Levi's Will (Paperback)

by W. Dale Cramer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In 1943, 19-year-old Will Mullet flees his pacifist Amish community of Apple Creek, Ohio, leaving behind a pregnant girl and a rigid, God-fearing home to find a new life. He enlists in the military, marries a southern belle and tries to erase every trace of his past. But he can't completely disengage from his roots, and nor, he belatedly discovers, does he want to. Levi, Will's father, is slow to accept the prodigal son. Decades pass, and as Will's life and relationship with his own children unfolds, "he begins to see that every man's failure dips its roots into the previous generation and drops its seeds into the next." Cramer shifts eras and narrative styles from chapter to chapter, sometimes following Will's life in the 1940s as a young single man, sometimes chronicling other decades leading up to and including the 1980s. Readers may be challenged by such time jumps, as well as the novel's multiple settings (Florida, Ohio, Europe) and numerous characters. Although it lacks some of the passion of his previous novel, Bad Ground, this quiet follow-up powerfully portrays the relationships between fathers and their children, the bitterness of rejection and the redeeming power of friendship, faith and forgiveness.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Christian novels often mask as realistic, but the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association's code of purity, and the necessity to take the party line on doctrinal matters, is more likely to inspire propaganda than realism. Cramer vaults past such restrictions, however, with his story of a brooding young Amish man, Will Mullet, who in 1943 flees his home in Ohio. There's his pitiless father, Levi, who cannot be reasoned with, and a girlfriend, Mattie, whose pregnancy has caused Will to be banned. After knocking about on the road for a while, Will enlists, and irony of ironies for a pacifist, finds a home in the army. He's a good man but seems remote and intractable to his sons, and he's a difficult husband as well throughout his prickly but unbreakable marriage. (The confrontation between Will's wife, Helen, and a circle of judgmental Amish women is priceless.) As he grows older, Will tries to go home again but cannot; nor does his stubborn father mellow even a little. Yet in time there's forgiveness to be had, and wisdom, in this beautiful and original story that neither damns nor praises the Amish but simply presents them. This is accomplished work. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764229958
• ISBN-13: 978-0764229954
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #312,596 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound and moving search for identity and morality, March 25, 2006

By	Christian McCallister "dr dolphin" (The waters of the Great Lakes) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In 1985, sixty-year-old Will McGruder gets the sad news that his elderly father has passed away, and Will heads to Apple Creek, Ohio, for the funeral, accompanied by Riley, his thirty-five-year-old son. And, Will begins to re-examine his past, his relationships, his values, and his life.

In 1943, nineteen-year-old Will Mullett decides he cannot stay with his rigid, dogmatic, Old Order Amish family, and heads out to face the evil, the challenges, the complexity, the diversity, and the beauty of the World.

Will McGruder is Will Mullett.

W. Dale Cramer has given us a wondrous gift of prose in this introspective fictional biography. Adeptly shifting back and forth between two time-lines (the days between Will's father's death and Will's father's funeral, and the decades between Will's departure from home and his father's death), we get to ride along as Will ponders such weighty issues as the meaning of life, the differences between rituals and relationships, the differences between religion and faith and beliefs and values, the tendency for people to parent their own children no differently from how they were raised (despite vowing to do otherwise), and how to live with, and grow beyond, one's own mistakes. Mr. Cramer has created a realistic protagonist who is truly three-dimensional, in this character study of a character who is worthy of study.

The writing in "Levi's Will" flows evenly and deeply. In Orson Scott Card's "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy," Mr. Card cites the late Octavia Butler as a prime example of an author who loaded every line with meaning, and gives the first line of Ms. Butler's "Wild Seed" as an example. Mr. Cramer has gone a step further, in a way, as even the title, "Levi's Will" has many different meanings, all of which gradually emerge throughout this rich tale of humanity, grief, tragedy, triumph, and love.

Chapter 36 of "Levi's Will" deserves special mention, as it is a turning point for the protagonist, and is a wonderful essay on the meaning of life, love, and belief. All of the bits and pieces of wisdom encountered by Will McGruder/Mullett finally coalesce into an epiphany that changes his world-view, and the reader gets to join that moment of wonder. Mr. Cramer manages to do this with finesse, and it really gives the reader a chance to re-examine his or her own beliefs and values, without feeling that the author is preaching or dictating the "Truth" or the "right" answers.

In some ways, I am startled that I enjoyed this book, and that I wrote what I wrote in this review. While I have always held strong moral and spiritual beliefs, I long ago turned away from organized religion, because of the rigid dogma and ritual I had encountered. From reading the description and reviews of this book, one might get the impression that religion is the focus of the story. I see it differently. Religion is the context of "Levi's Will," but its focus is really on the beliefs, values, ethics, and morality that are supposed to be the true messages of religion. I think there is much that is of value in "Levi's Will" for the Christian, and for anyone of any other religion, as well as for agnostics and even atheists. At it's root, "Levi's Will" is a tale, well told, about values and the power of love.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Short of Miraculous, June 28, 2005

By	Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Focusing on the stone-chiseled men of a previous generation, Cramer somehow pens novels of beauty and grace. He introduces us to sympathetic characters, then leads us through their dark valleys to reach the glow of redemption. With his last novel, "Bad Ground," he gained respect and high praise from such notable publications as Publishers Weekly--and rightly so. I counted it as one of my favorite novels of the year.

"Levi's Will" is equally engaging. I was caught up in the story of young Will Mullet, an Amish kid, who runs away from home to avoid the wrath of his father. This decision leads him on a path of deception which will cause a decades-long divide between Will and his Amish kin. Along the way, he sees the evil of WWII and discovers love. His lies catch up with him, though, resulting in a masterful--and humorous--scene between Will and his wife, a southern woman with a backbone to match his own.

The last half of the book feels somewhat inevitable, yet Cramer draws us deeper into the nuances of his characters and the Amish lifestyle, and to his credit he still manages to generate emotional response. Lessons of love and forgiveness are learned, bridging the hurt of three generations; the hearts of fathers and sons are moved toward eachother; and the hypocrisy of religion is revealed, while the possibility of knowing a personal God is presented as an honor.

Once again, Cramer shows us how the lessons of the past still apply today. His ability to do so through works of fiction is nothing short of miraculous.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read , January 25, 2006

By	L. W. Barnes (Alabama, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While much of Christian fiction tends to be overly optimistic, unrealistically wholesome, and often just plain sappy, Cramer injects much more realism and intellect into his prose, a writing style that is much more comparable to good mainstream fiction authors.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Levi's Will." Spanning over 40 years, this book tells the story of Will, a teenage boy who runs away from his Amish home and leaves behind a pregnant Amish girl. He subsequently enters WWII as a soldier, marries a strong-willed young woman from Georgia, and has a family of his own, but over the years his soul longs for his father's forgiveness and acceptance. He also wonders about the fate of the Amish girl and unborn child that he left behind--details that he kept hidden from his wife. However, Will's father, Levi, is a hard man dedicated to the strict Old Order Amish who refuses to forgive his "wayward" son. It's a beautiful story of bitterness and forgiveness, and one I highly recommend.

While this story has its melancholy moments, Cramer includes enough hope to encourage the reader. One thing especially profound about this novel is its treatment of time. For over 30 years, Will seeks his father's forgiveness. That requires substantial patience and wisdom, something we all need more of. Will is a flawed character, which I like because he's very human, but Cramer shows that God doesn't always tie a neat bow on our lives and answer our prayers like we think He should. Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes we just don't understand life. Cramer's writing is extremely honest--something I'm very glad to see in the Christian fiction market. I'm eager to see what Cramer writes next.