Ebook Free Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap
Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap. Haggling with checking out practice is no need. Reviewing Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap is not sort of something sold that you can take or otherwise. It is a thing that will transform your life to life better. It is the many things that will certainly provide you many points around the globe as well as this cosmos, in the real life and also here after. As exactly what will certainly be offered by this Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap, just how can you haggle with the many things that has lots of benefits for you?
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap
Ebook Free Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap
Envision that you get such certain amazing encounter as well as understanding by only reviewing an e-book Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap. How can? It appears to be greater when a book could be the most effective point to find. Books now will show up in published as well as soft data collection. One of them is this publication Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap It is so common with the printed books. Nonetheless, many folks often have no room to bring the e-book for them; this is why they cannot review guide wherever they desire.
Even the rate of a publication Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap is so cost effective; lots of people are truly thrifty to reserve their cash to purchase guides. The various other factors are that they really feel bad and have no time to go to the publication shop to browse guide Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap to review. Well, this is contemporary age; many e-books can be obtained quickly. As this Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap and also much more publications, they could be entered extremely fast methods. You will certainly not require to go outside to obtain this e-book Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap
By seeing this page, you have done the ideal staring factor. This is your beginning to choose the publication Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap that you desire. There are bunches of referred books to read. When you wish to get this Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap as your book reading, you could click the link web page to download Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap In few time, you have possessed your referred publications as your own.
As a result of this publication Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap is marketed by on-line, it will reduce you not to publish it. you can obtain the soft documents of this Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap to save money in your computer system, gizmo, and more tools. It depends upon your readiness where and also where you will certainly check out Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap One that you have to consistently keep in mind is that checking out e-book Romey's Place: A Novel, By James Calvin Schaap will endless. You will have willing to review various other book after finishing an e-book, as well as it's constantly.
"What's it like having an old man who's a saint?" The question came from the depths of Romey Guttner's troubled soul. It was as honest as the hot sun that beat down on him and his best friend, Lowell, as they picked beans that unforgettable summer in the late fifties. They were just boys, one the son of the town's pillar of faith and one the neglected child of a man whose anger spilled onto everyone in his path. Despite their disparate upbringings, Romey and Lowell were like brothers, inseparable in their pursuit of adventure. But events were brewing that would force them to confront the reality of their differences for the first time.
With perceptiveness and style, James Calvin Schaap renders a coming-of-age tale about friendship, fathers and sons, and, most of all, the grace that saves us from the darkest places.
- Sales Rank: #467403 in eBooks
- Published on: 2007-09-01
- Released on: 2007-09-01
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Smalltown "church-ruled" Easton, Wis., takes center stage in Schaap's (In the Silence There Are Ghosts) earnest, thoughtful coming-of-age novel. As middle-aged Lowell Prins helps his elderly father to sort through the belongings of a lifetime, he reflects on the fateful events of his last summer before high school during the late 1950s. His recollections soon become a study in contrasts, juxtaposing two very different fathers, and their sons, who have more in common with their fathers than they would like to think. Lowell's dad, Pete, is a "big-time Christian" and the town "saint." Cyril Guttner, the abusive father of Lowell's best friend, Romey, is the town pariah. In the black-and-white world of 1950s EastonAwhere gangs of kids picking green beans constitute a youth culture and an unpardonable sin is being caught in the girls' barracks at Bible campAmoral issues loom large. The retrospective account of this fateful period in Lowell's life is, for the most part, a familiar litany of youthful experiences (stealing cigarettes, finding summer jobs, attending town dances), but Lowell and Romey's religious discussions differentiate it from similar tales. Romey half-reveres and half-resents Lowell's faith, just as Lowell simultaneously admires and fears Romey's tough-talking ways. When events culminate in a misguided prank that turns deadly, a confrontation between fathers, sons and the town is inevitable. Looking back on those events, Lowell, now the curator for a small county museum, must come to terms with the rigid righteousness, which he sees as his father's legacy and which he blames for poisoning his friendship with Romey. Religious devotion, family loyalty and the dynamics of friendship are ultimately seen as issues subject to several moral interpretations, and Lowell finally understands that "if my father taught me goodness... Romey taught me grace." (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
James Schaap's most recent novel, Romey's Place, is the story of two boys whose fierce friendship springs from their differences, and is ultimately reshaped by them.... This compelling story of their coming-of-age is laced with the silent realities of social class in a small Wisconsin town. Ultimately, Romey's Place is about the human struggle to understand what faithfulness to God, family, and community demands, and their conflictive pulls. From the first chapter... to the stunning and unexpected conclusion, this is a riveting story about moral righteousness, grace, and the chasm that can lie between them. -- The Other Side, January/February 2000
Lowell Prins, son of a small-town minister, promises us that thestory he's about to tell has shaped his life. "What happened there years ago," he solemnly tells us, "I will never forget." This promise (repeated over and over as Prins wanders from one adolescent crisis to another) keeps us hanging on until the unforgettable event actually takes place (thirty pages from the end). Even then, the payoff is diminished by Schaap's narrative technique, which continually overlays the voice of the adolescent Lowell with the intrusive editorializing of the adult Prins....This distance imposed between the reader and the novel's events Makes Romey's Place as compelling as a set of vacation slides, complete with narration. At every turn, the adult Lowell turns up again, telling us exactly what each event means in stultifying detail. ....Schaap is so busy telling us what to think of these scenes that we're never permitted to experience them. He doesn't trust his readers; he has to spell it all out. This editorializing voice drowns his story - and finally kills our interest. -- From Beliefnet
Richly authentic and beautifully written, Romeys Place captivated me from beginning to end. This evocative, Tom Sawyer-like tale set in the early 50s may well be Schaaps finest work yet -- John Timmerman, professor of English, Calvin College
Romey Guttner lives in Wisconsin, not Mississippi, but his story of devotion to an unworthy father is just as poignant as Faulkners short story Barn Burning. Jim Schaaps novel has an additional dimension, however. How does the narrator, no longer youthful, forgive his own father for his oppressive righteousness? For those with eyes willing to see, this work shows the chasm between a well-intentioned piety and reckless rebels. The moral suspense it generates makes clear just how much is at stake here -- Virginia Stem Owens, author
Romeys Place is a novel of deceptive ease and simplicity. With long, confident, perfectly accurate strokes, Schaap paints the social landscape of small town America. So familiar, so well textured and convincing is his portrait that we find ourselves swiftly and deeply involved in itand in an experience which is anything but small. Here the conflicts are dramatic, powerful, and complex. Schaap writes at the bone of human interaction, where matters economic, spiritual, social, and moral knit and rip the fabrics of community. He knows the gravity of common things -- Walter Wangerin, author of The Book of the Dun Cow and The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel
Today many dramatic, high-concept novels, tales of apocalypse, conspiracy, and medical experimentation, shout for the attention of readers scanning the shelves of Christian fiction. But a few, like Romey's Place, stand out for quietly conveying sharp spiritual insights glimpsed in the dramas of ordinary life. Schaap skillfully transports readers to a small Wisconsin town in the late 1950s through the eyes of 14-year-old Lowell Prins, the son of a leading church family, and best friends with Romey Guttner, whose family lives on the wrong side of the tracks.... For a season Lowell and Romey share a friendship that bridges the gulf between their worlds. At times they test the boundaries of their behavior. But only when a labor conflict in the town gets out of hand and a confrontation with Romey's dad turns violent, does Lowell discover from an unexpected source the meaning of grace. -- Moody, January/February 2000
With an ominous, unsettling story line, this novel ferries readers back to the late 1950s.... More than a coming-of-age story, Romeys Place offers a thought-provoking, detail-rich narrative that literature buffs will savor -- CBA Marketplace, November 1999
[An] earnest, thoughtful coming-of-age novel -- Publishers Weekly, Aug. 30, 1999
From the Back Cover
"What's it like having an old man who's a saint?" The question came from the depths of Romey Guttner's troubled soul. It was as honest as the hot sun that beat down on him and his best friend, Lowell, as they picked beans that unforgettable summer in the late fifties. They were just boys, one the son of the town's pillar of faith and one the neglected child of a man whose anger spilled onto everyone in his path. Despite their disparate upbringings, Romey and Lowell were like brothers, inseparable in their pursuit of adventure. But events were brewing that would force them to confront the reality of their differences for the first time. With keen perception and a simple style, James Calvin Schaap renders a coming-of-age tale about friendship, fathers and sons, and, most of all, the grace that saves us from the darkest places. "A novel of deceptive ease and simplicity. Here the conflicts are dramatic, powerful, and complex. Schaap knows the gravity of common things."--Walter Wangerin, author, The Book of God "Romey's Place is rich in real-life drama, and its depth will enrich any reader."--Christian Retailing "Romey's Place captivated me from beginning to end."--John Timmerman, professor of English, Calvin College James Calvin Schaap, a professor of English at Dordt College and president of the Chrysostom Society, is the award-winning author of twenty-two books. He lives in Sioux Center, Iowa.
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Leaving readers wiser and more reflective.
By Glynn Young
Lowell Prins and Romey Guttner are 13-year-olds about as different as night and day. And yet they are best friends, living on opposite sides of the small town of Easton, Wisconsin, close to the Lake Michigan shoreline. It’s the late 1950s, an era of relative stability when the middle class was still growing, church was a part of most people’s lives, and a boy’s summer was devoted to exploration, friends, picking beans, and pranks.
Lowell’s father is known as something of a Christian saint, involved in all things church, never raising his voice, never striking out physically. Romey’s father is rude, vulgar, heavy-handed (literally) with the discipline for his son and his wife. Lowell’s father works in a professional job in Easton; Romey’s father is on strike at a plant in the larger town of Brandon, some 10 miles away.
What happens with Lowell and Romey in that summer, and what happens with their families and the larger community, is the story of James Calvin Schaap’s novel6” Romey’s Place,” first published in 1999 and reissued in 2007. It is a coming-of-age novel, but it is more than that – a meditation on adolescence, friendship, faith, loss, and fathers. And it is a novel that succeeds at all of these things.
“Romey’s Plac”e is far from being simply a nostalgic look backward at a time when life seemed simple and (for many of us) golden. It could have been easily that and nothing more. To those of us raised in that era, it is wonderfully familiar – looking for animals along streams and canals; wandering in the woods; discovering scary things to do; Bible Camp; trying to act 17 when you’re only 13 and largely failing.
But by weaving family violence and dysfunction and labor and union troubles through the story, the novel leaves nostalgia behind and instead becomes how two boys are rather suddenly forced to grow up, and the roles they play in the adult dramas unfolding around them. It is also about what two good friends learn from each other one summer that will shape them the rest of their lives.
Schaap in an emeritus professor of literature and writing at Dordt College in Sioux City, Iowa. He’s a novelist and short story writer, and has also written several devotional books. His most recent book is “Reading Mother Teresa: A Calvinist looks lovingly at the little bride of Christ.” He blogs at Stuff in the Basement.
“Romey’s Place” is one of those rare things, a “Christian novel” that transcends its genre and leaving its readers wiser and more reflective.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Romey's Place ..... or was it?
By Robert J. Ribbens
This book made me wonder if Schaap was secretly writing about me and my childhood friend. Same type of small town. Same type of fathers and families and churches. Same type of childhood experiences and thoughts in many ways.
But moreover, it was thought provoking in the way it looked at how we grew up, learned the things we learned about life and our "faith" and so much about the influences our parents have on our lives long beyond when we move out and start our own lives. It hit home on how other people in our life change the way we are and will be and that we indeed have that ability to change others also.
Deeply moving and takes a whole new approach on the whole concept of Christ's gift of GRACE. How we learn it, receive it and dispense it.
Well done and worth reading....maybe twice. Great for a discussion group!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Brings readers to wonder about the shaping experiences that they may not know about in the minds and hearts of loved ones
By FaithfulReader.com
Set in the Wisconsin of the 1950s, ROMEY'S PLACE is a sepia-toned story about a summer that would change the lives of two boys forever. Romey Guttner and Lowell Prins (Lobo for short) were an odd couple --- best friends from different sides of the tracks, or, in this case, different sides of God.
Lowell grew up in a churchgoing household, his father and grandfather pillars of the Christian community in Easton, Wisconsin. And he himself embraced the faith of his family, albeit with reservations and sometimes even embarrassment. Romey, on the other hand, is the son of Cyril Guttner, the town's most notorious bully, a man so mean that the fear people feel in his presence is from the unknown. He seems capable of anything.
ROMEY'S PLACE is a study in contrasts between Cyril and Lobo's dad, the lessons these men taught their sons, and the lessons these sons taught each other. The drama of the book centers on mostly youthful hijinks the summer before the two entered high school --- stealing cigarettes, working at picking beams to make pocket money, sneaking into the girl's cabin at camp. This should suggest that drama is a strong word for the slow boil that makes up the vast majority of the book. But looming in the background is a union strike that surges forward with the specter of violence at unexpected moments. The strike is like a political manifestation of Cyril (an agitator in the union) himself --- mercurial, hard to predict and hard to reason with.
The story is told in flashback as a 50-something Lowell helps his dad clean out the house in preparation for downsizing into a retirement home. It's what he doesn't find in a closet, an heirloom bayonet he lost that summer so long ago, that sends him careening down memory lane. It seems fitting then that a large part of what's so lovely about this book is what it lacks. Pretension, for example.
The golden rule of good writing is to show, not tell. Yet author James Calvin Schaap has managed to break this rule to good effect by creating a character in Lowell who does just this --- he keeps reminding us he exists with heavy-handed foreshadowing and telling us the moral of the story --- while still remaining engaging. The pace of the book is slow and feels very much like what it is --- a tale told by a midlife man, young and full enough of the pride of life to still wonder at the drama of his own adolescence, yet old enough to repeat himself. And on this point, it feels true to life. People meander when telling their stories, and they repeat themselves. Lowell might be your dad or brother telling you something he has never talked about before. Reading ROMEY'S PLACE might make you wonder at the shaping experiences that you don't know about that exist in the minds and hearts of your own family members.
Though it's a slow boil, the bubbles do come. A night of violence breaks out that will forever link Romey and Lowell, and make it impossible for them to remain friends. To the end we're confronted with the contrasts --- between the violence that can be wrought by fists and by words, and between the lessons two men inspired. As the older Lowell says, "What my own foolish soul has come to understand is that while my father taught me goodness, it was Romey who taught me grace."
--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap PDF
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap EPub
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap Doc
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap iBooks
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap rtf
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap Mobipocket
Romey's Place: A Novel, by James Calvin Schaap Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar