One more book by my favorite author that I read in a few days even though it's pretty thick. I'm not sure if I can call it a masterpiece but I definitely enjoyed reading it.
The Plot
The story is built around two main characters: Roman Velasco and Grace Moore. At first sight, they seem completely different: Roman is a famous modern artist, talented, introverted, and often mean. Grace is a young single mother, desperately looking for a chance to provide for herself and her baby boy. Reading further we find more details about their lives and realize that there's a lot hidden in their hearts that makes them very similar. The characters need time to find that out but their paths cross many times and lead them to the same destination.
Like any other book by Francine Rivers, The Masterpiece focuses on one issue in human life that can be a struggle for Christians - the issue of "the past life" or the past poisoned by sin.
Throughout the book, we learn what hurt the characters in the past, what they had to go through, and where it led them. Being raised in completely different environments, Roman and Grace were both abandoned by their parents and suffered from a lot of pain and heartache. As a result, Roman tries to escape pain by denying and avoiding any kind of emotional engagement and relationship. At the same time, Grace finds her comfort in the Lord who revealed Himself to her when she was little.
What's interesting, Grace's life isn't shown as a life of a perfect Christian who never falls or suffers. Meeting God at 7 years old didn't give her a guarantee of a carefree life. On her way, Grace (as well as her friends) made mistakes and faced temptations. However, it didn't destroy her faith but taught her to trust in the Lord who always seeks a relationship with us.
Roman, in turn, faced a lot of problems and struggles while trying to escape relationships. He found his outlet in illegal graffiti. Even in his conversations with Grace, he did everything possible to crash her faith and stay in his imaginary fortress. But there's nothing impossible for God and even though Roman had to experience hell on earth, eventually he came to His Father's arms. He didn't become a perfect Christian in a blink of an eye but embarked on the path of healing and reconciliation.
Looking Deeper
If you read the first few chapters of the book you can say that you already know what's going to happen: the main characters are going to be together, Roman will become a Christian and create a masterpiece, etc. But the more we learn about their lives, the more complicated the story seems, and the less predictable the ending becomes. I could tell you about all the things that surprised me and impressed me, but I don't want to deprive you of the feeling of reading it yourself. I'm just going to say that I enjoyed discovering the story piece by piece.
To my mind, the story has a lot of advantages, but I want to point out how realistic it is. Of course, any novel would exaggerate some things and emotions, but I still enjoyed how the author describes life and how she shows different plot lines. No one has it easy in the book as well as in life and sometimes God allows it to happen to them to show His glory. Our decisions have their consequences, but God never leaves us during our hardest times. These are some of the many thoughts that I got after reading this book.
Regarding disadvantages... It's hard for me to point something out so I'll just say that there's barely any.
I think, the main idea of the book is that God created each of us as a special, unique, true masterpiece. Even if it seems that our life is a mistake and our circumstances are a coincidence (or that a good God would never allow this to happen), we're wrong. He knitted us in our mother's womb, breathed life into us, and holds our every day in His hands. But we might not be able to feel any of this when we live in the devil's deception and under his authority. Only by being united with the Lord and opening our heart to Jesus, we can truly feel His love and His grace.
My Rating
A solid eight. Not a nine because I wasn't super impressed, and not a ten because there is nothing perfect in this world. And I don't have anything else to say!
In the comments, you can give your own rating to Francine Rivers's Masterpiece.
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