The Priest And The Peaches

Title: The Priest And The Peaches
Author: Larry Peterson
Genre: Fiction, Coming of age
Publication Date: December 21, 2011

Summary:
Take a seven day journey with the five, newly orphaned Peach kids, as they begin their struggle to remain a family while planning their dad’s funeral. They find an ally in the local parish priest, Father Tim Sullivan, who tries his best to guide them through the strange, unchartered and turbulent waters of “grown-up world.” A story that is sad, funny, and inspiring as it shows how the power of family love and faith can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Review:
The Peach kids have found themselves orphaned and overwhelmed with responsibilities. They have a funeral to take care of, bills coming from everywhere, not to mention that the oldest, Teddy, has just become, for all intents and purposes, the father figure. At age 18 with four siblings, this is hardly a small order. As it happens, God truly does work in mysterious ways. Situation after situation God sorts their problems out with the most unlikely and sometimes funny persons and events.

While I must admit that it’s refreshing to read something that has a very Godly and moral tone, it also bears saying that this story seems like a series of cliches. I found it to be extremely predictable. On top of that, everything fell together way too easily. I never felt the real and true struggle of how it would feel to go through this situation. Five kids, no mom, no dad, not much money, grieving, paying for funeral costs, groceries, sickness, etc . . . What I do know is that this situation could never be resolved with a happy ending in one to two weeks time with everything hunky dory. There are many things that I can appreciate, but at the end I felt that it was unrealistically approached. I didn’t connect with the characters, which I find odd since I lost my father at a young age, and am a Christian. I felt like I should have really identified with this story, but I didn’t. Having said all of that, it’s not the miracles or “God part” that left me feeling this way. It was the frequency and ease with which this situation was resolved. I think that it’s great that someone is writing stories like this. The current, and some of the past generations need a little guidance. I just wish that it would have resonated with me. If you are looking for something that is uplifting and inspirational, to that end, I would recommend this book.