Customer Reviews

A Matter of Faith

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Morin's premier debut into the literary world is magnificient. The story possesses depth of content and character enough to pull at the soul and replenish the spirit.
The poignance of the relationships and lives of the NCSSM students rings all too true - as do the adventures past curfew - risking a "level" offense if caught. Scaling the "stack" is still worthy of a unofficial NCSSM medal of pride and honor. Even the straightest laced, straightest A, early-check student will admit to hijinks committed in the name of NCSSM - I am no exception. =)
For those concerned that the NCSSM backdrop is an impregnable barrier for non-Science&Math-ers - you need not worry. You'll still enjoy this heartfelt novel, even if you haven't been to NCSSM, or don't even know what the acronym stands for.
For a worthy read of a convincing human saga, I strongly recommend Morin's novel about hope, faith, and love.

Andrea Kaelin,
NCSSM c/o 2001
"Uni-PRIDE!"

A wonderfully sensitive exploration of the turmoils of adolescence, and how the experiences of young people shape the adults they become. Morin's heroine experiences a crisis as a young woman, and the book explores the way in which the experiences of her youth led up to it. Like a good Greek play, the events of the book develop organically from the characters and their flaws.

Morin's characters are absolutely true to life; anyone who ever struggled to define their identity, establish friendships and deal with raging hormones during their high school years will identify with this story, and probably will recognize themselves in some of the characters -- I did!

A Matter of Faith has a Christian message woven throughout, but it doesn't hit you over the head with it. The characters' search for the Faith of the title is carried out in the real world, with real challenges, and I never felt like I had wandered into a theological treatise or a sermon. Christian and non-Christian readers will find this a compelling coming-of-age story.

For someone that is currently at NCSSM, this was a really powerfull book for me and I think it would be for anyone else at the school. Aside from this, A Matter of Faith really ended up transcending NCSSM and became entirely about the people involved. I would say that NCSSM was more like a canvas for the story to be painted on. If you are a teenager, I think the book will make your examine your past relationships and rethink how you want to be in future ones. Brian Morin was able to create all these characters who you catch little glimces of yourself in and you wonder what you would do in their place and are brought back to when you were in similar prediciments. I recommend this book to everyone and can't wait for Morin's next book.

Matt G.
Class of '07

I loved this book. It captures the diversity (and the oddities) of the NCSSM student body that you learn to love and appreciate. It is a realistic and interesting story that makes you wonder how much of it might be true in some form? It makes you remember the tricks and pranks played that are STILL so funny! And it makes you remember the hard work and time spent trying to keep up in that challenging academic environment. It made me remember what a wonderful opportunity I was given to be able to attend such a great school. What an impact NCSSM makes on lives! And it makes you remember those carefree days of YOUTH! I miss it (in SOME ways). Hope that you enjoy reading the book too....

Amy (Shelton) Parker class of 1994!

P.S. My favorite part was Dr. Ledbetter's introduction and challenge for the students.....what a JOKE!

This is a great first novel from Mr. Morin. The story was amazing and the characters were easy to identify with. It is a wonderful Christian tale of redemption in one woman's life as seen through the eyes of the people who love her. I am looking forward to reading more of Mr. Morin's work.

Oh, and the money goes to a great cause too!

My father is a musician, and he has always told me that the most important thing one can do when producing art is be sincere. Sing, play, write like you believe it and your audience will believe it too. Rarely do I ever see art which invokes in me an involuntary emotional response. Brian Morin writes with such sincerity that one cannot help but be moved by this work.

Brian Morin has a gift for bringing real characters to life and letting us journey with them from childhood to adulthood. Like all great books, A Matter of Faith grabs your attention from the first chapter and keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next. A wonderful story of love, faith, and healing.

I must say this is an excellent book that goes through life and friendship and just everything. What was cool about this is for half of the book the setting is at the North Carolina School of Science and Math, and that is where I am at right now. It was interesting his aspect of it, I look forward to Brian Morin's next book because I'm sure it will be as good as this one.

"A Matter of Faith" is a touching coming-of-age novel that will ring true for anyone who attended a boarding school. Or who was ever a teenager. ;-) Set mainly at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, the novel tells the story of friendships that form -- and endure -- through the rocky path of adolescence and beyond. As I said to my friend Brian Morin, the author: "Brian, it's really good. No, I'm not just saying it -- it is good. I would tell you it was anyway, but at least now I don't have to lie."

A Matter of Faith is fairly decent, considering it was the author's first novel, it's unmistakably Christian, and it's being marketed almost exclusively to NCSSM alumni/students. First, a word of warning to those alumni: much less than half of the book actually takes place at Science and Math. Everything from the cover design, to the testimonials, to the website make you think the book is all about the school, but you have to go 50 pages in before it's even alluded to, and almost 90 pages before NCSSM is actually the setting. There's a nice meaty section in the middle that starts bringing back the memories, but then graduation comes and there's still a third of the book left to go. I don't think this is necessarily bad for the story, I'm just surprised that a book that's so heavily marketed to the NCSSM community doesn't spend more ink on the school.

With its admittedly "light" Christian message, Faith doesn't provide arguments that will be converting any atheists, although Christians might find some worthwhile ideas to explore, and the book isn't so offensive that the secular crowd can't get through it.

The worst part of the book is its organization. The book is told from multiple perspectives, plus letters, which are also penned by multiple characters, and the whole thing is constantly jumping back and forth in time. There are a lot of great novels less than 300 pages, but I don't think any of them tell their story from half a dozen characters' perspectives and with over a dozen flash forwards/backs. I believe the book sticks to first person all the way through, although certain passages start to feel a little third person, which confuses things. Morin could also work on his character switching technique. There were many times when it just wasn't clear whose head I was in, and I had to skim ahead to figure it out.

The good news is, all of that is reasonably forgivable, because the writing is really quite good. The prose flows nicely, the dialogue is pretty believable, and the characters' motivations mostly make sense. The portion of the book at NCSSM really does capture some of what it's like to be a student there, although in my time, the 1908 building (Watts) was in use and it was Wyche that was condemned (and snuck into).

Now if only something could be done about the ending, which had the complexity of a Saturday morning cartoon...

Jason Pratt
NCSSM class of 1995