Child of God

[CrimsonTide4]

I definitely agree with the sins of the father. The whole time I was reading I was thinking of family curses, generational curses, i.e. the Kennedy family.

When Ophelia told Javier all about her family, she begin to sever the ties to pain and the dysfunctional chains that overwhelmed her. Her past with Lay no longer choked her and she felt free to love her husband.

I think FAMILY SECRETS were the ruination of this family.

The power of this book is that it is real.

What did you think of the continued FIRE in the book?? That was deep. Out of the ashes, rises the pheonix so to speak. Fire is a very powerful tool in literature. Fire leads to rebirth and growth.

[Professor]

What did you think of the continued FIRE in the book?? That was deep. Out of the
ashes, rises the pheonix so to speak. Fire is a very powerful tool in literature. Fire leads
to rebirth and growth.

Now you are working with me - - - Your words are true. I think the fire represents the evil/sin that we each live with. As you said, from the ashes is a rebirth. There were three fires and all claimed that the curse caused the fires which is symbolic of the evil/sin/secrets. But the fire was finally smothered to burn no more when the good, the truth was recognized.

[novella000]

Yes, I would have to agree with you both regarding the fire.

I kind of looked at it in a different light, but along the same lines.
There were some Biblical undertones to the fire as well... The death of the baby Hamlet. I like to refer to it as a sacrifice. If you are familiar with the Old Testament of the Bible, you will see what I mean.

You know how in the Old Testament, sin was carried from generation to generation via bloodline... To regain the favor of God, a burnt sacrifice of an innocent lamb had to be offered before the people... Hamlet was that sacrifice.

But once the "savior" (TRUTH in the story) came life could begin... just as the Bible tells. But upon the arrival of the savior, those who didn't submit and get their act together and acknowledge the TRUTH (or the Savior, however you wanna view it) were to be taken in the fire.

Looking even further back, if you recall the story of Noah and the Ark, the earth was first cleansed with water... After the cleansing, everything was pure. I view the occurrences between Walter and Grace in the same fashion.
Walter's father had committed some grave sins, and hid from them with hatred and lies. His children could have been the end of that, but he would not allow love and truth to cleanse him.
Walter and Grace knew that their love was pure, and that was the only truth they knew, waaaaayyyy back in the day when Walter used to "bathe his angel." That was the last time any truth had prevailed in that family, we all know that it was downhill from there. If Walter's father had been able to handle that situation in a loving manner and guide his children, all of the future situations we read about may have ben averted.
God promised that the next time fire would be His choice cleanser... Same way with the Martins and the Botens.
What do you folks think?
I have some more things I've been thinking about... I'll be back.

[skywalker20_99]

I have read and loved all of Lolita Files' books. Child of God is SO different from anything else she has written. Where her other books were very comical, Child of God is very dark and painful. Her writing is evolving a great deal. The imagery in Child is SO VIVID (reminds me of BeBe Moore Campbell's "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine"). I'll be waiting for her next book!!!

[Imperial11]

Originally posted by skywalker20_99
I have read and loved all of Lolita Files' books. Child of God is SO different from anything else she has written!!!

This book was WAAAAAAY different from anything she's ever written. It was so good and deep, to say the least.

[Aislynn]

I read the book and it was AWESOME!!!!!

[aprilzeta]

This was my first Lolita Files Book, but I must say it was excellent. It would be a great discussion piece in a literature class. I agree with all that is said. The imagery was remarkable. In some ways the themes in this book reminded of the themes in Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory. I may be wrong, but I felt that Coolie, Walter and Ophelia, had to RE-MEMBER their spirits in order for them to move forward. Like Professor,
said, "Until the last chapter where the character confronts her fears and begins to love, trust and more importantly cleanse herself of her pass and accept the imperfections of those that were part of her life.I should also add the father found happiness by finally expressing that he was actually the father and admitted he was gay. He also found truth when his uncle/aunt (lol) told the history of his father, Coolie realized what was important to her and pursued her only true love." Again, this was part of a RE-MEMBERING process.