Rating: 
Summary: "Christy", an uplifting and spiritually filling book!
Review: "Christy" is the story of 19 year old Christy Huddleston who is in search for something to fill her soul and give her a purpose in life. So volunteering to teach in a mission school, Christy journeys to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, more specifically the area of Cutter Gap. Along with her, the other missions workers are a Quaker woman whom Christy looks up to Miss Alice Henderson, the handsome and charming Reverend David Grantland, and the reverend's spinster and dour sister, Ida Grantland. As she begins to get used to living in the primitive surroundings, her heart reaches out the highlanders, especially to the children. Another person Christy begins to bond with is Doctor Neil MacNeil who has a strong desire to help his people. And as Christy struggles through hardships and heartache, joy and victories, she learns to have faith that God will take care of each and every one of them through good times and bad times."Christy" was written by Catherine Marshall in 1967. The book is under the category of 'fiction', but in actuality Catherine Marshall had written the story based on her mother, Christy's, life. An extremely uplifting and spiritually filling book, "Christy" is sure to please both young adults and adults. The characters in the story are what really draw you into the book, making it a turn pager not in the sense that it's suspenseful, but in that you just want to read more and more about the characters. Christy Huddleston has all of the qualities of a young woman, intelligent, charming, yet a bit innocent. She also has a very curious mind and is always pondering about life and God's mysterious ways. Miss Alice Henderson is so well described you can just picture in your mind her 'queenly stature and beautiful poise'. I would sorely have liked to meet her in real life and discuss God with her as she has such a close relationship with Him. Then there's the two men in Christy's life, the reverend and the doctor, both possessing unique attraction and strength. Reverend David Grantland is everything a girl dreams of, young, handsome, and incredibly romantic. But at the same time Christy finds he doesn't seem to have such a good relationship with God. Whenever Christy tries to ask him deep questions, his answers are vague, unfulfilling, and he also tries to avoid any discussions. Then of course we have Doctor Neil MacNeil, a man of science and not one of God. Though a highlander himself, since he had graduated from a prestigious college he is incredibly smart and sharp. His quick wit, quiet and calm ways, and cool attitude draws Christy towards him. But at the same time she can find him annoying and feels uncomfortable with him. Who is she in love with? I can't tell you the answer though I can assure you that Christy DOES find the love of her life, a man who loves her so very much. Catherine Marshall puts into her story many instances where Christy questions God's mysterious ways, for example where is God when a close friend dies? How can God's mercy be taught to the people of Cutter Gap who are very poor and whose lives are very hard? Catherine Marshall writes so vividly and so well that you begin yourself to ask questions and as you read find the answers. Also, the end was SOOOOO well-done! I must admit that whenever I read the last two pages, I do get a bit misty eyed and I feel so uplifted! It's not the romance (though it does include romance) but it's the eloquence of this person's (I'm not telling who!) prayer to God. Whenever I finish reading the book, I always think, "that's how much faith I want to have in God!" I highly recommend this book, probably for teens and adults, mostly for teens older than 14. One reason is because younger children might find the book a bit dull or deep. Also some adult issues are discussed that younger children won't understand and some teens mind find a bit uncomfortable. But I still very highly recommend this book to read for both enjoyment and learning. Also recommended is the "Christy" series in which all the episodes are sold from Volume 1-12 (though unfortunately most are not sold on Amazon, hint hint!). The cast includes Kellie Martin, Randall Batinkoff, Stewart Finlay-Mclennan, and Tyne Daly. Also in the year 2001, PAX tv gave made three Christy movies, "Return to Cutter Gap", "A Change of Seasons", and "A New Beginning". The cast includes Lauren Lee Smith, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, James Waterston, and Dianne Ladd.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Novel
Review: Christy has always led a sheltered life. When a priest comes to speak in her town recruiting volunteers for the mission up in the Smoky Mountains Christy readily agrees. What she finds she does not expect. This world is so different than her own with its' primitive pioneer ways and superstitions. She learns what it is like to truly live the mountaineer life, and about hardships she never thought to be a reality. Through all this she learns to love the mountain people, God, and never take for granted what she is given.
There is so much more to this book. It is beautifully written, detailed, and puts you right there with the reader. Written in an autobiographical style, you will want to laugh, cry, and rejoice with Christy as she overcomes all the challenges that arise. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Few Miles, But A World Apart
Review: Christy Huddleston has always enjoyed the life of the privledged in her home in 1911 Asheville, North Carolina. She enjoyed the best medical care, and education, while, only a few miles away many suffer in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains.
Christy, a nineteen-year-old girl, is swept up by the voice of Dr. Ferrand in her church. He asks (he will never beg) individuals to volunteer their time and help teach in these foresaken nooks of her country. Wanting to make something of her life, and not having many options to do so in the presuffrage days, she volunteers against the wishes of her freidns and family. Months later, she finds herself in Cutter Gap, a beautiful but destitute cove in the mountains.
Here, she encounters poverty like she has never seen before. Barely able to deal with it, Miss Alice, a quaker missionary, David Grantland, a young minister, and Ida Grantland, David's possesive sister and an unlikely friend, help her adapt to her job teaching 67 uneducated, unruly, students of all ages.
However, Christy perserveres and helps begin to rid the mountains of feuding (the killing kind, bad sanitary habits that lead to desease (i.e. typhoid), dangerous superstition, and moonshining. This is all done while she creates delicate friendships with some of the mountains most intresting and unique characters including the beautiful and queenly Fairlight Spencer, and learns some dark secrets of Miss Alice's Doc MacNeil (a mountain man) and other's past. Those who enjoy adventure, suspence, courage, hope, and much more would greatly enjoy this novel. The character development is amazing and the characters, all of whom are unique and three dementional, come to life. You will find yourself crying at their failures and laughing at their triumphs. The Appalacians mountains provide a beautiful and mysterious setting for these conquests.
My only complaint about this story is that it becomes a smidge bit wordy at times and occasionally strays far off topic into boring dialog. However, hese lapses are rare and this is book that anyone should read immediately!!
Rating:
Summary: Christy by Catherine Marshall
Review: Christy is the moving story of a 19-year-old girl who leaves her home to teach school to the poor children of Cutter Gap, Tennessee, in the Smokey Mountains. Christy's faith severely tested by her unruly pupils, the proud and superstitious mountain families, and the many problems therein. Christy's heart is also torn as she has to decide between the love of two very different men. And yet, she grows to love these wild mountain people, all the while discovering God's plan for her life and growing closer to him. I loved the book very much. I finished it in two days. It has everything one could want in a book---action, adventure, romance, and through it all, it is Christ-centered. I would recommend this book to anyone! I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Classic!
Review: Having reread this book countless times, I manage to find new details each time in this turn-of-the-century story of a privileged young woman's first exposure to poverty and ignorance. Rich in Appalachian culture and American history, this often sorrowful story is also filled with hope and happiness in the most unexpected places -- guaranteed to make readers of all ages during all periods look at their own lives differently.
Rating:
Summary: This is my favorite book.
Review: I first read this book as a stressed out summer camp worker. It changed the rest of my summer. Christy sets an example of how to find the beauty in all of God's creation. After reading it, I started noticing wildflowers and colorful mushrooms in the woods that I had never noticed in all of three summers I spent working at the same camp. I started finding new depths of love an patience for the campers and my coworkers. Christy's growing faith in God, optimism, and love for nature is that contagious.
Rating: 
Summary: disapointing
Review: I just finished reading the novel Christy and I really dind't care for it all that much. At first i was really excited by David's character. I kept thinking for once in a book there is a relgious man who doesn't have all the answers. i don't read to many christan novels, simply because those i have read the characters always have the perfect thing to say at the perfect time, which hardly ever happens in read life. I thought David's character was fresh. I liked when the elderly lady was on her deadthbed and David didn't know what to tell her about going to heaven. I don't see ministers as having all the answers and i was pleased to finally find a main character in a christian novel that supported that realism. However in the end any hope that David could possibly be the real character i was looking for was shattered, when they ended him with being a confused man. I found his ending very lame. From the first time dr. Mcniel came into the picture i was like please don't leave him with Christy in the end. It was obviouse when the elderly Christy asked what happened to David that she didn't marry him but i was like please not the doctor. Then it happened and i was grately disapointed. Why is it in novels all women go for the man that infurates them? I would never go for a man like that, nor do i know anyone else who would. Everyone wants someone to love them and i think it wasn't because it didn't happen till the last page that McNiel finally admitted to loving her. Maybe if it happened a little further in, or there was signs that he cared then maybe it would have been a little more believeable but it just wasn't. David was the one she should have ended up with. I'm sorry to have to say it but it's true. I still have no idea why she didn't say she woudl marry him. Because he didn't really love her? I'm sorry but that storyline was terrible. Let's say the author didn't want them together then give a better reason. David went through hell, he tried his best and in the end his best wasn;t good enough. The kind of torture he went through could break any man. The way he failed, i really sympathise with him. Having joined the ministry because it meant something to his mother and sister, i feel bad for him there to, but did that mean he didn't love God? No i don't think so. I think even with the way he failed he still loved God. i just don't get it. I'm sorry i missed it.
Rating:
Summary: The story I always return to
Review: I read Christy when I was in fourth grade. Even so young, I think enough of
my personality had formed to enable me to recognize myself in her. I
had the same relentless desire to fight injustice, and, like Christy, I
sometimes went about it the wrong way (such as arguing with my teachers,
parents, and principals:)). Fervor is difficult to reason with. I am now
nineteen years old, the same age as Christy was when she left Ashville. I
have recently picked up the book and reread it, and I am astonished to
find all my feelings and thoughts perfectly mirrored in those incredible
pages. True, I am not a teacher in the Smoky Mountains. Instead, I am a
philosophy major attending college. But the story always seemed to me to
be about the elemental feelings and changes in Christy, not merely about
what happened to her. Millions of different circumstances play out in the
millions of different lives every day. But there is unity in humankind's
response to a situation. My best friend has never died, but I've known
sorrow. I don't battle moonshiners, but I've known struggles. I've never
seen the Smoky Mountains in the morning, but I've known joy. I've never
sewn buttons onto a little girl's coat, but I've known growth. When I read
Christy, I don't focus on the events that changed her. I find my greatest
bond to the book to be those very human feelings Christy experiences,
those very human feelings that we all share. All the emotions I
experience when taking in the events of my life, I find echoed back to me
through Christy. And that is why it is the story I will always return to.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book
Review: I will have to agree and state that this novel is an all American classic. I had a lovely time reading it and couldn't stop reading. I love Christy's enthusiasm in the small mountain town. All the characters were constructed very nicely. It inspired me to watch the television show.
The only problem however, was all the preaching and the finding of god. I found myself skipping the parts about the Bible and what not.
Other than that, it was a very very very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I will have to agree and state that this novel is an all American classic. I had a lovely time reading it and couldn't stop reading. I love Christy's enthusiasm in the small mountain town. All the characters were constructed very nicely. It inspired me to watch the television show.
The only problem however, was all the preaching and the finding of god. I found myself skipping the parts about the Bible and what not.
Other than that, it was a very very very good book.
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