I hope you guys are enjoying this book as much as I am. I'll admit I didn't realize it was going to have such strong religious undertones, but nonetheless I am loving Engar's writing style. He is really a great story teller.
I have found a couple of things particularly interesting thus far:
1) When Jeremiah has a traumatic experience and is saved by a miracle he decides against finishing medical school and becoming a menial laborer. I have been thinking about how these two things are connected. A doctor is a noble profession focused on helping and healing others. It's not like he used to be an adult film executive who decided to give up a life of crime and adultery. I wonder if he was just looking for a simpler profession that would allow him to spend more time with his family. Either way, it has reiterated to me that I can never understand how another person thinks!
2) Reuben adores and respects each member of his family, but they all are decidedly different with different and conflicting ideals. I think this creates some of the conflict in the book--how can the same person who is in awe of his saintlike father and the miracles that he has seen as his hands give unwaivering support to the actions of his brother who, although with arguably noble intentions, provoked two thugs to break into his house so he could shoot them?
3) From a legal perspective (many of us went to law school so I'm sure you can appreciate this) it seems like a pretty weak case for murder. Even if Davy escalated the conflict by breaking the windows in Finch's car, they still broke into his house in the middle of the night with a baseball bat. Obviously the legal theory behind him being charged with murder isn't at issue in the book, but I'm surprised that the DA would go for it, and that the jury would buy a murder conviction.
These are just a few of my observations on the first half on the book. Let me know any thing you guys have come across. Enjoy the rest of the book and I'll see you in a few weeks!
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