Just finished reading “The Breaking of Ezra Riley”.
Good book! Some who start this story find it slow in the beginning. In a way I suppose it is. But the author starts it off this way, I feel, because he is laying a foundation … not just for the rest of the story, but also for the main character, Ezra Riley. Strong foundations can’t be laid quickly, they need to be built layer by layer to be effective. Moore does a good job of it. In the foundation we see what it really means to be a Cowboy. It’s not the Hollywood romanticized version, it’s gritty and real.
He shows who Ezra’s parents and extended family are and we see how they influence who Ezra becomes.
About a third of the way in, Ezra’s makes a choice, and it’s here that the pace of the book picks up. Ezra finds that his father doesn’t understand that his way of life is too hard on his sensitive poetic nature, so one day, without a word, he leaves. He wanders the open road becoming a “hippy”, dabbles in eastern religion, hallucinogens, and the culture of the early 70’s. (He even studies martial arts in a monastery in the mountains.)
He eventually realizes, that the land he grew up in is such a part of him, that he must return. What eventually brings him home is his father’s death.
(Throughout the novel there is a struggle between loving the land and the cowboy way, but not wanting to be owned by it. (A strong metaphor in my eyes.))
This is a Christian novel, but it is the only one I’ve read that reveals the Christianity I’ve practiced and come to know. The author was not content with just telling the tale of how his character found faith, he makes it richer by revealing what walking in faith is all about AFTER coming to Christ.
The struggle between us and God, us and fellow man, and us and the powers of darkness that try to influence us, all of it’s in this book. Ezra deals with a paganist nut-case, a witch, a millionaire who offers him everything he’s ever dreamed of … for a cost, the generational curses of his family, a friend who has the charisma but none of the character to be a “preacher man”, thus allowing him to experience most of the pitfalls of Christian ministry.
If you get this book and start reading it, “don’t quit the critter”. Keep reading. It’s worth it!
