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Editorial:
"Know Thyself"
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Illiberal Democracy
Alwyn Thomson
From
the Director: Good News People?
David W Porter
Balancing
on the Edge
Tony Davidson
Grateful
to God
David McMillan
Space
& Freedom
David Hewitt
Imaginative
Engagement
Keith Getty
No
longer at ease with this dispensation?
Mike Wardlow
Living
with our deepest differences
Os Guinness
Deep
Questions
Johnston
McMaster
Steady
presence
Cecelia Clegg
No
longer lonely
Joseph Liechty
Something
to give
Ingri Sakaria
Bible
study series: Faith in the future
David
W Porter
Review:
The Elusive Quest, Reconciliation in N I by Norman Porter
Bill
Brown
Review:
Journeying Towards Reconciliation, A Song for Ireland by Ruth Patterson
Lynda
Gould
Review:
Islam in Conflict:Past Present and Future by Peter G Riddell &
Peter Cotterell
Alwyn
Thomson
Review:
The R Option - Building Relationships as a Better Way of Life by
Michael Schluter & David John Lee
Anna
Rankin
Review:
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
Glenn
Jordan
Summer
School Poetry
Various
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 6: Truth
REVIEW:
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
Reviewed by Glenn Jordan
Imagine a man guilty of the most heinous crime. Imagine also this man walking away naked from his crime, remorseful over the depths to which he had sunk, leaving his blood-soaked clothing behind, and changing his name and his life. Changing it so completely that when we meet him in the opening chapter of the book he is almost the perfect man. So perfect, in fact, that female friends who have read the book thought it unlikely and were suspicious from the outset. The men were more willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
Ethan Ford is a craftsman, working patiently with care and attention; a local hero in the volunteer fire department; adored by his young son, loved by his wife and faithful to her. Loyal to his friends and receiving that same loyalty in return.
But he has a dark secret hidden for 13 years, one that author Alice Hoffman reveals in a brutal, violent way, in severe contrast to the opening chapter. After it Ford, or Byron Bell, his given name, is described as "the sort of man who could compartmentalise the different sections of his mind". That same night he seeks to walk away from the compartment which held all that was selfish and cruel and evil. Would that it were so easy.
The world of small town Monroe is turned upside down when his crime is uncovered.
As the story unfolds we observe the reactions of those around him as they come to terms with the secret life of Ethan Ford and the man they have known for 13 years. Who is my Father? Who is my husband? Who is my friend, and consequently, for many of the characters, who am I?
Obviously it is his wife Jorie who struggles most deeply. We are left with the intriguing possibility that there may be circumstances in which remorse for past crimes leads to a transformation of behaviour so dramatic that when confession is made, reconciliation is actually impossible. Or maybe for Jorie it is the fact that to extend him forgiveness for withholding the awful truth of violence in his past, she must also come to terms with something unpalatable in her own character.
In the end, Hoffman doesn't quite draw the characters sufficiently to accurately ascribe motive for their eventual actions. This is particularly true for the men in the story, notably Collie Ford, the son of Ethan and Jorie, and Ethan's best friend Mark Derry. Nevertheless, the dilemma is a real one and quite fascinating and one which led to differing conclusions between male and female friends who have also read the book.
Just how easy is it to walk away from the past? What is the role of the criminal justice system in dealing with crimes of another era, particularly if behaviour has changed in the interim? Is confession always good for reconciliation? Is changed behaviour sufficient evidence of a change in character? Is reconciliation possible without justice?
Blue Diary is certainly not the best book ever written but its subject is intriguing even if the conclusions are quite bleak. As one friend pointed out, the title page of the book quotes Psalm 115:16 and the last sentence speaks of a heaven that is "so far above us we can never hope to reach such heights". We could conclude that all relationships function best with a sprinkling of untruth, the revelation of which would be sufficient to bring them all crashing down. But should we be content with that situation? Are honest, truthful relationships really beyond our grasp?
GLENN JORDAN is Director of Care and Training Services at East Belfast Mission and is a member of the ECONI Board.
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