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Reviewer’s Name: Janna Haworth Reviewer’s Occupation: Retired Book Title: Life, Death, and Giants Book’s Author: Ron Rindo First a warning: Don’t read this book if you don’t want to cry. The story takes place in a rural area of northern Wisconsin where many Amish families live and farm. Gabriel, the Giant, weighed eighteen pounds at birth; at age 7, he was six-feet tall playing baseball, and he weighed hundreds of pounds playing football in high-school and at the University of Wisconsin. After his recovery from a terrible football injury in his first year of college, Gabriel became an international wrestling star. Thomas Kennedy, the veterinarian, actually delivered Gabriel and mentored him though his challenges moving between the world of the Amish and that of the English, the name the Amish gave to those who are not part of their group. This is a very touching novel with an unusual format with four different narrators: Thomas Kennedy, the veterinarian; Hannah Fisher, the grandmother who raised Gabriel as her daughter Rachel died giving birth to him; Billy Walker, a tavern owner; and Trey Beathard, the high-school football coach. The title Life, Death, and Giants is a line from Emily Dickinson, whose book of poetry Hannah reads even though she’s not supposed to as an Amish woman. Altogether, I highly recommend this novel for its richly developed characters and its beautifully written prose.
