The Stones by Eleanor Gustafson (Book Review)

Title: The Stones

Author: Eleanor Gustafson

Publisher: Whitaker House

Genre: Historical Christian Fiction

Available: Now

Reading for: First Wild Card Tour



First sentence: I dreamed of Goliath last night, strangely enough, considering it was Joab, David's general, who died yesterday.



From the book cover:

With comprehensive detail and flowing prose, Eleanor Gustafson crafts the retelling of King David's life--from his teenaged anointing to his death--as seen through the eyes of Asaph, a Levite musician.



Fictional in scope, yet with amazing scriptural accuracy, The Stones provides a revealing, behind-the-scenes glimpse into biblical history with all the twists, turns, thrills, and romance of the world's great drama.



You will be there as:

• A young teen collects stones to take on a giant.


• A prideful rebel takes count of his fighting men.


• A fallible leader succumbs to lust, temptation, and deceit.


• A poet and musician grows closer to God through prayer and worship.


• A man after God's heart discovers the unfailing love and forgiveness of his Creator.

The Stones is an epic adventure of man's innate need to worship God and rely on Him for strength--and how badly it can go when he fails to do so.

I loved reading this book and am glad that I had this opportunity. It was wonderful to be able to read about King David in a chronological fashion. Even though the details and possible motivations for some of the story has been created to fill it out - you can trust that it still followed scripture. The fact that David was a 'man after God's heart' was evident, but it also showed David as a man with struggles much the same as you or I.

Sometimes I find it hard to read the Bible because the chronology often isn't there and, depending on the translation, it can be hard to understand. It is fun to read about it as if it were a fictional drama - knowing that it was not! I am in a study of Psalms 119 right now - this Psalm is thought to have been written by David because of some of the verses. After reading The Stones, I was able to see some different instances in the Psalm were I think it absolutely sounded like something that David was going through - like in this instance with this passage from page 91:

Hear my prayer, O God;

Listen to my words.

Strangers attack me;

Ruthless men seek my life.

Surely God is my help,

The one who sustains me.