Bertie’s War by Kregel Publishing is historical fiction taking place in the 1960′s. Bertie is a 12 year old girl who has a strict and austere father and struggles with fear in every area of her life. She is even too scared to participate in a family romp out in the leaves. The fact that the Communists have missiles pointing directly at the United States exacerbate her fears to near terror. As the story develops, Bertie learns some things about herself, faces her fears and grows in her relationships with others.
This book is very slow starting. Midway through the book I was still wondering where the storyline was going and trying to find a reason to keep reading. However, just after midway, the book grabs you and is compelling and interesting.
I found Bertie’s character to be a bit incomprehensible. A 12 year old girl who is constantly crying and so paralyzed by fear that she is unable to develop a meaningful relationship with her father did not resonate with me , even though I would say that fear is one of my struggles.
Toward the end of the book I was interested, intrigued and hopeful for a positive conclusion to a storyline that had finally pulled me in.
The book has some definite Christian undertones with God and prayer playing prominent, but not overbearing roles. However, the ultimate message of this book seemed to be tainted with humanism. The solution to sin in the book is education, rather than Biblical confession and repentance. Once the sinner is educated, the sin problem simply disappears. In my perspective this is the message we get from the world around us and is not the message of the Bible. This is simply my take on the book and people read and enjoy many different types of books for many different reasons.
Bertie’s War is available for $7.99 from Kregel Publishing. You may also wish to browse through Kregel Publishing’s other offerings.
For more of my reviews visit my product review page.
Kregel Publishing sent me a complimentary copy of “Bertie’s War” to facilitate this review. All ideas and opinions are my own.
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I didn’t read your entire review because I haven’t finished the book or, obviously, done my review yet. However, I wanted to read enough to see if it was just me who was having issues with this weepy, petrified pre-teen and her seemingly tyrannical father.
I’m glad to see it wasn’t just me and am hopeful that it will grab me soon.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 6:12 am
I look forward to reading your review.
It’s always interesting to get other’s take.
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Thank you so much for your honest review. I take issue with a lot of so called Christian fiction because often they’re just regular fiction where the heroine goes to church on Sunday.
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good review, keep them coming!!
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Hi, this is Barbara Blakey, the author of Bertie’s War. Thank you for reading and blogging about this book, my first attempt at fiction. Comments such as yours help me grow as a writer and I am grateful for that. As an aside, it was not my intent to show Bertie coming to a personal relationship with Jesus; she has a lot to overcome and I didn’t want the ending to be unrealistic. I did want to show her as learning to trust God as a way to deal with fear. Again, thank you for taking time and read and post. It is genuinely appreciated.
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