W. Dale Cramer
Bad Ground (2004)
Author: W. Dale Cramer
Genre: Literary/Christian
Plot Summary:
Jeremy has led a very sheltered life with his mother in western Tennessee, but his life changes drastically when his mother is taken by breast cancer, leaving him an orphan. Spurred on by a letter from his mother instructing him to leave everything behind and find his Uncle Aiden, Jeremy sets out to hitchhike to the big city of Atlanta to fulfill his mother's instructions, wondering all the while what "unique gifts" each has for the other. Jeremy makes his way to Atlanta and finds his Uncle Aiden, who has been severely emotionally and physically scarred due to a mining accident. Uncle Aiden, or "Snake" as he is now known, reluctantly agrees to take on Jeremy as a miner on the city mining project he is managing. The odd pairing forces both Jeremy and Aiden to grow and face ghosts from the past, and many obstacles lie in the way of their developing a good relationship. SPOILER: After Jeremy comes inches from death in a terrifying mining accident, Aiden decides that Jeremy is a man and that it is time that he reveals the truth behind the accident of Jeremy's father's death. Aiden discovers that the "unique gift" he can offer Jeremy is to teach him the life skills a father would have, while Jeremy's "unique gift" to Aiden is to absolve him of any guilt he feels over the accident that took Jeremy's father.
Geographical Setting: Outskirts of Atlanta, underground in mines
Time Period: present day (2004)
Appeal Characteristics:
This is an excellent book for those looking to ease into the pool of Christian fiction; the symbolism is light and the themes are not overly dramatic or obutse. One of the main appeal elements to this novel is the setting; set underground, it offers readers a unique glimpse into the dangerous world of hard-rock mining and into the mentality of the men who choose to work there; readers who enjoy extensive technical detail of a profession, to the extent of that found in certain thrillers, will appreciate the detail with which the setting is described. The setting and the cast of characters might appeal more to men than women, but both will certainly enjoy this novel. The writing style is somewhat poetic and certainly literary, in that the atmosphere of the mine can seem alternately sinister or cathedral-like, yet rarely borders on sentimentalism. The writing style is also heavy on dialogue, which is well-written and appropriate for the characters, and is also often humorous. The characters themselves are well-rounded, dynamic, and rarely cliched; the reader gets a very real sense of the emotional workings of Jeremy and Snake, and understands quite a bit about the motivations of even the most minor of characters. This novel is a 2005 Christy Award Winner in the Contemporary/General category, and was included in Publisher's Weekly Best Fiction of 2004.
Read-alikes: Readers who particularly enjoy Cramer's writing style and take on masculinity might enjoy his newest offering, Summer of Light, in which a construction-worker dad is forced to trade in his toolbox and become a stay-at-home dad when he gets injured on the job. For a similar coming-of-age story told by a male protagonist, readers might try Janis Owens' The Schooling of Claybird Catts, which features 11-year-old Clayton struggling to deal with the aftermath of his father's death and the resulting family dysfunction, all set in a small Southern town; although the third in a series, this can be read as a stand-alone. Along the same lines, readers might also enjoy Welcome to Fred by Brad Whittington. Unlike Bad Ground, this novel features a preacher's kid from the big city come to live in small-town Texas during the '60's, but the feelings of awkwardness and alienation are still present. Readers who enjoyed the level of detail about the mining profession might try Robert Whitlow's The Trial, a fast-paced legal thriller set in small-town Georgia, which follows lawyer Mac as he tries to deal with his guilt and loss over losing his family in a car accident. The similar themes of loss, guilt, and redemption make this Christy Award Winner (2001) a good next read. Lisa Samson's Songbird, also a Christy Award Winner (2004) for the Contemporary/General category, follows a young woman on her search to find her birth mother and come to terms with both her mother's mental illness and her own mental health, and what that means in terms of her faith. Although a little more issue-oriented than Bad Ground, readers who enjoyed the themes of redemption set among a cast of characters who managed to be good without being goody-goodies will be pleased.
Red Flags: Hunting scenes, graphic descriptions of burn victims
Levi's Will (2005)
Author: W. Dale Cramer
Genre: Literary/Christian
Plot Summary:
The novel begins tensely as Will Mullet, a young Amish man, boards a train heading away from the Amish community in Ohio where he spent his childhood. Will feels driven to leave because he is going to be forced to marry Mattie, a girl his age whom he cares deeply about but does not love. Mattie is pregnant with Will's child and the two have been banned from the church until they marry. Only Will feels pressured and knows he does not want to be stuck in the community with Levi, his overbearing and disapproving father. So Will leaves home, changes his last name to McGruder and soon joins the army, which is something that the Amish, as conscientious objectors, feel strongly against. After several years fighting in WWII, Will returns to America and marries Helen. They have two sons together. All along Will lies to Helen and everyone he meets about his past, saying he is from Canada and his parents are dead. Years later, he decides to tell Helen the truth because his lies begin to unravel. Helen is furious but she is determined to stand by her husband and to help him resolve the tension with his family. They return to his hometown for the first time in over nine years and are shunned by Will's father because Will is still banned by their Amish church. Will is reunited with his eight brothers and sisters and is able to meet the daughter he left behind, who was raised by his sister after Mattie's death in childbirth. SPOILER: It takes decades but eventually Will is accepted back into his family by his father and the family is reunited. After years of running from his past, Will accepts his Amish upbringing, his family and also accepts God back into his life upon realizing that to him, God means love and forgiveness. The daughter Will abandoned accepts Will and his actions. Will also seems to resolve the tension that has developed between him and his second son, Riley, over the years. Riley seems to forgive his father for his neglect as he was growing up because Riley, upon spending time in the Amish community, realizes that Will was being the best father he knew how to be because his own father was harsh and overbearing when he was a child.
Geographical Setting: Ohio and other parts of the Midwest, Georgia and Germany briefly
Time Period: 1943-1985
Appeal Characteristics:
This novel has an easy, relaxed pace with detailed characterization and detailed descriptions of the setting. Emphasis is on characterization as this novel is a type of coming of age story in which a distraught and defiant teenage boy slowly develops into a caring, introspective man. The characters are realistic because their personalities are developed deeply and their emotions are described in such a way that a reader can relate to their feelings of frustration, anger or embarrassment, even if the reader has never been in the same situation as the characters in the novel. The storyline is character centered and gentle with a fully resolved ending that leaves the reader feeling hopeful. The storyline is domestic in that it revolves primarily around family life and the relationships between family members. The tone is heartwarming at times but at other times the atmosphere of the book is stark, which causes the tone to be a little dark. The book alternates between chapters set in the past as Will recalls the major events in his life and chapters set in 1985 when Will is trying to come to terms with the choices he made in his past and how they have affected others around him. The chapters set in the past allow the reader to understand the adult Will who we read about in the chapter set in 1985. Readers may enjoy the details about the Amish community and their way of life, language, traditions and religious beliefs. For those readers not familiar with Amish culture, this may be an exotic setting and for those who are, this story may remind them of their own past. Cramer's writing style is straightforward and at times simple; however, readers may enjoy Cramer's frequent use of metaphors and beautiful way of explaining simple situations so that the meaning these situations have for the characters can be in some way communicated to the readers.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed Levi's Will may enjoy Sutter's Cross or Bad Ground, which are also by W. Dale Cramer. Readers who enjoyed the hopeful ending of Levi's Will, in which Will returned to his hometown and came to terms with his past, may enjoy The Reckoning by Beverly Lewis. In this novel, Katherine leaves her Amish family to experience life in the modern world; however, she eventually longs for the peacefulness of her past and as a result, returns to her community. Lewis has written many books featuring Amish characters, such as The Shunning and The Confession which fans of Levi's Will might also enjoy. Readers who enjoyed the details about Amish customs, the emphasis on family relationships and the bleak farm setting of Levi's Will may enjoy Evie Yoder Miller's Eyes at the Window, an epic tale of Amish life. This novel features Amish settlers in Pennsylvania and Ohio in the 19th centur y who are forced to work hard to survive through a number of hardships. This story is bleaker than Levi's Will but the love the characters feel for one another and for their religion is also one of the main themes of this novel. Readers who enjoyed the close look at Amish family life in Levi's Will may also enjoy Carrie Bender's Whispering Brook Farm, which features the Petersheims, a close-knit family. The Petersheims' son struggles when deciding what to do when faced with the negative influences of the world outside the Amish community. This story will appeal to readers who want a gentler read than Miller's Eyes at the Window. Readers who were engrossed by the father-son relationship in Levi's Will may be interested in reading The Faded Flower by Paul McCusker, which features a protagonist named Frank who is forced to consider his ideas about, and obligations to, his family when his father is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Like Will, Frank finds that his faith is renewed and that he values his family above all.
Red Flags: mention of premarital sex and illegitimate pregnancy, reference to drug addiction, drug use and drinking, mention of disapproval of certain Amish traditions
|top|
|
