ABOVE ALL EARTHLY POWERS

Songs in the Night Series

Jack Cavanaugh

Bethany House Publishers

ISBN 0-7642-2309-7

May 2004

Inspirational

I must begin my review by stating that I have never read a Cavanaugh novel, including the two which precede "Above All Earthly Powers". I wish I had read them, as they might have made this final book in the series more enjoyable.

The novel is set in post-World War II Germany, the Russian Sector, more precisely, which would eventually become the German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany. The central characters are Mady, a beautiful, bitter and disenchanted woman; her daughter, Elyse, a young woman of 21 during the focal point of the story; and Lisette, Mady’s best friend from before the war until long after the Wall has crumbled.

Mr. Cavanaugh is an apt storyteller, however, I suspect the story was completely told, in the first two novels, if ever there was a story to tell. The characters of "Above All Earthly Powers" are somewhat one-dimensional: There is Mady, the strong, hard-to-convince one; Lisette, the good one; Elyse, the young and innocent one; Konrad, the broken one, Park, the wronged one, and Willie, the evil one. The characters never deviate in complexity or tone from their archetypal mission, and the result is a somewhat predictable character for each.

What I could never have predicted, nor ever would, was the plot line. The plot has this group of people, all but the first three women reunited by chance, drawn together to free five socially outcast young adults first from the Nazis, and then, years later, from the Communists. This was the dream of Mady’s slain husband, and the reason each of them continue to go on. This is an interesting plot, no?

What is not interesting is the solution the author dreams up to foil the all-seeing totalitarian regime from thwarting their escape attempt. It is not interesting; it is a violation of the trust the reader gives the author when he or she agrees to accompany the author on his trip through the imagination. The scheme was unrealistic to the point of being insulting.

I learned little about life in Communist Germany, aside from long lines, snuffed liberty and drab housing. I learned little about how life went on for everyday people. I did learn more about the “physical plant” of the Wall, but not much about how the government sold its existence to the people.

As for this being an Inspirational novel, I found little inspiration in the book, other than the weak refrain of the need for forgiveness, which was completely drowned out by the ridiculousness of the story line.

As I said at the beginning of this review, had I read the preceding two novels, the characters may have been a bit more fleshed out. That being said, if they can’t stand on their own in the third book, it need not be written. Cavanaugh is very capable of stringing words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters together in an engaging fashion. I simply wish he had filled them with something I could believe in.