I depart from my usual reviews of indie writers. I’ve had much going on in my life, and found it way more relaxing to read the work of those I was familiar with, and who did not expect a review from me. I was one of the folk who loved “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young. When Goodreads listed that he had a new book coming out, I made sure to add it to my “to read” list. That book, Eve, was not actually the first book since “The Shack”. I discovered that there was another out there, Crossroads. I soon thereafter picked up both from the public library. What unites the three books is the author’s creativity. He tells each story in a way that is quite a departure from the way many of us may have visualized God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As I suspected when I read the reviews, there are some who think he went too far from their beloved scripture, even among those who loved “The Shack”, particularly with “Eve”. I read them in reverse order, so I’ll begin with “Eve”.
As some stated in their reviews, “Eve” is more like a science-fiction book than an inspirational book. For me, that was not a problem. It’s the story of a young lady who endured an extreme tragedy, and the process of her healing. Throughout the book, the main character drifts between a limited awareness of her surroundings and visits to what is far less “real” the biblical Garden of Eden, where she meets Eve, Adam, and the creator (and of course, the serpent). When reading, it was clear to me that these were hallucinations of a sort, yet the author uses beautiful imagery to take the reader back to the original creation story. If you are looking for a biblical translation of the creation story, this is NOT the book for you. If, however, you enjoy thinking outside the box, and seeing things with a different lens, you may very well enjoy it.
Crossroads was a very different kind of story, probably more like “The Shack” than “Eve”, but still requiring the reader to change their perspective quite a bit. It’s the story of Tony, a miserable person who finds himself at the brink of death due to a previously undetected brain tumor. Tony, while comatose, is taken to an overrun garden in a run-down shack. There he encounters Jesus and the Holy Spirit who take him through the healing of his spirit, but not his physical body. At some point in this journey, he is told he can heal one person, but only one. Just after this, he meets a teenage girl with leukemia and takes up residence of a sort with her friends and family. I won’t spoil anything else for you. I will just say, that at first this was a bit of a stretch, even for me, but as I continued reading it, I really enjoyed it. William Paul Young is a master storyteller.
Purchase links are embedded in the review (links and images) or you can click the “buy” links below, or journey to your nearest public library. If you choose to purchase, note the option to purchase used copies inexpensively.