Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo
ARC from Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Presss and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
Gabriel Fisher was born an orphan, weighing eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches long. No one in Lakota, Wisconsin, knows what to make of him. He walks at eight months, communicates with animals, and seems to possess extraordinary athletic talent. But when the older brother who has been caring for him dies, Gabriel is taken in by his devout Amish grandparents who disapprove of all the attention and hide him away from the English world.
But it’s hard to hide forever when you’re nearly eight feet tall. At seventeen, Gabriel is spotted working in a hay field by the local football coach. What happens next transforms not only Gabriel’s life but the lives of everyone he meets.
My Review: 4.75 stars
Life, & Death, & Giants by Ron Rindo will be on my favorites list for the year. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to listen to it thanks to Macmillan Audio. It was the title and the cover art that attracted me to this book. I was so curious about what the title meant and if the giant in the book was something literal or abstract.
It’s no secret, and you’ll learn right away that the main character, Gabriel, is real, and that he weighed eighteen pounds at birth. Sadly, he was born an orphan and those in his Amish community have kept his condition pretty localized within their Wisconsin community. Gabriel’s grandparents keep to their strong Amish faith and Gabriel lives on a figurative seesaw of the English world versus the Amish world.
Besides learning about the Amish community and the incredible storytelling, is that this story is told from the point of views of Hannah – Gabriel’s grandmother, Thomas Kennedy – the vet that delivered Gabriel – Billy Walton a local bartender and by Gabriel’s high school football coach. What an amazing way to show how much of an effect Gabriel has on the entirety of his community as well as everyone he meets. Oh, that includes animals as well, he has a profound connection with them.
Surprisingly, Rindo is a noted short story author and this book is his first act in novel writing. I hope he writes more novels and continues to impress readers everywhere. If you’re looking for something different and extremely well written, I’d give this one a try. It’s a story filled with grace, humility, love and grief.
Quotes I liked:
Sometimes, it isn’t where you’re going, but rather what you’re running from that determines where you find yourself.”
“It is the good we leave behind us, she said, that makes a life worth living.”
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