Unafraid (Lineage of Grace, 5)

Rating:
Summary: The Series Ends
Review: Francine Rivers ends her wonderful "Lineage of Grace" series with the life of Mary.

In this version Mary is hardly meek and mild, but a teenage girl impatient for the coming of the Messiah. When she has Jesus, she is shocked when no one believes that she was a virgin when she became pregnant - the begining of a rude awakening. It is Joseph who realizes, as he is dying, that his stepson will be the Man of Sorrows - and Jesus' refusal to save Joseph because it's his time is Mary's first sign that things will not go the way she expected. Will she spend the rest of her life bitterly waiting for Jesus to become the awaited warrior-king and prove to the world that she didn't sleep with Joseph before their wedding?

Ms. Rivers has taken a daring risk by making her Mary a not-necessarily likable person who, for instance, can only see her children with Joseph as falling short of her expectations after having raised the only perfect child who ever lived. Herein lies the point. Up until now, the series has been admirably non-denominational. Ms. Rivers, a Born-Again Christian, deliberately makes the point that Mary was a normal person just like you and me - and in no way divine. I'm Protestant myself - and this is in fact one of the cornerstones of our denomination - but Catholics, you've been warned...

This is actually in some ways my least favorite of the series, although I see what Ms. Rivers was trying to do. Read it to complete her vision, but also try the excellent "Two from Galilee" by Marjorie Holmes, which I feel covers the relationship between Mary and Joseph better.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book in the series
Review: I thought that the other books (especially UNSPOKEN) were better than this book. I can't really explain it, other than to say that Mary wasn't necessarily likeable, and the other kids were brats.

I think that Ms. Rivers took chances in narrating Jesus' life during the "missing years" that aren't explained in the Bible. The healing of Anne, and the relationship with Joseph, and his brothers. I almost felt sorry for the family after Jesus became "KNOWN" because he left them and didn't necessarily acknowledge them.

I didn't particularly like the way the book ended--but maybe that's the Catholic in me :-) But it was a good way to finish the series, since the other 4 books were leading up into it.

I would highly recommend this series.

Rating:
Summary: The Story of Mary
Review: This is the final book in the Lineage of Grace Series. It must have been the most difficult one to write, as it is the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her story is so well-known and oft-repeated that even the most casual Bible reader is familiar with it. As usual Rivers fleshes out the Biblical accounts with more emotional and everyday incidents. In this case she reached a bit further and wrote some incidents which were never recorded in the Bible but which could have happened within the context of Jesus' character. She emphasizes the maternal feelings which Mary had for Jesus, and her sadness at "losing" him to his ministry. This book does not succeed as well as the others in the series, but is a noble effort and does give the reader some food for thought about what might have been.

Rating:
Summary: Mary mother of Jesus!
Review: This was a very good book and a fast reading. I never was really much into religion and to me Jesus had seem more friendly then Mary, I don't know why? Maybe it's because when I was young I saw a movie about Jesus and Mary seem to severe but in this book Mary seem like any other women and now I see her more friendly and she's the one who bring me back to believe more in God. After reading this book I became more interested also about the old and new bible. I sure understand her to feel upset and sad when Jesus said, "Who is my mother, who are my brothers?" You can very well feel Mary pain and confusion about all that. She said often, "God I am sorry to think he his my son, he his yours." I was thinking, no Mary you got every right to feel bad and upset. The book keep saying the same things, I would had put less stars but I think it deserve a 4 because it was a fast reading, you know more about Mary and she bring back my faith in god. Mary is like any other human and to me now she seem more real!

Rating:
Summary: a great series
Review: What else can I say? Francine Rivers is awesome and so is this entire series. Easy reading that you can't put down until you are finished.