The Land Of Decoration: A Novel [Hardcover]

Every year there seems to be a book that stays with me long after I've turned the last page. And when someone asks me for a good book recommendation, it's the first one that comes to mind. The Land of Decoration - a debut novel by Grace McCleen is one of those books.

Ten year old Judith McPherson lives in England with her father, her mother having passed away. She attends school, but is bullied and isolated, primarily because of the religious beliefs that she and her father follow.

And sometimes Judith escapes into her own little world - one she has created in her room from rubbish.

"There is a world in my room. It is made from things no one else wanted and it is made with things that were my mother's, that she left to me, and it has taken most of my life to make."

She calls this world The Land of Decoration. She has taken this name from the book of Ezekiel - the land of milk and honey, a paradise for the faithful in the afterlife - The Promised Land. For Judith, it is where she will see her mother again.

When Judith transforms her Land of Decoration into a snow covered blizzard and it happens in reality, she believes she is responsible. " Miracles happen because someone made them and because someone, somewhere, had faith." And she's doubly sure she's responsible as God told her she was.

The bullying amplifies, as does the unrest at the factory Judith's father works at. And so does Judith's belief that she has the power to create miracles and change things. And God's voice is getting louder.

I was so mesmerized by this book. I couldn't read it straight through, but had to put it down and come back later as my emotions were in a turmoil. Judith's voice was heartbreaking in so many ways. McCleen has created a character in Judith that just grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I found myself stopping to ponder many of her views. I wanted so badly to help her as she faced so much more than a ten year old should. McCleen's depictions of the other main players are just as well done. Judith's father is another poignant portrayal that was difficult to accept and read at times.

McCleen's books explores so many themes - love, hate, tolerance, persecution, belief, faith and more, but ultimately is about the love between a parent and child.

I wonder how much of Judith's story is Grace's story. She was raised in a fundamentalist religious environment and has a strong interest in miniatures as well. I think readers are either going to love or hate McCleen's book, much like Emma Donoghue's Room. This reader loved it. (so did Emma Donoghue)

The Land of Decoration is 10-year-old Judith's telling of her life events, including her unusual relationship with her father, her longing for her dead mother, her trials at school, and her involvement in a "the world's going to end" religious sect. There's even labour strife thrown in for good measure. A lot goes on in this girl's life and her Land of Decoration is her coping mechanism. Very much liked the premise of the book.

Grace McCleen's first novel, The Land of Decoration was totally engrossing. Told in the voice of a 10 year old motherless girl, Judith, who lives with her father, a devoutly religious man who believes they are living in the End Days, just before the rapture, when God will destroy the earth and take the faithful with him to the "Land of Decoration" or heaven. This is all Judith has known in her 10 years, that the world will soon end and they have to tell as many people as possible so they can be saved. She knows this because that's what her father and the elders at her church have told her. Judith never knew her mother who died around the time of her birth and her father, who seems desperately unhappy as he puts one foot in front of the other, dogmatically follows his religious beliefs and insists that Judith do the same.

McCleen does an excellent job of putting the reader in the mind of this little girl, seeing the story unfold through her eyes. As we read this story we see the events Judith is experiencing through our own understanding, but we can put ourselves in her place, with her beliefs, and it's just heartbreaking in some parts because it almost makes you want to intervene and explain the way things really are. Or the way we think they are. It makes you want to put your arms around her and comfort her. This is a book that will make you think and possibly put yourself in the place of people who think differently about religion and existence and life in general.

Some situations in the book were kind of a mystery, even after finishing it. Much of what Judith experienced was through her imagination and belief system but I was left wondering how much of it was real. Her "Land of Decoration" or small world she created from bits of junk and scraps in her room was often her escape from the real world and all of the problems and sadness that she encountered. It's a book I can't stop thinking about after finishing it. I look forward to more books by this author.