Reviewed
by: BigAl
Genre:
Contemporary Fiction
Approximate
word count: 90-95,000
words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
“Dianne
Kozdrey Bunnell graduated magna cum laud with a BA in English from
Whitworth University in Spokane where she lived with her two
daughters for nearly a decade. She later moved to western Washington
to marry the man of her heart and start a new life with her daughters
and two stepsons. She has lived there for over twenty years.
Her
first job was as a girl Friday for the president of a pants
manufacturing company. Eventually, she provided administrative
support to a U.S. Congressman, a hospital president, and a college
president, as well as her career as a high school English teacher and
author.”
Description:
“Dianne
Kozdrey Bunnell’s fictional memoir is inspired by the real-life
religious hijacking of her two daughters, ages 10 and 12. Janey
Powers has broken away from her small town fundamentalist upbringing
after being seduced by her minister and is building a new life for
herself and her two daughters in Washington. But her freedom has a
price. She is being stalked by her former minister, Reverend Logan
Churlick, mouthpiece of God, who will stop at nothing to possess
Janey's heart and soul and will not hesitate to use her daughters to
win her. After Churlick establishes paternity in court, Janey fights
to protect her children as they become enmeshed in their battle,
innocent victims of a firebombing by the blood of the lamb. Janey
faces the unthinkable as she puts into play a desperate strategy
Churlick could not foresee - but will it save her girls or will she
lose them forever?”
Appraisal:
When I
first looked at the subtitle of this book I said to myself, “Is it
fiction or is it a memoir? It can't be both.” Or can it? I'm
convinced much of The
Protest
is fiction. Not having to stick to the truth makes for a better
story. And this is a good story. Near the end of the book the
protagonist of the novel makes this comment, which I think gets to
the heart of the matter:
Fiction
is usually a mixture of truth as the writer sees it and flaming lies.
Writing is simply another means for truth to escape, besides crawling
out the hole it’s eaten in the author’s belly.
As
I said, this is a good story. The characters fill their roles well.
We follow the protagonist, Janey, over many years, understanding
where she came from, and the how and why of the difficult situation
she finds herself in as an adult. The Reverend Logan Churlick is all
too credible as the charismatic preacher who isn't the man of God
some people think he is. The secondary characters are excellent. I
especially liked Janey's sister and the man Janey eventually settles
down with who both add touches of humor to the story.
My
one complaint is during the middle of the story there were points
where a conflict was building, on the verge of coming to a head, and
the story would skip ahead, with the conflict resolved in the past.
While it is possible that this worked better for the overall story
arc (there are going to be a lot of ups and downs in a story covering
this many years), as a reader I at times felt like I'd had my
emotions built up, only to be left hanging, unable to experience the
resolution. However, this was a relatively minor issue. I'd
definitely still recommend the book, especially to readers interested
in cults and the methods they use in controlling their members.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: **** Four Stars
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