I found out about The Touch when I randomly typed the Family Christian Bookstore website into Google. Just for something to do. I found a review for this book and it was highly recommended and sounded interesting. And, it was published by Tyndale, who generally have discriminating taste in books. I figured what was the harm in looking it up?
It was much smaller and shorter than I had expected (all the better! I wanted a quick read after all). And that's the backstory.
Synopsis: Andrew Jones was once one of the few surgeons in the world to have that rare, God-given ability called "The Touch." But after failing to save his young fiancee, Faith, at the scene of a car accident, Jones abandons his gift and shuns the operating room. Lara Blair owns a Chicago-based biomedical engineering company developing a surgical tool that will duplicate precisely the movement of a surgeon's hands, reducing or eliminating failed surgical procedures. Lara has pursued the best surgeons in the world to test this surgical tool, and all of them have failed. As Lara pursues Jones's skill for her project, Jones's stubborn resistance cracks, and he begins to open up to her about the wounds that still haunt him. But when Jones discovers the urgency behind Lara's work, he must choose to move beyond his past. As each is forced to surrender secret fears, they are bonded together through the lives of the people Jones serves and by the healing secret that Faith left behind.
Plot: The first thing that struck me when I started reading was that this book was...corny. It had that feel to it that I can only describe as juvenile. The use of dialogue, the sentence structure, the characters, the setting, everything. It just seemed unprofessional. And from a man who wrote screenplays and is a movie director, producer, and songwriter, I guess I was just expecting more.
The plot was a good one, with several interesting and unexpected plot-twists. And how can I not like a book where someone dies in the first chapter? But it was just, well, mostly boring. And sometimes awkward. And sometimes just like 'huh?'
Characters: This is my least favorite part of the review to do. I don't like to take characters apart. But in this book, well, I know why Mr. Wallace is a screenwriter. You can create the action and the words and then leave it to the actors and actresses to add the heart and emotion. But The Touch is a novel - and there are no actors.
Putting lines into your characters mouths and simply telling the reader that the person is smart, gifted, handsome, beautiful, ect. it doesn't do anything. Many, many times, I've had a simply brilliant line to put somewhere, but can't find a character to say it. You can't force-feed people words - even people in books.
The characters in this book had their moments. There were definitely bits and pieces of brilliancy, but bits and pieces don't make a two-hundred and eighty-three page book worth reading. Not even if you throw in a few plot twists.
Likes: The drama was definitely good. The plot twists, as I have mentioned, were pretty well-concealed and caught you by surprise. And there were times when I thought 'Wow. Maybe this guy does know what he's doing.'
The author interview in the back was interesting and even inspiring and it made me soften my harsher view of the book a bit.
Dislikes: Ok, I don't like and can't stand it when authors use twenty-first century vernacular in their books. It sounds immature, breaks up the flow of the dialogue, dates the book like nobody's business, and also makes me cringe. Usage of terms such as "Who da man? You da man!" and "no problemo" and the like are just what you'd expect from the writings of a little kid who doesn't know better. It's juvenile. And even though the book is set in the twenty-first century and that's how people converse every day, I still think it's unacceptable and makes the characters sound childish.
The sentence structure drove me crazy. I don't know how the grammar was supposed to be set up in this book, but paragraph-long sentences split only in the middle by a semi-colon were just hard to read. I found myself stumbling as I read, trying to maneuver my way around the wonky punctuation. The book didn't flow.
The fact that the Christian message (this was published by Tyndale too!), seemed more focused on 'good works done in secret' than any true power of God or salvation through the blood of Jesus. The message seemed to be 'do good things and you'll have peace and joy and hope.' Uhmm, I think not?!?
The unrealistic things that occurred. Ok, I'm not an expert on medical technology, procedures or anything, but some of the things that happened made me think 'I don't think so'. And the fact that Lara can fit Jones perfectly with a tux (keep in mind that he has certain shoulder and waist specifications. Perfect hero alert!) and shoes after she has only seen him once - and this includes having it altered to fit better. *ahem* Yeah...right...
A food fight between two thirty-something professionals? Come on! I rolled my eyes about that in another book I was reading - which also happened to be written by ten-year-old!
I could probably go on and on and bore you (if I haven't already lost you) with more details, but I won't. You all have more important things to do with your lives than read a mile-long rant about a book that isn't even a mile long.
So!
Conclusion: The Touch by Randall Wallace is not a book I would recommend to a friend because it consists of non-believable characterization, grating dialogue, and it's just blah. Boring and juvenile blah. Any book that causes me to roll my eyes and raise my eyebrows as I read is hardly something I would ask anyone else to read.
'Till next time!
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