Thursday, April 23, 2009

BoneMan's Daughters

I have just finished the book, BoneMan’s Daughters, by Ted Dekker. And as I sit here thinking about it, I am beginning to cry. The book is about the love between a father and his daughter. And that subject alone is enough to bring me to tears. But let me move away from myself and tell you about this book.

In the post from Feb 23, I told you about Ryan, a military intelligence officer that puts his job above all else, even his family. This man goes through a torturing experience and after fleeing for his life, he decides that he must go home and reconcile with his estranged wife and daughter. His wife, Celine, has fallen into the arms of another man, and his 16 year old daughter, Bethany, has rejected him just as she felt rejected by him. All the while, the man that was convicted for the BoneMan killings is released.

All chaos breaks loose when Bethany is abducted from her bedroom. Ryan gets a call from the BoneMan and goes on a hunt for him, playing BoneMan’s game in hopes of saving his daughter and finally becoming the father he should have been. And Bethany tries to keep her life by being the perfect daughter BoneMan has been searching for.

This book brought many different emotional reactions from me. I was told beforehand that I would probably cry, and after reading the blog about why Mr. Dekker wrote this book, I expected such. I didn’t expect to feel his despair, the anger, the grief, the horror I felt as I read. Just let me explain. It made me scream, made me cry, made me cringe, and made me smile.

This book isn’t graphic in a blood and guts manner, but it did disturb me more than any book I have read. Maybe it’s because the topic of this book makes it more personal for me. Maybe it’s because I have never known someone to possess such a love as to go to those lengths to save the one he holds dear. Or if I have known such love, they haven’t had to show it in such an extreme sense. Maybe it’s because this book opens my eyes to evil that most Americans shelter themselves from. OR maybe it’s a mix of it all.

This book brought more raw emotions from me than any other book of fiction I have read. As I said, the father/daughter relationship is something that, depending on the circumstances/conversation around it, can easily draw out an emotional response in me. This book did just that.

And it has become one of my personal favorites from Mr. Dekker.

And if you read this:
Ted Dekker, you’ve moved me, touched my heart, and just through this story, you have shown me the deep love of a father that I have never personally known. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

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