REVIEW: “All Manner of Things” by Susie Finkbeiner

About the Book:

✦ Title: All Manner of Things

✦ Author: Susie Finkbeiner

✦ Genre: Historical Fiction (with light faith threads)

✦ Series: Currently a standalone novel

✦ Recommend for: Ages 16/17+

My Personal Rating

4 ⭐️

📖 Synopsis

When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know. 

In Mike's absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike's safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. In the tumult of this time, Annie and her family grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.

💭 My thoughts

“Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. If only we have eyes to see it.”

My heart. That ending wrecked me. 😭

First things first, potential readers should know that this book deals pretty heavily with war, and features deaths of loved ones as well as the main character’s father, having been affected by serving in the Korean War, leaving the family and not being a part of most of her and her siblings’ childhood. So, if you are sensitive to any of those aspects as a reader and/or you prefer perfectly happy endings, this may not be the best fit for you. However, I personally really liked it overall and was deeply moved by many elements.

I highly enjoyed the Michigan setting and charming, vintage 1960s feel, similar to the first book I read by this author. Susie Finkbeiner has such a neat writing style and way of writing characters that you grow to love and want the best for. After I finished reading, I went back and flipped through some of the pages for the next couple of days just because I didn’t want to part with the characters! I will say that a few of the characters reminded me of those from The All American, but the author is so good at writing those particular types of characters, so I didn’t mind too much.

Now, I will give the caveat that there were certain parts and comments that I disliked/made me uncomfortable, and why I would only recommend this to older teen readers. Looking past those things, though, I loved the story itself.

Altogether, I found this to be an emotional coming of age story set in 1960s Michigan with themes of family, war, love, loss, and reconciliation that tugged (more like yanked) on my heartstrings, and is one that I savored and will not soon forget. The Christian faith content was lighter, but what was there was naturally woven in and the story ended with hope amidst brokenness.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy heartfelt historical fiction and tender, family-centered stories set in the 1960s under the backdrop of the heartache of the Vietnam War, with a focus on forgiveness, resilience, and hope. 

“[Jesus] knows our grief and suffering, our sorrow and longing, yet offers us the promise that all will be well. Maybe not today, tomorrow, or for a long time. But someday.”

⚠️ Content

Trigger warnings- War (primarily Vietnam, but Korean is referenced as well), paternal abandonment, and deaths of loved ones.

Other- No language stronger than “biddies”, “golly”, “gee”, “gosh”, “darn”, “jeepers”, “doggone”, & “heck”; Mentions of the Detroit race riots & people (Black and White) being killed in them; Mentions of Martin King, Black rights, hippies, & drugs; Smoking & alcohol; Bullying, gossip, prejudice, & harassment; Allusions to an abusive father (Walt’s dad); Kisses; PTSD/being affected by war.

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Bookishly yours, 

Lottie M