Review of Maddie's Chronicle

[Fola Moni]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Maddie's Chronicle" by Daniel O Stuhlman.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Maddie’s Chronicle by Daniel O. Stuhlman is the story of a young orphan girl in 19th century America. Growing up in the care of her aunt and uncle after losing her parents, she writes about her adventures, friends, faith in God and falling in love.

The year is 1851. California just became a state a year earlier. There was plenty of land and opportunities in the new state, and people were willing to get there against all odds. Maddie, her aunt Gabriel and her uncle Joseph Sullivan were no exceptions. The move to California was long and hazardous, but it was worth it. A new life was waiting for the Sullivans there, and for Maddie, a young broody man named Huck would sweep her heart away. However, unbeknownst to the two young Christians in love, a trial is coming that would separate them and test their faith in God.

Maddie’s Chronicle captures the 1850s in the new California state amazingly. The author’s writing style is rich and descriptive and pulls you into the scenes and landscapes. The constant reference to Christian values and norms in the book is profound and unmistakable. It is also apparent in most of the lead characters’ speech and mannerisms.

As a Christian, I admire Maddie and Huck’s faith in God and their determination to always abide by His Will in all situations. There was a particular question that Huck asked which related profoundly with me. He wondered if Christ would be as forgiving on His second coming as He was on earth 2,000 years ago. I have also pondered on this. Would He forgive those who didn’t believe in Him during Judgement, or will it be too late?

However, I have several issues with the text. Firstly, there were several Spanish dialogues in the story, but some of them were not translated into English. The dialogues are understandable because of the Spanish characters, but I struggled to understand the storyline in these sections, and translations would have made my reading experience a lot easier.

I also couldn’t relate to the characters. They were too many, and even the lead characters were dull and dreary. Huck, for example, strikes me as someone with a mysterious past, and his surly behaviour didn’t help matters. Even though I admire his faith in God, his character wasn’t very relatable. He was always flying into rages and didn’t come across as a genial man. Maddie’s character, on the other hand, was all over the place with her emotions. One minute she’s strong and quoting the Bible. The next, she’s wringing her hands and worrying to death about her husband. She wasn’t very likeable either.

Finally, the Donner Party incident seemed out of place in the entire plot, especially the scenes depicting the gruesome acts. It suddenly went from reading the adventures and coming of age story of a young Christian girl in 19th century America to a horror novel from Stephen King. I am not trying to slight one of the greatest horror novelists of our time but only trying to point out how the storyline changed from a light read to something gory and macabre without warning.

Based on the reasons above, I will rate it 2 out of 4 stars. Although I could only find one error, it could do with another round of professional editing because of the lack of Spanish translations. I will recommend it to young Christian adult readers who enjoy historical fiction novels because of the many Christian quotes and bible verses. However, there are some graphic descriptions of cannibalism, so sensitive readers beware.

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Maddie's Chronicle
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[markodim721]

Too bad a decent book isn't better edited. By that I mean translations of the text into Spanish. I appreciate the objectivity in the review.