Matters of Faith [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Kristy Kiernan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2008

From the author of Catching Genius, a novel of a young man’s search for faith—and its unintended consequences.

At age twelve, Marshall Tobias saw his best friend killed by a train. It was then that he began his search for faith—delving into one tradition, then discarding it for another. His parents, however, have little time for spiritual contemplation. Their focus has been on his little sister Megan, who suffers from severe food allergies. Now Marshall is home from college with his first real girlfriend, but there is more to Ada than meets the eye—including her beliefs about the evils of medical intervention. What follows is a crisis that tests not only faith, but the limits of family, forgiveness, and our need to believe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this tense, well-paced novel about belief, Kiernan explores what happens when faith and love test the limits of family fealty. In southwest Florida, college student Marshall Tobias is in search of something to believe in. He thinks he's found God and the woman he's always dreamed of when he falls in love with fundamentalist believer Ada Sparks. But Ada's against medical intervention for illness, and tragedy results when she sets out to help Marshall's 12-year-old sister, Meghan, overcome her life-threatening allergies. Switching points-of-view between Marshall and his mother, Chloe, Kiernan (Catching Genius) movingly portrays a 20-year-old marriage gone flat and torn apart by crisis, a troubled son, a daughter hovering between life and death, and the hard-to-discern boundaries between true faith and unhealthy fanaticism. She handles her difficult material respectfully. Most interesting is her portrayal of the well-meaning traps parents fall into when encouraging open-ended exploration of faith without context, or choosing to remain silent. The thoughtful themes, interesting characters and page-turning drama of this novel will likely make it a book club favorite. (Aug.) ""
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From Booklist

Kiernan’s stunning second novel explores how one family reacts to a devastating tragedy. Cal and Chloe Tobias have two children: 18-year-old Marshall, who witnessed the death of his best friend in childhood and has been exploring religion ever since, and his younger sister, Meghan, who suffers from severe food allergies. Marshall comes home from college for spring break with his girlfriend, Ada, a religious zealot who doesn’t believe in medical treatment, in tow. Ada immediately expresses doubts about Meghan’s allergies, and when she and Marshall try to “cure” Meghan by exposing her to the very thing she’s most allergic to, the results are disastrous. As Meghan lies in a coma in the hospital, Cal’s rage at his son boils over, and the district attorney decides to charge both Marshall and Ada with child abuse. Marshall and Ada choose to flee to Cal’s estranged mother, leaving Cal and Chloe to face the rift growing between them over Marshall’s actions. Unforgettable and moving, Kiernan’s novel is an achingly real portrait of a family in crisis, one readers will react to passionately. --Kristine Huntley --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (August 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0425221792
• ASIN: B001W6RRU2
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kristy was born in Tennessee and raised on the beaches of southwest Florida. She developed a love of reading as a child, devouring Nancy Drews and Trixie Beldens at a disconcerting clip, and graduating to whatever anyone left lying around when she ran out of girl detective stories.

She knew she wanted to be a writer at a young age, and her first novel, Catching Genius, was published in 2007 and went on to become a word-of-mouth hit with reading groups.

Her second, Matters of Faith, was an IndieNext Notable Selection and won a bronze medal in the Florida Book Awards, and her third, Between Friends, was released in 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kiernan Will Rise to the Top, August 12, 2008

By 

Notawriter (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of Faith (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the best book I have read since The Kite Runner. Someone who looks entirely normal and healthy may have food alergies that could result in life-threatening, even fatal results. And while this seems to be the main theme of Matter of Faith, Kiernan has woven other more common themes through the tale of the drastic situation created when a young girl is (intentionally?) fed a peanut butter cookie by her brother and his new girlfriend to test the girlfriend's adamant belief that only prayer, not medicine, is needed for healing.

The story is told by both the mother (Chloe) and the brother (Marshall). Through them we view all sorts of human conditions, beliefs and feelings: children of the same family who each need very special considerations; married partners who have never seen eye-to-eye on raising those children; the physchological results of an abusive childhood; searching for faith and what can happen when one "finds" it, possibly in all the wrong places.

This book MOVES. It reads swiftly. It read so TRUE that you cannot but feel you are living with Chloe and her family as she prepares to meet her college son's first real girlfriend,Ada, as she watches daughter Megan become entirely enchanted with Ada and fears husband Cal's cavalier association with his son on his return from school. What happens happens swiftly and the movement never stops, not even when we spend hours, days with Chloe and Cal in the hospital.

This book is intense without being the least bit "preach-y." There are no slow spots. The characters are so well drawn that you KNOW them, even the minor ones. And it has no platitudes, no actual reassurances except to leave you knowing that life is not about absolutele answers.

I have not encounted a book in a long time that I did not want to put down from the moment I read the first sentence of Matter of Faith. I dog-eared so many pages that the book looks "fat" lying on my nightstand. This is a book I will read AGAIN and SOON. I feel it would make a dynamite movie.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She's right in our shoes!, November 29, 2008

By 

Gina Clowes (www.allergymoms.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Matters of Faith (Mass Market Paperback)

I whizzed through this book in every spare moment of free time that I had over three days.

I read very little fiction these days, and I found it very refreshing to see food allergies play such an important part of a mainstream book.

I had myself convinced that Kristy Keirnan, the author, had to have a food allergic niece or nephrew or good friend who had a child with food allergies. I was amazed when I found out that that was not the case.

Kristy did such an incredible job of describing what it's like to live with someone who has life threatening food allergies.

I also really loved the tale of the marriage and the dynamics of how their son related to both of them.

I found myself actually peeking at the end, so concerned with the outcome. But as I got there, I found it very real and satisfying. It could have gone many different ways but I'm glad she chose the ending that she did.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Blew Me Away, August 9, 2008

By 

book_junkie35 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of Faith (Mass Market Paperback)

I adored Kiernan's first book, Catching Genius, but she's managed to top her stellar debut performance. Matters of Faith is a deeply moving story full of rich emotional detail, suspense, heartbreak, and redemption; I couldn't find a flaw in it. This is a book you'll want to read and think about and discuss and read again--perfect choice for book clubs! I'd give it six stars if I could!