The Atonement Child

Another book review. Another novel by Francine Rivers. I'm seriously falling in love with her books. This was my least favorite of her books, but definitely still really good! I bought it Sunday late morning (like 11:45..lol) and finished it last night around 11:00pm.

It is about a young woman who is attending a Christian college, and she is raped one evening on her way home from work, and becomes pregnant as a result of the rape. Its all about her life, and what her options are as far as abortion or keeping the child. And its also about the judgment of people around her. Only one person in the novel stuck by her, not giving their opinion on the matter, and not pushing her into making a decision she would regret one way or the other.

I definitely learned a lot about abortion through the novel. I have always been against abortion in any circumstance. Why should a child pay for the mistake of their parents? Or be aborted because they MAY not live to term, or long after birth? But I also realize that Its not my place to judge someone in that situation. As Christians we are called to love one another, not judge one another, or control one another. God doesn't call us to stand outside of abortion clinics and scream at people who are going in. Some may be going in for birth control, or just their yearly exam and they're unable to afford to go to a regular doctor. I don't know what is in someone Else's heart and I'm not going to pretend to. Don't get me wrong, I don't think abortion is right in ANY circumstance. God can perform miracles, and allow a child to live that wasn't supposed to. I pray for several families in blog land who were advised to have abortions once they found out the fragile state of their infant. Each one chose to stand strong in their Faith in God, and each one was able to hold their infant in their arms, and have more hours and days than the doctors imagined. (Refer to these blogs for more if you want to read their stories; Suzie, Nate, Ryan... there are more on my blog roll on the right side too) Aborting those children was not an option for these parents. If they had taken the "easy" way out, they wouldn't have known what it is like to love someone as much as they love their child. And wouldn't have known the miracle God had in store for them.

Overall, its a good book. I cried a few times reading it, and learned a lot about an extremely controversial topic in the world today. But Its not my favorite of Francine River's novels. Maybe because of how judgmental the people were in it. How hypocritical her friends were after her rape. It was really sad to see her life fall apart and her to loose friends when she needed them the most. But, Of course, God stood by her. And I learned a lot. I'd definitely put it on my recommended reading list. :)