Customer Reviews

Quaker Summer (Women of Faith Fiction) (2007 Novel of the Year)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's not often that I say, "This book changed my life," but in the case of Quaker Summer, I shout it with a hearty amen. Samson weaves a compelling, surprising, faith-awakening story with the deft skill of a writing artisan. Her characters practically materialize in the room when you're reading, wooing you to consider their lives, struggles and questions. Samson puts a human face on consumerism, compelling the reader to consider Jesus' radical call, but she does so with candor and grace. A highly recommended book.

God has been speaking to me over the last couple of months about getting out of my comfort zone and ministering to those who are enslaved...enslaved by sin, addictions, poverty, and abuse. He has used QUAKER SUMMER by Lisa Samson and the movie AMAZING GRACE to open my eyes to the fact that though slavery may no longer be legal here in America, there are so many who are enslaved in other ways. They need to be set free...they need the Father's grace and power to remove the shackles that bind them up.

But how will they know if those of us who are already free do not go and show and tell?

In AMAZING GRACE the movie, the story is told of William Wilberforce and others who poured out their very lives to fight against the slave trade. Their's is a historically true story...a profound story of God's grace and power.

QUAKER SUMMER is a fictional story, but it is still very true. For in it is a message of truth. The protagonist, Heather, is a woman who "has it all". She has a devoted husband, a great teenage son, a beautiful home, and all the other stuff and fluff that money can buy. But she's empty inside and all the "good stuff" in her life is enslaving her in a gilded cage.

Through a God-ordained "accident", she finds herself slammed with the reality of how the "other half" lives. She meets Godly women whose lives are not dedicated to living "the good life" but to DOING good to and for others. She begins to finally see that all the stuff in the world will never fill the void inside...the void that only God and being about His business can fill.

Heather must make some scary choices. She must be willing to sacrifice and change. She must be willing to break out of HER chains that bind in order to help set the captives free.

And through it all, Heather learns that its only in giving away does she really receive.

Heather Curridge is living the life she's always dreamed of and that everyone envies. She's married a doctor, has a wonderful son, good friends, a big house, and enough money to splurge on whatever she wants. However buying tennis courts and swimming pools isn't all it's cracked up to be. Soon Heather finds herself feeling unsatisfied with her life. Her son's encounters with a bully dredges up old memories from her past. It takes a jaywalking kangaroo, a car full of cake and two Quaker ladies to help Heather realize what are the most important things in her life.

First off I loved the Beatles references in this book. The book was divided into three parts, each named after a Beatles song. Heather's story was very intriguing. Her past with Gary and Mary kept getting hinted at throughout the book, giving you only slight glimpses into the past. This either will keep you wanting to read to find out more, or frustrates you because Heather keeps bemoaning over these events which the reader is clueless about. Heather, though, is a very realistic character who says things I would say and reacts to situations like a real person would. The secondary characters bring life into the story such as Sister Jerusha, Anna and Liza. What I really enjoyed about this book is that it is not at all preachy. The main character is not an active church goer and tells about problems she has with church itself. While at the end of the book Heather has changed, she doesn't become a stereotypical church fanatic like in some other Christian novels. This book had some of the best word imagery I have ever read. I enjoyed the descriptions in this book. I could literally see that car covered in cake and could feel the canoe riding across the lake. This was my first Lisa Samson book and it definitely won't be my last. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.

I have just finished the amazing journey of reading Quaker Summer
by Lisa Samson. If you have read Lisa's novels before, you know they are populated with characters for whom both God and earthly life are very real, and sometimes raw. There is plenty of dirt under the fingernails, skinned knees and bruised egos. And a startling lack of pat answers.

Quaker Summer follows eight months in the life of Heather Curridge, as she travels from her lavish home by the loch to the privileged school her son attends, into the path of a kangaroo and a home of wise women, to a last chance hotel housing homeless drug addicts and a nun with a raw knuckled hope. God holds up a mirror to Heather through the many vivid characters who surround her, and pries from her her addiction to things, the false comforts she has swaddled herself in, but also her guilt and grief at her role as a childhood tormentor.

Heather's Suburban plows her forward on a path that is relentless and impossible to abandon. Many times I held the book in my lap to pause to laugh, to cry, to gasp in self-recognition, or just breathe the priceless and unexplainable grace, that against all odds, envelops us, beloved by God.

Lisa Samson employs her usual deft balance of character development and introspection with a bracing plot. She skillfully moves us backward and forward in time, all over the map of our carefully ordered sense of the different parts of the Body of Christ, and is as unflinching in her rendering of doubt, questions and cruelty as she is in her compassion and respect for her characters.

I am more than thankful I read this book, but I can't say yet all the ways it will change me. There's room. Join Heather and find yourself in the story.

I finished this book a few days ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. WOW. Lisa's characters are quirky and memorable, as usual, but it's the theme of this book, and the implications of it, that have resonated with me. Looking for a house in another (more expensive) city at the time I was reading Quaker Summer was a great experience. The book made me reconsider what I need instead of what I want . . . and what my "doing without" [in the VERY loose sense of the word] could mean in regards to giving back to others. Know what else I love about the book? The portion in the back which lists charities and organizations you can get involved with. Because I've been a faithful reader of her blog, I know Samson to be a person who practices what she preaches, and she encourages her readers to do the same. I just can't recommend this book highly enough. But be warned: if you don't want to be challenged, or pushed out of your comfortable Christian zone, then don't read it. If, however, you enjoy books that make you think and challenge your preconceptions, order it today. You won't be sorry!

Sometimes we choose a book because of its cover, or because we want to be entertained. It's rare when a fiction book has the capacity and the potential to change lives. Lisa Samson's "Quaker Summer" does exactly that.

Heather Curridge, the book's narrator, has issues with shopping too much, doing or saying the wrong things at the wrong times, and is (dare I say it?) HUMAN. She is a fictional woman that I as a reader identified with (not the rich and spendy part, but the wants to change part).

With several older and wiser peripheral characters, we have the privilege of witnessing Heather's transformation and embracing of the "ministry of presence," and it is good. It is very good.

Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson is another terrific book by my favorite author (this book has officially cemented that position). When reading a lot of Christian authors, you get the impression that after you find God, life just magically falls into place. The temptation to sin disappears, and prosperity and good health follow. If our lives don't fit this profile, we feel like we've failed somewhere along the way. Heather Curridge has the life we all dream of: handsome husband, smart affectionate child, beautiful house filled with lovely things, but she feels unfulfilled. Memories of childhood cruelty haunt her, and she's spending money to heal wounds she won't even acknowledge. Samson brings back a few characters from her previous novel Women's Intution (and she snuck them, I kept thinking, why are these people so familiar?) and touches on the damage childhood bullying does not just to the target, but also to their families and to the bullies themselves. She also addresses the failure of churches to touch the world outside of their own four beautifully painted walls. I love Samson's style of writing. Each phrase was obviously lovingly worked on to exude mood and setting. No word is wasted here. Heather's narration is almost stream of consciousness, and while on occasion it makes the reader want to shake her, it also makes her easy to empathize with. Heather works through her pain and guilt by working at a shelter downtown. I recently read a quote, "God says: While you're waiting on me to do something good for you, begin doing something good for others." Heather lives this, and her life and all those around her are blessed for it. I have no complaints about this book, other than I'm going to have to wait too long for the next one.

I normally read fast-paced mysteries and suspense, and quick reads in magazines and online. Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson wouldn't let me do that. The pacing of the book, which was perfect, slowed me down, forced me to think. The characters and setting are so vivid, so real, and the story so poignant, this book will stay with me a long time.

Quaker Summer would make an excellent gift, and it's a book I will keep in my own library to read again and again.

Don't read this book if you're happy with your comfortable Christianity. This book will challenge you to step outside of that little box you've put your faith-walk in, and open your heart and life up to real hands-and-feet Jesus-following Christianity. Reading this book made me squirm. In a good way.

Heather Curridge is a surgeon's wife, complete with all the perks. She has everything most of us could ever want, but she still wants more. Her shopping habits have gotten out of control and driven a wedge between her and her husband. She keeps driving past the home of some old class-mates because she can't forgive herself for the way she treated them. And she's constantly questioning what it means to follow Christ. Is it enough to give your money to those who need it? Is it enough to minister inside the safe walls of your comfy church? Or does God ask us for more?

Quaker Summer is the story of Heather's awakening to the call of God on her life. God uses a kangaroo, her 15-year-old son, a couple of elderly sisters with their own real-life faith, a Catholic nun who loves the addicted and forgotten, and a drug dealer to speak His love and direction into her life. And she listens. Her name is "Curridge," after all.

This beautiful story is written in Lisa Samson's signature first-person style. I will never know how she is able to so deftly give each of her main characters their own distinctive voice. But she does. Those of you familiar with Lisa's books will be thrilled with the fact that Lark Summerville, the character from Women's Intuition, is one of Heather's closest friends. I'm going to have to pick up Lark's story again soon; it's been awhile.

One warning: do not read this book on an empty stomach! The descriptions of fried pork chops, crab cakes, potato salad, and cake - oh, the cake - left my mouth watering. her description of tea even made me want to get me some - and I'm not a tea drinker!

Just finished this new offering from Lisa Samson. I discovered her through her blog [...] - and I so fell in love with her perspective and personality, that I just had to check out her books. My first foray was "Straight Up", which was awesome, but I loved this new one even better. The main character, Heather, says the things many of us are thinking. She represents many Christians in this country who have been blessed financially, yet have a nagging suspicion that they are falling short of what Christ had in mind when he spoke of "doing for the least of these". Even those of us struggling to pay our bills have much to learn from Heather. Do I invest my time and resources in that ministry downtown to pregnant girls, or do I contribute to my kid's college savings fund? Heather begins to ask the questions we don't want to face, suspecting she is going crazy in the process. She finally allows God to answer those questions and show her His purpose for her life. This book took me on a journey within my own beliefs about what it means to balance serving Christ with material blessing. It's rare that I can have this much fun with a book, yet walk away with concrete plans for doing things differently in my own life. What I appreciated the most was how real and captivating the characters were. The dialogue dances off the page and there is just enough of the unexpected to make the story feel alive, not contrived. I hated to say goodbye and I'm really hoping that a sequel will be forthcoming. Lisa definitely has a handle on what is truly happening in the Christian community as well as what should be happening. She is inspiring!