“Religious novels make me uncomfortable, so I decided not to write one.”
So reads the first page of Caroline Ferdinandsen’s first novel, The Forecast, available this month from Conversant Media Group. Usually, when any form of media starts out with this type of disclaimer, I am immediately biased against it. Many people who call themselves evangelical Christians are falling all over themselves these days to deny that they are religious.
Honestly, I’m a little sick of it, because usually it’s not true. In fact, it has been my experience that the people who say they’re not religious are among the most religious; they’re religious about not being religious. It’s exhausting. Me thinks thou dost protest too much echoes through the cavern between my ears.
Any misgivings were quickly dismissed, however, as soon as I got into the first chapter. In The Forecast, Ms. Ferdinandsen has succeeded in crafting an alluring tale. The protagonist, Willow Clandon, is a 33-year-old wife and mother, active in her church and community and, by all accounts, devoted to her husband and children. However, Willow is engaged in an internal heart-battle common to many women. While her husband is toiling away all day at a job he loves, sharing jokes and meals out with his co-workers, Willow is overseeing potty training and homework. While Conner is being mentally stimulated and promoted, Willow is brokering sibling spats and failing to achieve perfection as a homemaker. Her marriage to Conner is predictable and their communication is shallow. In short, Willow’s discontentment, boredom, and curiosity are the perfect setup for a modern tragedy.
I am not a married mother in her thirties, but I know many women who are some variation of the consummate “soccer mom.” I have heard confessions of fantasies including everything from flirting with a co-worker to getting in the car and leaving everything – husband, children, house, church, life. The drama of middle-class lukewarm boredom is played out in homes all across America, and this book explores what happens when one such woman gets too close to the fire of temptation.
As the title suggests, each chapter is headlined with a weather forecast, which Ferdinandsen effectively uses to foreshadow the twists and turns of this engaging story. As the drama unfolds, there are many instances when the reader is totally swept into the narrative. Ferdinandsen’s strongest trait as a writer is that she is an excellent storyteller, and while the specific details of her novel’s characters are unique to them, most readers will identify strongly with them on some level.
Going back and forth between childhood memories and present-day circumstances, Willow’s life arouses both empathy and disdain. I predict that for some, reading The Forecast will enable them to experience vicariously through Willow a fantasy that many women have. However, thanks to Ferdinandsen’s mature spiritual insight, they will also experience the fallout from realizing that fantasy, which is what makes this book so important. Many will identify with her, and upon seeing themselves in her story, will be horrified at what they see, both in Willow, and in themselves.
Occasionally, when I am reading a novel where characters face a strong temptation to do something truly dangerous, I experience frequent adrenaline rushes as I read faster, willing the character to walk away. (Sometimes I act like my grandmother when she’s watching her soaps, and talk to the characters aloud. Don’t go there, I say. Don’t take another step! Turn around! Walk away! Flee! Flee! Flee!) It happened while I was reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Poisonwood Bible, and it happened while I was reading The Forecast. The temptation creeps up, and with each page the character moves closer and closer to it. Everything in you wants her to repent, and eventually . . . well, you’ll have to read it to find out what happens. Far be it from me to ruin the surprise.
The Forecast is everything you want a novel to be. Ferdinandsen gives us a cast of well-developed characters whom readers will grow to love, despise, judge, and root for, all at the same time. The story will make readers consider their own way of life, and their way of dealing with their own “weather forecasts.” The journey depicted in the Clandon family is true, painful, redemptive, messy, hopeful, costly, and timeless; readers will know themselves, and possibly God, a bit better by the final page.
The book’s introduction foreshadows the main character’s journey perfectly:
Things were never very sunny until the day I lost my hand… But when the tree branch crashed through the ceiling of heaven during a downpour, snapping both of our limbs in one sick, sovereign gesture, the skies opened up and I found out the world was bright again. Now when I pray, it looks like I’m giving God a high-five. It was the first of many tragedies to rearrange the atmosphere. I watch the sky now for surprises, for the anticipation of salvation, for the beauty of dark, gathering clouds.
If you are still looking for a great summer read, The Forecast by Caroline Ferdinandsen should be on your list.
The Forecast: A Counterfeit Memoir About Everything You Know by Caroline Ferdinandsen is available July 2009 from Conversant Media Group.
