Customer Reviews

The Calling of Emily Evans (Women of the West #1)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is about a woman who is called by God to set up a church. She has many problems along the way, including poor attendance, a low food supply, and a difficulty convincing people that God is indeed real and needed in every single life. She does NOT step out of the boundaries of the Bible. Emily simply sets up a church and teaches because there is no preacher in the area. She doesn't preach, only tries to help people see the importance of a faith in God and tries to help them understand the Bible and how important it is. This is a wonderful book that helped me understand things more clearly and get things sorted out in my own faith. I thank Janette Oke for writing such a great book.

I thouroly enjoyed reading this book! When I first read the description I thought that maybe she was stepping out of the lines of the Bible. I thought I would read it and see what hapend. It turned out that she was right on. In this book Emily Evans feels that God is calling her to start a church for Him. So she finds herself in a strange city, trying to set a church up in an old billard hall! She faces many hardships thourgh the two years written about. Thourgh the book though Emily made it clear that she was just wanting to start the church, and that when she married she would turn the preaching over to her husband! This was a great piece of Christian fiction, and I am glad that she showed what it is like serving the Lord!

Despite the fact that Mrs. Oke created a good plot for this book, I was keenly disappointed in it. I felt as though Mrs. Oke knew not how to write about certain scenes in the book. She therefore, quickly brushed through that certain scene and TOLD us what happened, not necessarily SHOWED us. It seemed as if huge chunks of the story were missing, leaving me hungry for those chunks. I didn't particularly, like the ending at all. Although I believe in surprise endings, which is what she gave us, this ending didn't quite seem to fit. True, all of Emily's (the main character) struggles would have been solved with the ending (I'm not telling you just what the ending was...he he.), but...I don't know, I was also disappointed with it. Now, Mrs. Oke didn't do such a bad job; the plot of the story was very charming itself. Mrs. Oke just didn't do the best job of telling it.
The plot begins with Emily Evans, a slight, young, and not the healthiest woman, studying dutifully away at Bible School. She isn't the brightest little thing and has to work harder than others to achieve her good grades. She isn't quite sure what's she doing at Bible school, but she strongly feels it's what God wants her to do, for ever since she was young, she's had a strong desire to serve the Lord. Then, during chapel one day, she decided to fill that desire and become the "deaconess" at the mission in Wesson Creek. Her father packed a bunch of gunny sacks and crates and sent her off, although he wasn't too sure that any woman (no matter of their health) should do the preaching. He thought that preaching was a man's job, and especially since Emily is so often sick, I guess you could say he sort of resented her going. Nevertheless, he gives her his blessing and prays for the best.
Once Emily arrives, she is very disappointed in her house and church. She spends about a week fixing it up (with the help of some crews). Then, she holds her first service and is once again disappointed, except this time, it's in the size of her congregation. Emily struggles on, meeting new people, finding enough money for her food, and laboriously preparing sermons. She even falls in love with Shad, but his unbelief in God, makes it seem rather hypocritical to allow him calling. Big John, the mercantile owner, poses hard questions for Emily to answer, and she has to do some researching. To sum up, the book is all about Emily's struggle to obey God's calling, even though it isn't her first choice.
All in all, I guess what I'm trying to say is that; Oke had a good plot, but skipped some major parts. The book was ending all too soon.

This account of a young woman following God's voice to the mission field in an era where women were only supposed to marry the first boy or man that came along and raise a family is truly inspirational. Not that I have anything against raising families. This book inspired me to believe through writing only as Jeanette Oke can, that I too, even with a family of my own can be used by God. What a wonderful adventure in someone elses shoes as well! I highly reccomend this book!

The Calling of Emily Evans is a tender and touching story. Young Emily gets her calling to become a pastor while in Bible School. While her father doesn't want her to go off by herself to minister to a new community, Emily's mind is made up. This is her calling and it is what she's going to do.

Emily does not have an easy time trying to build her congregation. She is met by challenges but faces them head on. She never gives up. She is very determined to make her church successful and doesn't want anyone to know when time are hard for her.

The Calling is a wonderful story. Ms. Oke writes about characters the reader finds themselves caring about. From Emily to Big John the characters are wonderfully written. The plot is good and the development of the characters is excellent. This book is great! It is a tender,touching story that will warm your heart. Definitely worth reading and recommending to someone! Read today!!

This is my favorite Janette Oke book! I read this entire book in one Saturday afternoon. I think it is a wonderful story of courage, determination to follow God's will, and unselfishness. Although I disagree with the book's philosphy that women are only pastors because men don't answer their calling, I think it is an inspiration to all women to follow God's calling and leading in their life- no matter what it brings.

As a woman who is called to God's service, this book has been tremendously helpful to me and is very dear to my heart. Janette Oke tells the story of Emily Evans with detail and emotion, a heart-warming story about a woman's place in the eyes of God.

I did not find this story believable. The main character had too many hardships to overcome and I did not agree she could surmount them in the manner that Oke described. I felt it was a little anti-male as well.

I well and truly wanted to like this book, seeing as how it does tell of the time in history when women were allowed to preach and teach the Word without being looked down on, since they were the ones that wanted to go and answer the Call.

However, Emily Evans was not the right character to follow on her Call. She's stubborn, and doesn't really get that relying on faith can also mean asking for help when it is necessary. There are many times when she could have asked her father for a bit of money to help her float through the hard times she was facing, or asked for advice from the women friends she made on how to grow a proper garden in her yard.

Oke also does Emily a disservice in having all of her problems work out way too easily. Especially in the case of the town drunk. The ending, with the reappearance of a character we hadn't seen in over half the book seemed forced and contrived, and if Emily was truly about God's work, she would have demanded proof of what this character was telling her, rather than relying on what her heart was saying.

The calling of Emily Evens is one of the best books that Janette Oke wrote. I really enjoyed the story and the idea that woman can serve God just as well as men.