Thom Lemmons

This isn’t a new book–it was given to me by a friend–but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It’s historical fiction, based on the prophet Jeremiah.

The loneliness of the life of God’s prophets rings loud and clear. Seldom were they popular in their own time; certainly Jeremiah wasn’t. These are the men who spoke fearlessly in the name of God, often against kings and crowds.

He Who Wept accurately captures the politics of the day, centering on the little kingdom of Judah, precariously show more sandwiched between the dynasties of Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. They were a people trying hard to trust in their God … all the while Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet,” was proclaiming doom, that God was going to let Jerusalem be destroyed.

Jeremiah was right, though he often wished he wasn’t. Don’t expect this to be an uplifting story! If you know your Bible, you know that much of it was written in exile after Jerusalem was sacked. That means the flavor of our Bible largely derives from the horrible events predicted by Jeremiah. I very much recommend this book, not only for the entertainment of a good novel but as a reminder of the atmosphere in which Judaism spawned.

Questar Publishers Inc, © 1990, 318 pages

ISBN: 0-945564-33-3 show less

Plot Summary: What happens, When & Where, Central Characters, Major Conflicts
Lemmons' Sunday Clothes is set at the turn of the twentieth century in eastern Tennessee. Young Addie Caswell is in love with a smooth-talking insurance salesman, Zeb, but she cannot gain Jacob's--her widower father's--approval to marry him. Zeb's a Campbellite, or member of the Church of Christ, and Jacob is a Methodist. Jacob claims that Campbellites are too literal-minded even to talk to, though of course he's show more equally muleheaded. In despair, Addie defies her father and marries Zeb, but then Zeb turns out to have an appetite for other women. Maybe that shy young Methodist that Jacob was trying to marry her to wasn't such a bad choice after all, but in any case Lemmons does a fine job bringing to life denominational wars. In the bargain, he tells the story of Chattanooga, where Cherokee and Coca-Cola lores blend colorfully.






Style Characterisics: Pacing, clarity, structure, narrative devices, etc.
This story is rich with historical detail, and the portorayal of the early days of the Church of Christ movement was interesting, if not very flattering to people of that denomination (though Addie's Methodist father is pretty pig-headed too). But the plot doesn't seem to go anywhere beyond Addie's early struggles to win Zeb and then survive after he leaves her for another women. She doesn't hook up with anyone else, and while we learn about how childhood friend ministers to young people at the YMCA and sends a young man to art school that's as far as it goes.






How Good is it?
Kind of bland, interesting characters but an unsatisfying end. show less

Slow start but was very exciting and real. I had the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic.

In Jabez, Thom Lemmons lifts the veil of silence surrounding the life of this prayer warrior to tell a story of struggle and pain.....of courage and honor......of hard-ship an brokenness...of faith and blessing.