Book Review: Lisa Samson's The Sky Beneath My Feet

Having read the Hollywood Nobody series I was looking forward to reading her other novel, The Sky Beneath My Feet. Lisa Samson does have the ability to write characters you get really invested in despite the annoying little bits of cliches she does put into the story. I think one of the biggest mistakes so far I'm seeing in these novels is using objects or trends that people may one day find outdated or don't know the meaning of. Facebook, and Ipods are of course things we know and are familiar with now, but one day those things will be severely outdated, and if you want a novel to be timeless think of it in a timeless manner.

Beth's family feels a little fragmented, so she thinks the best help to it might be going on a month long vacation to Florida with her two sons, and her husband, Rick. Things begin to fall further apart though when her husband is offered another pastoral job in Richmond, Virginia, away from where he currently preaches at The Community. In order to make a decision Rick begins shutting out his family, and everyone and living in a shed to mediate on where he thinks God is leading him. This leaves Beth with two teen boys. Eli who may be involved in drugs, and Jed who is falling in love for the first time. Along with these things Beth is trying to find her own place after growing disgruntled with her routine at the church. She meets a variety of people including activists who introduce her to passion she hasn't witnessed before.


The great thing about the novel is the character development. By the end you really see the change in the characters. You see how Beth has grown mostly stronger, and more dependent. She actually starts out as sort of annoying character. This book does employ a lot of things that are interesting to look at from characters that are into them, like the megachurch. The book never addresses what the exact thought of the main character is on them, but it's obvious they don't want to be apart of it anymore.

Even the little side characters like Holly are interesting in the story, especially since she is the much needed sidekick for Beth. Rick though is truly unlikable for most the book. Maybe some will find some relation in his need to get away from everyone and be alone, but when he committed to having a family he also took on the spiritual role of marriage. The good thing is the book does address this by the end, and seeing how everyone ends up relating to each other after the whole ordeal helps you relieve some of the tension you felt building up from reading.

The book does ramble a little at times, and has sort of cheesy moments. I think eliminating the use of talking about Wikipedia, and Facebook would help tremendously in improving the novel, and I think some companies don't even allow their names to be used in books so freely like that as I never notice them in more mainstream novels either. It adds an element of materialism that the book just doesn't need added to it because though the Christians want to help the worse off they still come off as the Christians looking for a charity case.

The Sky Beneath My Feet has it's moments, but overall kept the interest, and progressed the characters well. You'll be curious as to how they turn out especially if you can see people in your real life really doing these things. Lisa Samson is worth checking out as an author even if it isn't this novel. She does try to grapple with topics that aren't easy to touch, but still makes it work.

Rating 7 of 10

This book was provided by Booksneeze in exchange for a review.