The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright
The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright
copyright 2007 by Jason F. Wright, published by Shadow Mountain
ISBN 978-1-59038-812-9, available from Amazon.com from $14.96 new
Unlike many books, The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright, opens with a tragic, tear-jerker of a scene. I have to admit it honestly brought tears to my eyes. It was great writing and a terribly sad way to start the book. Nearly the entirety of the remainder of the book follows three siblings through the next four days of their lives. Along the way the siblings: Matthew; Malcolm and Samantha will discover hidden depths in their relationships with one another, and dark secrets from their parents past.
Jack and Laurel, the parents of the three siblings seemed to everyone to be the perfect couple. They lived their dream life, owning a Bed & Breakfast in the Shenandoah River Valley, nestled between the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains. They had the perfect family and the perfect marriage, but underneath things were far from perfect. In fact there was a disease that ran through all their lives, threatening to destroy it.
When Jack and Laurel first pass away the children, now mature adults, are thrilled to find the “Wednesday” letters. The Wednesday letters are letters written by Jack to Laurel every Wednesday throughout the nearly forty years of their marriage. The letters recount events like the erroneous announcement that Dewey beat Truman in the 1948 elections, to Jack meeting William Shatner, to both Jack and Laurel meeting Elvis and Priscilla Presley at Graceland. Most of the letters are accounts of the moments of joy in the couple’s, soon to be the young family’s, life.
But as the siblings read further into the pile of Wednesday letters they discover a secret that has the ability to destroy their relationship with each other and with their parents. What the secret is and whether it is eventually resolved is something you’ll have to find out by reading the book.
What follows is an excerpt from the book:
“So tell me, Laurel Cooper, how and when did you become so convincing an actress? You had the King eating right out of your hand! Who could have guessed it would go so well? Better than we planned?
I’ll admit I’m still a little sore we didn’t get a photo, but I understand their reasons. Can you imagine what would happen if we broke our promise and began telling people we got in to Graceland? That we met Elvis and Priscilla Presley? You were amazing. And, by the way, Elvis Presley made a pinkie promise with us. I bet that doesn’t happen everyday.
It started at the security gate. You were divine. If I hadn’t known you were fibbing, I would have broken into tears myself! You looked at that guard with such conviction and said you were thirty-six hours from certain death. “From what?” he laughed.
How did you keep a straight face when you told him you suffered from Asian Stone Lung Disorder? And your cough – your cough was brilliant! It sounded like you had marbles in your chest. I don’t want to know when you found time to perfect that.”
The story line is good, but not without its flaws. While it manages to pretty much hide it until near the end, Christian fiction is the category it probably best falls into. Don’t get me wrong, Christian fiction isn’t a bad thing in and of itself IF I know that’s what I’ve chosen to read. I finding it disturbing when I think I’m reading straight-up fiction only to have it suddenly start preaching about redemption and forgiveness, which is what happened in this book. It wasn’t a situation I cared for. Also, the author loves to overuse exclamation points, a highly annoying habit and generally a sign of poor writing which most editors will have the author remove during different parts of the revision or editing processes.
The first half of this book was great, the end became predictable, and the book was thinly veiled Christian literature. Normally I would say it was sitting on the nest, just dangling its backside toward droppings, but, because I’m so upset at its not disclosing itself as a work of Christian fiction, I put it firmly in the Pigeon droppings for lying about its origins and purpose.
Patty,
It’s nice to know you enjoyed the review. I was really disappointed myself when I discovered it was Christian fiction. The talk of “redemption” and “forgiveness” totally turned me off of what was a halfway decent book otherwise.
I’m glad I read this review before buying the book. I would have been furious to discover near the end of a book that I spent money and time on a book that turned out to be Christian Fiction. Thank You