I love to read. But I will be the first to admit I’m picky when it comes to fiction. It’s hard for me to pick up a book and get lost in its pages. Occasionally, it happens. I start reading a book and the story sweeps me away, transports me to a different time and place. Even less occasionally, quite rarely in fact, a book comes along that doesn’t just sweep me away, but leaves a fingerprint on my soul, leaves me different from when I first started reading. It changes something inside me. Gets me to look at the world and my faith differently, alters my lenses.
The books I consider life-changing, for me, are few and far between – easily counted on the fingers of my left hand. Recently, I’ve added one more to the ranks. Havah: The Story of Eve, by Tosca Lee. A month after finishing, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. About Eve. About how real she became between the covers of that book. About the pain and hardship she had to endure. Talk about taking the story of creation and breathing life into it.
Contrary to what you might be thinking, I didn’t write this post to give a glowing review of Havah, no matter how deserving. I actually wrote it to reflect on life-changing fiction in general. What makes it life-changing? Is it the prose? The story? The theme? The characters? A mysterious combination of all four, plus the Holy Spirit moving in the reader? And can I write life-changing fiction?
I think I can write engaging fiction. I think God has given me the ability to tell a good story. But life-changing? Not sure if I’ve reached that place yet. Not sure if I will. Not sure if every author who pens a story is meant to. Or needs to. But wow, when it happens, there’s something very magical about it. Something very profound. Something very….well, life-changing.
Questions to Ponder: Do you want to change lives with your writing? Have you ever read a life-changing fictional book? If so, please share!