Book Review
Miriam’s Song
As an avid reader who can, on occasion, devour historical fiction based on known historical individuals, I do also enjoy reading some Biblical fiction. Miriam’s Song by Jill Eileen Smith, is in part the story of Miriam, the older sister of Moses. Spanning decades in the lives of the main characters – and multiple momentous events in the history of the Israelites – this book covers events that truly fit the description of epic, from the perspective of those who lived them.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5
Goodreads Rating: 3 out of 5
Rating Breakdown
Plot: 4 out of 5
Characters: 3 out of 5
Writing Style: 3 out of 5
Personal Enjoyment: 2 out of 5
Synopsis
(From Goodreads)
Miriam and her people have prayed for deliverance from the cruel tyranny of Egypt for generations. She believes her brother is the long-awaited answer to their pleas. But how can the exiled prince-turned-shepherd Moses stand against the most powerful man in the world?
What I Loved
Reading events from the Bible in this fictional format always helps to bring a fresh perspective to those events. While creative liberties are obviously taken, since exact details and the thoughts of the real-life individuals aren’t fully known, I love the way that Biblical fiction gives me the opportunity to pause and consider these events and the way that God worked through them. Miriam’s Song was no different – and it certainly gave me more understanding of what Miriam, her family, and her people must have felt as they prayed and continue to have hope that God would deliver them.
Miriam’s Song highlights a wide range of people from this period in Israel’s history, including some that I wasn’t expecting to have point-of-view chapters. It was also interesting to see how Miriam and the others might have interacted and read about the kinds of events that might have precipitated those that we read about in the Bible. Most importantly, it reminded me of the importance of having faith in the Lord and His plans, even when we do not understand them – and when we wish for faster answers.
What I Didn’t Love
Miriam’s Song spans a huge amount of time, starting from when she is very young, and is nervously awaiting the arrival of her youngest brother. In order to cover all of the major events of her lifetime, the book not only covers many decades, but jumps in time constantly to include all of these key points. Personally, I found this approach, while thorough, to be a bit too exhaustive for a single book, and would have preferred to see it focused on fewer key time periods in her life.
At the same time, while it was definitely interesting to read from other perspectives throughout this book, Moses included, it felt strange to me that Miriam’s point-of-view didn’t seem to hold the vast majority in a book called “Miriam’s Song.” I think that I would have enjoyed it more if the book had spent more time with Miriam and maybe only visited other perspectives for select events.
Read If You Love
- Biblical Fiction
- History-Spanning Epics
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