Helpful Score: 2
"The Land of Decoration" I read in one day about a week or so ago. I've been wondering ever since I read it, what I should say in my review in regards to it. The story has really stuck with me. This is the longest review I've ever wrote.
This book starts out with the 10 year old protagonist Judith McPhersen. Judith lives with her father in only what could be called a very lonely and dysfunctional house (to put it mildly) in what is described as a very poor & seedy part of town. Judith's father is part of a very fundamentalist religion which they call "Christian". I would have to say a better description of what Judith and her father belonged to would be a fundamentalist cult which focuses solely on religious legalism not, on the saving, freeing grace through a relationship with Jesus Christ as most people that call themselves Christian. Judith's small religious cult is waiting for Armageddon and that is solely what they focus on. They really don't go by any New Testament teachings of Jesus. Their small group of followers are taught that they cannot socialize with anyone who is not part of their group. In turn, Judith is in a sort of self-imposed isolation, with no friends her own age and really no one at all, to share anything with besides herself. Because of this, Judith really has no social skills with children her own age. She's the target of a horrible bully and his gang of followers at her school. The bully, Neil Lewis, is a horrid boy which decides to make Judith the brunt of all his meanness and he initially threatens her life. Judith cannot talk to her distant and seemingly cold father, so she wonders what exactly to do about the bully's threat. She is in essence powerless.
Judith has an imaginative world in her room, that she makes out of disregarded items that she finds in various places. She names it The Land of Decoration (named after the Promised Land described in Ezekiel 20:5-6). One night after Neil Lewis threatens Judith she has a very vivid dream where she is given the choice of 2 mysterious items and the power that each one has to offer. She picks one and the next day she hears a voice telling her that she has the power to work miracles with her Land of Decoration. After several of the things she put into her imaginative town have come to pass she believes anything that she creates in The Land of Decoration will come true in her world.
Are these really miracles that Judith herself creates? That's one of the questions that the book asks. Is the voice in Judith's head Satan, or just Judith trying to rationalize her own actions by playing her own God? Is Judith just mentally ill? Judith herself believes she is directly speaking with God and the author portrays the voice as God. Though, the things that "God" is saying are at times very ungodly. At times I found this disturbing, reading the book as a Christian. Given the fact that Judith and her father are members of a seemingly loveless, legalist cult which distorted the Bible for their own ends and preached false doctrine, I just couldn't believe that it was God that Judith was speaking to.
Speaking as a Christian, what I would want other Christians to know about this story is that Judith and her father are horribly deluded spiritually. Their legalistic cult separates them from all people. They hurt from the lack of a true Christian fellowship and from knowing about the love of Jesus. Judith attaches herself to things and not people emotionally. She and her father seem cold to others as they focus on legalist views of the world and their religion. Judith keeps to herself as she has been separated from the outside world and anyone who is not in their "group". I found this very sad. Though, the story deals with spiritual things to a considerable extent, it didn't effect me negatively as I was reading. I'm kind of at a loss of how to judge it all. At the end of the story the author basically lets us know that the voice is not God, and that Judith is listening to the voice in her own head. I think what Grace McCleen is offering here is a study of what can happen when people make God in their own image - rather than truly seeking God.
Of the things I didn't like in this story, there is also quite a bit of foul language, though it's mostly in the second half of the book and used when the characters are full of very strong emotion. Also, Judith is ten years old and is portrayed as sheltered and naïve about many things; some of her other classmates seem very much older in the way they sometimes speak. One instance in the book, do 10 year old girls really describe 10 year old boys as "sex on a stick"?
Usually, if there's much foul language in a book, I won't even finish reading it. Though, I have to say by the time the language came into play I was already riveted. I have to say McCleen's writing was fantastic. It really captivated me and I finished this book in less than a day- I left all my housework and just read...yes, it was that captivating! There's so much to think about in this book. This book sure isn't a fluffy read. This is toted as a "novel" which would make one think it's a story you could look to for exhilaration and contentment which isn`t the way I felt after reading it. The ending was bittersweet to a point. There were also some times where I wondered exactly what the author was trying to convey. There's so much to discuss in this book.
Grace McCleen is a wonderful story teller and she will enthrall you until the very last page. I'd love to read another story from her without the religious undertones. The author herself was also a part of a family who was in the same type of fundamentalist religion when she was growing up. I would gamble that Judith is largely a part of herself at 10 years old. This is a very fascinating and contemplative story, which even if you don`t enjoy it, will at least get you thinking. I'd rate this book a 4.5 star read as it's not often that a book stays with you.
This book starts out with the 10 year old protagonist Judith McPhersen. Judith lives with her father in only what could be called a very lonely and dysfunctional house (to put it mildly) in what is described as a very poor & seedy part of town. Judith's father is part of a very fundamentalist religion which they call "Christian". I would have to say a better description of what Judith and her father belonged to would be a fundamentalist cult which focuses solely on religious legalism not, on the saving, freeing grace through a relationship with Jesus Christ as most people that call themselves Christian. Judith's small religious cult is waiting for Armageddon and that is solely what they focus on. They really don't go by any New Testament teachings of Jesus. Their small group of followers are taught that they cannot socialize with anyone who is not part of their group. In turn, Judith is in a sort of self-imposed isolation, with no friends her own age and really no one at all, to share anything with besides herself. Because of this, Judith really has no social skills with children her own age. She's the target of a horrible bully and his gang of followers at her school. The bully, Neil Lewis, is a horrid boy which decides to make Judith the brunt of all his meanness and he initially threatens her life. Judith cannot talk to her distant and seemingly cold father, so she wonders what exactly to do about the bully's threat. She is in essence powerless.
Judith has an imaginative world in her room, that she makes out of disregarded items that she finds in various places. She names it The Land of Decoration (named after the Promised Land described in Ezekiel 20:5-6). One night after Neil Lewis threatens Judith she has a very vivid dream where she is given the choice of 2 mysterious items and the power that each one has to offer. She picks one and the next day she hears a voice telling her that she has the power to work miracles with her Land of Decoration. After several of the things she put into her imaginative town have come to pass she believes anything that she creates in The Land of Decoration will come true in her world.
Are these really miracles that Judith herself creates? That's one of the questions that the book asks. Is the voice in Judith's head Satan, or just Judith trying to rationalize her own actions by playing her own God? Is Judith just mentally ill? Judith herself believes she is directly speaking with God and the author portrays the voice as God. Though, the things that "God" is saying are at times very ungodly. At times I found this disturbing, reading the book as a Christian. Given the fact that Judith and her father are members of a seemingly loveless, legalist cult which distorted the Bible for their own ends and preached false doctrine, I just couldn't believe that it was God that Judith was speaking to.
Speaking as a Christian, what I would want other Christians to know about this story is that Judith and her father are horribly deluded spiritually. Their legalistic cult separates them from all people. They hurt from the lack of a true Christian fellowship and from knowing about the love of Jesus. Judith attaches herself to things and not people emotionally. She and her father seem cold to others as they focus on legalist views of the world and their religion. Judith keeps to herself as she has been separated from the outside world and anyone who is not in their "group". I found this very sad. Though, the story deals with spiritual things to a considerable extent, it didn't effect me negatively as I was reading. I'm kind of at a loss of how to judge it all. At the end of the story the author basically lets us know that the voice is not God, and that Judith is listening to the voice in her own head. I think what Grace McCleen is offering here is a study of what can happen when people make God in their own image - rather than truly seeking God.
Of the things I didn't like in this story, there is also quite a bit of foul language, though it's mostly in the second half of the book and used when the characters are full of very strong emotion. Also, Judith is ten years old and is portrayed as sheltered and naïve about many things; some of her other classmates seem very much older in the way they sometimes speak. One instance in the book, do 10 year old girls really describe 10 year old boys as "sex on a stick"?
Usually, if there's much foul language in a book, I won't even finish reading it. Though, I have to say by the time the language came into play I was already riveted. I have to say McCleen's writing was fantastic. It really captivated me and I finished this book in less than a day- I left all my housework and just read...yes, it was that captivating! There's so much to think about in this book. This book sure isn't a fluffy read. This is toted as a "novel" which would make one think it's a story you could look to for exhilaration and contentment which isn`t the way I felt after reading it. The ending was bittersweet to a point. There were also some times where I wondered exactly what the author was trying to convey. There's so much to discuss in this book.
Grace McCleen is a wonderful story teller and she will enthrall you until the very last page. I'd love to read another story from her without the religious undertones. The author herself was also a part of a family who was in the same type of fundamentalist religion when she was growing up. I would gamble that Judith is largely a part of herself at 10 years old. This is a very fascinating and contemplative story, which even if you don`t enjoy it, will at least get you thinking. I'd rate this book a 4.5 star read as it's not often that a book stays with you.
