Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Reinventing Rachel-Alison Strobel

Reinventing Rachel
Alison Strobel
David C. Cook, Sep 1 2010, $14.99
ISBN: 9781434767745

In SoCal, twenty-six year old Rachel Westing believes strongly that God failed her. Pious and a volunteer, she diligently has followed the word of the Lord for over two decades only to find her personal life imploding. Her fiancé Patrick is cheating and her parents Karen and Owen are divorcing.

On top of all that, Rachel questions whether she can turn to her Christian counselor Barbara who is so addicted to prescription pills, her mate will not let her drive. Angry and doubting that God even exists, Rachel quits on the lord, her family, her fiancĂ© and her job. She leaves town to stay with her non religious successful childhood friend Daphne in Chicago, thinking that at one time she thought she would save her BFF’s soul, but now believes her pal might save her from her depression because God abandoned her.

The premise of a cradle Christian running from her devout roots to redesign herself under the tutelage of her secular friend leads to a fine character driven tale of faith. Rachel is terrific as she holds the inspiring story line together when she goes from true believer to doubting Thomas. Although the causes of her religious collapse seem minor compared to what happened to Job and others, inspirational fans will enjoy Reinventing Rachel.

Harriet Klausner

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