Tag Archive | Susie Finkbeiner

The All American by Susie Finkbeiner

May29

Growing Up & Following Dreams

The All American by Susie Finkbeiner is a most delightful Christian historical novel that I completely savored, never wanting it to end.

The novel is set during 1952 as we follow an all-American family of parents, two daughters and a cat. Their extended family is a married brother and sister-in-law, and an uncle. All the events are seen in the first person, alternating between eleven year old Flossie and her older sister Bertha.

The sisters are similar but different. They both have unique relationships with their father who is an author. Flossie is a bookworm – Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley are two of her favourite characters. She ‘lives’ her books, liking nothing better than an afternoon in the library.

In contrast, Bertha is a keen baseball player. Her dream is to play for the ladies Sweet Peas team. She is never happier than joining the boys at school for a baseball game.

Both girls have close relationships with their father who encourages their individual dreams.

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The Nature Of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

Aug15

Simply Beautiful

The Nature Of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner is an absolutely beautiful Christian novel that is written around the true event of Operation Babylift – giving children from Vietnam a new life in America after the war.

The action is set in 1975, 1988 and 2013. The novel focuses on a family. This microcosm would be repeated in homes all over America. The reader sees life through various eyes in one family. It is all very beautifully written. Your heart will break for the orphans and children of war.

The war in Vietnam took many American lives. Those who did return were scarred physically or mentally. The Vietnamese children were scarred too. They saw terrible things no child should ever see and were very traumatized.

The novel is a book of love. We see a family with a huge capacity to love – from four year old Sonny up through the generations. There was one exception – a grandmother who lost her son in the Vietnam war. She laid the sins of the soldiers on the shoulders of a young child and needed time to adapt her views.

God is a God of love. He cares for each and every one of His children. “God is so kind… and He’s always up to something.” Sometimes we cannot see Him working, life seems bleak but God never leaves us. His eye is on the sparrow and His eye is on us.

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All Manner Of Things by Susie Finkbeiner

Jun10

Don’t Duck And Cover

All Manner Of Things by Susie Finkbeiner is a heart-wrenching Christian historical novel focusing on a family affected by war. The action is set in 1967 during the Vietnam War but families are still reeling from the Korean War. I do not normally cry over books but I cried over this one. It is beautifully written and I ‘felt’ included in the family as the book is written in the first person from the point of view of eighteen year old Annie.

The novel is a microcosm for the macrocosm of American families affected by war. It is a close knit family and community that laughs together, lives together and cries together. In some ways life in 1967 was far simpler but in many ways it was so much harder.

War hurts. It hurts civilians. It hurts the forces and it hurts God. “I can’t believe that God created us for all this death and destruction… War wasn’t His idea.” The reader becomes acquainted with the thoughts and fears of both the servicemen and those on the home front as part of the novel is in the form of letters to and from Vietnam to various family members. The servicemen were brave young men who ‘did it afraid’ as they answered the call to serve their country. “You gotta just look to God… When I get scared, it’s about the only thing I can do.” God was alongside those serving and those at home at all times, even if He seemed silent. He never left His children alone.

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