The Weeping Chamber

Ever since a devastating tragedy, Simeon has been weighed down under heavy guilt for the deep pain and grief he's caused his wife and young daughter. He's seeking a miracle when he arrives in Jerusalem for Passover, but it seems the teacher from Nazareth that Simeon dares to seek is headed for grave trouble of His own in The Weeping Chamber by author Sigmund Brouwer.

Given the approach of Resurrection Sunday, I was compelled to try this ChristFic work from the 1990s, written by an author who amazed me in the past with an excellent World War II novel.

I sometimes struggled with the style of this older novel, though. Instead of more "showing," it has a lot of "telling." That includes a good deal of commentary from Simeon, the narrator, as show more he sometimes pauses from storytelling to give lines or paragraphs of spiritual explanations/lessons.

More than that, although Simeon's recounting about his own life is well done, I couldn't fully buy into his elaborate narration about other people's experiences. As he tells the reader about past events where he wasn't present, involving people he doesn't know, how does Simeon manage to be in several different characters' heads, including Yeshua's, having exact descriptions of their personal perspectives? Even if Simeon eventually heard gossip and reports about the people's words and actions during those events, he couldn't know everyone's thoughts and their unspoken feelings, both emotional and physical.

In some chapters, Simeon prefaces his narration of past events by saying he heard from someone who was there. But before Simeon shares some scenes, he says he's only speculating about what happened. To me, his occasional mentions of his speculation only emphasize how it doesn't make complete sense that he can be so specific in his telling of the whole story. I think the novel could have worked better with two narrators, as certain other novels have, rather than Simeon serving as a first-person narrator and also an implausibly omniscient narrator in the same book.

Yet, if you can get past the novel's slow start and practical issues with the narration, it's an engaging story.

Granted, some of the telling is overdone, such as the repetitive mentions of rage and hatred from a caricatural Caiaphas, contrasting repetitive mentions of Yeshua's calm and dignity.

Even so, the author's skill at weaving a poignant tale ultimately comes through in this novel, especially concerning Simeon's life. show less

The first book that I read by Sigmund Brouwer was "Broken Angel". While I didn't care for the story, I really wanted to give Brouwer another chance so I picked up "The Weeping Chamber" and I highly recommend it. It is an awesome story of the Passion Week and really brings home the unconditional love that God has for us and that He knows us intimately and accepts us 100%. I will definitely share this book with friends and family.