A Review: Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker
Genre: Psychological Thriller

"Who am I?
My name is Christy Snow.
I'm seventeen and I'm about to die.

"I'm buried in a coffin under tons of concrete. No one knows where I am. My heart sounds like a monster with clobber feet, running straight toward me. I'm lying on my back, soaked with sweat from the hair on my head to the soles of my feet. My hands and feet won't stop shaking. Some will say that I'm not really here. Some will say I'm delusional. Some will say that I don't even exist. But who are they? I'm the one buried in a grave.

"My name is Christy Snow. I'm seventeen. I'm about to die."

Ted Dekker does at least one thing well: capturing his reader's attention. Just by the short synopsis on the back of the novel, I wanted to dive into this mystery and get to know Christy better. Throughout the book, I was often as confused by the twists in the novel and the idea of reality as the characters. But since I have read many Dekker books, I was somewhat able to figure out what would happen to the characters. I often felt sympathy and pity for the two lost people in this book, and saw myself in Christy, which made the words that much more real.

Dekker explored some excellent themes in this novel: beauty, identity, and reality. He does a good job of putting reader on her head by forcing her to question her views of reality, truth, and the like. He did get a little preachy at the end, and I'm not sure everything Dekker said through one of his characters was true, so be careful when you read it. Even if you know an author is a follower of Christ, you still have to measure everything they say against Scripture.

I also didn't feel satisfied with the ending. Certain things didn't seem to be cleared up well or at all, and that always bothers me. I love how Dekker connects his books to his others, which seem unrelated at the first reading, but the way he did it in this novel at the end seems like a too-easy solution and somewhat superficial.

Dekker always plays with the line between the material reality around us and the supernatural, which is great, since that's such an important facet of the believer's life, and is one reason why I like his writing so much, but it can be confusing for the reader at times. In Eyes Wide Open I had a hard time deciphering why/how things happened and what made them happen. But perhaps Dekker wants to leave us wondering.

I give this novel a 3 out of 5 and recommend it for 16 year olds and up.

What I learned: I am perfect in Christ. The most important reality is in that which we can't see with our physical eyes.

For more information on Dekker and to peek at his other books, visit his website here. He's also pretty active on facebook.

A Review: The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary by Ted Dekker
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Christian

Incerpt from the inside cover: "The Sanctuary is the gripping story of vigilante priest Danny Hansen, who is now serving a fifty-year prison term in California for the murder of two abusive men. Filled with remorse, Danny is determined to live out his days by a code of nonviolence and maneuvers deftly within a deadly prison system.

But when Renee Gilmore, the woman he loves, recieves a box containing a bloody finger and draconian demands from a mysterious enemy on the outside, Danny must find a way to protect Renee while at the same time Renee enacts a plan to free Danny from incarceration.

They are both drawn into a terrifying game of life and death. If Renee fails, the priest will die; if Danny fails, Renee will die. And the body count will not stop at two."

So, sometimes I think I'm crazy and morbid for reading Dekker's thrillers books since they are about someone wanting to kill someone else, and there is always some kind of violence or torture involved that I don't enjoy reading about. But I think the reason I like them is that Dekker uses killers and their prey to explore the deep recesses of the mind and the beliefs that people hold to motivate them to act the way they do.

The Sanctuary was a very intense ride and difficult at times to read because of the things that happen in the prison known as the sanctuary and what the characters are forced through. But I love the themes that Dekker explores in this novel: violence/non violence and justice/injustice and, in all of his novels, love. I also like how he points to God without saying it very explicitly. All of his novels also end happily/hopefully, which is awesome after all they have gone through!

I believe The Sanctuary is the sequel to The Priest's Graveyard, which I didn't read before I read this novel. I could still understand what was going on and had a clear image of the characters, even though I read this one second.

Overall, I give this novel a 3.75 out of 5 (and yes, decimals are allowed!) because it wasn't as good as some of his other thrillers, like Boneman's Daughers or Three, and because it tended to be didactic in places. Be warned, there is some torture and killing, and rape is hinted at. I recommend it to 18 yr olds and older.

What I learned: Love/mercy triumphs and is more powerful than punishment. And prisoners often come out of prisons more tough and dangerous than they entered because they had to toughen up in order to survive prison.

P.S. If you didn't notice, I like to review all different kinds of novels. So if you don't like a specific genre I've reviewed, stick around and it'll likely switch soon. Also, I'm going to try to write more about writing fiction itself, but it'll probably be random ramblings since I'm learning more about that all the time. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you have a lovely day!