2013 Book Review #36: The Silent Gift

I'm on my first day of Christmas vacation and finished this book during breakfast this morning.

The ending made me cry.  I had tears rolling down my face.

It is a very endearing story.

STORY SUMMARY

It is the 1930s in a little town in Minnesota. America and most of the world are in very uncertain times.  The Great Depression has begun in the United States.

A young mother and her disabled little boy are struggling.  Her name is Mary and her son's name is Jack.  He is 8 years old and is deaf.  He doesn't know sign language and doesn't read lips.  The father, Jerry, is a mean-spirited, bordering-on-abusive husband and father.  One day, Mary decides she has had enough and takes the packet of money she finds in Jerry's possessions, and leaves home with Jack.  They end up in Chicago where a kind woman hires her as a maid and allows her to keep Jack with her in the house.  In fact, Mary and Jack are now considered part of the family.

One day, Mary discovers the Gift.  Jack has a spiritual gift that enables him to give comfort and direction to people who seek him out.  Where did this gift of prophecy come from and how does a deaf and mute child predict what will happen?

After a series of events, Jack and Mary become separated and Mary ends up in jail.  Jack ends up in a "poorhouse" for mentally ill and/or physically disabled children.  It is not a good place and the staff are not nurturing caretakers.

One of the janitors discovers that the doctors on staff are starting to abuse Jack and gets him away from the poorhouse.  They join a circus where they are well cared for and can earn their keep.  Meanwhile, Mary believes, based on some lies, that Jack is dead.  She gets out of jail after serving 18 months and begins to look for her son.

Does she find him?  What happens with her husband Jerry?  Why did she have to go to jail? If she finds Jack, will he forgive her for abandoning him?  Will he even know her??

MY THOUGHTS

I don't want to reveal too much of the story's plot line as I don't want to ruin it for you if you decide to read this book.

I was drawn to this book when I spied it on my dad's bookcase last summer.  He said it was excellent.  I had recognized the author's name (Michael Landon, Jr, son of the famous actor) and didn't know he was an author!  I thought he only made Hollywood movies.

I was hooked right away by this story.

I thought it was a little odd that the exciting first chapter was never explained further in the story......but once I got past that, I loved every part of this story.

The characters are so real and by the ending, which was brilliantly executed, I was starting to believe that they WERE real people who had really lived through this nightmare.

The mother is someone who is brave yet full of fear.  It's hard to explain...she has been making herself feel guilty for years about choices she made as a young girl, yet those choices were precipitated by neglectful and emotionally abusive parents.  You just love her and her son and you want her to succeed in finding him.

The book teaches us about how one small incident can have repercussions for the rest of our lives.  It's a very heartwarming story about love and sacrifice.

Some of the descriptions about Jack, though, remind me of autism rather than than the hearing/speaking impaired.  But the author does get the point across about the little boy being unable to verbally communicate.  He communicates with his eyes which are really the windows to our souls.  I thought the author might expand on that, but he didn't. 

The book also shows us that we can be emotionally and spiritually broken until we come to God....I was so glad that Mary and Charles came to God by the end of the book.

The ending: it is brilliant. I love the way the authors decided to end the book with Jack's thoughts.  His life is summarized and it is just beautifully written.  It did make me cry.

Not many books make me cry.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 12 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.