Customer Reviews

The Angel of Bastogne

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end. A great read at Christmas time or any time.

Morris' The Angel of Bastogne is a nice story and edifying. However, he goes the opposite direction of many of his secular counterparts. Instead of doom and gloom, sex and violence; Morris' tale is too packaged where most people are believers and everything turns out just right. Sure, its nice to read but a little conflict and a few less stellar believers turning up at the right time and every corner would have made this novel more realistic. For example two of the book's main characters -one a believer and one a seeker - travel together for a newspaper assignment and everywhere (literally) they go, they meet happy and outspoken Christians. It would be nice if real life were this convenient, but it is not.

If some of the people Morris' characters met were believers and some were just ordinary people, some even contrary and nasty - it would have added more climax to the book.and every corner would have made this novel more realistic. For example two of the book's main character - one a believer and one a seeker - travel together for a newspaper assignment and everywhere (literally) they go, they meet happy and outspoken Christians. It would be nice if real life were this convenient, but it is not. We get the whole mix of humanity.

If some of the people Morris characters met (particularly the seeker) were believers and some were just ordinary people, some even contrary and nasty - it would have added more climax to the book and been more realistic. However, I gave it four stars since it does indeed edify and bring glory to Christ and his work of redemption in the hearts of men and women.

In 'The Angel of Bastogne', Gilbert Morris has written a highly insightful epic showing just how God can move in even the hardest of hearts. He has shown that despite the hard experiences of life, in this case, the darkness of war, God can touch hearts and minds. The book begins with a harsh scene in Bastogne in France during World War II where the military onslaught of the allies against the German army- the infamous Battle of the Buldge- is in full force. With the arrival of Christmas day a small group of allied soldiers does everything possible to make a joyful moment out of the terror of being at the front lines realizing that this year, they will not have the luxury of family intimacy. With the German army having begun their relentless attack on the allies, an angel appears to one of the most senior soldiers, Willie Raines and guides him to the location of the German mortar squad. Through an act of heroism, Raines is able to destroy the German munitions stock and in the process save his men from a certain death.

It is from here that Morris then turns his focus to the present day. Newspaper reporter Ben Raines, Willie's son, is happy to be going to Spain, the journey of his life! He is very much a cynical man who has grown despondent, a man who has twenty bad afternoons a month and who hates everything about Christmas. With his father now confined to a wheel chair, crippled by the war and unable to work because of his condition, Ben has resigned himself to thinking of him as a failure. In fact Ben would rather have been born to a rich father who did not talk about angels and heaven all the time. So when Ben is assigned the job of writing the Christmas Story for his newspaper, he becomes deeply conflicted. Not only will he not be going to his much-awaited vacation but he will also have to spend the holidays with his father.

Realizing that he has to make something out of a rather bad situation, Ben decides to write about that fateful night during the war when his father saved his men. As if by coincidence, Ben watches `It's a Wonderful Life' - a movie that bothers Ben for it shows the hope that can be found even in the depths of life's greatest despair. Ben is at odds with such a portrayal. Yet ironically it is the sentiments that build up in him after watching the movie that seed his thoughts on the story that he eventually writes about his father's war experience.

Ben sets off in search of the men that had been part of his father's infantry. Charlene Delaughter, a pediatric surgeon who is also the daughter of one of Willie Raines' squad, becomes Ben's companion on a journey that takes them across the United States. Not only is she the pilot of their plane but she is a Godly woman who sees in Ben a man that is hurt and in need of something positive in his life. Charlene realizes that God has put her and Ben together for a purpose other than just writing the newspaper story. Upon meeting the men of his father's war squad, Ben slowly realizes his father is not the failure that he thought he was. It is after all because of Willie's heroic act on that Christmas night that these men survived and are now positively affecting others.

Ultimately these experiences bring Ben closer to God and to the realization that he needs God in his own life. Indeed it is in a close encounter with death at the end of the journey that Ben finally makes a commitment to God. As a consequence Ben's attitude to life is totally changed. All those around him notice the change in a man that has accepted Jesus as his ultimate savior. Ben is a transformed man- his smiles, his gestures are noticed by all who meet him for he has lost his cynicism and anger.

The story ends with a surprise reunion between Willie and the men of his squad. This is the greatest moment ever for a man such as Willie Raines who has been confined to a wheel chair. But the most ineffable joy for Willie comes from Ben's own testimony- his article about Christmas- that is now complete. It begins with the heart wrenching words of a man transformed by love:

"This Christmas I believe in God, and I believe in sacrifice, for I have seen it in my father. I believe that every man and every woman has a chance to give a gift that never dies, as my father did"

God can certainly take his time to move in the hearts of his people and Gilbert Morris depicts this wonderfully. Yet equally poignant is the discovery that once God moves, our attitudes to life change forever. Morris' novel gives us hope for the future for, just like Willie Raines, our response to 'heaven's angels' even in the darkest moments of our lives, can forever change others. Life becomes our greatest gift, given to us by our Creator so that we may in turn offer others the hope of salvation.