These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker


These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker tells Dan's story. Dan was once held captive and tortured on a mysterious mountain. He made it out alive--but he left his brother behind. As the book begins, Dan lives in a small community of escapees. Then memories start coming to the surface for each of them. Those memories all connect them to each other.  At the same time, a wounded woman shows up at Dan's door. The peaceful existence they've all been living doesn't seem to be so peaceful anymore.  What does it all mean for Dan?

Smucker's prose in These Nameless Things is beautiful. This story helped me reflect on forgiveness, shame, grace, and dealing with our own failings.  I picked this book up to start reading it and struggled to put it down. While the story was quite compelling on its own, I had to think to figure out what was actually going on. It is a sort of allegory. As a reader, I could see how the evil one was moving but it is a different story when we are the ones living in the midst of our own story and the fog is thick around us swirling the evil and good thoughts together and sometimes creating confusion. These Nameless Things may also cause you to think and reflect on your own life--like me. This cover has depth and sort of looks 3-D to me--it works great for this rich, deep book. I think these are the best kinds of books and I encourage you to give These Nameless Things a try.

I received a copy of These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

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