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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Exception, September 8, 2002
This review is from: Quinlin's Estate (Paperback)
As an individual who does not traditionally read Christian literature, I found David Ryan Long's _Quinlin's Estate_, a wonderful exception to the rule. The characters are fully alive with human motivations and reasoning. They make mistakes, struggle and misinterpret events around them. They carry emotional baggage and yet, they are still endearing in all their humanity that we identify with instead of looking down upon with disdain. The plot, written in the romance-mystery genre, does not have the traditional scenes and caricatures one sees churned out so often in the Christian form of the style. There is no saccharin conversion scene, no histrionics, no simple faith, but the story of Eve who, in her struggle to save Quinlin's estate, must come to terms with her past, her motivations and her self-definition. In her quest, she resurrects a past some wish would stay quiet in its grave. She also confronts complex issues of belief and the nature of God. Most unique of all is that one of Long's main characters is Quinlin's Estate itself. Though other authors are happy to keep a house as a setting and backdrop, Quinlin's Estate, with its mish-mash of architectural styles becomes a character all its own from its tall tower to its meandering labyrinthine maze. Yet it doesn't represent a place of fear and desolation as some stories in the gothic genre, but a place that has come to represent a common and comforting past for the residents of Lowerton, Pennsylvania. Your journey through the tale of Quinlin's Estate and its unexpected and bittersweet ending is memorable enough to stay with you long after you've put the book down. And that in itself is a good testimony for any novel.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully Written, Compelling Story, September 2, 2002
This review is from: Quinlin's Estate (Paperback)
Eve Lawson's twenty-seven years have been lived in the small town of Lowerton, PA. Most of Eve's life has been a roller coaster, but the one constant has been the looming gothic mansion on the hill overlooking the town, also known as Quinlin's Estate. The mansion has been the silent observer that oversees the lives of the people in Lowerton. Legend has it that people who live directly in the shadow of the mansion are somehow luckier than those who lives are lived outside its shadow. But the mansion is about to fall victim to the wrecking ball and sixty years of mystery and secrets, including a death within the walls will be silenced forever. Eve decides to temporarily leave graduate school and begin a quest to save the old estate. The crusade forces Eve to confront past hurts by her father, Glen Lawson. He is a man who spent his entire life searching the estate for an elusive treasure that cost him his daughter. She also searches for a way to punish her father's girlfriend, Meryl, for ruining her relationship with her father. Eve's quest and the information she discovers forces her to reevaluate everything she has believed about her past and the people who shared it with her. Fitting the pieces of the past into the puzzle of the present is painful and becomes even more important than the struggle to save the estate. These truths allow Eve to see the future more clearly. Ghosts from the past come to life on the pages of Eve's journal. The multi-layered plot line makes the book a real page-turner. Eve's journal takes readers through the history of the estate and the people who may hold the keys to the mysteries that lie within the walls. The first-person narrative is very effective in revealing the characters and Eve's spiritual and emotional journey.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Reward for the Patient Reader, August 27, 2002
This review is from: Quinlin's Estate (Paperback)
I sped through Long's last book, the Christy-award winning "Ezekiel's Shadow." This follow-up is an entirely different sort of story. It's a slower-paced historical whodunit, an unraveling of time and place, a trek through facts and figures to discover life and meaning. Short on dialogue, heavy on historical sketches and vignettes, this is not a fast-paced read. However, it is a fascinating story, full of rewards for the patient ones. Long asks that you set aside other distractions and focus on the story of Eve Lawson as she tries to save the threatened property of Quinlin's Estate. Set in Lowerton, Pennsylvania, the novel follows Eve and her handful of helpers as they tackle this seemingly impossible task. We see the pieces of the town's and estate's history fall piece by piece into Long's protracted puzzle. Like a puzzle with no apparent focus, this book might be difficult for those with short attention spans--fair warning!--but, as Long deftly places the darker pieces of his characters' lives into place, the intrigue builds undeniably. Halfway through, I was hooked, no question. The final third of the book is full of rewards. Long brings the story to a satisfactory ending that is short on romanticism and heavy on metaphor and mystery. The transformation of Eve Lawson is masterfully portrayed. "Quinlin's Estate," like Long's first novel, is rich in spiritual depth without preaching. Long lets us see through Lawson's eyes the power of finding a purpose and a place to fit in. Through the enduring picture of the tower at Quinlin's Estate, we find that there's no such thing as a lost cause.
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