Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Safely Home by Randy Alcorn

Yes, this is the headquarters for the Randy Alcorn fan club. Yes, of course I like him because we share the same given name. Yes, there will soon be an end to all the Randy Alcorn adulation. I’m going to try and finish reviewing all of his works in the next couple of weeks. Then it will be on to the Ted Dekker fan club.

This past Saturday my wife and oldest daughter held a baby shower for my younger daughter. Its true Grandchild #3 will be coming along June 20 or so. Azlan will be his name for all of you Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe fans. Anyway, I digress. My wife’s cousin, Michelle, loves to read and sometimes even likes what I like. However, to this date she isn’t quite as enamored with Alcorn as I am. Of course, her given name isn’t Randy.

To the point. She had just completed Safely Home and was so knocked out by it that she was recommending it to all her friends. So for the 3 or 4 of you who haven’t been blessed by his other work, this one is so far different as to make one wonder if it was done by a different author.

The setting is China, today. Two college chums, one an American business tycoon, and the other a Chinese intellectual have occasion to cross paths many years later. The result is high drama, intrigue, and a sword to the heart of any thinking Christian. You come away feeling much like you do after reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs - I’m not really a Christian after all.

The research needed to accurately predict what is happening in the underground church in China must have been staggering. You get the benefit by learning while enjoying a great story. Historical fiction is one of my favorite Genres. Even though set in the present, it has that kind of feel. I’d love to get feedback from others on this book. Safely Home is widely available.

2 comments:

Swan said...

The title is "Safely Home", btw.

I read the book a couple of years ago. I had found it in a thrift store and picked up because the bookflap description was interesting.

Like you, I was fascinated by it. It also let me to be more interested in how Christianity in China is developing.

I can't say that after reading the book I feel like I'm not really a Christian, but I do feel kind of like I'm not very significant yet. But this could mean that God is still preparing me for something.

Randy Kirk said...

Yikes! Thanks for the edit. I had trouble remembering that title since the beginning. It doesn't quite fit the story.