Passing Strangers

by Angela Hunt
Scott County Library paperback 341 pages
genre: Christian fiction, relationships

This was the July book club title, but I was out of town and waiting a long time for the libraries to get a copy . . . I enjoyed this story (and thought I had already blogged about it) but thought that the resolutions were a little too pat.

There are three interwoven story lines. Andie Crystal (aka Christie Huggins) has worked to distance herself from her family fame as a singing sensation in a reality show (a la The Partridges, but "real."). She has thrown herself into her work, changed her name, and kept to herself.

Matt Scofield (?) is a high-powered attorney who let his children be raised almost entirely by his wife until she died. Then the nanny took care of them. Now he's running through babysitters like a hot knife through butter. He hopes to have his mother raise them for a few years.

Janette Turlington is at wit's end (though we don't know why until the end of the book) and needs to get away to think.

All three of these characters buy a ticket to ride the train to ten different southern cities. All three of them get incredibly involved in one another's lives.

page 161 - I like it when Andie is in her mother's hospital room and remembers Janette's words of wisdom. "Some people are simply blind. They only see what they want to see, and they're not going to change just because life hands them a tragedy. But they don't have to make us suffer. We can accept them, forgive them, and move forward." Amen!

pages 252-3 - I was so glad when Matthew's mom chewed him out! She told him what he needed to hear. Then in his dream he sees his wife who tells him, "You are the foundation of this family and our children's father. Nothing you do is as important as raising them." Love it!

page 275 - When Janette is spilling everything to a stranger on the bus, she thinks that "good mothers and loyal wives don't run away. When the going got tough, tough women stepped up to the challenge." So heart-breaking on either extreme - when people try to be strong enough to handle it all, and when people absolve themselves of any responsibility . . .

page 292-5 - I liked that Janette realized that her appearance wasn't important. Relationships are important. The random angel-type guy seemed out-of-place for the story. He was a divine appointment, but it just felt forced (especially when he also showed up later in the hospital in a different city).

Overall, an enjoyable story. But definitely not my favorite Angela Hunt book. Each character's dramatic change in attitude and life situation seemed unlikely.

added 10/1/14 with notes from 8/30/14:
- Pet peeve - at least four major errors! (Don't they hire proof readers any more?) read from page 39 . . .
-Andie Crystal (aka Christy Huggins), Janette Turlington, and Matt Scofield (lawyer, lost wife Inga a year ago, lost Irish nanny Nessa a month ago to go back home to boyfriend) - Kids are Roman and Emilia
- unrealistic "neat" ending / major life changes for Andie & Matt w/ minimal impetus
- page 326 - Annalisa talking about her struggle