Years ago, I read a lot of Danielle Steel. Then I started to find her books repetitive, predictable, and, frankly, boring. When a friend handed me Answered Prayers and told me she was sure I'd enjoy it, I hesitated. But the friend hounded me, and I gave in. As it turned out, I found the book to be repetitive, predictable, and, frankly, boring. Shocking!

Basic Plot

Faith is a very bored woman. The kids have grown up and it's just her and husband Alex in the house. Alex is immersed in his career, but Faith has nothing to occupy her days. She gets it in her head to return to school, perhaps study law. I applauded this decision! "Good for her", I yelled. (OK, I didn't actually yell). But it seems that Alex lives in the 1950's, not in the modern day. He doesn't want his wife going to school, or making a career for herself. After all, it might interfere with her ability to "be there for him", and to cook his dinners. He "forbids" her from following her dream, and that's the end of the discussion. Or so he thinks.

Faith's not happy, to say the least, that Alex is being so closed-minded. She'll just attend the classes on the sly. He's so busy with his career, he won't notice. OK - so she didn't really think this one all the way through. Regardless, she's got another diversion to occupy her time, now. She bumps into Brad, an old friend of hers, who also (Shocking!) is in a mediocre-at-best marriage. They re-kindle their old friendship, mostly by emailing each other constantly and occasional phone calls. In fact, they start to depend on each other's support, and feelings grow...

Ok - So what's the problem here?

I started out saying that the book was repetitive, predictable, and, frankly, boring. And I mean it.

Let's start with "repetitive". Something happened to Danielle Steel. I don't know exactly when, but at some point she clearly lost her memory. Because, she tells us the same thing over and over again. The same idea is repeated, sentence after sentence, with just a few words turned around. It's quite annoying! Or, maybe she hasn't lost her memory, but she doesn't trust us to "get it" the first time!

Next there's "predictable". What I mean by this, is that absolutely nothing "outside the box" happens. It all goes along exactly the way you'd expect. You know the second that Faith bumps into Brad, and exchanges email addresses with him, that they're going to get hooked on each other's support. One thing after another happened after I predicted it would. Everything, from the kids' reactions to their mother's new "friend", Alex's tirades, Brad's marital problems, all of it happened in a totally predictable manner. There's was not one moment where I could say "Wow - I never saw that coming!"

All of this ends up making Answered Prayers a very boring book. Even the email exchanges between Faith and Brad were quite tame, and hardly provided any "spark" to liven things up.

On top of all of that, you've got the husband who's stuck in the 1950's with an idea that he's entitled to "own" his wife, and dictate how she lives her life. And, frankly, for much of the time, Faith allows this behavior to continue. It was difficult to remember that this is actually a modern-day story!


Was there anything good about this book at all?

Well, yes, actually. Faith's childhood was quite traumatic, and she still bears those scars. I liked the parts of the book where she acknowledges her past. In fact, with Brad's help, Faith does grow as a person throughout this book, as he helps her to understand her past, and the ways in which she's affected to this day. It was refreshing to see a woman come to terms with her painful past, and move forward.


Overall

While it's true that it's a fast read, and that there's a small amount of interest in finding out how it ends, overall, I think most people can easily skip this book. One exception would be anyone who has re-connected with an old friend, started emailing with that person, and found themselves "hooked". Those folks might enjoy reading this book, and realizing that they're not alone in that regard.

Note that even then, I still said "might" enjoy.


Recommended: No