Title: Sara’s Journey Author: Patti Leudeman Chiappa Publisher: Tate Publishing Format: print book Reviewer: Lynn Fowler

The great thing about modern self-publishing options is that anyone can get a book into print. The tragedy is that many of the books so produced should never have been allowed to leave the author’s study. Such is certainly the case for “Sara’s Journey.”

The story line, though far from earth-shaking, is pleasant enough: a woman, badly burned in a house fire caused by her abusive husband, has become a bitter recluse until a stranger rides into town and rallies her friends and neighbours to help her.

Sadly, any pleasure that might have been gained from it was, for me, totally ruined by a combination of appallingly bad writing and a complete lack of both research and editing.

If it had not been for a mention in one of the “recommendations” at the front of the book that the story is set in the 1880s, I would have been at a loss to place the era. In their dress, behaviour and manner of addressing one another, the characters seem to reflect a time at least 100 years later, regardless of the “horse and buggy days” setting. These things damage the credibility of the story, whilst the glaring historical inaccuracy of placing hip replacement surgery (pioneered in the 1940s) at the beginning of the twentieth century destroys it all together.

Then we have the “huh?” moments – such as when the townspeople are terribly concerned about how Sara will survive the winter in her burnt-out house, in spite of the fact that she has, according to the story’s timeline, already spent two winters there, with neither concern from the townsfolk nor injury to herself.

Apart from being riddled with errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation (page 16 has 6 in just 7 lines – after that I gave up marking them), the writing style is stilted and choppy, with little variation in sentence structure. With one-dimensional totally unbelievable characters, some of whom appear to be unable to open their mouths without spouting Scripture, the whole thing is so saccharine-sweet it is nauseating.

Plot development is virtually non- existent – the narrative rambles on through seemingly endless boring details, (the writer seems to have an obsession with food) not only of Sara’s journey but of the journey of everyone else in the town. By half way through the book I had given up reading and resorted to skimming.

I would love to be able to find something in this book to recommend it, but I can’t. The writer needs to enrol in an elementary creative writing course, and to hire a good editor.

In her Dedication, the author writes, “To the co-author of my book, Jesus Christ, I give all the praise and glory.” Sorry, but shoddy, lazy, unfinished work does not bring glory to the Lord. Co-author? I don’t think so! He writes much better than this.

Comments are closed.