Review of The Legacy of Job's Wife

[Satwik Mohanty]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Legacy of Job's Wife" by Cynthia Koelker.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Legacy of Job's Wife by Cynthia Koelker is a book of fiction that has a different take on the biblical book of Job. If you are familiar with the story of Job, this book tells the same story but from a different perspective. It is from the view of Job's wife, Ix'sies. The one who is not understood well in the original story. It sheds more light on her upbringing and gives a proper definition of her character. Like the story of Job, this book tells the story about the survival of faith in God during times of tragedy.

The story begins with Ix'sies narrating her life, right from her birth. Job and Ix'sies were childhood friends and grew up together in the city of Uz. They both had loving parents and siblings. Job's family was very religious and so was he. Ix'sies, not belonging to a religious family, failed to grasp the understanding of God. She gets confused and often wonders over the idea of a supreme bring. During their childhood, they both grow feelings for one another. As they grow old, the distance between them grows as Job gets to work with the town magistrate. They see less of each other. Ix'sies feels that he may never marry her.

They eventually get married and are blessed with children and wealth, and live their best life. Then, tragedy hits. They lose all of their property, and all of their children are dead. Job's health starts to deteriorate. Ix'sies struggles a lot and gives up all hope when everything goes against them. Even their friends go against them in their time of despair. Then, a miracle happens. Job has a vision of God and slowly gets his health back. Eventually, Ix'sies also heals, and her faith in God increases. Their wealth and family grow double-fold. In the end, they create a play to spread their story, to never lose faith in God.

The idea of the whole book, to tell the tale of Job from his wife's perspective, is what piqued my interest in this book. She is a character that is not well understood and is often perceived as an antagonist. The author does an admirable job at giving more depth to her character and show us her complete story. And then it was the characters. All the characters portrayed in the tale have a proper role and do it perfectly. Job and Ix'sies parents and siblings play a crucial role in shaping their character. The interactions between them are what made this story complete. Finally, it was the writing itself. The writing style of the author was simple and elegant. The book was easy and tempting to read. And it was also professionally edited. Except for some minor errors, I could not find any mistakes in this book.

The only thing that disappointed me was the events following their tragedy. While their childhood and married life were very detailed, their recovery from their loss did not get much exploration. I would have liked to see more of how they recovered from their misfortune. But this reason is not enough to affect my overall rating of this book. I would still rate it 4 out of 4 stars.

All in all, The Legacy of Job's Wife is a perfect read for anyone religious and open-minded. Besides the spiritual aspect, the story itself is a brilliant story of love and loss on its own. I can easily recommend it to anyone having an interest in Christian fiction. Also, people who enjoy a good romantic story will find this book compelling. Its primary theme is derived from the biblical book of Job, so atheists may have a hard time figuring the morals of this story. It also contains scenes of animal sacrifice. Reader's discretion is advised.

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The Legacy of Job's Wife
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[D G M]

The author does a wonderful job at telling the story from a different perspective. All the characters in the book are well defined. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[GYRO]

I agree. This book does justice to the character of Job's wife. And I like how the story is said from the beginning.

[Satwik Mohanty]

The author does a wonderful job at telling the story from a different perspective. All the characters in the book are well defined. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Yes, the whole idea of telling the story from Job's wife's perspective is what bought my interest in this book. Thanks for stopping by!

[Satwik Mohanty]

I agree. This book does justice to the character of Job's wife. And I like how the story is said from the beginning.

Indeed it is. Job's wife is often misunderstood and hated in the main story. This book does a lot to justify her character. Thanks for stopping by!