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Evans is great weaving words to pull at the soul!
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Evans is great weaving words to pull at the soul! Grace opens with a recap of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl and some grandfatherly reflections from protagonist Eric Welch on Christmas Day 2006 (p.5). Told in the first person, the story unfolds in flashback fashion during Eric's years and moves from October 1962 to early January 1963. Eric's father, a construction worker, is unable to work due to Guillain Barre Syndrome. The family of four, which includes Eric's ten year-old brother and best friend, Joel, is forced to move from southern California to a rundown, low-rent part of Utah. We struggle with Eric through the first four chapters as he endures the<b> slings </font></b>and arrows of being "the new " in middle school and all the attendant traumas and woes that unhappy scenario typically includes. In Eric's case it's exacerbated by being poor and from out-of-state to boot. We meet fifteen year-old Grace in Chapter Five. She's foraging for food in a dumpster behind "McBurger Queen," Eric's part-time (scum bag)employer. On page 34 we find out that Grace is a runaway: "I'm not going home." But she has no where to go. Besides, there's something about Grace (and grace) that's ...unexplained. Mysterious. Something that causes us as well as Eric to pause... Unwilling to leave Grace roaming the streets alone on a cold October night, Eric brings her to the "clubhouse" he and Joel built behind the family's sprawling, dilapidated home. The next 240 pages detail the tender uncertainties of First Love, selflessness and sacrifice, courage in the face of overwhelming odds, the Cuban Missile Crisis, family and emotional struggles, and Eric's rage at the people who "coulda, shoulda, woulda" protected young Grace from her predacious stepfather - but didn't. The willful ignorance of neighbors, school officials and law enforcement receive a withering indictment that's all the more effective for its understated subtlety: "I sat alone staring at the back of a pew while people who didn't really know anything about Grace talked about her as if they suddenly cared." (p. 292). Evans gently but unequivocally shows how any willful blindness or ignorance makes us all complicit when it comes to crimes against : "You killed her. You and Dad and Joel and her pathetic, worthless mother and those stupid, idiotic policemen who just couldn't wait to be heroes. ... You all killed Grace...' (p. 295) If the story stopped here, it would have been poignant, but Evans doesn't let it go. Not quite. He doesn't leave us outraged, wrung-out, hopeless and helpless. Instead, he subtly intertwines themes of God's grace, redemption and restoration throughout this carefully crafted story of a runaway (see the bottom of page 296). This reaches its zenith in an Epilogue that is both hopeful and heart-wrenching. It is in these final, gripping pages that we see how tragedy transforms a painfully shy, self-conscious fourteen year-old boy "with acne and a bad hair cut" into a tough-as-nails, take-no-prisoners prosecutor whose life is forever and irrevocably changed by those late autumn and winter months of 1962 and a girl named Grace: "I have spent my life hunting down and prosecuting people like Grace's stepfather. I carry Grace's locket into every trial. I've earned a reputation as a fierce courtroom combatant who takes every case personally. What Grace saw in the candle was true of me as well. I am feared. ... Today I continue my crusade. I have testified about abuse before state lawmakers more times than I can remember. I've lived to see advocacy become a public concern. I am grateful that the world finally has the courage to open its eyes. My wife asks me when we can retire, but I tell her I'll die in the saddle. With my last breath I'll continue to fight for these . I cannot save them all, but I can save some of them, and that's worth doing. There are other Graces out there." (p. 305, 306). I was personally relieved that Evans avoids any graphic details regarding Grace's family history, relationships or the experiences that led to her running away from home. Consummate storyteller that he is, Evans drops subtle clues and hints throughout the story and allows us to fill in the blanks without assaulting us with additional traumatic narrative. In terms of format and style, Grace features Evans' usual short chapters and his trademark "diary entries" that preface each chapter. The style is vintage Evans, luminous and evocative, introducing us to three-dimensional characters whom we come to know, love, and miss as plot, climax, and conclusion unfold with great sensitivity and sagacity. The book closes with A Letter from Richard Paul Evans detailing practical help readers can provide via The Christmas Box Initiative and Operation . Web sites and a toll-free phone number are included. All in all, Grace is a fast - but not a light - read. I finished the book this morning. "Grace" teaches us that life and love have depth and it reminds us that age does not necessarily determine wisdom. A must read for all!  |
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