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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
I knew I wanted this book when I first saw it was available. Camille Fronk Olson is one of my favorite LDS authors and Elspeth Young is my favorite LDS artist. So a book by the two of them focused on Women of the Old Testament? I was very pleased when my in-laws bought it for me for my birthday.
Each chapter focuses on a woman from the Old Testament, each chapter is accompanied by a painting by Elspeth Young (at the end of the book, Young explains her paintings and why she painted them the way they did). One thing I like about Olson's writing is she expects you to be studying it in the scriptures as you read her commentary. She also points out so much -- what was going on at the time, what different texts and commentaries add to the story, what we can learn from it.
I learned a lot from this book. Be warned, though, it doesn't cover all of the women of the Old Testament, just a few (10 or t12 maybe), but wow! those she covers are covered in detail.
The preface referenced another book these two women are collaborating on that will focus on women in the Savior's lineage. I am excited for it to come out!
Each chapter focuses on a woman from the Old Testament, each chapter is accompanied by a painting by Elspeth Young (at the end of the book, Young explains her paintings and why she painted them the way they did). One thing I like about Olson's writing is she expects you to be studying it in the scriptures as you read her commentary. She also points out so much -- what was going on at the time, what different texts and commentaries add to the story, what we can learn from it.
I learned a lot from this book. Be warned, though, it doesn't cover all of the women of the Old Testament, just a few (10 or t12 maybe), but wow! those she covers are covered in detail.
The preface referenced another book these two women are collaborating on that will focus on women in the Savior's lineage. I am excited for it to come out!
Educational. And don't get me wrong, some of Olsen's byuspeeches are my favorites. But I feel like the book played favorites and left out a lot of people I wanted to know about(Ruth, Esther, Rahab). Also I felt like there were a lot of blondes... And, don't get me wrong, I love blondes. But I'm pretty sure that everyone in the Old Testament wasn't blonde and, if they were, their hair/appearance was a bit more gritty than that. :)
This book wasn't quite what I had expected at first--many of the LDS books which feature paintings that I read are sort of generically spiritual and upbeat. This one was full of scriptural and historical detail. Once I recovered from my surprise, I dug in and loved it. I read the scriptures cited and took reams of notes. I was very interested in the stories included from the Jewish Talmud--although we as Saints don't necessarily believe this source was inspired, there is still a lot of fascinating material there and I've always been fascinated by what was there. This would make a fantastic companion to scripture study for the course of study this year (2010) and a good complement to the other study materials I have for this year.
I especially appreciated, in the paintings that accompany this book, that the women were portrayed just as one of us--good but in many ways ordinary women, definitely NOT "Hollywood"--who happen to have had enough faith to partner with the Lord in making something of their lives.
I especially appreciated, in the paintings that accompany this book, that the women were portrayed just as one of us--good but in many ways ordinary women, definitely NOT "Hollywood"--who happen to have had enough faith to partner with the Lord in making something of their lives.
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Really great portions of writing and beautiful paintings, but the historical context sections sometimes dragged on.
Interesting and dense. I didn't finish it because I had a digital copy, time ran out, and this is not a vacation read (for me).
This book has a great deal to recommend it, but it has some failings, too. It seemed to me that Dr. Olson struggled to decide just what kind of book she wanted it to be and, rather than leave something out that might be of worth, she ended up including almost everything.
The paintings are beautiful, though as others have mentioned, sometimes the models are a bit too blond-haired and blue-eyed for me to believe in their strict historical accuracy. I liked Elspeth Young's section at the end where she describes each painting and the symbols within them - I wish that those notes had been placed right next to the artwork instead of in an appendix. Numerous maps, photographs and sketches all aid the reader in picturing the events described and the lives of those mentioned in the Old Testament.
Dr. Olson balances her subjects well including well-known women such as Eve and Sarah, lesser-known women like Huldah and Abigail, and unnamed women like the little maid who inspires Naaman to seek help from Elisha. I appreciate that Dr. Olson draws from not only the Bible but also from archaeological discoveries, historical research and other authoritative texts like Josephus's history, Jewish Midrashim, and the Septuagint, to fill in the cultural and political context that modern readers often miss.
Dr. Olson puts an amazing amount of historical detail into the book, sometimes a bit too much. A lot of the information is valuable, but there was frequently so much that it weighed the prose down and made the book seem more like a textbook than I wanted. Every section had lengthy tangents that distracted from the woman or women at the heart of the chapter - and I'm not talking about the relevant historical context Dr. Olson provided that helped to put the women and their actions in proper perspective. There was also quite a bit of supposition that I found annoying after a while. A couple of times I was really confused at the leaps of logic she seemed to make - her conclusion or guess didn't seem to be supported in the text at all.
The weakest parts for me, though, were when Dr. Olson left the realm of historical fact or even educated guess and wandered into inspirational territory. I'm sure she's a great teacher and maybe it comes across better in person, but it just seemed "preachy," like she was trying too hard to force spiritual connections with these Old Testament women on her readers. Their stories are already incredibly inspiring - we don't need to be beat over the head to recognize how uplifting they are. Just present the information well and trust us to make the connections ourselves, m'kay?
Having read this book straight through, I would recommend it instead as a complement to your Sunday School reading or personal study. I think most of the flaws would be less noticeable that way, and you'd still gain the helpful information that would increase your appreciation for these amazing women.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
The paintings are beautiful, though as others have mentioned, sometimes the models are a bit too blond-haired and blue-eyed for me to believe in their strict historical accuracy. I liked Elspeth Young's section at the end where she describes each painting and the symbols within them - I wish that those notes had been placed right next to the artwork instead of in an appendix. Numerous maps, photographs and sketches all aid the reader in picturing the events described and the lives of those mentioned in the Old Testament.
Dr. Olson balances her subjects well including well-known women such as Eve and Sarah, lesser-known women like Huldah and Abigail, and unnamed women like the little maid who inspires Naaman to seek help from Elisha. I appreciate that Dr. Olson draws from not only the Bible but also from archaeological discoveries, historical research and other authoritative texts like Josephus's history, Jewish Midrashim, and the Septuagint, to fill in the cultural and political context that modern readers often miss.
Dr. Olson puts an amazing amount of historical detail into the book, sometimes a bit too much. A lot of the information is valuable, but there was frequently so much that it weighed the prose down and made the book seem more like a textbook than I wanted. Every section had lengthy tangents that distracted from the woman or women at the heart of the chapter - and I'm not talking about the relevant historical context Dr. Olson provided that helped to put the women and their actions in proper perspective. There was also quite a bit of supposition that I found annoying after a while. A couple of times I was really confused at the leaps of logic she seemed to make - her conclusion or guess didn't seem to be supported in the text at all.
The weakest parts for me, though, were when Dr. Olson left the realm of historical fact or even educated guess and wandered into inspirational territory. I'm sure she's a great teacher and maybe it comes across better in person, but it just seemed "preachy," like she was trying too hard to force spiritual connections with these Old Testament women on her readers. Their stories are already incredibly inspiring - we don't need to be beat over the head to recognize how uplifting they are. Just present the information well and trust us to make the connections ourselves, m'kay?
Having read this book straight through, I would recommend it instead as a complement to your Sunday School reading or personal study. I think most of the flaws would be less noticeable that way, and you'd still gain the helpful information that would increase your appreciation for these amazing women.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
