Thrust From the Hand of God

I bought this book when I saw it advertised (on Goodreads.com, maybe?). It seemed to be an independently published book and I wanted to encourage the author–I like encouraging authors–and I really wanted to buy an e-book for my new Kobo e-reader. Honestly, I did not have high expectations for it. Now having finished it, I must say I am very glad I bought it and read it, and I will be recommending it to friends. It is one of my favorites of the books I read this year. I really enjoyed it a lot.

Litz has written an exciting coming-of-age story set in the post-Civil War United States. My knowledge of the time is limited, but he seems to capture the feel of the historical period and the settings very well. I can vouch more authoritatively for his ability to excite and convey sensation. Several chapters were the equivalent of a carnival ride–one episode was almost literally a roller coaster ride, and quite exciting at that.

Litz is quite good with a clever or apt turn of phrase. He wrote several sentences I wish I had written, including, among others, “The Irishman's nose was of average size but pointed north by northeast when his head bore due north.” and “The aura of innocence surrounding John and the odor of alcohol surrounding Old Man Whaley helped to protect him, but John knew not to press his luck.”

The protagonist, John, is faced with several serious and severe moral crises, and the satisfying thing about the book is that they feel real and are not dealt with easily. Life is messy and the author seems to understand that. By dealing with his crises, John grows and becomes a man, not just by increasing the flow of testosterone but by adding to his wisdom and even compassion.

Litz is a Christian writing fiction, but he did a good job of not writing “Christian fiction.” Christian fiction tends to give me hives. I find what little I have read to be, in a few cases, very very good indeed, or else, more often, gooey and sticky like molasses. Litz avoids that. He seems to have taken the advice of C. S. Lewis who wrote something to the effect that the world does not need more “Christian authors” writing “Christian books” but rather more authors who are Christian who write whatever they write. Unlike some Christian authors, Litz does not drag God into every scene by his ear whether he needs to be there or not (“Don't forget this is Christian Fiction and I'm a Christian Author!”). But unlike so many materialist authors, Litz doesn't pretend that religion (and specifically Christianity) does not exist as a real part of many people's life. (Have you read these folk whose understanding of the world seems to be so limited that the world is divided between functional atheists [which includes all the good people] and a few “religious fanatics”? After a while, it becomes tiresome because it is so limited and inaccurate.)

I really enjoyed this book and I was sad to see it end. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention that there are more than a few words mis-used in the book, either intransitive verbs used as if they were transitive or else words simply used outside the range of accepted definition. Those cases were a bit frustrating, but unlike some other books I have read which could have benefited from tighter editing, the over-all goodness of this book easily outweighed the minor grammatical and lexical problems.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a rip-roaring excitement, who enjoys American historical fiction, or who appreciates a book dealing with male coming of age.