Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas

I think that perhaps it's me, but the book took a bit of a slow start and I didn't like the beginning. I generally don't like mining books because they're hard to relate to (never lived in a mountain before) but this one was really good. In a way, it's a glorified collection of short stories but the way it was weaved together made it much better than that.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a really quick read and it really appealed to one's emotions. The book dealt with a lot of hardship and pain but it didn't overplay it or make it seem like such a terrible thing. I mean it is a terrible thing, but it didn't use it for emotional ammo like some other books would. It was pretty upfront about it and I think that's what appealed to me about it.

I liked the narrative style because it was pretty circular (old stories taking a part in the beginning, etc.) and not all the stories had a happy ending, which created a sense of realism. It was all the more interesting because some of the people were still living and took part in the present-day narrative form of it (like Martha and Charlie Grove). I thought that this book could be a movie but I don't think it'd make a good one, honestly. The stories themselves are interesting, but to see it play out at a movie theater is less interesting. But that's simply because I prefer movies with more action.

The style was simple enough to be an easy read but it was also descriptive so that you'd be able to imagine what the place looked like and the actions of the characters.

Overall a very good read. I'm not too sure of the academic qualities of it (perhaps motifs of prayer and story-telling?) but in the end it was really good. Definitely would recommend to others.