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torihoo's review against another edition
4.0
Poignant and beautifully written. Explored big questions about God and spirituality, without really giving any definitive answers. Character development was realistic and deep, and you really care for the main character by the end of the book. Some of the most beautiful writing I have read.
lindamooreauthor's review against another edition
5.0
Outstanding authentic narrative. Pneuman captures the plight of a young Kentucky girl caught in the adults' chaos. Charmaine is laid on our hearts--"We close our eyes and start to make our way down.." Yes we do, everyday, every way reciting the unceasing prayer that the rungs hold strong.
acinthedc's review against another edition
3.0
I received a free advanced reader copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
A coming of age story set in a Kentucky town full of churches. Charmaine has just reached the beginning of her awkward adolescence and the start of middle school when her father returns from a trip to the holy land and isn't quite himself. This already difficult time in her life becomes more complicated by her father's mental illness, her mother and grandmother's contentious relationship, her mother's overbearing nature, their financial struggles.
For the most part, Pneuman does a nice job of capturing this tumultuous time in a young girls life, and most of the female characters are fully developed. The male characters are a little underdeveloped. There are a few sudden shifts - Charmaine's faith and present tense to reflective past tense - that are awkward and unexpected. Overall a 2.5 out of 5.
A coming of age story set in a Kentucky town full of churches. Charmaine has just reached the beginning of her awkward adolescence and the start of middle school when her father returns from a trip to the holy land and isn't quite himself. This already difficult time in her life becomes more complicated by her father's mental illness, her mother and grandmother's contentious relationship, her mother's overbearing nature, their financial struggles.
For the most part, Pneuman does a nice job of capturing this tumultuous time in a young girls life, and most of the female characters are fully developed. The male characters are a little underdeveloped. There are a few sudden shifts - Charmaine's faith and present tense to reflective past tense - that are awkward and unexpected. Overall a 2.5 out of 5.
yangyvonne's review against another edition
3.0
In August of 1989, 13 year old Charmaine Peake is waiting. Waiting for her father to return from his year away on a religious journey; waiting to begin high school, and waiting (now that her period has started) to see what being a woman is all about. Her father returns, but isn't the same and within days, is in the hospital and then a mental ward. Her mother, Phoebe, must rent-out their house and work even more to keep them from starving. Charmaine struggles to make sense of it all while navigating high school and tries to figure-out Seth (the boy whose missionary parents have rented their home) and Cecil (a physically deformed boy who is a bully (!) and hyper-sexual). Her father is manic-depressive and never really regains his old "self". Her mother blames him for her wasted life, yet cares for him when he needs her. Charmaine goes on to become a social worker (no shock there) but that's all we learn.
This is a short book with a lot of content. Obviously, the religious tones are the overwhelming theme of the book. The title comes from when God allegedly laid Phoebe on David's heart when he first saw her as the one he should marry. The whole "constant prayer" thing David wanted Charmaine to do was very annoying. And, the message (to me) was that even if you pray and try your hardest to be good, bad things are still going to happen and you can't change any of it. Her mom was "stuck" with David forever - with him living in a tent while she was stuck in an RV. How is that fair for a woman who "honored" her husband and followed his call from God? Charmaine also didn't seem very strong - even in the end when she went on the water tower. She was totally apologetic to Phoebe that same night, so what was the point? It was an interesting story, bu never really went anywhere - or at least anywhere with any meaning for me.
This is a short book with a lot of content. Obviously, the religious tones are the overwhelming theme of the book. The title comes from when God allegedly laid Phoebe on David's heart when he first saw her as the one he should marry. The whole "constant prayer" thing David wanted Charmaine to do was very annoying. And, the message (to me) was that even if you pray and try your hardest to be good, bad things are still going to happen and you can't change any of it. Her mom was "stuck" with David forever - with him living in a tent while she was stuck in an RV. How is that fair for a woman who "honored" her husband and followed his call from God? Charmaine also didn't seem very strong - even in the end when she went on the water tower. She was totally apologetic to Phoebe that same night, so what was the point? It was an interesting story, bu never really went anywhere - or at least anywhere with any meaning for me.
nikki_haug's review against another edition
5.0
*Won on GoodReads First Reads*
Thirteen year old Charmaine is a pretty average teenage girl. She struggles with adjusting to her new middle school, adapting to her changing body, and not wanting to say “I love you” to her mother. However, when Charmaine's presumed-prophet father is revealed to be mentally ill, Charmine faces challenges that no middle-schooler should need to face. Confronted with the truth, Charmine is forced to think through her relationship with God, her mother, and the world around her.
Angela Pneuman gives a stunningly complex view of what it is like to love someone mentally ill. Charmaine's attempts to compete with God and then mental illness for her father's love are absolutely heart-breaking, and are sure to hit home with a number of readers. Pneuman also does an excellent job of writing a protagonist just emerging from childhood. Charmaine is just as grumpy as I was at thirteen, yet she remains sympathetic. Her inner struggles between what she wants to do and what she feels she should do are elaborated over and over again in a highly relatable way. I am impressed with many of the things Pneuman does it Lay it on my Heart, but frankly – I am more impressed with what she doesn't do.
When I first read the back of the book, I was afraid that it would either be an author tract or feature an author tract prominently. I was not sure if said tract would be atheist in nature or Christian in nature, but I wasn't excited either way. Luckily there wasn't any of that nonsense going on (at least from what I noticed). The story is first and foremost a coming-of-age story. It is (in part) about Charmaine's struggle with faith, not about faith or lack thereof in general.
Secondly, while the novel has a few male characters, all the prominent characters are highly complex females. Though Charmaine's “lust” is discussed, it takes a back-seat to the point of not even really being a subplot. As someone who's seen a thousand perfectly good stories ruined by a romance, it was nice to see romance on the back burner, especially in a young adult novel.
I hope to read more work of Pneuman's in the future.
Thirteen year old Charmaine is a pretty average teenage girl. She struggles with adjusting to her new middle school, adapting to her changing body, and not wanting to say “I love you” to her mother. However, when Charmaine's presumed-prophet father is revealed to be mentally ill, Charmine faces challenges that no middle-schooler should need to face. Confronted with the truth, Charmine is forced to think through her relationship with God, her mother, and the world around her.
Angela Pneuman gives a stunningly complex view of what it is like to love someone mentally ill. Charmaine's attempts to compete with God and then mental illness for her father's love are absolutely heart-breaking, and are sure to hit home with a number of readers. Pneuman also does an excellent job of writing a protagonist just emerging from childhood. Charmaine is just as grumpy as I was at thirteen, yet she remains sympathetic. Her inner struggles between what she wants to do and what she feels she should do are elaborated over and over again in a highly relatable way. I am impressed with many of the things Pneuman does it Lay it on my Heart, but frankly – I am more impressed with what she doesn't do.
When I first read the back of the book, I was afraid that it would either be an author tract or feature an author tract prominently. I was not sure if said tract would be atheist in nature or Christian in nature, but I wasn't excited either way. Luckily there wasn't any of that nonsense going on (at least from what I noticed). The story is first and foremost a coming-of-age story. It is (in part) about Charmaine's struggle with faith, not about faith or lack thereof in general.
Secondly, while the novel has a few male characters, all the prominent characters are highly complex females. Though Charmaine's “lust” is discussed, it takes a back-seat to the point of not even really being a subplot. As someone who's seen a thousand perfectly good stories ruined by a romance, it was nice to see romance on the back burner, especially in a young adult novel.
I hope to read more work of Pneuman's in the future.
rainweaver13's review against another edition
4.0
This book really surprised me. The story of a single event-laden month in the life of a 13-year-old Kentucky preacher's daughter, "Lay It on My Heart" actually gets a lot of stuff right. About small towns. About poverty. About religion. About mental illness.
The only thing I really regretted about this book is that it ended too soon. I wanted to know more about the life of Charmaine Peake.
The only thing I really regretted about this book is that it ended too soon. I wanted to know more about the life of Charmaine Peake.
pgchuis's review
5.0
This is the story of a 13 year old girl, Charmaine, whose father, David, the son of a locally famous preacher, has spent his adult life as "a prophet". God has told him to do various seemingly dubious things, such as live by faith (i.e. without any income) for a year. His wife, Phoebe, and Charmaine have accepted these prophecies and gone along with his leading, although David's mother has had to pay their mortgage and Phoebe has earned money through sewing to pay for their food.
On a return from the Holy Land it becomes clear that David is mentally ill and he is hospitalized and diagnosed with manic depression. Phoebe and Charmaine move to a trailer and let out their home to pay off the hospital debts and gradually Charmaine is forced to reconsider everything she has believed about her father and about God. (Phoebe is ahead of her there as it appears she has had her doubts for a long time).
At the same time as all this, Charmaine moves to junior high school and leaves the cocoon of her extremely religious elementary school. The girls she makes friends with are revealed to have more in common with her than she at first realizes.
I loved this book, first for its depiction of fundamental evangelical belief (it is set in Kentucky). The discussion at a baptism preparation class of speaking in tongues was fabulous and I laughed aloud at the scene where a woman new to the church joins the "flag wavers" in worship but scandalizes everyone by swaying in time with the music.
Secondly I thought the uncertainty as to the dividing line between hearing the word of God and just hearing voices was thoughtfully laid out. Phoebe has interesting things to say about submission and about whether she should have tested what David claimed God was saying to him against what God might be saying to her.
Highly recommended.
On a return from the Holy Land it becomes clear that David is mentally ill and he is hospitalized and diagnosed with manic depression. Phoebe and Charmaine move to a trailer and let out their home to pay off the hospital debts and gradually Charmaine is forced to reconsider everything she has believed about her father and about God. (Phoebe is ahead of her there as it appears she has had her doubts for a long time).
At the same time as all this, Charmaine moves to junior high school and leaves the cocoon of her extremely religious elementary school. The girls she makes friends with are revealed to have more in common with her than she at first realizes.
I loved this book, first for its depiction of fundamental evangelical belief (it is set in Kentucky). The discussion at a baptism preparation class of speaking in tongues was fabulous and I laughed aloud at the scene where a woman new to the church joins the "flag wavers" in worship but scandalizes everyone by swaying in time with the music.
Secondly I thought the uncertainty as to the dividing line between hearing the word of God and just hearing voices was thoughtfully laid out. Phoebe has interesting things to say about submission and about whether she should have tested what David claimed God was saying to him against what God might be saying to her.
Highly recommended.
elfygirl45's review
5.0
I did not expect to enjoy this book, but it ended up being amazing! A 13 year old girl, going through many body changes, is also experiencing some serious life changes when her father ends up in a mental institution for hearing the voice of God. Everything her life and behavior has been based on changes. I can't say enough that I loved this book!
I won it as an ARC from goodreads.
I won it as an ARC from goodreads.
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