I am now reading this book to the jr high class at church, although it is really slow going when I only have 45 minutes every other Sunday.Apparently my first blog didn't go where it was supposed to, so I will try to remember what I said.

The first few chapters were hard for me to get into.  I apparently like more action than description ( although I know that description is supposed to be a sign of good writing). I thought the author didn't spend much time describing the two older kids (Kate and her brother whose name escapes me right now.) But I plowed through it and I do think that it was important in establishing the connection he had to his kids and to his wife. 
I expected it to go the way most "Christian" writing does, by finding his daughter alive and then dealing with the aftermath for her.  But it was more true to life in that bad things do end badly.
I never did get far past the idea of God being a black woman. If He was showing himself to a black person it would have made more sense, but Mack isn't black.  I know what the explanation for it was, but it still didn't make much sense to me.

More after I do some rereading.

So far

I'm about half way into the book, and thus far I've really enjoyed it. I like how authentic it is and how it is so easy to relate to. At first when God was presented as a big black women I was not feeling it. I just didn't really get why, and then when they talked about not feeding into the stereo-type or religious ideals I really liked it. It allowed me to no longer be distracted by that aspect, although sometimes I do find myself getting caught up in a big black woman being called papa but referred to as she. I just got to the part where they are talking about the trinity and how the relationships function within it. I had to stop there and plan to go back and reread it because I felt like there was some much in those pages. That's one of the reasons it is taken so long to read, because I can't just sit down and read through several or more chapters because there is so much to digest and then read again. Although now that I've been feeling better I hope to be reading it a little faster- especially since I stole Logan's copy- Although I've enjoyed seeing what he had underlined :) -Allyssa -Allyssa