The Encounter - A Review of a Good Little Book

I read The Encounter courtesy of BookSneeze. At a mere one hundred and forty pages, The Encounter is a quick read. It is advertised as a parable, which I suppose it is, but after studying parables in my church, it is a little simple, even though I thought the ending did catch me a bit off guard. Maybe it's because I've had to live this lesson to learn it, but I wasn't thrilled or overjoyed with the book. I did think it was good and worth the read, but it's simplicity drives the point home in an almost cliche way. I would have been happier with the book if it had left a little more up to the imagination. The basic issue at hand is forgiveness, and the type of story that the book presents seems to have been done before. I did learn, in reading the author's notes at the end of the story, that the other part of the parable was more about uplifting the downtrodden. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do this in our everyday living. Perhaps that's why I missed the point, or perhaps it was in the gift from the rich man to his lowly mother where I missed the point. You would have to think that a wealthy relative would take care of a downtrodden relative, especially in regard to the whole forgiveness part. It would only be in going beyond, perhaps helping a poor stranger, where the parallel to what God does for us every single day, blessing us with His best, would make more sense to me. I don't know. It was a good book. It was a worthy read, but it just didn't measure up to other parable stories I've read before. Perhaps therein lies my disappointment.