Book: Son of the Underground

Today's Blog Post is driven by the deadline on Kregel's Blog Tour Program, which also provided the free copy of the book for this review. There is no demand that the review turn out any specific way, only that it turn out within a specified time frame.

Next Sunday, June 17, is Father's Day here in America. Many people will celebrate the positive impact that fathers have on their children. Others will challenge fathers to step up and be more positive in the lives of their children. Alongside that, we will lament fathers who are not active in the lives of their children.

Yet we would do well to consider the story found in today's book, Son of the Underground. This is the short autobiography of Isaac Liu. Isaac's father is Brother Yun, a Chinese pastor whose story is told in the book The Heavenly Man. No, I have not read that book.

The story begins with the fact that Liu's father was absent at his birth. In fact, he did not meet his father face-to-face until he was four. Many of us who live in comfort here would condemn a man for fathering a child knowing that would happen, but we do not live where they did.

This book tells the story of Isaac Liu's growing up not simply with one father, who was often imprisoned and tortured for disagreeing with the state, but growing up with the collaborative influence of the underground church in China.

It is an easy, linguistically, book to read. The chapters are short and definitely bear the marks of someone who is not a native English speaker. After all, we are more inclined to run-on sentences than we ought to be. However, the book is well-presented.

The material is challenging. For anyone who thinks that ideas do not have consequences and one form of government is as good as any other, they should examine this text. If a society is measured by how it treats individuals, then many questions are raised here that deserve an answer. The most uncomfortable for me is this: what benefits do I receive from doing as much business in China as I do? After all, 50% of what I own was made there.

This book would be accessible for teens and up, and should be considered by any believer in that age bracket. It is going on the reading list for our homeschooled children and will likely be part of the illustration for my Father's Day sermon this year.

Doug

Note: yes, I got the book for free in exchange for writing a review. However, if you want ad copy, go to Kregel. This opinion is entirely my own.