Review: Avra's God by Ann Lee Miller
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Summary
In the tradition of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, four friends navigate college and the drama churned up by their Florida beach band to cement friendship and more.
Avra wants love, but drummer Cisco—self-medicating from his parents’ divorce with sex and intoxicants—is a poor choice. Cisco hungers for fresh-baked cookies and the scent of family he finds at Avra’s.
Kallie shares her classically trained singing voice only with lead vocalist Jesse and fights to keep her heart safe. Jesse feeds on fame and hides more than insecurity beneath his guitar.
The friends surf ego, betrayal, and ambition and head for wipe-out. But somehow, when they’re not looking, Avra’s God changes them all.
Review
The emotional roller coaster I sat on while reading Avra’s God took me to heights I never imagined. Anne Lee Miller crafted her story in such a fashion that it incorporated life events and struggles that almost any reader may relate to. The characters endured family troubles, relationship problems, and problems in their lives in general. In creating the lives of these characters, Avra, Cisco, Jesse and Kallie, Miller opened up a new level of compassion and feelings that we as readers have for them. Whatever comes their way, we experience and get a sense of what they must go through.
A popular topic within Avra’s God is, not surprisingly, God. The events that transpired all tied back to Avra and her teachings to her friends. She helped each one find God, in her words, but more importantly find peace within their hearts about themselves and their lives. Many of the characters had to deal with father issue and in their own time learned to accept them. Avra was a key component to their success and is also the character that most of my compassion drifted towards.
Avra is a strong female lead character within Miller’s novel. Each character seemingly receives the same amount of time, but Avra has a much stronger presence. She is the helping hand, the one each friend turns to when in need of advice. So when her life and relationship start to crumble, the largest portion of my sympathy is directed towards her. She is a great role model to the audience. Avra never bends her beliefs for her friends or relationship, but stays true to who she is as a person.
I really enjoyed Avra’s God and the messages that Miller sent to her audience. I was engrossed with the characters and truthfully, I read this in one night because was unable to put it down for a second. Miller includes just the right amount of each topic and does not overwhelm the reader, but traps them in the lives of these four college students and the common hardships many must face in life.
Reviewed by Rachel Keane
Book Information
Publication date: 12/12/2012
Pages: 344
