6-Week Round-up: In Which I Recommend These Nameless Things and 2 Blog Posts

This month, my travel buddy, Charlie, stayed stuffed in the car while Ivan and I wandered past a lighthouse on Lake Erie.

Apparently, I’ve outgrown him–so this round of recommendations is from me, sans Charlie. Much as I like his adorable face, he no longer influences my life. This month, I recommend:

These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker. I’ve wanted to read one of Shawn Smucker’s novels for a while now, so a month or so ago, when he posted on social media that he had a few advanced reader copies available for reviewers, I messaged and asked him for one. He’s a good writer–I was immediately drawn into this eerie, unearthly story. And I mean that literally. The setting is the afterlife, the symbolism straight out of Dante’s Inferno. Since I read of Dante’s journey through the ice-cold depths of hell only recently, the allusions to that book intrigued me.

I did not think it necessary for one character to explain to the other, sometime near the end of the story, that this was, indeed, the afterlife. I’d rather have let the reader figure it out for himself. And there, now I’ve ruined your chances to figure it out by explaining it to you. Other than that, no complaints. As a Goodreads review said, “This is the most unique and unusual book that I have read in 2020, and perhaps in the last several years.”

True that. Now I want to read one of his others, to see how it compares.

9 Things Survivors of Abuse Wish You Knew. A blog post by Ann Peachey Detweiler, from her blog Abundant Redemption. An old lady whom I loved told me once that her brother ruined her life. “That’s why I got so mean,” she said. I didn’t understand what she meant until after she died and I found out he had sexually molested her as a young girl. Ever since then, I’ve been passionate about giving sexual abuse survivors a platform to tell their stories. Hidden things are hurtful things. Only when they come out in the open can they be healed.

So what do survivors of abuse want you to know? Read this thoughtful list, compiled by Ann after a discussion with other abuse survivors. If you’ve experienced abuse, you may find validation for some things you’ve been thinking and didn’t know how to put in words. If you are a friend to the abused, you will understand in a deeper way how you can help.

When He’s Wrong. A blog post by Shari Zook of Confessions. If you are a Christian wife who wants to allow your husband to lead in your home, what do you do when he’s wrong? This post by Shari is deeply thought provoking, written from the heart of human experience. To give her thought process context, she writes this: “My husband was removed from church leadership in June following his voluntary confession of hidden pornography. I am blessed to belong to a man who is actively seeking both his own healing and mine – the beliefs I just presented are beliefs we share. We are rebuilding trust and growing in grace, and we still have a lot to learn.” If you are a wife, if you are a husband, this discussion may help you sort through issues in your own marriage.

Goodbye from Charlie! You might not see him again.