Rating: 
Summary: enraptured!
Review: Ninah is a teenager living in a commune run by her grandfather, the preacher of the Fire and Brimstone church. There are very strict rules and penalties for anyone found breaking these rules include sleeping in a bed of nettles, spending a night in a grave, dunking in the river in a cage etc. When Ninah and her cousin be marriage, James, become prayer partners, they are given the freedom to pray separate from other members and pray that Jesus will talk through them to each other. When Ninah becomes pregnant she is convinced that her baby is the baby of Jesus, not an earthly being. Following the birth of her child the commune has to deal with many issues and many find themselves questioning their faith, the rules and of course the preacher. This was a really wonderful story, with a great deal of symbolic references. There were many sentences in this book that l would underline and ponder, if it were my book! I look forward to reading other novels by this talented author.
Rating: 
Summary: A vivid tale of fighting for your place
Review: This was the second of Sheri Reynolds books I read. I like her easy-going style, and find her shorter than average tales are not lacking in prose or creativity. In just 300 pages, the author vividly brings to life Ninah, her extended family, and the tight charismatic cult she grows up in. The struggles of the young Southern girl are very believable. She is torn between what she is taught by the people she loves, and the questions raised by the hypocrisy she feels in her gut and sees all around her. I think most people can identify with the desire to belong. Sheri Reynolds gives Ninah a spirit that fights for her terms within her sense of place. I have recommended this book and author for her colorful, offbeat characters.
Rating:
Summary: One year later and still highly recommended.
Review: Last summer, I purchased this book to fill my hours while traveling and I still think it was one terrific read! Although this story depicts fanatical religious zealousness with abuses, torture, and mind control, I oddly did not find this book to be depressing as the reader in Memphis did. The reader peeks into the mind of a young girl in this cult and sees what makes her tick... how she can emotionally survive under such control. This haunting story is related by the young girl, Ninah. Her courage and the kindness and perspective of her grandmother show the strength of the human spirit. I found myself drawn in and identifying with the heroine, and at its satisfying conclusion, filled with buoyant hope. Rich with symbolism, this story reads quickly and yet has depth and humor. The characters stayed with me long after the book ended. Like all good novels, I wished the book would go on and on. I will gladly try another of Reynolds books ... and would certainly continue to recommend this one!
Rating: 
Summary: I Cannot Believe This Book Made the Favs List!
Review: If you walked up to me tomorrow and asked me the worst book I ever made it all the way through (because Oprah told me to...), this book would top the list. It is the most wretched, stomach churning book ever. There is nothing very happy about it; or uplifting about it. I am a librarian. I recommend books to people and help them with their reading interests all day. I could never in a million years recommend this unhappy depressing book to anybody. It offends pretty much everybody. If you are religously conservative, you will find this book wildly to the right of most any average belief system you have. If you are a nonbeliever or an Athiest, this book could only encourage you that any sort of organized religion is full of hogwash. The only good thing to come of this book is that it being from the early days of Oprah's bookclub, people were still taking her seriously on what to read. Many many people just heard "Canaan" and wound up with Jan Karon's wonderful Mitford series which had a Canaan book in it. So Oprah made Karon a best seller. Karon is still several years later flying off my shelves. And a lot of Oprah's other books are also. "Out to Canaan" never appealed in any way to anybody. In short, the unhappy book is about a young girl from a very fundamentalist group. The thing which everybody always says is that she was made to sleep on nettles. That is what I remember, apart from her father beating her savagely a bunch of times. To end it all, she eventually steps apart from the group enough to see that her father and grandfather do have problems and weaknesses. With this, she has to find the strength to act upon that, given all the things which happened to her. I am not against unhappy or gloomy books if there is a point or a reason for them. There is no reason to subject yourself to this book, no matter what your personal religous beliefs are. Pick a happier book. Or better yet, don't listen to Oprah on any of her unhappy coming-of-age books and pick your own stuff to read.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed review
Review: I go back and forth on whether or not I like this book. The story was pretty good and the writing was strong for the most part. At times, however, the narration seemed immature, and I frankly wasn't sure if this was done for effect because the narrator was a young girl or if the writing was just a little weak in some parts. I also had trouble keeping some of characters straight. I did, however, enjoy the framing of the novel with the rug metaphor. I also thought that the author did a nice job portraying the mental tug-of-war that goes on as some of the characters struggle for individuality in this world of brainwashing. Nanna and Ninah are wonderful characters that share a beautiful relationship. Very nicely drawn. Readers should not be fooled, as I was, into thinking that this is a twisted religious cult a la David Koresh. Rather, it is a fanatical version of Christianity. I did not get exactly what I bargained for. That I still enjoyed the book, however, is to the author's credit. This book was fine, but it did not blow me away.
Rating:
Summary: This book bites
Review: This book was horrible. It was the first Oprah book I ever read and now I am totally turned off to her books. The book was BORING. I did finish it tho, just to see if something interesting would happen. Nothing did.
Rating:
Summary: In Rapture
Review: This was one of the best books I have ever read. I laughed, I cried. The characters were realistic - they had their flaws but you couldn't help loving them. I have reccommended this book to everyone I know.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful & Stirring
Review: I found myself wanting to run out and buy anything by Sheri Reynolds after reading this one. She is a marvelously gifted writer who will become an important force in the literary world. Just a couple of comments about some of the other reviews I saw. 1) This is a work of _fiction_, people. Ms. Reynolds is not trying to preach. 2) The Fire & Brimstone kind of people DO exist in our society, which makes this tale highly believable. If you don't know that, you haven't lived much.
Rating:
Summary: An unusual tale
Review: I found "The Rapture of Canaan" to be a truly original story, which kept me transfixed. The story focusses on the life of Ninah Huff, a young girl who has grown up in the compound of the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind. Her grandfather founded the church after a falling out with another congregation, and most of the residents are related to one another. Grandpa Herman imposes upon his flock extremely strict and often bizarre "laws," the origin of which is a little hazy, but which govern and control the actions and thoughts of his followers. Punishments are designed to remind "sinners" of Christ's suffering, and include sleeping in a grave or with nettles sprinkled in the sinner's bed. Meanwhile, the followers wait anxiously for the coming "Rapture," spending time primarily in church or toiling the fields of the compound. Ninah and another young church member fall in love, and the repercussions of this romance ultimately impact the entire congregation. While there are some tragic and disturbing scenes, the ultimater changes (a figurative "rapture") are moving.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This was an almost haunting story about religious zealousness at it's worst. The abuse, humiliation and torture rendered on children (and adults) in the name of a supposed almighty God is depicted in a way that I HOPE couldn't be real (but know that there are probably real life cases everywhere). There is hope and triumph in the end though ... which sends this book to my favorites pile.
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