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Kriss Morton - In the Loft of the Cabin Goddess

My Loft of the Cabin where I store all my virtual reads, reviews and discover new adventures and share new stories!

The Prodigal: A Novel

The Prodigal - Michael C. Hurley I am going to admit it right here and now. I did not think I was going to be able to finish reading this book. I was bored silly and it was still dragging for me at 30%. I could not understand what the heck this was about, and then I switched my brain on after reading three zombie books in a row and went back and read it again and went “ohhhh”.

The Prodigal is not one of my zombie books or cotton candy reads. No werewolves or drooling undead. This is full on intense literature and full of beautifully wrought symbolism. Ever read Moby Dick... For fun? Well this is that kind of read. You do need to be in the right frame of mind set and mood to read it. I do think, unfortunately, there is a huge group of people who will not have a clue what this book is about, and like me are going to go, what the heck and stop reading?

Considering I am a middle age woman and I got the meaning behind a lot of the metaphors I also realized the target readers are from middle thirties to middle-age and are still coming to terms with this fact. Kind of like your third coming of age book. First is your teen years, second are the Saturn’s return or mid to late twenties and the third is around mid-thirties to late forties

The opening scene is pivotal to setting not only the direction of the book but also is the basis on how to read it.

A man wakes up naked in the sand, scorched by the sun. He is forced to wear a dress to cover his naked body and wine is offered by some almost supernatural or imagined woman.

OK way to simplified but you see how I could be going "What the heck?" If you do not read this metaphorically you are screwed, because it sets the whole "flavor" for the rest of novel.

The allegory woven through all of the characters’ lives, their habits, their virtues, and definitely their vices are directly important to understanding the adventure. Not just the literal one but the spiritual one. No matter how together and successful a person is, their inner mess is not as organized or as together as everyone else sees from the outside.

It has two things that are near and dear to my heart sailing and lawyers. I grew up with a father as a lawyer and a family that sailed. I also am a girl who does read Moby Dick for fun. I am not sure I would recommend this to folks who are not into reading heavily metaphorical seeped literature or who does not know what allegory means.

***Now for my personal note. This is a heavily metaphoric Christian read. This also could have lead to why I had a hard time reading it. My review is not reflective of that, but I do not like being sold a read that is not labeled Christian when it is. The thing that really pushed me past it is the high quality of writing. I never would have read it knowing this but I am glad I pushed through and did. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author as part of a tour for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

From a personal point of view this was an OK read. The quality of writing was extremely high, however. If I was to rate it and I don't think I could at the moment because ratings are saying how I feel about the book, I am not sure I could give it the higher star rating many would, solely because of my personal tastes. I did not DISLIKE IT but I did not like PART of the message so it caused me much debate. It was, for me, simply OK, but that would be a 2 star here on Goodreads and THIS BOOK is in NO way deserving of what most perceive as a low rating. SO. I write my review and you can figure it out for yourselves.