Reviews

The Red Arrow by William Brewer

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wandawinterland's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Content Warnings

jaccarmac's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The opening prose blew me away, sentences expanding as funny poignant intimate thought. The treatment was rather obvious at its introduction (a fact which got me into trouble with a later "obvious" sickness; mea culpa), and I hoped for more mystery there. It's misanthropic of me, I suppose: Here's this guy with a successful wife, honeymoon in Italy, brilliant and friendly colleagues, and his internal struggle just gets switched off? The solution is just a touch too clean, this reader thinks, though to be fair its no thing resolution has enough dark side to come off as less than preachy in toto. The prose of the opening was gradually overshadowed by plot, which wrapped around beautifully. I was worried that the securing of loose ends would kill my appreciation with triteness, but the Physicist storyline, while compressed, is fresh enough. Time concepts like this lend themselves to loops, but Brewer's characters contort themselves into more of a figure-eight in the end. It's on that note that the novel closes, crystallizing time but with future hope.

annabeljrogers's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kensue76's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A bit of a mind bender, says a lot that I read it in two days straight.

sarahfett's review against another edition

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5.0

(For my church newsletter, March 2014)

As we spend the month praying for those in other countries, I encourage you to bring your children to the church library to check out Josias, Hold the Book by Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren. This picture book is a new addition to both the library at Westminster and the New Testament Mission Library, the library at the mission school in LaCroix , Haiti. The prose and beautiful watercolors tell the story of the life of a Haitian boy named Josias and the importance of education. Read it together as a family and learn a bit about our friends in Haiti!