It Could Happen Here is a fiction book I'd best describe as loosely falling into the dystopian genre, except that in many ways it's bordering between fiction and reality. Being agnostic myself (my beliefs are not quite atheistic and not quite religious) I don't often read faith-based books, but I really enjoyed this one. Just as the plot describes, the story is "unabashedly preachy" - in a good way. It's inspiring and interesting and a really passionate story that I could still see as having an appeal to readers whether they're Christian or not, even if they don't necessarily agree with every statement made in it.
I immediately liked Alex; he's a lovable character with his variety of hobbies and his brave companion dog. The book begins with quite a harrowing scene - Alex is out with Rex on an overnight camping trip when he walks into a horrific scene of his own high school classmates attacking a girl. Worse still, they're filming it - luckily one of these boys leaves his phone behind which has recorded the evidence. Still, it makes Alex both disturbed and curious. Why would they want to do a thing like this, especially if they're members of the school's anti-bullying program?
The book makes many good points about religious and secular values, propaganda and our increasingly digital world. I really liked the suspense element - it was a surprising story and you never know what's going to happen next in it. Having read a lot of books which portray religion in a negative light show more and highlight corruption and hatred, it was a welcome change of pace to read a book which goes down a different route. Exploring heavy themes such as violence, It Could Happen Here keeps a good balance between more serious topics and lighter moments of love and respect. I also definitely identified with some of the book's quotes, especially "for me, really, the key was 9/11. It was on that day sitting at a lunch counter watching the video of that terrible attack with other patrons that I reached a turning point." I think many people can relate to wanting to bring good into the world in the wake of tragedy, be it through faith, creativity or simple acts of kindness. Many of the characters are like this - very good-hearted people who want to help others.
I especially loved the ending. I'm glad that for Alex, Becky, Brother Davis, Eian and many of the other characters found a sense of peace in their lives, and that Brother Davis's ministry was bringing people closer together. I'll definitely be reading the mentioned follow-up novel, Proteus, when it's released. show less
I immediately liked Alex; he's a lovable character with his variety of hobbies and his brave companion dog. The book begins with quite a harrowing scene - Alex is out with Rex on an overnight camping trip when he walks into a horrific scene of his own high school classmates attacking a girl. Worse still, they're filming it - luckily one of these boys leaves his phone behind which has recorded the evidence. Still, it makes Alex both disturbed and curious. Why would they want to do a thing like this, especially if they're members of the school's anti-bullying program?
The book makes many good points about religious and secular values, propaganda and our increasingly digital world. I really liked the suspense element - it was a surprising story and you never know what's going to happen next in it. Having read a lot of books which portray religion in a negative light show more and highlight corruption and hatred, it was a welcome change of pace to read a book which goes down a different route. Exploring heavy themes such as violence, It Could Happen Here keeps a good balance between more serious topics and lighter moments of love and respect. I also definitely identified with some of the book's quotes, especially "for me, really, the key was 9/11. It was on that day sitting at a lunch counter watching the video of that terrible attack with other patrons that I reached a turning point." I think many people can relate to wanting to bring good into the world in the wake of tragedy, be it through faith, creativity or simple acts of kindness. Many of the characters are like this - very good-hearted people who want to help others.
I especially loved the ending. I'm glad that for Alex, Becky, Brother Davis, Eian and many of the other characters found a sense of peace in their lives, and that Brother Davis's ministry was bringing people closer together. I'll definitely be reading the mentioned follow-up novel, Proteus, when it's released. show less