4 out of 4 stars
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Nobody Knows is a Christian novel written by Larry Schneiderman. It is written in the first-person perspective from Jake’s point of view and follows a big portion of his life. Jake knows that he can’t stay in his small hometown in the Iron Range his entire life. Shortly after graduating high school, he moves to the Twin Cities to go to college. This book follows his college adventure all the way to his later years. From his first love to the passing of loved ones, the reader is right there with Jake every step of the way. Along the way, Jake’s relationship with God is a major focal point, and the reader gets a front row seat for the whole thing. He was raised in a Lutheran church and had strong moral values instilled in him from a very young age. Here’s the question: Can he maintain those morals and still get to where he wants to be in life?
I really enjoyed the first-person perspective and the way it was used in this book. It gave a lot of insight into Jake’s character and what he was feeling at each moment. I don’t think the author would have been able to go into that much depth, both emotional and plot-wise, if he had used a different point of view. Even when Jake did things I didn’t like, which actually happened quite a bit, I was still able to empathize with him because I was seeing it from his viewpoint.
Another aspect that enticed me was the character development. There were a lot of characters, but the author did a great job describing each one. I felt like I really got to know them. Even if I forgot about one of the characters, inclusion of the character later in the story always made me remember them and their story. I tend to struggle when a book has a lot of characters, and I have to go back and read about them. I really liked that I didn’t have to do that while I was reading this book.
My favorite part of the book was Jake’s relationship with God. I really liked that he wasn’t a “perfect Christian”. He sinned… a lot. He questioned his faith. He didn’t always go to church. I found this less-than-perfect relationship to be extremely relatable. I’ve found myself asking several of the questions that were asked throughout this book. I’ve done my own sinning, and I’ve questioned my own faith. To me, this book was comforting. It let me know that I’m not the only one who has strayed off of the expected path a bit. I wasn’t sure if I’d like the religious side of it (I sometimes don’t), but it was perfect for me.
I also want to note that this was one of the best edited books I’ve reviewed in a long time. There were a couple of errors here and there, but nothing significant. I only noticed them because I was looking pretty thoroughly.
The only complaint I really had with the book was that the timeline was confusing. It wasn’t clear how much time had passed between different sections of the book because it was missing transitional elements. There were also a few comments about how much time had passed that were contradictory. For example, there was a point that said that Mike was 20, then a little later it said that he was 19. At another point, the narrator stated that 3 years had passed, but it was later said that it had actually been 6 years. While the timeline wasn’t essential to understanding the story, I was a little frustrated with it.
Taking all of that into mind, I give this book 4 out of 4 stars. If half-stars were an option, I might have given it 3.5 stars because of the timeline issue. However, it definitely didn’t deserve to lose a whole star, so I decided to round up. I would recommend this book to Christians, especially those who find themselves questioning their faith. It would be a good read for both adolescents and adults. If you don’t like books with a religious element, however, this isn’t the book for you.
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Nobody Knows
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