Susie by Ray Rhodes Jr.

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SUSIE by Rhodes Jr., Ray

The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon wife of Charles H. Spurgeon

I've known about Charles Spurgeon my whole life, but I have not known much about him or Susie, so this book seemed like a way to remedy that. I was sucked in at the introduction and first chapter and was sure I would fly through the book. Alas, that is not quite how it worked.

I am not sure how to get my thoughts from my brain to the screen in a kind, coherent manner. I do not like to give anything less than positive reviews, but I feel a little mixed up on this one.  The content was good. Susie was an amazing woman who challenges me in a lot of ways, especially her care of Charles and her sacrifice for the sake of the Lord's work. That is not an easy thing to do. Her care of pastors, in general, was also impressive, especially considering that she suffered a lot through a great portion of her life. Her illness remains unknown, but she didn't have much of a social life for many years.

I think my biggest struggle with the book is personal. I did not like the writing style. Ray can tell a really good story and that is how he started the book and that is what drew me in immediately, but then he switched to a lot of quotes (there are over 30 pages of notes in the back of the book). The story wasn't told in chronological order, more by themes, and yet not even quite that. I'm not sure. I think when I read a story, I want a story. You can throw in a few quotes, I don't mind, but tell me the story in chronological order so that I can follow what happened when. Another thing I didn't like very well was there aren't a lot of stories of things that happened. You read that Charles preached and Susie wrote letters, but what else did they do? There's a bit listed, but not much. And maybe there isn't much known about their daily lives, I don't know.

Like I said, the story of Susie is a good one; it just wasn't quite to my taste in the style of writing. But pick it up, you may enjoy it.

I received this book from Moody Publishers and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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