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Review: Christy by Catherine Marshall

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Clean Fiction, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Christy by Catherine MarshallChristy
Catherine Marshall
Turtleback Books
Published June 27th 2006 (first published January 1st 1967

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Christy
At nineteen, Christy Huddleston left home to teach school in the Smokies — coming to know and care for the wild mountain people, with their fierce pride, terrible poverty, dark superstitions…and their yearning for beauty and truth. But in these primitive surroundings, Christy’s faith would be severely tested by the unique strengths and needs of two remarkable young men — and challenged by a heart torn between desire…and love.

My Review
Christy is one of those books I’ve read probably almost a dozen times. I think I first read it at thirteen or fourteen years old. Most recently I listened to the audiobook version, which I enjoyed, too. I’ve been meaning to actually post a review of it for years, though, since I still talk about it pretty regularly. I’ve mentioned it in several list posts.
So what makes it so special? Wow. Well, I love the spiritual journey. Christy relates her faith in this unassuming, humble way, and it comes across so genuinely. I feel like you could argue that the whole young protégé learning from an older, wiser woman has been done lots before, but for some reason, it never bothered me in this book. I think because it just feels so organic to me. Every time I read the book I get lost in Christy’s journey, and it makes me want to love others more and open myself to a deeper spiritual life.
I love the colorful cast of characters, especially the people of Cutter Gap. Fairlight Spencer, Christy’s best friend in the Cove, and Ruby Mae, with her chattering and adoration for Christy. I always catch myself grinning in the scene about Creed Allen and his raccoon and when the doctor gives Christy a hard time about her overly keen sense of smell.

For me, listening to the story gave me a little more distance, so for the first time I feel like I was able to step back and see the story as a whole a bit more. Usually I’m so caught up in each moment and each relationship that I feel like I don’t get to see the Cove as a whole and the arch of Christy’s journey that first year as a teacher. I still wish there was more to the story. I still cry every time the typhoid epidemic begins. I still get all teary at the end. Every. Time. Can’t help it, I guess.

Maybe because of the age that I was when I first read Christy but I feel like this is a great book for kids in seventh and eighth grade. Certainly it’s a great read for teens and adults alike, but there’s something about those early teen days that make me feel like this story is a great fit for the age. I guess it’s because Christy is very much on the journey toward understanding who she is and how she fits into her larger community, and that journey seems to begin for a lot of people in their early teens.

I absolutely recommend this book. As I’ve said, it’s one of my favorites, and has been for years (let’s not say how many). I love it so much. If you’ve read it and want to chat about it, YES! Let’s. If you haven’t read it, then go read it. And then let’s chat about it! Haha. But yes, read it.

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some brief kissing. Christy attends a Cove wedding at which the bride and groom celebrate with a couple of more crude traditions – descriptions are brief and very vague.

Christy learns about one woman’s past in which she was sexually abused and assaulted by a family friend. Details are vague, but sensitive readers may still find this triggering.

Spiritual Content
Christy volunteers to teach school in Cutter Gap after hearing a missionary speak at her church. She believes she’s been moved by God to be part of the mission school, but learns through her experience at Cutter Gap how little real love and selflessness she possesses on her own. Through mentorship with Alice Henderson, another mission worker, and her experience with the mountain people, she begins to develop a deeper faith and spiritual life which overflows into the way she loves and serves others.

Violent Content
Christy witnesses and deals with some schoolyard fighting in which children get injured, sometimes by bigger kids. A couple of people get shot, one fatally so.

Drug Content
Men create a moonshine still in the Cove, which is against the law. A few scenes show people drinking alcohol or drunk. In one scene, a teen bride and groom drink alcohol with their friends. Christy feels very negatively about this and does not drink alcohol herself except at one point when the doctor offers her brandy “medicinally.”

Five Books I Couldn’t Stop Reading

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In honor of summer’s approach, I wanted to do something a little different today. (A new review will be posted on Wednesday.)

When I was in school, I looked forward to the summer for all the usual reasons. One of my fond memories is taking family vacations with my family. We’d visit my grandparents in rural North Carolina and tube the creek, shop the flea market, hike in the woods and play Nintendo until deep into the night. But one of my most cherished evening activities during those lazy summer trips was reading. I’d often stumble upon an unexpected gem in one of the rundown flea market used book shops. Some of those books I read and reread until my copies came apart. Here are a few of the finds that never left me.


Beauty by Robin McKinley
In a breathtaking retelling of the classic fairytale, McKinley never fails to recapture me with the story of a girl who doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. Even her name, Beauty, isn’t right for her. But when her family is in danger, it’s Beauty who steps forward and volunteers to go deep into the woods to live in the enchanted castle with only the terrible Beast as her companion. In the years since I found this treasure, I returned to it often when I was too sick to get out of bed. Once, I finished the story, turned the book over and began it again.

 

The Maestro by Tim Wynne-Jones
When life at home becomes more than Burl Crow can bear, he flees to the woods. He finds himself following the strange sight of a grand piano dangling from a helicopter and lands on the doorstep of a brilliant conductor and recluse. Their unlikely friendship challenges each to live beyond the small and safe, and though he wants nothing more than to escape his past, he must find a way to face his past before it destroys all the good the Maestro has brought to him. (Does contain moderate language and violence, as Burl’s father is physically abusive. His mother is also addicted to valium.)

 

Christy by Catherine Marshall
A young girl from a prosperous Asheville family volunteers to give up all the comforts of home and journey deep into the poverty of the Appalachian mountains to teach at a mission school in Cutter Gap. Though she feels armed with everything a young woman could need to teach children, Christy learns how far she is from prepared as she faces the horror of disease, ignorance, and deep-rooted family feuds. With her mentor and friend Alice Henderson at her side, she learns to see beauty in the harsh mountain lives. Every time I read this book, Christy’s spiritual journey comes alive for me again.

 

Hawk’s Flight by Carol Chase
Following an attack on a merchants’ caravan, Taverik Zandro discovers that his best friend and partner isn’t the man he claimed to be. In fact, he’s not a man at all. Torn between feelings of betrayal and intrique, Tav agrees to keep young Marko’s secret and join the charade, helping to hide her and her sister from an unknown enemy bent on killing them. But life for Taverik doesn’t stop getting complicated there. As he tries to uncover the identity of Marko’s enemy, word reaches him of a traitorous plot, and he finds himself on the run, soiled by his family’s sordid reputation despite his own commitment to honor. Taverik flees for his life, leaving Marko behind but vowing to find her again. (Be warned: the cover is kind of ugly, but don’t judge! Light language. Mild violence. Excellent spiritual themes.)

 

The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff
As the youngest contestant in the Ernest Bloch Young Musician’s Competition, twelve year-old Allegra spends the weeks of summer before the competition practicing Mozart’s fourth violin concerto. Battling her fingers and her will, she struggles to learn balance between pleasing those she loves and being true to herself. Wolff pulls the story together beautifully toward the climax of the competition. (I can’t speak to content, unfortunately, as I don’t remember this one as well as the others.)

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