By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: As any of my regular Readers will know, I am not a Christian. In fact, farthest from. I am a Solitary Wiccan. I have too many issues with Modern Christianity, particularly Evangelical than I have time to get into right now. However, I can on occasion be found to enjoy some Christian and Inspirational Fiction. Sometimes, if the Christian message is surrounded by a great plot and brilliant characterization. Also, because I like Historical Fiction, I am aware that since Christianity was the dominant religion in many of the time periods in which I read, I can still enjoy the book on a historical level.
Luckily, Grant J. Hallstrom's Amora is such a Christian fiction. It is a moving plot with terrific characters, particularly the protagonist, and has a great historic setting of Ancient Rome, that one can enjoy the book, despite the occasional preachiness in the writing.
One positive take away the book gives us is the amount of details in the life of a Roman noble family at the time, particularly the status of Roman women. We are given insights into the life of Amora from her arranged marriage to Leo as the wealthy marriage ensures Leo a placement in the highest of Imperial circles. We also see them in happy giddy times during the Saturnalia festival in December when wackiness is the order and a servant is declared king for a day. Amora and Leo's marriage appears to be happy and contented. Why even when their first child is a girl, Natalie, Leo isn't like most Roman fathers who long only for a son. He dotes on and adores his little girl.
Unfortunately, their marriage falters when their son, Esteban, is born with a shriveled leg. Leo at first wants to do away with the boy but when Amora's maternal love intervenes, he simply withdraws from both mother and child. This is the first sign that the spouses' marriage is on different tracks and they transform into different people: Leo cares more about status and his placement in Roman society and Amora cares more about people and helping others.
After a family tragedy, Leo and Amora show their true colors and strengths and weaknesses in character. Leo weakens as he retreats into alcohol, depression, and self pity. He is assigned an outpost in Egypt where he strays from his marriage and his duties as a Roman citizen.
Amora meanwhile is strengthened despite the loss. She befriends and mentors a young female slave, Maria. She creates a home for unwed mothers and orphaned children, that caters to nobles, plebeians, and slaves (much to the disdain of her fellow noblewomen). She has the courage to stand up to Leo's drunken behavior and ask for a divorce. (Fun fact: Roman noblewomen could divorce their husbands by leaving the house and taking their dowry with them.) She also befriends members of a certain religious sect that has gained popularity among the slaves and lower classes: Christianity.
This book is also a fascinating look at how Christianity originated and gained fire during the later days of the Roman empire and how the imperials viewed them, particularly the Senate and their then-Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcus and his nobles, including Leo, consider them a religion that caters only to "slaves and women" because they favor emotion over reason, peace over war, and speak of a better Afterlife. While they deride the religion, they sense that it is gaining solid ground amongst the upper classes where the true power lies. When Maria and Amora start attending meetings and eventually get baptized, Leo and the others feel threatened. Amora's conversion to Christianity puts the husband and wife on almost permanent opposite sides.
In many Christian fiction works, the lead characters who convert to Christianity become sanctimonious self righteous one dimensional mouthpieces (Witness any Pure Flix movie for a bad portrayal of flimsy Christian characters who exist only to quote Scripture and wax theology about the filmmakers' and authors' views.). There is some preachiness in Amora as characters lecture others about Christian doctrine, but that dialogue is few and far between and gives some believable characters that speak those words.
Thankfully, Hallstrom doesn't lose sight of good characterization when the characters convert. They question, bicker, act on pure emotion and without thinking, and often wrestle with their faith.
One of the biggest questions that the characters wrestle with is forgiveness. Amora finds it difficult to forgive someone after they did a horrible wrong to her family. After Esteban is converted, he can't forgive his father for his Ill treatment towards his mother to the point that he runs away from home. Forgiveness is a difficult concept to grasp, especially when violence is purposely done towards the characters. While the book stresses the Biblical concept of loving your enemy, Hallstrom's writing makes the message clear that forgiveness is not an easy thing for people to do or accept. When human emotions are involved, sometimes those ideals are and should be questioned. Nor is forgiveness a quick band aid. There are still many years of hurt feelings, loneliness, and rage to overcome.
However just as his characters have had to struggle with the concept of forgiveness, so has their author. In his introduction, Hallstrom explains how he got the inspiration for the book. He explained that Calvin, his younger brother went through a painful divorce, one that traumatized his three children. After Calvin's middle child committed suicide, his younger son stabbed Calvin to death. Hallstrom wrote that he sensed that Calvin's spirit still loved and forgave his son. Hallstrom later made amends with Calvin's ex wife and forgave his nephew. This story of forgiveness bleeds into Amora's plot of loving one's enemies even when they commit the worst crimes against them.
Christians will find more to enjoy from Amora, but people of all faiths will appreciate the historic details, the brilliant characters, and the theme of how people survive and manage during tough times.
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