Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Book Review - Pastors' Wives

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's debut novel Pastors' Wives follows three women whose lives converge and intertwine at a Southern evangelical megachurch. Ruthie follows her Wall Street husband from New York to Magnolia, a fictional suburb of Atlanta, when he hears a calling to serve at a megachurch called Greenleaf. Reeling from the death of her mother, Ruthie suffers a crisis of faith---in God, in her marriage, and in herself. Candace is Greenleaf's "First Lady," a force of nature who'll stop at nothing to protect her church and her superstar husband. Ginger, married to Candace's son, struggles to play dutiful wife and mother while burying her calamitous past. All their roads collide in one chaotic event that exposes their true selves. Inspired by Cullen's reporting as a staff writer for Time magazine, Pastors' Wives is a dramatic portrayal of the private lives of pastors' wives, caught between the demands of faith, marriage, duty, and love.
 
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen was a longtime staff writer for TIME magazine. She now develops TV pilots for production companies and recently sold her first pilot for "The Ordained" to CBS. Born in Japan, Cullen lives in New Jersey with family.


Find out more about Lisa at http://lisacullen.com
 
MY REVIEW: 
 
This book was enjoyable. I fell in love with these women and hated it when the book ended. I had laugh-out-loud moments and moments when I had a tear in my eye. Don't you love a book that pulls you in emotionally because you care about the characters so much?
 
This book is really a Christian book, but a novel written about Christians. Lisa Cullen is actually a Catholic, who doesn't attend Mass any longer, so I did find some of her writing about the evangelical church a little skewed. Also, there is some language in this book that normally wouldn't be found in a Christian book (nothing that will set your teeth on edge, but I feel it is my duty to share that here). I was also a little irritated with how she portrayed the pastors, themselves, at first. They are selfish and clueless when it comes to their wives and children. However, because of the way the book is written, there is a purpose in this and it becomes a central point for the story.
 
A lot of the situations that leaders go through in this book are very real. I think it was excellent how she showed what happens "behind the scenes" at many of our churches. I really liked how she shows the flaws that so many of us have.  I really enjoyed the humor and it really is a very well written book. There were a few things that hit my conservative nerve in the wrong way, however, since this is not really your typical Christian book, it's rather expected.
 
*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity
 
You can read more reviews HERE
 
You can purchase this book HERE
 
Blessings - Julie

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