Jumping in Sunset [Paperback]

Dawn Ringling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2003

Divorce is not just a fact in Christian circles, it's a common occurrence. Yet most Christian fiction dealing with marital struggles insists that reconciliation is always possible. Jumping in Sunset shows how God's abundant love works through situations where the neat, accepted answers don't. Meet Pamela Thornton, who has a comfortable faith, a twenty-year marriage, and a solid relationship with her college-bound daughter - when her husband announces he's leaving her to marry another woman. Slowly, Pamela learns to understand and experience God within the impossible truth that her marriage has come to an end.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers of evangelical Christian fiction should welcome this novel for its acknowledgment that sometimes marriages between two believers fail, and resolution isn't possible. Pamela Thornton and her husband, Paul, are everyone's ideal Christian couple: successful, outwardly moral and almost finished raising their only child, Angie. Then Paul drops a bombshell-he's leaving Pamela to marry Dana, a woman he volunteers with at church. Paul wallows in self-justification as he convinces himself he was naive and hurried when he met Pamela and has finally found the one woman he was meant to love. As Paul sees it, "Wasn't the smoothness of this transition out of his marriage a sign... that God smiled upon his and Dana's love?" Pamela's story is believable and poignant, as Ringling chronicles her depression, denial, anger and pain. Readers will cheer as Pamela finds hard-won independence and self-esteem through her photography and recognizes the value of her northern Minnesota roots. Although Angie's narratives are a necessary component of the novel, they are unfortunately told through CBA fiction's well-worn device of italicized journal entries, which lessen their impact. There are a few other missteps-Pamela finds support in her best friend, Starla, who speaks in an unconvincing vernacular ("Ya have no work"), and there is an unnecessary subplot involving Paul's childhood. However, the characters are multifaceted, and their emotions, even when disturbing, are believable. This novel deserves a place in CBA bookstores for its genuine portrayal of imperfect Christian people.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ringling's Jumping in Sunset is a straight-ahead tale of divorce featuring Pamela Thornton, whose financier husband, Paul, leaves her and Minnesota for an even fancier career and another woman, in that capital of sin, Los Angeles. In melodramatic fashion, Ringling heaps all manner of indignities upon Paul, admittedly an insufferable hypocrite; meanwhile, Pamela makes out like a bandit and is far better off, though not to hear her tell it. The blow-by-blow emotional impact of divorce on a long-suffering woman will prove agreeable to many readers, but inadvertently, by stacking the deck, Ringling comes near to arguing for divorce. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (November 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590522273
• ISBN-13: 978-1590522271
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,793,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars warm and poignant tale, November 21, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jumping in Sunset (Paperback)

After they celebrate his birthday at a restaurant, on their way back to their Minneapolis home, Paul Thornton drops a bombshell on his wife of two decades Pamela. Without any warning or sign he tells her he's divorcing her and intends to marry Dana, the woman he is running a church program with. Paul also says that he and his intended are moving to California where he has a new job waiting for him.

At first Pamela can't function, rejecting the well-meaning kindness of her friends and church until Starla offers the use of a summer cabin at Sunset Lake. Pamela finds peace there and reconnects with an old school friend who is a famous composer of Christian music. Pamela hopes that Paul will return to her, but as time goes by she realizes that she has to get on with her life. She takes her photograph career in a new direction, buys a winterized cabin, and slowly starts to let go of the past to the point where one day she hopes to forgive Paul and Dana.

The heroine is a strong, tough and independent woman even though she is unaware of these qualities that make her a survivor. Paul is made too easy to dislike because he has carried on for years with Dana and he is emotionally cruel to his wife by telling her he never loved her. Readers hearts will go out to the woman scorned and hope she can let go of her anger to take a second chance at love. This is a warm and poignant tale that will leave readers emotionally gratified.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jumping and liking it!, January 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Jumping in Sunset (Paperback)

Dawn Ringling has done an amazing job of describing the emotions that often seem indescribable dealing with divorce. She not only makes the reader understand the pain, lonliness, embarrassment, grief, and depression of the main character abandoned after nineteen years, but she also makes you think out of the box as to the perspective of the husband, daughter, friends, and associates. Few are left untouched when divorce rips through a family. Though the subject seems dismal, there is hope and love written thoughout the text. The book is hard to put down. I'm looking forward to more work from Dawn Ringling.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars genuine and thought provoking, March 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Jumping in Sunset (Paperback)

Jumping in Sunset is a very good read: well-written storyline, characters that are real & interesting, and an ending that is not pat "Christian-ese". Not necessarily spouting answers, this author ably explores the pain and real issues of infidelity & divorce. A must read for those who like a good story and for those who like to grow & be challenged along with the characters whose story they are reading.