Sadie lives the typical life of an abused wife. Her husband, Troy, has forbidden her to have any friends or contact to the outside world. He doesn't want her to leave the house without his permission. He doesn't want her to wear anything that hasn't been approved by him. He doesn't want her to enter his locked workshop outside. The worst part about it is Sadie's denial of the situation. On top of this, her kids are crazy, her house is a disaster, and a little girl has gone missing. What's worse is Sadie has found some of the little girl's drawings in Troy's briefcase. Sadie only finds refuge in classical music she keeps hearing coming from the lake. Nobody else but her can hear it, so no one believes it is there.
Sadie's Song is nothing like any of Linda Hall's other books. It reminds me greatly of a Lisa Samson book for several reasons.
1. Sadie is a typical Lisa Samson female lead.
2. The book is written in a schizophrenic writing style.
3. There are good characters.
4. The people have strange names.
5. At the end there is a scene involving a hospital stay.
I don't know what made Linda Hall write a book like this, but I like it.
This isn't your typical abuse situation. Sadie is not a perfect victim. There isn't a perfect male lead that saves the day. Sadie's house is in an constant disarray. My personal favorite is her kids. They act like mental cases, even though everyone thinks they're normal. Sadie's oldest son thinks he's a worm, her twins think that everyone besides them are aliens, her oldest daughter is always whining about something insignificant, and her baby eats weird things like newspapers. I'm glad that since Linda Hall was going to use a typical plot pattern like wife abuse, she used it in an original way. This is more of a comedy than a suspense plot.
Since Linda Hall had the body of the plot in order, it came down to how she ended it. Only one thing ended the way I expected it to, and even it wasn't perfect. I can't think of much that turned out perfect in the end. Linda Hall made sure she made the entire end realistic and plausible, right down to Sadie's mysterious music.
I always enjoy books like this because it reassures me that there are still authors out there who know how to write a realistic plot that makes you think. Perfect ends don't teach you anything; imperfect ends make you think things like "What can I do to avoid this situation?"
This is the kind of book I like to reserve the five star rating for.
5 stars
Thank you so much for your kind comments on Sadie's Song, Steve! That book is a personal favourite - even though it was probably the most difficult book of mine to write. Thanks again! It's lovely to be your Facebook friend!
ReplyDeleteI have found that the books that were hard to write end up much better because the reader can sense the work that was put into it. Shallow plots are easy to write and easy to write, thus why they abound. I have always thought however that Christian fiction should make you think and teach you something. The best way to do this in fiction is not to push issues or preach but to do as you did and show real situations. Once again great job!
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