Thief of Glory

I cannot remember if I have ever read anything by Sigmund Brouwer, but I may have to go back and see what else he has written of interest. His writing style is irresistable in that the reader is engaged from the very first word. His character development is completely believable and his settings are such that the reader feels he is right in the midst of the action. In other words, Sigmund Brouwer is a good writer.

I have read a portion of Thief of Glory and I have to put it down. I have a low nightmare threshold and this book crosses it. The realism is just too real. That's the worst I will say about this book. This is about a young boy who falls in love with a girl he sees in the market in the Dutch East Indies. This is about a young boy and a young girl whose childhoods are destroyed by the evils that exist in the world, by seeing how positively inhuman human beings can be. This is about a young boy and a young girl who live through a Japanese concentration camp and then manage to leave it all behind them to make a life in America.

In the foreword to the book, Sigmund Brouwer takes the time to explain that these characters are based on real people, that these experiences are based on real events, that these evils actually happened. It's more than I can bear. It does bring me to think of the evils that Jesus Christ suffered for me. The thoughts are more than I can bear. I am not necessarily a head-in-the-sand ostrich, but this time, I'm choosing not to continue the book. It's just too hard for me, it is just too real.

I thank Waterbrook Multnomah for giving me the book for my review, and I am sorry I cannot give it a more complete review than this. I give it Five Stars, but it is not a book to be read by the faint of heart.


Waterbrook Multnomah supplied this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and comments are my own.