Christian Fiction Devourers discussion

I'm delighted to be your guest host for October!

The Group Buddy Read is When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin.

A man with a painful past. A child with a doubtful future. And a shared journey toward healing for both their hearts.

It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl's pretty yellow dress can't quite hide the ugly scar on her chest.

Her latest customer, a bearded stranger, drains his cup and heads to his car, his mind on a boat he's restoring at a nearby lake. The stranger understands more about the scar than he wants to admit. And the beat-up bread truck careening around the corner with its radio blaring is about to change the trajectory of both their lives.

Before it's over, they'll both know there are painful reasons why crickets cry . . . and that miracles lurk around unexpected corners.

Who's joining in for the discussion? Have you read other novels by the author?

I'm planning on joining this one. I've read one other Charles Martin ( ), and enjoyed it.

I will be joining. Charles Martin is one of my favorite authors and I love his books.

I have read:
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Favorites:
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I just read this recently and am looking forward to this :)!

I plan on reading this book later in the month — really enjoyed Chasing Fireflies this summer

I've only read one other book by Charles Martin, I'd like to try and get to this one this month.

Girls I have tried to read Charles Martin and cannot get into his books! Sorry Staci I couldn't read my choice you pick me. Is this one a easy book to get into. I really want to read a book by him. So maybe I will give this one a try??

Christine wrote: "Girls I have tried to read Charles Martin and cannot get into his books! Sorry Staci I couldn't read my choice you pick me. Is this one a easy book to get into. I really want to read a book by him...."

No worries Christine. Not every author will appeal to all readers.

Glad to have a number joining in for the Group Buddy Read. I'm a Charles Martin fan for sure. His speech at the Christy's last year was wonderful.

I've read:


Favorites:


Look forward to reading this one!

I will be joining! So excited! :)

Read one of his books .. look forward to reading more .. kinda doubtful that I can fit one in this month though.

Yes, I'll be joining :)!

I read this recently so will join in the discussion. Powerful message.

So glad to see a number of readers joining in! It's the 15th and that means discussion is open. There aren't official discussion questions since it's a buddy read, but you are welcome and encouraged to share your thoughts and ask questions about the novel.

I'll throw out an easy question...did you enjoy the book and if so, what appealed to you about it? If not, what was it that didn't work for you?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I actually really enjoyed this book . . . there were some heartbreaking parts for sure, but also, how could you not fall in love with Reese, and his brokenness, but also his desire to do the right thing? And Annie . . . what a beautiful trust and faith she had!
I gotta say that the ending broke me a bit . . . that scene in the operating room where Reese just absolutely loses it . . . wow . . .
Not ashamed to say I finished this one with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Here's a question for everyone: did Reese make the right call to go into hiding after Emma died?

I enjoyed it too Kate. Absolutely many heartbreaking moments. I felt my own heart stop as Reese had to decide whether to give the donor heart to Shirley or Emma. What a terrible choice to make. Emma had a beautiful soul and taught Reese a lot. I loved when she said he had already given her a new heart. So sweet.

Did he make the right call to go into hiding? Hard to say. It seemed the decision was out of his control. He felt completely spent and incompetent. We learn late in the novel that he was also ashamed. What guilt to live with.

Charlie. Another great character. Loved him! I also warmed up to Termite and like to think he went on to live a full life trusting others. Helping Reese and Charlie and throwing away the magazines were good indicators.

Lots of gem moments in this novel. Very glad to have read it. Had it on my Kindle since 2013!!

I liked this book--it hovered between 4 and 5, so I waited a day to see if I'd round it up or down--went up.

This book was very poignant and powerful. Even though some of it was bound to be predictable, there were unexpected things in it that I can't see how anyone could have predicted them.

I can completely understand why Reese went into hiding, and am glad he had his brother-in-law there for support, etc. In fact, there was no way he should have been practising as an addict which was one of the twists. He was burnt out in so many ways even before he lost his wife, and the former drug addiction came as a surprise to me, although given his hours, etc, I should have seen that one coming I think. Not so much some of the other things, but of course the main part of the ending I did expect.

The guilt was over the fact that he couldn't wake up when Emma tried to rouse him on the night she died due to the drugs rather than who the heart went to--it was hard, but it was the right decision ethically and morally for it to go to Shirley in that instance. He felt that if Emma had been able to wake him up right away she wouldn't have died, and there is definitely a chance that this would have been so. That said, what he did to try and save her not only ended up saving a little girl but was then going to be studied for possible future emergency situations.

Karin, completely agree that it was a powerful novel. You make a good point about the guilt Reese felt. I think it was smart of the author to not reveal that piece until later in the story. By that point, readers felt connected to and empathy for him. Our view might have been more tainted if we'd known upfront about his addiction. We'd likely come around to understanding but it would have been a slightly different path to get there.

This one ranks right up there for me. It had me boo-hooing the entire way - those dinner prayers 😢. I think Reese devoted his entire life to wanting to save Emma, that in the end when he couldn't it broke him so much more than people knew (except Charlie he seemed to know everything). But I also think Emma taught him more about being human than he realized also. She taught him to live for the day, to look at the beauty around him, that he was fighting for the other patients just not her. But it took one special little girl to show Reese that not all was for naught. That it was ok if things didn't go as planned, because there was a plan, they just didn't see it yet. It was kind of a Grey's Anatomy kind of scene at the end with him falling to the ground in the surgery room, like being in the observatory looking down, seeing all the grief from his entire life enveloping him at that moment and knowing there was nothing anyone could do for him but let him grieve - for Emma, for Annie, for Charlie, for himself. I learned a lot about the heart - both physically and emotionally. It definitely ranks as a favorite read of this year.

Just finished reading this and agree - how powerful. Takes me a little to get into his writing, but the second half was fantastic. Great characters - Charlie could say the right thing at the right time - he doesn’t even like rowing 😂! I work in pediatrics and this was well done, hit home with memories of watching little ones after their heart surgery. Reese may not have developed a god complex, instead his addiction was an attempt at keeping it together from not only his career, but the overwhelming pressure to save his wife and guilt over her death. It is no wonder that he gave up, and such a beautiful route that brought him back through Annie

@Missy, yes! Loved the prayers. So powerful. I agree that Emma taught Reese a lot about being human. I also learned a lot about the heart and how it works physically. Very interesting.

@Kim, that cracked me up that Charlie didn't even like rowing! That was a great part of the novel. Thank you for what you do with the littles! My daughter is in nursing school right now. She's not sure yet where she'd like to be.

Staci wrote: "Karin, completely agree that it was a powerful novel. You make a good point about the guilt Reese felt. I think it was smart of the author to not reveal that piece until later in the story. By that..."

Yes, I thought this but didn't think to say it--very good point.

The first time I went to read a book by this author I saw his photo and did not expect him to be this deep or good of a writer (his later photos don't make me think this) which just goes to show you how deceptive author photos can be! Also that we are all prone to unconscious (and conscious) biases.

To illustrate, when the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in 1952, was the first to do screened auditions the results were still overwhelmingly male. When someone thought to have musicians remove their shoes, 50 percent of the musicians who made it to the final rounds (done without a screen) were women. Just hearing high heels vs men's shoes put up unconscious biases.

Thankfully God looks on the heart and not the outward appearance :)!!

This was one of the best Christian novels I have ever read! Everything I want to say has been said :)

Great discussion this month. So glad it was well liked.

For those that haven't read all of his novels, it's great to have a backlist. :-)

Thanks for being a part of October's group buddy read!