Review of The Legacy of Job's Wife

[JayRaams]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Legacy of Job's Wife" by Cynthia Koelker.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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The Legacy of Job’s Wife is an imaginative and character-focused retelling of the story of Job, told through the eyes of his lifelong love and wife, Ix’ises. This is author Cynthia J. Koelker’s first book. The story delves deep into the different sides of love and how painful it truly would be to lose all your family and not know why. It explores Ix’ises's wants and dreams; her voice is a beautiful gift. At times, Ix’ises has choices, and as she learns about God and life, we, as readers, get to learn alongside her through the pain of loss and the joys of love and new life.

This book really brought Job and Ix’ises to life. You see them grow from children and far into old age. I haven’t ever seen someone explore how Job’s wife would have felt; most of the time, she is portrayed as an ungodly woman, but this book shows a different side to her. You feel her highs and lows.

Cynthia J. Koelker did an excellent job on her first book, but I did feel like it had a very American feel to the story. Every now and then, I would forget that the story was set in the Middle East BCE because the descriptions and the setting felt more like the Midwest America during the cowboy times. That took me out of the story, but for her first book, I think this is excusable. I don’t agree with the prosperity gospel; this book is very heavily based on this mindset. I think it added to parts of the story feeling like it was set in America. I also didn’t like how disabilities were used and portrayed in the book. It’s good that Ix’ises's brother is shown to be smart and that Hannah is shown to be kind, but the fact that they just have to end up together and that they just have to accept their lot in life made me feel uncomfortable and feel like the author may not have met someone with a disability.

Considering the good storytelling and the vivid descriptions, I am giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. I am taking a star off because I think with a little bit more editing, this could have been a truly great book, and I am taking one star off for the poor disability representation.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book so much. I think this would be a great Christian women’s book club read or for a Bible study focused on women from the Bible.

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The Legacy of Job's Wife
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