THE NOVELIST © 2008 by Janice Byrd |
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by Angela Hunt Book review broadcast by Janice Byrd
Jordan Casey, a famous author of super spy, action novels, agrees to teach a fiction-writing class at a community college. When criticized by one of her students for the unemotional, plot-driven novels she’s accustomed to writing, Jordon agrees to write a novel over the weeks of the course, allowing the class to observe and question her writing. Excerpts of the novel Jordan writes are interspersed within the pages of Jordan’s own story which is the major part of the book. That story centers around her twenty-one-year-old, mentally ill, alcoholic son, Zack. Jordan’s classroom novel, titled The Ambassador, is a loose allegory of the Genesis account of Adam and Eve. Free will, temptation, and Jordan’s plotted provision for her character’s ultimate redemption are all reminiscent of God’s creation story. Jordon, the teacher and author, writes herself into the plot of The Ambassador. Of course, it isn’t possible for a created character in a book to initiate interaction with the author. Nor is it possible for Adam, Eve, or me, as human beings, to initiate a relationship with our Creator. However, the Creator or Author, in this case, can establish an interactive relationship with His characters by writing Himself into our story, just like Jordan did in hers.
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Angela
Hunt is one of my favorite fiction writers primarily because her
contemporary tales usually remind me of a biblical story in the
subtlest way, without forcing the analogy. The Novelist,
published in 2006 by Thomas Nelson, is especially intriguing
because it is a story-within-a-story.