Customer Reviews

Waiting for Morning

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"There was a horrific jolt and the defending sound of twisting, sparking metal and shattering glass. Jenny screamed, but it was to late. The explorer took to the air like a child's toy spinning wildly and coming to rest wrapped around a telephone pole a hundred feet away." In Karen Kingsbury's Waiting For Morning, the tragedies represent life experiences. This book is interesting and heart warming. It is hard to put down.
Hannah Ryan waits for her two girls and wonderful husband to come home from a summer camping trip. It is a perfect Christian family with nothing missing or where anything could go wrong. They got in a wreck with an unstable drunk driver. Instantly, her oldest daughter and husband died. The youngest daughter lives, but goes through severe trauma. Hannah tries to convict the driver of first-degree murder. It will be the biggest charge for drunk driving in the history of California. At the same time, it just makes things insoluble between her daughter and herself when both are bewildered about the accident.
Kingsbury makes the characters very easy to understand. Hannah Ryan is portrayed as a dynamic character in direct characterization. Jenny, her daughter, a very round character, struggles with so many difficulties after the deaths of her family members. Both struggle with unspeakable feelings of sorrow and rage that fuse into one chilling purpose for living. All Hannah wants is revenge against Brian Wesley, the drunk driver that causes her all the pain. In fury of things going on, Hannah shuts the Lord out of her life, the biggest mistake of all.
It is not very difficult nor too easy to follow along with. The book's superior ways in the dialogue is extremely intelligible. Although the characters are older, the reading is not too mature for younger teens. The language is internal. It speaks to the inside of your heart. The tone can make a person change completely, or can shake them up. It is also shocking at times with a touch of thrill.
When the holidays arrive, everything becomes a lot harder for everyone. The Novel takes place in a city in the mists of California. It takes place around the time of holidays and vacations, which makes it more difficult on Jenny and Hannah.
The story, told in third person omniscient, revolves around Hannah. A couple of flashbacks take place while she remembers memories, and looks back at old pictures. The foreshadowing works greatly and proves that someone can live for something that they cannot find in themselves. "I don't need God anymore..." becomes the realistic nature of this novel. Horrible circumstances make many people question their faith.
Waiting For Morning, by Karen Kingsbury, a fantastic book on true-life experiences, keeps the reader on edge, waiting for the next sight. It can have a huge effect on a person from laughing, to crying, to smiling. It can and will leave the readers in true amazement. If people need to find themselves or find the truth in the Lord during hard battles, this book is wonderful.

I read this at a local bookstore. Took me a few days...

I have to say, the book was inspiring and somewhat sad, though in the end I was touched how Hannah Ryan finally realized that she had to forgive, and learned how she never knew her husband had wanted her to all along, even though she did go through lots of trouble for revenge. The book itself shows how someone dealed with their anger and and desire for revenge, and no matter what you do to that person who caused you the pain, the one you love will always be dead.

Even though I am not Christian, it was an inspiring and great book to read. I would love to look for more books like this one.

The night the Blazers lost their final game to the Lakers, I met author Karen Kingsbury sitting next to me on a plane from Chicago to Portland. Fate is strong and I believe that God has plans for us that only he knows. She gave me her book, Waiting For Morning, and I could not put it down. I have already read all her true crime books (another favorite genre of mine) and recently started reading Christian books. I could not put this down. It moved me. It showed real emotion. It is written in an organized and real manner. And you will not be able to wait for the end. Books which cause me to think about my own life rank high in my charts...this is one of those page-turners.

I can't even put into words the emotion that I felt in this book. I can neither comprehend or imagine what it must have took to forgive such a terrible tragedy. Only God could make such mountains move in us. I know Karen Kingbury and know that she must have cried her way through the writing of this book because she could she could hear the laughter and tiny voices of her own children in the background. I can only hope that I, If tested would have a small portion of the love and forgiveness that was written about in this book. Powerful and moving and more important relevant in a world where forgivness is in short supply. As for me, I will ask for forgiveness and forgive those who have tresspassed against me, It is the least I can do for a God like mine. A God that is always with us and a God that always promises a new morning. Good Job Karen......

I think this was an awsome book because it taught a life lesson on what happens if you drink and drive and the things that happen to the family, what they go through if they lose a family member. in this particular book a mother/wife loses her oldest daughter and her husband. Her youngest gets out with a broken arm. I segest you read this book because it teaches you and you learn.

Back when I was driver's ed, an instructer from Mother's Against Drunk Driving came to the class and told her story. When I read this story by Kingsbury, I felt like I was reliving the story that Mother had told, only this time being able to travel on a spritual journey of forgiveness more real than I've ever read. I must admit that it's kind of hard to sit through all the bitterness that dwells on the inside of Hannah, but you can't help but understand her pain. For anyone with older teens/young adults, this would be a great book to encourage them to read. Kingsbury does an incredibly job painting the picture of a perfect family that is literally destroyed by a drunk driver. It clearly portrays the many obstacles that Hannah and her daughter must push through in order to finally begin living again. Well done Kingsbury.

I want to preface this review with a truth. I have loved every book by Karen Kingsbury that has graced my hands. This was the first book of hers that I was unable to finish and had to make myself work to get halfway through the book.

A lot of the difficulty was lack of intervention for Jenny (I have not finished this and do not know what happened to her):
1- the school would have stepped in with a counselor even before speaking to a parent.
2- Web searches are heavily monitored for dangerous searches and most results are blocked before students can get to them. I would even hazard a guess that they could track it back to what student did the search.
3- Hannah is a mother first and I don't care how selfish she is... you don't turn your back on your child when they are showing such obvious signs of trouble.

This book just made my insides crawl and even though the book of Lamenations was mentioned and there were a few verses referred to.. The constant presence of humble christians did not seem to exist in this book. WHY did the church family back off? Why wasn't this discussed at all? So much was glossed over that could have opened my eyes and my heart to this story.

I truly hope I enjoy Mrs. Kingsbury's next book as much the books I have read in the past.

I read this book in two days... I just could not stop! It was awesome. Ms. Kingsbury really has a gift from God on writing this. I can not wait to read more of her books.
I could relate in a way to this book... my cousin was killed by a guy falling asleep at the wheel. He walked away and she died. Then he got a few hundred dollar fine, a month or so in jail and that was it. It just wasn't fair for what all my whole family had to go through because of that. I just pray more people pass this book on and read it...

This book was excellent. It taught me a great deal about dealing with anger and hurt, and how to forgive someone that has done you wrong. The continuous parallel to the book of Lamentations, led me to start my own personal bible study on this poignant and wonderful book of the Bible. I could hardly put "Waiting For Morning" down!

I have very mixed feelings about this book. For that reason, I wasn't exactly sure how to rate it.

First the positive. This book is very powerful and well-written. You almost forget that it's fiction. You can't help but empathize what what Hannah has gone through. Even though I have never had any personal experience with a drunk driver, I have felt the rage and unwillingness to forgive that Hannah experienced. This book is a cautionary tale and describes in very vivid terms the devastation and tragedy that can result when someone makes the choice to drink and drive. Drunk driving is something I feel very strongly about. It a huge problem in Wisconsin. I definitely think there should be stiffer penalties and more consequences, rather than just a slap on the wrist and a fine.

Now the negative. I found myself getting really annoyed with Hannah especially. Yes she had a legitimate gripe and had a legitimate reason to be angry, but the way she just basically ignored her daughter was just wrong. I also have a problem with Hannah's belief that "intelligent people don't commit suicide" Statisically, that is not true. In fact, many of the people who commit suicide each year are of above average intelligence. Intelligence has nothing to do with suicidal thoughts or tendancies. Which brings me to my second point.

It is obvious to me that Karen Kingsbury has never seriously considered suicide. I have struggled with suicidal feelings in the past. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But probably my biggest complaint is the way Karen handles Jenny's actual suicide attempt. Whether she realizes it or not, Karen basically gives the reader step-by-step instructions on how to kill yourself. She tells you how to take the pills and how to know if it's working. I'm just concerned that a person if a person who is seriously contemplating suicide gets a hold of this book, they may try to commit suicide using the same method Jenny did. The results of that could be serious and tragic. I just think there are ways to describe someone as suicidal without being so explicit.

But for the most part, I think this is a powerful, well-written read. It is about real life and real struggles that Christians face.