"Ordinary Grace" is an extraordinary novel

Usually, I'm not one to re-read books. I can count the number of novels I've re-read and barely get to double digits. There are exceptions, of course. I read Hemingway's "A Movable Feast" at least three times and "Catch 22," "Cold Mountain" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" (and others) twice. But it's not my habit.

I've just finished a re-read of "Ordinary Grace" by William Kent Krueger. I can't remember how I stumbled across this novel, but I'm so glad that I did. When I first read it, I was enthralled at how the author captured the world of a young boy in 1961. This narrator deals with issues no 13-year-old should have to contend with: marital conflict, bullies, deceit, sexuality, senseless deaths, love, arrogance, faith, sibling relationships and more. You could say this is a "coming of age" novel, but it's more than that. Young Frank is in many ways as mature and beguiling as Scout in "Mockingbird," but the plot is very different.

The bottom line in this narrative is the prevalence of spiritual grace — the concept of divine love embodied in undeserved reward. Frank's father is a minister, a tortured man whose wife is drifting away from him, whose life is darkened by wartime memories and guilt but who finds solace in religion and serves three small churches at once.

I loved the title of this novel because it shows that grace, the divine expression of God's love, can be found in ordinary things, and in extraordinary things. It is grace that helps the Drum family and other characters recover from deep emotional wounds and from tragedies that unexpectedly befall them. Although "Ordinary Grace" certainly carries a Christian message, it is not a fundamentalist or sin-and-damnation message. Krueger inserts his religious messages in the uncertainties of life and the pain of living in an imperfect world filled with free will and wrong decisions.

It was not until my second reading of this book that I noticed the term "ordinary grace" used near the end of the book to describe the "miracle" of Frank's younger brother, Jake, offering a public prayer without stuttering — a feat he had never been able to accomplish before. His clearly enunciated prayer was just an "ordinary grace" before a meal for scores of people, but it was also a manifestation of divine grace, a miracle cure for his speech defect.

Krueger offers no glimpses of heaven, no voice of God on some dusty road, no suddenly transformed lives. He does provide numerous examples of ordinary grace in the changes in relationships and lives and in the triumph of love over hatred and spite. More than 30 years ago, I took a college course titled "Theology in Modern Literature." The texts included Flannery O'Connor short stories and novels by Albert Camus and others. "Ordinary Grace" would be an excellent addition should this class ever be offered again.

This is an affirming book, affirming the importance of faith and love and affirming the subtle, unexpected grace of God.