The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon
The Law of Moses
Synopsis:
If I tell you right up front, right in the beginning that I lost him, it will be easier for you to bear. You will know it’s coming, and it will hurt. But you’ll be able to prepare.
Someone found him in a laundry basket at the Quick Wash, wrapped in a towel, a few hours old and close to death. They called him Baby Moses when they shared his story on the ten o’clock news – the little baby left in a basket at a dingy Laundromat, born to a crack addict and expected to have all sorts of problems. I imagined the crack baby, Moses, having a giant crack that ran down his body, like he’d been broken at birth. I knew that wasn’t what the term meant, but the image stuck in my mind. Maybe the fact that he was broken drew me to him from the start.
It all happened before I was born, and by the time I met Moses and my mom told me all about him, the story was old news and nobody wanted anything to do with him. People love babies, even sick babies. Even crack babies. But babies grow up to be kids, and kids grow up to be teenagers. Nobody wants a messed up teenager.
And Moses was messed up. Moses was a law unto himself. But he was also strange and exotic and beautiful. To be with him would change my life in ways I could never have imagined. Maybe I should have stayed away. Maybe I should have listened. My mother warned me. Even Moses warned me. But I didn’t stay away.
And so begins a story of pain and promise, of heartache and healing, of life and death. A story of before and after, of new beginnings and never-endings. But most of all...a love story.
Review:
The Law of Moses is an interesting read. Not quite what I expected going into it but I really enjoyed it. This was my first book from Amy Harmon and I will definitely be reading more. I was looking at some reviews and it seems like some people got caught up on what the genre of this book is and since it wasn't what they expected they had a hard time with the story. Not sure why as I just went with what the story was telling me like I do with all books so...maybe it is that I don't really classify books very much? Maybe it is that I don't read the synopsis right before I read the book usually so I don't really remember exactly what it is about? I don't know. It tripped some people up so if something happening that is unexpected will trip you up that this might not be the book for you. I found it easy to read and figure out what is going on and the slowly revealing what is happening was great.
Moses is a very different character. As Georgia says he is cracked. He was born to a crackhead mom and was left in a basket for someone to find. People started calling him Moses because of that and he was passed around from relative to relative his whole life. He gets in trouble and no one wants to deal with him and his issues. At first you don't really know what is going on with him, what he is doing that is so bad and whatnot, but you can't help but feel for him and like him on some level.
Georgia is intrigued by Moses. When he moves to town to stay with his grandma she tries to get to know him. She has this thing of trying to fix things. She is great at breaking horses so they are able to be ridden and stuff and Moses is kind of the same way. She tries to break him and have a relationship with him, but he is skittish just like the horses. I can see where he would be leery of her since it is like he is a charity case she is working on, but at the same time no matter how hard he tries to push her away she just won't stay away.
As the story progresses you find out more and more about Moses. Moses is so unique that I just loved his story. You feel for him and all that he has been through and it is just really sad. He does figure some things out that help him along the way, but he is just such a tragic figure for me. I just wanted him to have something that would make him happy. He is so kind and special I just want the best for him from the very beginning. From the first you can tell he is not a bad kid he is just in bad situations sometimes. I loved reading him.
Georgia seems really young when the book starts. Younger than she is maybe. The second half of the book she has grown up a lot, but she still is kind of naive. She knows what is going on with Moses and stuff, but she won't acknowledge it. She still just wants to sweep everything under the rug and not talk about it. She had and has a lot to deal with, but she still has some growing to do for everything to work out.
So I really enjoyed this story because it was so different. I loved the way it was written even though the writing didn't make me really connect with the characters as much as I normally would. It was odd as usually I would hate that in a story, but with this one it worked. Some of the things that happened could have been more emotional for me, but the writing didn't make me feel as strongly as I could have but I loved that about it. I don't know why it worked for me, but it did. Such a great read.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★1/2
The Law of Moses is an interesting read. Not quite what I expected going into it but I really enjoyed it. This was my first book from Amy Harmon and I will definitely be reading more. I was looking at some reviews and it seems like some people got caught up on what the genre of this book is and since it wasn't what they expected they had a hard time with the story. Not sure why as I just went with what the story was telling me like I do with all books so...maybe it is that I don't really classify books very much? Maybe it is that I don't read the synopsis right before I read the book usually so I don't really remember exactly what it is about? I don't know. It tripped some people up so if something happening that is unexpected will trip you up that this might not be the book for you. I found it easy to read and figure out what is going on and the slowly revealing what is happening was great.
Moses is a very different character. As Georgia says he is cracked. He was born to a crackhead mom and was left in a basket for someone to find. People started calling him Moses because of that and he was passed around from relative to relative his whole life. He gets in trouble and no one wants to deal with him and his issues. At first you don't really know what is going on with him, what he is doing that is so bad and whatnot, but you can't help but feel for him and like him on some level.
Georgia is intrigued by Moses. When he moves to town to stay with his grandma she tries to get to know him. She has this thing of trying to fix things. She is great at breaking horses so they are able to be ridden and stuff and Moses is kind of the same way. She tries to break him and have a relationship with him, but he is skittish just like the horses. I can see where he would be leery of her since it is like he is a charity case she is working on, but at the same time no matter how hard he tries to push her away she just won't stay away.
As the story progresses you find out more and more about Moses. Moses is so unique that I just loved his story. You feel for him and all that he has been through and it is just really sad. He does figure some things out that help him along the way, but he is just such a tragic figure for me. I just wanted him to have something that would make him happy. He is so kind and special I just want the best for him from the very beginning. From the first you can tell he is not a bad kid he is just in bad situations sometimes. I loved reading him.
Georgia seems really young when the book starts. Younger than she is maybe. The second half of the book she has grown up a lot, but she still is kind of naive. She knows what is going on with Moses and stuff, but she won't acknowledge it. She still just wants to sweep everything under the rug and not talk about it. She had and has a lot to deal with, but she still has some growing to do for everything to work out.
So I really enjoyed this story because it was so different. I loved the way it was written even though the writing didn't make me really connect with the characters as much as I normally would. It was odd as usually I would hate that in a story, but with this one it worked. Some of the things that happened could have been more emotional for me, but the writing didn't make me feel as strongly as I could have but I loved that about it. I don't know why it worked for me, but it did. Such a great read.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★1/2
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