Christian Fiction Devourers discussion

Our Group Read for April is Michal by Jill Eileen Smith. Please feel free to join us as we read & discuss!

Goodreads Summary: As the daughter of King Saul, Michal lives a life of privilege--but one that is haunted by her father's unpredictable moods and by competition from her beautiful older sister. When Michal falls for young David, the harpist who plays to calm her father, she has no idea what romance, adventures, and heartache await her.
As readers enter the colorful and unpredictable worlds of King Saul and King David, they will be swept up in this exciting and romantic story. Against the backdrop of opulent palace life, raging war, and desert escapes, Jill Eileen Smith takes her readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride as Michal deals with love, loss, and personal transformation as one of the wives of David. A sweeping tale of passion and drama, readers will love this amazing story.

I am hoping I can get this.

I hope you can too, Karen!

I actually own this one, but I had totally forgotten that I did!

I'm just over 100 pages in so far.

Beth wrote: "I actually own this one, but I had totally forgotten that I did!

I'm just over 100 pages in so far."

Would be wonderful to discover you just have the book.

It definitely was. Being the mod, I always have this pressure to find the book, usually I can either through the library, a friend or at a good price on Amazon. I had purchased all 3 of the Wives of King David, so now I have no excuse not to finish them :)

I read it a little while ago. Very good.

Great, Phyllis! Hope you'll be able to get in on the discussion. :)

Just picked this one up at the library! Excited to start it tomorrow ;)

I want to finish the book I'm currently reading and then will start on this one. Received it from Half.com last week and looked through it a bit. I think it's going to be interesting, especially since it's not the type of book I usually read.

Glad you'll be joining, Leah & Nancy!

I have it on my kindle and will read it but I have several I promised to read first so will have to wait until next week to start. I'll get there though.

Beth wrote: "Glad you'll be joining, Leah & Nancy!"

amen. More the merrier.

Finally finished the lengthy book, The Kashmir Shawl, I was reading and started Michal this morning.

I thought that I would have to skip this one, but happened to find it in at the Library. Time for some popcorn and a book :)

Glad you were able to find it, Amy! :)

Ill try to get this from the library so I can join!

That's great, Kat! Hope they have it!

Just a random, easy question:

Has anyone ever read any novels about Michal & David?

I thought of one that I read a good while ago Queenmaker: A Novel of King David's Queen by India Edghill.

I just started. It's good so far.

No I haven't. This is my first biblical fiction novel.

This is my first biblical fiction also and I admit I'm having a hard time getting into it. I don't read historical fiction either.

I finished it last night, so I'll try to withhold my opinion until a little bit later on. :)

I haven't read a lot of biblical fiction--I've read Tessa Afshar's Pearl in the Sand (Rahab) & Harvest of Rubies (fictional character but Nehemiah played a role in the story) . Harvest was my favorite of those two.

And I've also read Love Amid the Ashes: A Novel by Mesu Andrews (Dinah and also Job).

That's all I've read, other than the one I mentioned in the comment above.

I started this one today and am about 40.pages into it. I am having a hard tome getting started. Anyone else? I have read this type of fiction before so not sure. I will keep plugging along though.

Yes, Leah, I said the same thing. I'm only 20 pages in, but I'm not really enthused about it so far.

Leah, it was a slow starter for me too. It seemed to take until about 100 pages for some action to start.

This is average. i will probably read the rest of the series.

I have finished Michal and liked it very much. It was a bit of a slow start but once I got into it enjoyed it.

This is my second time reading this. I liked it so much the first time that I bought the entire rest of the series right after finishing which I rarely do. I see I have a lot of highlighting of paragraphs in the latter half of the book which I don't do with fiction basically ever. It definetly does get better.

I'm finding I'm enjoying the book even if it reads like a romance novel! :-)

A question I was pondering this morning:

When you are reading a re-telling of a biblical event, do you find yourself more critical of how well it follows the Bible or do you stick with the idea of artistic license? For example, if the Bible is vague about a particular person or event, do you appreciate the author setting up a scenario for that, as long as it's plausible?

I think I'm less critical. I read The Red Tent which is definitely secular which is about Dina who is mentioned in the Bible like once in passing. The author ended up making a pretty awesome book about her and really told the story of Jacob and his wives from a female perspective. I mean, sure there was polygamy back then,but the women still had emotional issues to deal with. That book was really awesome.

Michal on the other hand, I am just not enjoying this one at all. I don't think it's the Biblical part of it, but the author is just so bland I can barely stay awake while reading it and I keep finding other things to do that I almost never do like watch TV. Even my math homework is more entertaining than this! And I can't help but wondering why didn't she save the big fight with Goliath to the end and build up anticipation and stress for the characters. I don't know, I guess I'll find out if she has something big planned for the ending.

I want a book to stick to the facts that are laid out in the Bible, but, of course, for it to be a novel, the characters usually need to be 'fleshed out'. Conversations are conjectured, but as long as it seems plausible, I'm okay with that. I recently tried to read a book about Mary Magdalene & just couldn't finish it, because I couldn't see any of the characters acting the way this author portrayed them. After reading up on the author's background (she seemed to be a bit into New Age), I could understand why I didn't like her take on these Biblical characters, even though I have read other historical novels by her I really enjoyed. Great question, Beth!

Personally I'm okay with artistic license, but not if it contradicts the characterization/events in the Bible. E.g. I was furious with History channel's The Bible when Daniel told Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to bow to the statue so they wouldn't get killed.

But if there's no extrapolation whatsoever, if the characters aren't fleshed out at all & they don't have any emotional depth, then it isn't a novel. It's just a group of paraphrased Biblical scenes. In that case I'd rather read the Bible itself.

It is really hard for me to answer this question since I don't normally read biblical fiction or historical fiction. I did find myself looking up the stories in "Michal" in the Bible in 1 Samuel and have found them to be pretty exact, even including the dialog. I really wouldn't like a book to rewrite the Bible. Of course, most conversation and descriptions of time and place are going to be mostly conjecture, but if it sticks with the factual parts as well, I'm okay with that.
And oddly enough, what Amanda finds she doesnt like, I am liking. Maybe because it's easy to read because I really don't like to think too much while reading as I do it for relaxation.
As far as putting the Goliath story at the beginning, it has to be that way if the author is going to follow David and Michal's stories. The author is writing in "chronological" order as it is in the Bible.

That's a really interesting point, Nancy--why we read affecting our enjoyment of a particular book. I do "unwind" when I read (that is, it's a break from day job and/or being social), but I don't read to relax. I actually read to be stimulated. I want a book to make me think about deep stuff, and I want it to make me feel deep things. In fact, if I'm completely relaxed while I'm reading, then to me that means there is A) not enough tension in the story or B) there's tension in the story but I don't care because the characters haven't made me care about them. Either way, that's a fail for me as a reader.

But reading to relax, therefore not wanting to think too much while doing so, would be a completely different story (uh, no pun intended, ha).

Oh Amanda G., don't get me wrong. I ike tension, love mysteries and thrillers and want to be stimulated enough to keep reading, I just don't want to have to think too much! Probably why I dislike time travel stories so much, in particular "The Time Traveller's Wife." I'm not sure that makes sense!

Ah, okay, I follow you better now. :)

I finished reading this today. It did start out really slow but picked up and then I found myself not being able to put it down. I love how the author stayed true to the Biblical account yet kept it interesting enough to keep my attention to the end. I am sure it was hard for Michal as she went back to David but the end of the story showed the forgiveness and redemption that are available to us from the Lord if we simply ask! I am glad I stuck with the story and will definitely read the others from this author!

Beth wrote: "A question I was pondering this morning:

When you are reading a re-telling of a biblical event, do you find yourself more critical of how well it follows the Bible or do you stick with the idea of..."

As long as the author has done their research and the details, storyline and dialogue all make sense within the time period, I don't have a problem with this. I have read quite a bit of biblical fiction, and the majority of authors do a good job of their research, include the basic facts from the bible and only fill in to make their story have more depth. If they don't stick to the biblical facts that are available then I would have a problem with it. God's word is God's word and that part you can't change.

I think the book just isn't for me, but I'm giving it a chance and am going to keep on trucking. It may turn out to be really good when all is said and done. I think a big problem for me is I don't really like any of the characters :/

Beth wrote: "A question I was pondering this morning:

When you are reading a re-telling of a biblical event, do you find yourself more critical of how well it follows the Bible or do you stick with the idea of..."

I am less critical as I think the retelling helps me see people and events as things that actually occured in scripture. Micheal helps me see David and Micheal as a real couple struggling to live out their faith day by day. Also, these books sends me back to scripture and anything that causes me to study scripture is a good thing.

Maybe if the Bible was written like this, more people would read it. Just a thought.

I just finished reading for the second time and found it not only enjoyable but also informative and redemptive. I agree with Leah that the overall theme is of forgiveness. The fictionalization of the events played out the forgiveness needed on a daily basis to have a successful marriage. Keep reading folks, it gets better in the middle and end, it just starts slow.

At one point in the story, Jonathan tells David that we don’t know why God allows trials, but that we do know He wants us to trust Him. David and Michal’s lives certainly were full of trials, yet God remained faithful in being with them. Sadly, whenever they tried to take things into their own hands, worse conditions followed. I enjoyed seeing their story fleshed out, and the horror of the reign of King Saul was dramatically portrayed. However, I think the character I most appreciated getting to know was Jonathan-loyal and faithful to both God and David until his death.

ChrisGA - I totally agree with you. Jonathan was an amazing character in this story. I wish she would have expounded just a little more on him...but, oh, to have his faith in God and his love for David was amazing.

How did you all find the portrayal of Saul? Did his descent into darkness come across as realistic and believable to you? Did you find him to be a sympathetic character?

Yes I found his descent into madness a direct result of his guilt over disobeying Samuel and thereby losing his kingdom. I think it's also a warning to us to have a personal relationship with God as Saul relied on Samuel to tell him what to do instead of seeking Gods word for himself. Sometimes I rely on my pastor to seek God for me and pretend i didnt know right from wrong. Saul knew what was right but blamed others when he didn't obey.
Also losing the sense of Gods presence would lead anyone to despair and then possible violence . David was a constant reminder of Sauls sin and the consequences of it. I think the author did a great job portraying Saul as a flawed man who suffered the consequences of poor choices.

I couldn't feel sorry for him--the evil he did was just too much. He abused his power to such an extent. However, it is sad to see that a man given such a divine assignment could totally turn his back on God. Was it mental illness?--in which case he deserved some sympathy- but if it is guilt, then he made his own mess. I didn't get any feeling of guilt from him, and only occasionally did he show any remorse. I wondered how he could function when he did. The madness was scary and realistic to me.