Songbird

Once again Lisa Samson was unafraid to tackle a murky subject, this time depression. To medicate or not to medicate, that is the faith question. She writes so honestly and right where we live, yet does it with a lot of style.

this is a wonderful book. Myrtle Charmaine Whitehead Hopewell is a lady every woman should know. She's someone you could put on your houseshoes with and eat food with your hands. Her life has been hard, jagged even. Yet Charmaine still manages to love, despite being abandoned by her pretty waitress mother at age eleven or a string of other tragedies that follow every time she tries to care, to stay. Her love is preserved in part by a special gift, tied up with a bow and placed in her throat by God himself, the voice of a songbird. Lisa Samson never ceases to amaze me with the quiet strength her characters possess as they erase the lines between secular and sacred bringing the reader to a better understanding of humanity as a whole. So many times in this book, I saw something of myself or people I know. No wonder this won a Christy Award. It's magical.

SONGBIRD reads both like a Southern folk poem and a motor home drive on a windy, bumpy road headed for a river baptism. A skilled writer, Lisa Samson pulls the reader into a waif's world and wills you to care what happens to her. Full of fresh explosions of insight.

Lisa Samson has written some great books, but this is by far her best. In this books, she touches on several themes. One, Charmaine, the main character, is struggling with her mother's abandonment and her desire to find a home. Second, this book deals with mental illness, such as depression and schizophrenia. Lisa Samson is a Christian writer. Yet, through her book, she expresses that it is OK to get help for mental illness, and that depression, etc. is not because you are weak or have a sin problem. The church has a misunderstanding on what mental illness is about, but she disposes of the myths in her book. This book is one of the best I've read on the subject of depression (also, read Karen Kingsbury's "When Joy Came to Stay".)Lisa has a way of creating well-developed characters with depth and who are multidimensional. Some Christian writers create "goody-goody" characters, but Lisa creates characters that are easy to relate to and who aren't perfect. You couldn't help but love Mrs. Evans, Grandma Min, Grandma Sara, Ruth, and some of Charmaine's other friends. And you can't help but hate people like Richard, Grace, and her parents. And of course, you end up feeling sorry for Charmaine's mother.Lisa writes with such depth, and is so easygoing in her books that I feel like I hearing my best friend talk to me. She also sprinkles humor throughout the book.

This book really made me think about alot of things. Ms. Samson has a great way of making her characters seem real and they are easy to come to love. I am a big fan of Ms. Samson, and will be on the lookout for other books as they come out. I enjoyed it greatly.