The Visit and Other Short Stories

Published in the UK under the title "The Final Boundary" and in North America under the title "The Visit", this offering from Adrian Plass is a collection of nine short stories he calls "modern parables". Adrian Plass has garnered quite a reputation in Great Britain for his best-selling books, chiefly marked by their inspirational nature, and high humour. This collection of stories is marked more by their serious tone than by their humour. The lengthiest story - "The Visit" - was in fact born while Plass was struggling with an illness in 1984, and the rest of the stories, says Plass, "are parts of my shadow."One doesn't have to read very far to discover that Plass has a unique style of prose and story-telling that is far superior to most contemporary Christian writers. It's captivating, colourful, and convincing. What's more, there's nothing "light" about these stories. Taking his cue from Christ's parables, Plass states that "a parable is a story that entertains at the front door while the truth slips through a side window." By means of his parables, Plass aims to give us more than an entertaining read, but to impart important truths about the Christian faith in the guise of fictional stories: "Each one embodies a truth about living in this complex world, and each has been a hard learned lesson for me."In some cases the "truth" and "lesson" is clearly discernible. Under the guise of a story about climbing Mt. Snowden "A Letter to William" presents a clear warning about calling yourself a Christian but failing to obey Christ, being a hearer but not a doer of the Word. "The Second Pint" features a character who is convinced he is only half-hearted in love for the church, but fully devoted in his love for the world, but is in for a shock when the world rejects him and he is cast into the outer darkness. It is a cleverly reversed warning that those who are convinced that they are only half-hearted in love for the world but fully devoted in their love for the church will find themselves subject to the same fate. "Small World" demonstrates that unlike earthly fathers who forsake their sons, heavenly Father will never forsake His adopted sons, because He already has forsaken His only begotten Son for their sake. And "The Final Boundary" is a treat for cricket fans, since it uses the joys and failures of a final innings in a cricket match to mirror the joys and failures of the Christian life, and illustrate how Christ redeems us from our greatest failures and brings us into eternal glory. The problem with most of the stories, however, is that the truth that Plass aims to impart is far from self-evident, and sometimes rather too hidden. "Nearly Cranfield" is a sensitive and understanding psychological picture of how a child copes with grief after the death of his grandmother, and how his family fails to understand him, but what really is the point? And is the message of the morbid "Why it Was All Right to Kill Uncle Reginald" a warning ab

Every story in this set touches the secret person within us all. I laughed, I wept, I saw myself in so many ways. A must read from the Plass collection. If you don't read it you will truely miss something very special.