Sunday, July 17, 2011

A Review of "The Muir House" by Author Mary DeMuth

When 20-something Willa Muir returns to her hometown and the home within which she grew up, she does it reluctantly. Not all her memories of childhood are happy ones. In addition to the unpleasant memories of early days, there is the period of time in those days that is almost completely blank. What really occurred during that period of time that now only visits her in flashbacks and momentary hints as she’s awakening or drifting off to sleep?

Repeatedly she recalls the words spoken to her years earlier by a faceless man of the South: You’ll find home one day. What exactly are these words intended to convey, and even more importantly, who was the speaker?

Until she can answer these questions that have plagued her from childhood, Willa feels she can’t move forward into the future. When a young man proposes marriage, Willa walks away, unable to commit to anyone until her quest for self identity is completed. Besides, she finds his frequent references to God annoying. Forgiveness is something she must learn to extend to friends and most importantly, family.

Mary DeMuth’s story is intriguing. Her practice of making verbs out of words not intended to be used in that way is a bit off-putting at first. Assuming you’re able to move beyond that frustration, you’ll find the book to be a page turner. Half way through the book, I still had no idea how the dilemmas faced by Willa would be resolved. I recommend the book.

Although the author provided a complimentary copy of this book for review, I was under no obligation to give it a positive evaluation.

1 comment:

Susan said...

Hmmm ... interesting. It's way down my stack, but now I'm intrigued to learn more about these new verbs :)