mind-full's Full Review: Jason F. Wright - The Wednesday Letters
The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright, had me reading from beginning to end, wanting to find out what the last letters might include. I found out, I feel warm and fuzzy and I'd recommend this book to friends.
It's Not Pulitzer Material
I found but a few annoyances while reading The Wednesday Letters, mostly in the quirks of characters or overused phrases, something that tends to irk me in real life, also.
I read past these pet peeves to get to the real issues in the story. It offers a bit of mystery and intrigue, some retrospective action, a small bit of adventure, a prodigal son, forgiveness, failure, unconditional love and a conclusion that rounds out all of the above with a little yearning for something more.
There. And I didn't ruin the ending.
Like other authors of this odd genre, not exactly romance stories, but more along the lines of revolving life lessons, Jason F. Wright plots and twists in a not so masterful way, but in a calculated way, to get readers to the end feeling satisfied and longing for more of the story.
Perfect for publication of more books.
Good, Clean Reading
The Wednesday Letters brings out the main theme of forgiveness in some subtle, but mostly straightforward ways. In our world today, subtlety gets many folks nowhere, so it's best to whack us over the head with it and know the message didn't get lost.
Jack and Laurel, the main characters in our story, both in life and in death, have sometimes vivid descriptions of personality and depth of feeling and other times vague descriptions of their normalcy. This combination, though they live in roughly only a dozen pages in the book, bring them out as true characters. Ones you wish you could mold your life around and not lose a second of it.
The children of the tragic yet full of hope couple, Matthew, Malcolm and Samantha, live lives very different from their parents, yet mirroring them in ways they don't yet understand. As the story winds along, you may find yourself wishing they'd grow up a little more (ages ranging from 30 to 37 ... loaded with sibling rivalry and and inner troubles with coping with adulthood and dashed hopes), but as they grasp reality and learn of the core of their existence through their father's "Wednesday letters" to their sainted mother, they grow in ways you hope and in ways you might not have guessed.
American Dream
Set in a bed and breakfast in Virginia, as well as in the surrounding, somewhat sleepy town of Woodstock, The Wednesday Letters shows a playing out of the American Dream as most of us have understood it, at least. Jack and Laurel worked and saved, bought their dream B&B and made it into something special that guests hunger for and return regularly, becoming part of the extended family.
In reaching back in time through Jack's Wednesday letters, a promise he keeps through thick and thin, the bereft children learn of his parents' trials, faith, humanity and forgiveness.
Matthew, a driven, business-oriented and wearer of big ticket clothing kind of guy, returns to the Virginia hills from New York City, to pay respect to his parents and hold a reunion of sorts with his siblings. His own marriage seems rocky at this point, from the reader's provided perspective, and as the oldest child, he seems to run the show. Seems to. The Wednesday letters bring him less than they do for the younger siblings, but they do more solidly set the ideals with which he grew up and with which he will most likely work harder to uphold in his own life.
Malcolm enters the story from his location in Brazil, his home after frightened flight from Woodstock, VA, years before. He gives the impression of an adventurer, though seemingly misdirected. His desire to write a novel hangs in his mind along with the memories of his relationship with Rain, a perfect woman in every way, who waits in Woodstock in an on-again, off-again engagement with another man who shows her the stability she could not find with Malcolm. Yet, Malcolm arrives in Virginia even though he knows he could find himself in a prison cell from a crime committed years before. The Wednesday letters intrigue him, break him and draw him to a father he believed he could not know, and from whom he held himself at an uncomfortable distance for much of his young life
Samantha, the youngest of the three and the most grown up for all intents and purposes, lives in Woodstock and works as a police office. Sam's dream, acting, has been on hold for more years than she cares to think, but the well-being of her parents and her own daughter take precedence. She appears to have no regrets, yet the rest of the family handles the regrets for her, nurturing her in the Wednesday letters and in the support they offer her as only family can do.
Two Days Worth of Life, Years Worth of Love and Forgiveness
The Wednesday Letters plays out in only 3 days' time, but molds almost 40 years into those days cleverly.
I picked up this book, given as a gift by Husband of Mine for Christmas, as a casual read, thinking I'd read a chapter or two here and there. I read the whole thing in one sitting, with some interruptions by my pesky children. While I don't consider the story riveting, it does have power. I came away wanting my husband to find a sudden desire for written communication, maybe not weekly, but sometimes. I found I have a new appreciation for forgiveness as well as for family dynamics. It's true that we never really know what's going on in a person's head and this story shows it again and again.
The cast of characters, more than the three siblings, offer a wholesome glimpse of life, the way it really could be. There's no preaching, but a duo of preachers appear here and there, and a nod to God and faith comes in just enough to keep them in the story as a base, but not as main plot points.
I suspect some desire of the author to offer some Christian perspective in this story, as the word "redemption" or "redeem" comes into play a few dozen times at regular intervals, but I do think he fails at portraying it as any more than the forgiveness aspect of the Christian faith. I'm sure Mr. Wright did not write this book in order to convert readers to Christianity, but he does pitch the idea of forgiveness and some pretty strong faith without even a hint of a prayer in the entire volume. Church-going characters? No. Anything about Christ and the cross? Nope.
Just forgiveness.
You May Want to Pass This Book Along to a Friend
The aspects of faith and forgiveness in The Wednesday Letters make it a heart-happy piece of reading material. The intertwined lives of the characters, including the ever-faithful and patient Rain, bring out the idea of the need for hanging in there and for getting to the bottom of things for ourselves and for those in our circle of friends and family.
The story, as a whole, is worthy of passing around for these themes alone.
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