Thief of Glory by Sigmund Brouwer is historical fiction centered around WWII. The blurb talks about love amidst the internment camp, and it sounds like this really good story. But trust me, it's not... Buyer beware this shouldn't be considered a Christian book in any sense of the word. It's different but not in a good way.
When Jeremiah Prins is ten, the Japanese take over the Dutch East Indies. They force Jeremiah, his mother, and his three younger siblings into a camp where they have to learn how to survive with limited food and medicine. The Japanese control the camp with an iron grip leaving it's prisoners scared for their lives. But the Dutch don't give up easily....
Later Jeremiah finds his first love, Laura, in the camps. Life seems better with her as his friend and together they do daring things to help their families survive. Life takes a drastic turn when Jeremiah starts noticing something wrong with his mother.
This is my first read from this author, and I was impressed by his writing skill, but the story wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. Usually you cheer with and like the main character, but I didn't like him at all. He was detached, mean, vindictive, and superior. I felt for all they went through at the Japanese internment camp, but for supposedly being a Christian story there was nothing Christian except for mentioning the Bible and hymns. Plus, there were a lot of thematic elements like some cursing, vulgarity, sensual topics, and violence especially at the beginning where it shocks you and makes you immediately dislike him.
I am used to reading WWII, nonfiction and fiction, so I know the evilness surrounding these places, but this story was just so dark with no redemptiveness to it at all. Even the ending was so strange and weird. The last chapters were poorly written, confusing, and made you dislike Jeremiah even more if possible. In my opinion, Jeremiah was just evil. They try to say he did it all for "good" reasons, but doing bad for a good end result is just as bad as doing wrong all the way. The story ends with him asking for mercy, but I would rather hear the author come right out and say he got saved. This book felt like such a waste. I will not be reading any of his books again.
When Jeremiah Prins is ten, the Japanese take over the Dutch East Indies. They force Jeremiah, his mother, and his three younger siblings into a camp where they have to learn how to survive with limited food and medicine. The Japanese control the camp with an iron grip leaving it's prisoners scared for their lives. But the Dutch don't give up easily....
Later Jeremiah finds his first love, Laura, in the camps. Life seems better with her as his friend and together they do daring things to help their families survive. Life takes a drastic turn when Jeremiah starts noticing something wrong with his mother.
This is my first read from this author, and I was impressed by his writing skill, but the story wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. Usually you cheer with and like the main character, but I didn't like him at all. He was detached, mean, vindictive, and superior. I felt for all they went through at the Japanese internment camp, but for supposedly being a Christian story there was nothing Christian except for mentioning the Bible and hymns. Plus, there were a lot of thematic elements like some cursing, vulgarity, sensual topics, and violence especially at the beginning where it shocks you and makes you immediately dislike him.
I am used to reading WWII, nonfiction and fiction, so I know the evilness surrounding these places, but this story was just so dark with no redemptiveness to it at all. Even the ending was so strange and weird. The last chapters were poorly written, confusing, and made you dislike Jeremiah even more if possible. In my opinion, Jeremiah was just evil. They try to say he did it all for "good" reasons, but doing bad for a good end result is just as bad as doing wrong all the way. The story ends with him asking for mercy, but I would rather hear the author come right out and say he got saved. This book felt like such a waste. I will not be reading any of his books again.
I was given this book free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
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