Customer Reviews

Lullaby

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

 

 

I loved this book, it is the first christian fiction book I have read and found myself really moved by it. It reminded me of a book I favor called "Bastard out of Carolina" by Dorothy Allison. I really felt the characters had much depth to them and loved the ending. I would highly recommend this book. You will love it!

This is the second Orcutt book I have read now. THE LIVING STONE was superb and I had a feeling this would be just as good, or so I hoped and gladly I was not let down!

LULLABY can be read in one sitting - so pour a cup of tea, have a seat and and meet Merilee and the adoptive parents, Nora and Steven. Merilee is just 15, pregnant and parentless herself. Her father went off when she was little and her mother killed herself shortly after hearing of her daughter's pregnancy.

Moving story about a couple who deeply desires a child and can't have one of their own and feels hope when Merilee enters their lives. God moves in mysterious ways and only through His grace are we saved. This novella brings the unconditional love.

First of all, I am not a fiction reader. Fiction has to be really good for me to like it. Most of what I read is Christian nonfiction, with an occasional Christian novel thrown in. If you look at my other reviews, you'll see I'm picky about my fiction!

That said, this is an INCREDIBLE book! Like the other reviewer said, this book is best read in one sitting, but I didn't have the time to do that. But I did read it in a day, a chapter here and a chapter there.

The author is just outstanding at description. The way she depicts her characters... well, let's just say that you really come to know and love Merilee and Nora and Steven too. The characters really come alive.

I am a journal-keeper, so I loved the fact that Jane Orcutt used Merilee's journal in the story! This book is so poignant, so sweet (without being saccharin), but so REAL. I will be looking for more books by this author, as this is the first I've read by her!

I highly recommend this book to people who don't have a lot of time to devote to a long novel, but want to read something with some meaning and meat to it, while reading something totally enjoyable.

Please check out my other book reviews. I also highly recommend "Gideon's Gift" by Karen Kingsbury, another short but meaningful novel!

As an infertile adoptive parent, I would neither rave nor dismiss this book.

Orcutt's portrayal of Mother's Day from the perspective of Nora (an infertile woman) was authentic, and since there aren't many novels I've found that are able to depict infertility well, I was fairly impressed by her overall portrayal of Nora. Although the relationship with her husband was a bit more contrived and uncompelling.

The rest of the storyline was a bit over-the-top. As a reader, I had a difficult time accepting the extremes; in that sense each page reminded me it was just a story - no getting lost in the book, caught up in the characters. It was more of a modern fairy tale of sorts. The very rich, elite wealthy help the poor, destitute, down-and-out girl.

The book lacks in overall believability. It's almost as if Orcutt did a bit of great research and then filled in the gaps with her imagination a little too soon. I've read several adoption novels and this was very similar in storyline to another book, but this one was not only unbelievable, but seems to encourage false stereotypes of birthmothers which is sad.

As a 'Christian' novel I didn't find it particularly encouraging to my faith nor thought provoking. Mainly the characters happened to believe in God. This is not to say that some might not find it spiritually stirring, but I didn't leave feeling strengthened any more in my faith.

Bottom line: It was a nice, fluffy, quick read. Nothing to go out of your way for. I'm a thinker and there wasn't much to THINK about.

If you need a good cry, this is the book for you.

I could not put this book down until I had finished it! I have not read a book in souch a long long time and decided to buy this book for some reason. It was like God was telling me to choose this book and get back into the love of ready because I was a true book worm before I had children. This book, it is like you are there with the people and you feel what they are feeling.

Remember to have a hanky handy because you will need it.

This books manages to blend together the amazingly cheesy and the amazingly unrealistic into a horrible combination of something that falls very short of being a decent read. I didn't feel like I "knew" any of the characters at all, which made it hard for me to really care about them. I didn't find Orcutt's plot believable, her characters sympathetic, or her descriptions fantastic. One could blame this on the fact the book is in fact a novella, so it doesn't have as much room or time to really develop itself, but in that case, Orcutt should have seen as much and made a novel of it. I don't recommend this book on any account.