Tuesday, October 28 Park Grove Branch Library Book Club discussed Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. Fourteen members were present and all agreed this was a wonderful book.
One member said the book was "so descriptive." She liked how he used the train tracks in the story, about going somewhere and about Frank becoming a man. "Really touched my heart" another member commented and she enjoyed the scene at the end of the book where Frank and Jake were at the cemetery with their dad. "I appreciated how the book promoted forgiveness." We have a crisis, we are given grace, God is there to keep us moving and we have to get our strength from God someone said. One member said she liked "the iron in his father's voice" and the part written "smoke hung around his mother like she was on fire." Another shared that she could "envision the places and the boys. Also touched by the role of religion in helping cope with challenges." "I felt exactly what I could see, hear and smell while walking down the train tracks" a comment from a member. Many read the book a few times, even within the month!
We talked of two graces that were in the book, Awful Grace which Nathan Drum talks about "My father used to quote Greek Playwright Aeschylus. 'He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain, which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our own will comes wisdom through the awful Grace of God." The other Ordinary Grace, the grace that came in not big powerful ways. So simple even as Gus digging the graves so carefully and with concern for those who have passed. Nathan Drum visiting the families, even Warren Redstone's family when they were "talked about" in the community. Frank letting Warren Redstone walk away when the law enforcement were looking for him was one example and another was Jake's stuttering stopped. Ruth Drum's asking for just an ordinary grace after Ariel's funeral, given by Jake.
We talked about the roles played by the various characters, the red herrings, someone to dislike, questioning and prejudices. Was the setting New Ulm? Two members had their list ready to show evidence of why they thought it was New Ulm and many loved that part. Another member went to college there and was reading the book while in a COFFEE SHOP IN NEW ULM!
Many members loved this part in the book: "Loss,
once it's become a certainty, is like a rock you hold in your hand. It
has weight and dimension and texture. It's solid and can be asessed and
dealt with. You can use it to beat yourself or you can throw it away."
We could put ourselves into this story and feel the connection. We felt the grief and the people coming together to help each other. A few of us thought this reminded us so much of To Kill a Mockingbird. This too, we felt, was a classic book. A book that reaches deep into your soul.
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I was not able to be at the meeting, but I echo much of what has been said in this post. Ordinary Grace was an amazingly impactful read. As I am about the same age as the protagonist in this book, many of the cultural references were especially meaningful to me. I drank root beer at the drugstore. I could picture the streets in this little Midwestern town. I lived a little outside the city limits, but I was a kid who also walked all over town when we went in to visit my grandparents and the exploring we did felt both adventurous and perhaps a little bit dangerous. The growth and development of the characters was expertly rendered. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
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