This was an intersting story of a sect/cult religion the punishments were awful for their "sins' ie. drinking you spent the night in a grave, if you lie your bed was filled with nettles for you to sleep on so you feel Jesus' pain.Those parts were hard to read but it was a well written story that I couldn't put down.
The reason for only 3 stars is the ending it was very unsatifying and left you wanting the rest of the story.However this is a book I would recommend. ( )

I read this book on the recommendation of a fellow LTer and we had a challenge – I’d read this if he’d read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It’s been a great challenge and I’m glad I read the book.

The Rapture of Canaan flowed like honey. It’s one of the quickest reads for me this year, yet is a very powerful story. It tells the tale of Ninah, a teenage girl who lives in a separatist Pentacostal Christian community in the South, a member of The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind. The church and the individual lives of the members are rigidly controlled by her grandfather, Grandpa Herman, the founder of the church. Ninah is particularly close to her grandmother Nanna. She becomes close to her prayer partner James.

I almost got sick reading the punishments and religious twaddle espoused by Grandpa Herman. People kept in cellars for 40 days for drinking, made to lie overnight in graves, dunked in cages in rivers, strapped, beaten, shunned. Mortification of the flesh with barbed wire, nettles, pecan shells. All were done to purge the sinner of sin and lead them to the loving arms of Jesus. Except that Grandpa Herman believes more in the God of the Old Testament, less in the loving Son of the New. Fear of damnation, threats of eternal hellfire and being left behind when The Rapture comes all keep the congregants in line and fearful, cowed and submissive.

I hate hearing about this kind of lifestyle. This is the reason I didn’t want to read the book initially. This kind of religious belief system strikes at the core of everything I hate about organized religion.

Yet, once started, I found myself compelled to read it quickly, to learn what happens to Ninah and James, Caanan and Nanna.

The writing was beautiful, simple and powerful. I found Ninah immediately likeable for her honest and heartbreaking “voice” – her questioning of things yet firm belief that these questions would earn her a place in hell, a place left behind after everybody else was taken in The Rapture. She’s willing to take her punishments although she starts to wonder why. The writing was also vivid and evocative of a time and place not so unfamiliar to someone who lives in the South. The rhythms of nature drive the lifestyle of these people and are accurately captured in the narrative and emphasize the rigid roles of men and women, boys and girls.

It is one of the more memorable reads of 2009 for me. I would never have predicted that I would like it so much. ( )

This is a very thoughtful, compelling novel. It doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves. I believe that in time it will come to be considered a classic. ( )

A wonderfully written novel birthed from emotion. As wonderful as Rapture of Canaan is written, I can not imagine how much better it could have been had Ms. Reynolds planned this novel as her other great works. Masterful! ( )

Excellent ( )