I recently read Eve by WM Paul Young. I wasn't sure what this book was about going into it. I read it solely because of the cover and a I read a sentence or two of the synopsis. The story was pretty good. I found the beginning part of this book annoying and confusing. I wasn't sure what, exactly, was going on. I almost DNF'd it, but decided to persevere because I felt like it had potential to be a great story. I also felt like this book was kind of preachy. I'm not a religious person, and often squirm when I feel like I'm being preached to (no matter what religion). It seemed to back off a little as the story went on, but it was a continuous thing throughout. Though that shouldn't be surprising, given that this book involves the story of Adam and Eve. Or maybe I just got more used to it as the story progressed. I don't know. The way the author wrote it, though, was very interesting. It definitely was different.
I had a hard time connecting to the main character Lilly, though. She is a 15 year old girl who has been through some bad things in her life. But I couldn't emotionally connect to her at all, except for a little towards the end. As the reader, you are supposed to believe that she really feels the negative things she keeps saying about herself, but I just didn't. It almost seemed like the author had her repeat these things over and over to make up for the fact that the emotional impact of those feelings wasn't there.
That being said, I did end up liking John, the man who finds her. I also thought the way the story was told was interesting and so was the concept. I would imagine that someone who is a church going Christian would really enjoy this book. Unless you don't like how you interpret the Bible to be challenged. I found a lot of what the story talked about and mentioned really interesting. I've not studied the Bible much, so I don't know if the story that Young told about the Genesis story is something that most people accept or not. But the way it was presented made me think not. If nothing else, I certainly understand the Genesis story a little better now because of it.
Ultimately, I really liked the way the story was presented, even if I couldn't connect to Lilly and found the preachy aspect a little annoying. This book made me think about the Creation story in ways I never had before and I really like that. Just those two things about the book are why I knocked my rating to 3.5 stars. Really a good read over all.
Have you read Eve, or any book by Young? If so, let me know what you thought in the comments!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Until next time,
Jenell
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