Reviewer: Janet Davies
Title: Praying Woman
Author: Marsha Carter
Publisher: Awe-Struck E-books
ISBN: 1-58749-474-0
Release Date: September 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Inspirational
Year/Setting: Present day - West Virginia
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity) Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Marsha's Email: marscrtr AT yahoo DOT com
When Emma gets called back home to Kenova, after a long absence, to attend the funeral of Jean Plymal, she realizes nothing appears to have changed much in the town she once called home. Her Aunts and Uncle still call her ‘Emma Jane’ and their lives are as simple and straight forward as they have always been. The only person that appears to have changed is Emma herself. She is no longer the small town West Virginia girl. She is hardened and disillusioned by her life experience and she is looking for the meaning in her existence.
Jean Plymal, the Praying Woman, was so much apart of the spiritual existence of the small community she lived in. During her formative years in Kenova, Miss Plymal was everything to the young, mistreated and misunderstood Emma. The Praying Woman understood the young Emma better than anyone else. The older Jean, sees her own childhood and experiences through the young Emma. She also sees the untapped power and faith within her. She helps her realize her potential. But it’s not until after Jean’s death that Emma realizes it fully.
Emma starts to realize the parallels between the loves of Jean Plymal and her own life and how their respective childhoods shaped the women they became. Emma, as she starts to walk in Jean’s footsteps, begins to understand the reason behind her actions. She begins to understand the mistakes she has made and will make in her life can be corrected and do not need to be unnecessarily relived.
Praying Woman, to me, is about power. The power of prayer, faith and the power within the individual. It’s not preachy and religious. It’s more that the book is making you focus on one woman’s struggle to let go and channel the power within herself for her own good and others. Everyone is powerful, it’s just a matter of how you use that power.
It’s also a story about family and the people that mean the most to you. Okay, so they maybe weird and at times embarrassing but they are still apart of you and who you are. And maybe, they aren’t exactly the problem. Maybe it’s your own false misconceptions of how people should act or be. The need to accept others for who they are is one of the themes in this book.
It’s not a book to read when you want something light and meaningless. There is great depth to this book. It’s about the search for more in life and exactly how do you allow yourself to let go and find what you need. I think a lot of readers can identify with Emma’s search. I know I did.
All in all, Praying Woman is inspirational. There is a sweet romance and complex characters that I could recognize in my own life. Definitely worth reading when you are looking for a book for something more to give.
Janet
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