Book Review: "The Magic of Ordinary Days"

I finished a really excellent book last night. I had only started it the evening before. It definately ranks in my top ten ever list. Probably top five. I thought you all should know about it.

It's called The Magic of Ordinary Days and it is by Anne Howard Creel. If that title sounds familiar, it may be because Hallmark has made it into one of their sometimes-cheesy movies. While I was at Em's house in February, she informed me that it was on my "must see" list for while I was there. After watching, I agreed. While definately falling into the "chick flick" category, and having that classic Hallmarky style, it was a good movie.

I've always found stories in which two people choose to love each other before falling in love with each other pretty fascinating. I think that it's more romantic when you have to choose to love. Falling in love is fun. Everybody wants to do it. It's all sunshine and daisies and laughter. It's the staying in love, the choosing to love part that really shows committment. That's real love. It's the fifty year marriage of two people who still truly love each other that displays real love. This was one of those movies. And books. But I digress.

The book is way better. Beyond words better. While the movie was a fairly shallow love story (but still excellent, don't have a cow, Kristina and Emily!), the book has depth and art and soul to it. It isn't only about love; in fact, it is mostly about other stuff. It contains science and history and psychology. It deals heavily with death and grief and loss. It discusses racism and prejudice. All of these weighty subjects it weaves into the narrative of a really [insert fabulous-adjective-that-I-can't-come-up-with here] story.

Synopsis: A 23ish year old woman from an affluent Coloradan family living during World War II finds herself "in trouble." After a brief relationship with a departing soldier, she is pregnant. Her conservative minister father arranges her marriage to a beet farmer in the middle of nowhere, whom she has never met. The book is about her life on the plains, learning how to be a farmer's wife. But moreso, it is about her dealing with her mother's death (just before she got pregnant), her father's emotional distance, her sisters' being far away in Denver. It details her making friends with two Japanese-American intern camp sisters and her struggle to understand their pain and the prejudices against them. Then it describes her sense of loss over their betrayal of her trust.

We get a full half way through the book before the love story bit comes into play at all. In fact, it snuck up on me with absolutely no warning. Suddenly there is one isolated sentence about Ray (the farmer-husband) being in love with Olivia (the pregnant-girl-wife). Only she is not in love with him. She is in fact contemplating leaving him to return to her family in the city.

He is not what she's always dreamed of. He isn't what she's looking for. She is intelligent and educated. She dreams of seeing the world, of excavating historical sites, of learning and knowledge and adventure. She has a promising future in academia, and he is a beet farmer. He is content with his land and his work and his family. He has no desire to travel to far-off places.

It takes Olivia the length of a book to realize that what she thought she wanted may not have been so important after all. Ray is honest, hard-working, loving, God-following. Not to mention that he adores her. And in the end, she decides that these are enough. She chooses to love.

And I wonder how often we are so set on getting what we want, on chasing our own dreams, that we miss the things that really matter. I don't know about guys, but most girls, myself included, have a "list" of sorts. Written or unwritten, this list is the standard to which we hold up pretty much every man we meet. It's almost unconsious; we can't really help it. Lately I've been reevaluating my list. The Magic of Ordinary Days has me just about convinced to throw it out altogether.

(You might be wondering why, for a book that I've so strongly proclaimed to not be a sappy love story, I've chosen to dwell on the love story bit. Well, it's because that's the easiest aspect to discuss. The majority of it is about such deep things that I just can't begin to tackle them.)

READ THIS BOOK. Regardless of who you are, you should read The Magic of Ordinary Days. It has a message for every reader. If you've ever lost or been held at arms' length by someone you love, if you've ever dealt with guilt or grief, if you've ever had to learn to love someone you never thought you could, if you've ever found things not turning out how you'd hoped, or if you've ever wondered over prejudice or betrayal... this book is for you.