Customer Reviews

The Atonement Child

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book the Atonement Child by: Francine Rivers is about choice, sacrifice and love. The book is about a young girl who gets raped and becomes pregnant. After she finds out she's pregnant her whole world falls apart. The book then is about her struggle to decide what to do with this child that's growing inside her. Her religion makes abortion to her seem completely wrong, but she doesn't think she will be able to give the baby up. All the people in her life a screaming for her to get an abortion when her whole life they've all been against it. The rest of the book is about Dynah's struggle to decide what to do. I really enjoyed this book, it was well written and made me think about things.
With me myself being a Christian I could really relate to what Dynah was struggling with. I mean its really easy to say something until it actually hits home. The subject of abortion is a complicated subject , but I think Francine Rivers did an excellent job portraying what people put up to that decision go through. She also shows the long term affects an abortion can have on people, through the mom and grandma's abortions. She also so the affects it has on others, like Ethan, Joe and Dynah's father.
After Dynah brakes off her engagement to Ethan, she moves home to her parents. She moves home because the dean kicks her out of school for being pregnant. She had not yet told her parents that she is pregnant or that she got raped. When she does return home and tell her parents it brings up stuff from there past, and causes problem between her parents. She learn that her mother had an abortion before she met her father. After this Dynah runs away, because she feels like things are her fault, and starts to work at a little diner. Until Joe comes and finds her and convinces her she must go back. On the way back Dynah stops at Dr. Wyatt, the doctor who was supposed to do her abortion. His wife and him take her in for a week until she must return home. In her week there she witnesses to the doctor and he decides to stop doing abortions. When she moves back home her parents begin to work on things and everything begins to look up. She decided to give the baby up for adoption, Joe helps her pick a family. Then she has the baby. Joe is there to help her with it all. After she has the baby she decides no to give it her daughter up for adoptions. After that Joe and Dynah decide to get married. So the point of the book kinda is listen to the lord and good things will come your way.
This book did a excellent job of portraying what women go through when they have an unwanted pregnancy. She showed all different aspects of what people go through, form the women to her family to the doctors who do the abortions. The books main theme says that abortion is wrong. It also tells people that the need to listen to the lord or there heart. Although this book portrayed all aspects it was a little one sided towards anti-abortion, which I personally was ok with because I don't believe in abortion either.

I am a Francine Rivers fan but, I am on the balance with this book. A part of me really liked it and the other part of me just wondered if many of the pages were wasted on unimportant things. This is the kind of book that really makes you think, I mean REALLY makes you think. I can't honestly say that in Dynah's position I wouldn't have made the same choices but at the same time I don't know that I could. I found myself talking to people about this subject because like Dynah I think that I would be on the line between my beliefs and the consequences.

I have to agree with some of the other reviews when they say that it seems like everyone in the book has had an abortion. Okay so I get that the book has to do with that topic and I'm not saying that there aren't many people who get them, but honestly what are the odds that everyone around Dynah has had one or been a part of one? That did become a bit predictable and you just came to expect that from every character.

I didn't like all the insight into random people's lives because I found no particular reason for it, I could have understood if that particular person had a special place in the book, but it just seemed like it was page fillers. For example there is a part in the book that Dynah's grandmother is gathered with all her friends and they talk about a bunch of things that although great, I kept on thinking how those multitude of pages could have been used towards more information of Dynah, the baby, Joe (Dynah's friend) and the multitude of questions left unanswered at the end of the book.

I must admit however, that I am a big sap when it comes to love and because of that I really, really liked the ending one line in particular, when God says something to her, I'm not going to say what it is or it might ruin it for some while some after reading the book might wonder what I was talking about.

Anyways I do recommend this book, but don't say that I didn't warn you about the fillers. It won't be the best book that you have probably read but it made me think a lot and for that I thought that the 4 stars were well deserved.

I have to say that I fell in love with this book. At first I thought that the characters were a bit shallow, but then I realized that this was not just a story about Dynah. It was more a story of sin being passed through the generations. River's took a multifaceted look at abortion, presenting the different reasons women turn to it. In all situations abortion seems to be the best and easiest way out, but the characters show that there are many lasting consequences that may not be apparent beforehand. I loved this story, and highly reccomend it.

It took me all of a day and a half to read this book. This book is so powerful and inspiring, you will immediately want to recommend it to any and everyone. Not only does this book send a powerful pro-life message, it also makes you realize how easy it can be to have an intimate relationship with God. The way Dynah continually spoke to our Father and listened to Him when she was seeking His guidance inspired me. I now find myself doing the same thing more and more often. In addition, you can see the many ways that God can and will work in our lives if we just allow Him.

This is an awesome book which shows the Power of God's forgiveness and love in the midst of pain. I could not put it down for three days. I laughed and cried. I think it could help a woman journey to her own place of understanding God's love and forgiveness no matter what has happend in her life and no matter what other people think.

I am a huge fan of Francine Rivers', and this book really disappointed me. It was totally predictable and unrealistic. It's a sensitive, emotional topic and deserved a more real-world telling. I do think Rivers did a good job of presenting the issue, but I often had to force myself to keep reading. Rivers did continue her tradition of excellent character development, but again, I wanted a surprise, or maybe just a hint of suspense, to keep me reading. A surprisingly unsatisfying book for Rivers.

I found this to be a very emotional and spiritual book.A friend had read it and suggested that I should too.Once I started reading it i couldnt put it down.I think it's an excellent book for any person, Christian or not. I would hightly recommend any of Francine Rivers' books.

I thought this was a good book. It was interesting and easy to read. It made you want to read on. However, Rivers doesn't always give an accurate representation of how abortion affects people or what abortion clinics are like or the people that work in them. She also makes a couple stereotypes in the book about pregnant teens. There is also stereotypes toward christian girls. That none of them sleep around or that they all come from great christian homes. I don't think this is always the case. I think Rivers is a very credible author. She is well known and has won many awards for her books. And particularly in this book she seems more credible because she has had an aboriton herself. I would recommend this book to woman of any age. Especially if your in the same situation. It really gives you a good christian perspective on things.

Dynah is a young woman who is attending a Christian college when she is brutally raped. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she finds little support from her fiance, her family, or her college and she is pressured by many of them to have an abortion. There is no doubt where Francine Rivers stands on the subject of abortion. She is squarely against it and she uses everything in her writing arsenal to put across that point. Even while agreeing with her viewpoint, I feel that she has not done the topic justice in this book. The plot is very predictable from the very beginning and the characters are one-dimensional. It seems as if every woman in the book has had an abortion at one time or another and that is not realistic. There are several questions left unanswered at the end of the book. Who will take care of Dynah's grandmother? How much support will Dynah receive from her father? How will Joe finish his education? If you want to read better Francine Rivers books, I recommend her Women of the Bible series.

Francine Rivers takes the topic of rape and abortion to our doorsteps. It makes you stop and think about your true beliefs. There is a challenge in this book for the Christian community, if crisis hits close to home do we practice what we preach?