All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner

The year is 1967. Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists in the Army and becomes a medic in Vietnam. Annie's mother and father have been separated for years after his return from the Korean war left him with what we now call PTSD that he struggled to deal with. While Mike is gone, her father comes home. She and her younger brother, Joel, and their mother must find a way to pull together as a family in the face of a world that is changing in many ways. All Manner of Things by Susie Finkbeiner is a rich, fascinating story of change and faith in the midst of growing into adulthood.

I am not sure I can pour out everything in my heart after reading All Manner of Things. This book touched my heart and soul. . .and, at one point, I was a puddle of tears. Finkbeiner has written a book so full of real characters that I did feel like I was one of the family living right along side them as they faced changing circumstances all around them. I found myself pulling for all of the characters even a couple of them that I didn't like at first. Finkbeiner helped me see that even they had redeeming qualities. . .seeing them as God would see them. I felt like All Manner of Things addressed several issues of that day. . .and issues that we still struggle with in the world today.  I like how well the faith issues were woven into the book. Nothing felt starchy or preachy. It all flowed together well. She also offered some rich descriptions of the area and of life in a Dutch heritage community. I especially loved this as my husband is Dutch. There isn't a discussion guide in the back of the book, but this book would make a great book club discussion book. It wouldn't be hard to have some good group talks around this book. I highly recommend it.

I received this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.