[courageous] book review

Courageous

Screenplay by Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick. Novelization by Randy Alcorn.

Those of us who watched Fireproof have been waiting in anticipation for Courageous: Honor begins at Home. It won't disappoint. The story is filled with God moving and changing lives and bringing hope to a hopeless world.

It starts with four men, police officers, who are striving to keep the streets safe from gangsters and drug dealers. They have to face the facts: inner city fatherless kids are ending up in jail, on drugs or dead.

And then another fact hits home: What about their kids? Are they being the kind of fathers that God calls them to be to their children?

When faced with their own failings, one by one, they fall on their knees and ask God to help them change. And that's when the story really starts.

It is really really good. Funny, beautiful, full of God.

However. Yes, there is a however. The novelization isn't done very well. I hate to say that. I think Randy Alcorn is a good writer. But it isn't done well. It reads like a choppy commentary. Not a riveting story. The characters are hard to keep track of. Names are repeated over and over until you almost get dizzy.

I'm sad about that.

However. Yes, there is another however! It is still a good story. If you can ignore the choppiness, you will enjoy it. And once the movie comes out, the names won't seem so confusing.

It is hard to take a movie and make it into a book. Just like its hard to take a book and make it into a movie. The original is always the best. That's just the way it is.

But I will tell you: come September 30th, I will be in a theater watching it. Enjoying every minute.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.