.
Shiloah – it is! And thanks for stopping by!.
March 5th, 2007 at 9:11 amLovely blog you have here, Carrie. Came over from Faith Lifts. I’ll definitely have to add this one to my book list. I recently read “Club Sandwich” by Lisa which really drew me into the character.
March 5th, 2007 at 9:42 amSusanne – thanks for stopping by!
March 5th, 2007 at 1:38 pmAnother one for the TBR list! Thanks for the review. It sounds intriguing.
March 10th, 2007 at 10:51 pmKaren, I LOVED The Church Ladies and pretty much loved the rest of Lisa’s books until Straight Up – didn’t care too much for that one. So I think you can dislike that one and still like others she writes.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:23 amCarrie – you’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
Eileen – I agree.
March 11th, 2007 at 3:29 pmGreat review! Funny mention about the food and tea. I HAD to make a cake this weekend and I guess I haven’t made one in 5 years; plus, I’m an avid coffee drinker but what did I drink this weekend? Tea!
March 25th, 2007 at 9:42 pmThanks for sharing with us!
Katie Johnson
Katie – thanks for stopping by!
March 26th, 2007 at 8:17 amCarrie, I just found your website and I *LOVE* it! I love all your book reviews and everything else too. I read Quaker Summer this summer, during a massive home renovation project, ironically! (To justify this, our kitchen needed remodeling when we moved in 22 years ago, and it made sense to do some other needed work too). I would call this book “life-changing” for me. I still haven’t actually made any changes in what I”m DOING, but I’m definitely changed in my thinking about posessions and how “we” need to do more to help than write a check (the easiest way to help). I’m very interested in the book your family is using for history in your homeschooling. History is something I need to learn more about. I consider myself a life-long learner and even though my daughters (now ages 24, 26, 28 – all of them are teachers, including the two sons-in-law) attended public school, we did a LOT of “schooling” at home too. Our oldest is pregnant and is strongly considering home-schooling.
I don’t know if you get comments written on an old post of yours, but here’s hoping…
Susan
September 17th, 2007 at 8:39 pm[...] Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson – 4 stars – related post [...]
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