"Courageous: A Novel" Review

My husband and I really enjoyed the movies "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof" so I was excited to see that a new movie from the creators of the previous movies was coming out. Then I saw that a novelization of the movie was available through Tyndale Publishers. I requested this novelization of the movie "Courageous", and Wesley and I read it together.

Because of an event that took place in the book, I was not able to finish it. This is rare for me, as it really bothers me to not finish a book I am reading. But, the main storyline in this book, if I allowed myself to dwell on it, would cause me to be fearful. Continuing with this story would have made me dwell on it, so, Wesley agreed to finish the book and do the review for me.

Here it is:

This is a review of the book “Courageous” by Randy Alcorn, Alex Kendrick, and Stephen Kendrick.  It is an adaptation of the movie that recently came out – from the same group of people who released Facing the Giants and Fireproof.  My wife and I enjoyed both of those movies so we thought we would enjoy reading the book about the third movie.

This book focuses on five guys, four of whom are police officers in Albany, Georgia.  Each of them is a father of various skills and relationships levels.  They range from heavily involved with their families to an ignored one-night-stand.  When tragedy strikes one of them, it affects them all.  Will they turn to God and become the fathers that He wants them to be, or will they decide it is too hard, and risk losing their kids forever?

***SPOILER ALERT*** 

I know, I know.  It is the very first paragraph of my review.  But, I feel it needs to be said.  So, if you don’t want to know the big surprise, skip this paragraph.  I promise the rest will be fine.  Sara and I started reading this book together aloud.  However, about a third of the way through the book, one of the police officers loses his little girl in a car accident.  This was very hard for us to read, and Sara said she couldn’t go on with the book. Novels are not important enough to cause my wife to be fearful, so I agreed to read it for her.  (We don’t watch horror movies for this reason, also.) After having read the book, I don’t think they needed to kill the little girl.  Let her get hurt or be in a coma, but nothing quite so drastic and devastating.  Maybe the writers of the movie were trying to be as extreme as they could be in order to wake people up. I understand that, but I think it was too much.

***SPOILER OVER***

As for the rest of the book, it was okay.  I think this is one of those rare instances where the movie is probably going to be better than the book.  To be fair, this isn’t a book that was turned into a movie.  This was a movie that was turned into a book.  That doesn’t often work out too well. 

There were some very funny moments in this book.  The interactions between one of the police officers and a manual laborer he hired to help with some work around his house were hilarious.  But, the interactions between the rest of the officers felt forced and unnatural.  I kept thinking that people don’t talk like this.  I sometimes felt the same way watching the two previous movies, but it was more awkward reading it in a book.

I will say that I liked the message of the book.  I think it is very important to be a good father to your children.  The fathers in this book agree to a resolution that basically says they are going to be good fathers.  They just touch on the contents of the resolution, but you can purchase the book online that goes into much more detail.  (http://courageousresources.com/individualresources)

Overall, I thought this book was okay.  I agree that I need to be a good father, and I learned some do’s and don’ts from this book, but I think more is needed on my part.  I think that people will probably enjoy the movie more than the book, but I haven’t seen it, so I can’t be sure about that. 

I do know one thing for sure.  If my daughter ever asks me to dance, I definitely will.

I give this book 2.5 bookworms.

I am so appreciative to my wonderful husband for finishing this book for me! And you are an amazing Dad to our daughter!

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received this book free from Tyndale Publishers through their Blog Network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”