All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner
Revell/Baker Publishing June 2019
450 pages Christian Fiction
review copy via publisher, thank you
Best of 2019
When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know.
In Mike's absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike's safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. In the tumult of this time, Annie and her family grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Author Susie Finkbeiner invites you into the Jacobson family's home and hearts during a time in which the chaos of the outside world touched their small community in ways they never imagined.
I absolutely loved this book and it is not an easy book to describe other than it being a powerful story that is both easy and hard to read at the same time. I found the setting especially intriguing, about a family who is forced to say goodbye to Mike Jacobson as he heads off to enlist in the Vietnam War. I almost said 'sent' to the war, but he volunteered; it's important to note the sacrifice he knew he was making as his own dad had come home broken from the Korean War years earlier. Mike was the rock of the family - being the oldest son after his dad moved out when the three siblings were young. This is a novel told in first person by Annie, who is the sister out of school and just working at the local diner as she holds the family together once Mike enlists. At eighteen she could just be thinking about boys and her life's goals but once Mike is gone the current events of 1967 take on a whole new perspective.
"It's just making our hard job that much more difficult. You know how hard it is to be fighting for a bunch of people who are against you?"
I, for one, am very grateful for that perspective. The novel realistically shows racism, family divides, sorrow and hope. And my heart was ripped out a few times through this voice of Annie's and my emotions got the better of me where I said I have to write this review but of course I cannot fathom the words to specifically say how much this book touched my soul. It is a journey from beginning to end and I am so blessed to have read this tender message of the Lord's mercy. Even with the ugly cry. Thankful no one was in the room through the ugly cry part two.
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