Into the Fire

Eric Yoshida is the protagonist you love to hate. And yet Gina Holmes manages to keep just enough appeal for the open-minded and fair reader to hold out hope for him. That appeal is borne out of a character that rings so true, it's impossible (for me anyway) not to care about his pathetic situation, state of mind, and reasons for his decisions, both short term and long. Dry As Rain, published by Tyndale Fiction, is Gina Holmes' second novel, and, as with her first one, she nails it. And by that I mean she captures the nuances of so many things that go wrong when two people who love each other forget how to communicate their heartfelt desires or quit trying to understand each other's motivations.

Eric Yoshida and his wife Kyra have managed to stay married for 20 years after falling head over heels in love. Their son Benji has joined the Navy, a lifelong dream, but is being dismissed because of a medical problem. Eric and Kyra have separated due to a discovered email between Eric and an attractive young co-worker when Kyra suffers a bit of amnesia due to a car accident. After speaking with her doctor at the psychiatric hospital to which she's been transferred, Eric wonders just how much of their current marital status she remembers.

Written from Eric's first person POV, I'm fairly sure some women who read this novel worked up a full-on hate for the man because of his choice in Chapter Two. We follow Eric's response to his wife's amnesia filled with his fear and then hope and ending with regret. That regret spreads out and overwhelms him like a slow-moving toxic algae. He pretends to be a man of faith, but eventually he's forced to look at himself through the window of truth, and all he really sees is failure in multiple areas. Unworthiness. His vindication has always come from his success at work where he's made enough money to provide a comfortable living with the opportunity for advancement to make even more.

Kyra epitomizes the angry wife who fails to understand her husband's motivations and misinterprets his actions and efforts for improving their lives. Eric typifies the goal-oriented, work-driven male who needs to excel to prove his manhood. When angry wife feels neglected and personally affronted by her husband's "selfish" ambitions, and neglected husband seeks affirmation and attention from the wife he loves but doesn't receive it, spontaneous combustion explodes an aching marriage into full-blown injury. The result is far too typical in many marriages.

Gina Holmes took a huge risk when she wrote this from Eric's POV and especially since the first of the dual-climaxes in the novel really happens in Chapter Two. I don't know how anyone can't appreciate Gina's voice and insights. She's fast becoming a favorite of mine. Maybe it's because she doesn't pull any punches when constructing her characters. They're real. They're frail and flawed. In Dry As Rain Eric Yoshida suffers from a phony faith and a sometimes self-absorbed personality because of an innate struggle with unworthiness manifested as a kind of weak pride. Some of that struggle is steeped in his lack of knowledge of his father and his mother's disdain for the man who left her and Eric when he was a child. Although he has a good relationship with his step-father, the residual emptiness of not knowing the man who gave him his genes takes its toll in more ways than one.

Besides some good characterizations of the main and peripheral characters, there's some mighty slick writing going on in this novel, perhaps especially in the dialogue. Good stuff. My least favorite character is Kyra mostly because like so many women who've experienced the unfaithfulness of their husbands, they can't see beyond his failure to take an honest look at how they might've contributed to it. And I'm not talking about a chronically adulterous mate. I'm talking about the Eric Yoshidas in this world who truly love their wives but fail them trying to find a successful life for their families without embracing the One who can truly make it so.

Real but background faith issues addressed in this novel result in a satisfactory contribution to the meaningful ending of this story. If you want to read an honest look at the damage incurred by two people who love each other but fail themselves and each other, the importance of friendship, the value of understanding real parenthood, and the freedom of finding truth and forgiveness, Dry As Rain will bless your soul.

Father, your love for Gina is unsurpassed. She's your girl, and you've brought her through trial and pain and rewarded her perseverance and faithfulness. Please continue to bless her with stories that people need to read. Love on her, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.