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The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers
 | The Atonement Child Francine Rivers 13.99 — Book Rating: B- |
The Atonement Child is a book that focuses on the issue of abortion through the storyline of a young woman who has to deal with a pregnancy that is the result of rape. Dynah Carey has lived a very sheltered life, focused on God and church since childhood. She is engaged to a dynamic young man, Ethan, who plans to enter the ministry. Both of them attend a Christian school, New Life College, and their lives are golden, until one horrible evening when Dynah is attacked on her way home from work and everything starts to unravel...
How could God allow such a horrible thing to happen to one who has followed him so faithfully and loved him so much?
The first thing that must be stated about The Atonement Child is that this is a book about abortion, not a book with a single, central storyline. The plot, such as it is, centers around Dynah, but her experience with an unwanted pregnancy is only one of many in this book. Almost everyone around her - her mom, her grandmother, her would-be boyfriend - has had experience with abortion, and almost all of them have suffered for it. For something from the pen of an evangelical and clearly very pro-life writer, there is a certain amount of balance about the issue of abortion in this story. The reader gets inside the head of an abortion doctor, a clinic worker, and numerous "pro-life" Christians who don't hesitate to choose abortion when a hard case presents itself. Rivers doesn't vilify any of them; she chooses to show them as flawed individuals who are influenced by various societal forces. She has some choice words for the abortion industy and the Supreme Court's decisions regarding abortion, but she comes down hardest on holier-than-thou Christians who would rather this issue go away than have to do the hard work of offering unexpectedly pregnant women compassion and better choices than abortion.
Unfortunately, all this head-hopping weakens the writing and the story overall. Dynah and her problems frequently get shunted to the side in order to tell the story of how the abortion doctor's sister died of a botched illegal abortion or about how Dynah's mother, Hannah (highly symbolic names here, huh?), has suffered through twenty plus years, mourning her abortion and its sad aftereffects for her family.
This was clearly a very personal book for Rivers, who had an abortion as a young woman, to write. Her experience informs the viewpoints of a number of characters, and that is an authentic truth: many women do suffer after their abortions, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But whether this is a universal experience, that's harder to say. I would venture a guess that there are any number of women out there who have experienced abortion who were not so gutted by it, who do not live with decades of guilt because of it. Rivers's description of a typical clinic is pretty grim, as well. Is that truth or emotion? No doubt others would describe it differently.
Most thought-provoking for me as a reader was Dynah's conviction that her experience was a lesson from God for her. That God allowed this to happen to her for his own purposes. She is not the only character who assumes that the world is so orderly and comprehensible, that in every suffering, for the Christian there is meaning. Reading this was like flashing back to an earlier mindset for me. I remember thinking that way. But it's been awhile since I've accepted a different idea: that bad things happen largely because bad people make them happen, and God has nothing to do with it. Good can come from bad; lessons can be learned from suffering. We can become better, more compassionate people because of our trials and tribulations. And we can take comfort from God's presence during these times. But not every piece of suffering from God's lesson plan. It's comforting to think life isn't that random, in a way, although to believe that you have to accept a rather harsh vision of God, the Boot Camp instructor. I'd rather believe shit happens, I suppose. God'll hold your hand while you wade through it.
Another theological difference I had was the idea that forgiveness can be gotten without restitution being made. One character in particular becomes convicted that his life isn't what it should be and makes a big change. This is good. But he has still profited from actions that he now views as wrong, and he does nothing to shed himself of his "ill-gotten gains" - in other words, to take the money he made and do something redemptive with it instead of just moving on with his life.
I read this book for the first time about seven years ago, and Dynah's ultimate love interest was one of the more memorable parts of it for me. Joe, Dynah's friend and comforter, is such a nice guy - a real St. Joseph figure. There for her in every moment of distress and duress, kind and compassionate. And pining, pining for Dynah. This time around I realized that Joe is a minor character in the book. This isn't a romance; it's propaganda. Propaganda I more or less agree with, as a stridently pro-life person, but propaganda, nonetheless. This type of story requires a happy ending, and Dynah gets hers. Whether that's believable, or even desireable, given that most women is this situation, if they do not choose abortion, will be looking at a long rough road before things even out...well, again that's hard to say. Dynah gets her HEA, and it's a nice, heart-wrenching moment.
Overall, I'd say I can recommend The Atonement Child to anyone who would not be offended by a pro-life treatise, but it has a number of weak spots. Proceed with that knowledge in mind.