Life, and Death, and Giants by American author Ron Rindo is a captivating story of faith, family, and secrets in the modern, contemporary, and spiritual fiction genre.
In the small town of Lakota, Wisconsin, Gabriel Fisher was born weighing in at eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches. As he arrives with the help of the country veterinarian, his mother Rachel departs the world.
Rachel Fisher, a young unmarried Amish woman, lived alone with her son Jasper. Due to her first pregnancy and the father unknown, she was shunned by her church and community. After the birth of Gabriel, his elder brother raises him with help from the vet, Dr. Kennedy.
As Gabriel grows and grows, there is something extraordinary about him. He walks at eight months old, shows remarkable athletic qualities, and portrays a tenderness where animals and people are immediately drawn to him.
When his brother passes away, Gabriel goes to live with his devout Amish grandparents, Hannah and Josiah, whom he barely knows. Hidden away, he learns of his roots and lives a simple, faith-centred lifestyle.
At age seventeen, Gabriel is spotted working in a hay field by local football coach Trey Beathard, at eight feet tall and six hundred pounds, he was hard to miss. Gabriel’s life transforms when he is recruited and becomes a sports phenomenon in both American football and professional wrestling.
This story has an explosive beginning that grabbed my attention from the first paragraph. The plot of the story was different than a lot of Amish stories I have read. It is fresh, interesting, and structured for maximum impact, which gives the story meaning. It will resonate with readers on a deep level.
Gabriel’s story is told through multiple narrators and interchanging viewpoints; Hannah Fisher, Gabriel’s grandmother, Doctor Thomas Kennedy, the veterinarian who delivered Gabriel, Trey Beathard the football coach, and Billy Walto,n the bar owner and link between the Amish and English community. Rindo has done an amazing job developing complex characters with depth, flaws, and vulnerabilities to make them memorable.
Gabriel is an amazing character; you instantly love everything about him. The theme of transition and growth is deeply embedded in the narrative, especially as he navigates his extraordinary life between the Amish and English worlds. Family and friends play a crucial role in shaping Gabriel’s life with their love, support, faith, and everyday moral challenges.
The cover is a hint of quiet amongst the hundreds of books shouting at you from the shelves, in which it holds a beautiful relevance regarding the feathers. The delicate imagery, colour, and type all work together beautifully.
This is one of only a few books that has left me feeling out of my body. It has an effect that no reader will be able to ignore; it will grip you, and you will not be the same afterward. Exploring themes of faith, family, loss, and human kindness through the lens of a 21st-century you will find Life, and Death, and Giants enlightening and entertaining.
I want to encourage readers to pick up a copy of this book; you will not be disappointed. It is one of my top books of the year. Ron Rindo has unleashed his imagination and created a masterpiece.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.
Life, and Death, and Giants by Ray Rindo (Pan MacMillan) is a story that will stay with you long after you finish reading.
It is a deeply moving story centering around Gabriel, an unusually big child who from the moment he is born, touches the lives of those around him. As he grows he boasts incredible size, strength and athletic ability. As an adult he is nearly 8 feet tall. Gabriel is a wonder, he excels at all and any physical challenges, and has a natural affinity with animals. However even beyond that there is something extraordinary about Gabriel…
Gabriel’s story is told by several characters, including his football coach, the local veterinarian, and ( most poignantly by) Gabriel’s Amish grandmother. With each of their perspectives the reader is treated to differing views not only about Gabriel’s impact on them, but also about family relationships, about religion, about animals and nature and about community.
This is a book to be savored, and I highly recommend it.
Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo was a book that I started reading without expectation and it is now a book that I will be telling people they have to read.
Growing up and Living in the Amish Community its shocking to her parents and the community when Rachel announces that shes pregnant. Rachel is single and refuses to say who the father of the baby is. Her Mother longs to hold her close but knows that she must listen to her husband so Rachel is banished from the community. A caring elderly lady from across the river takes her in. Jasper is born and many years later Rachel is pregnant again. She refuses to see a Doctor and makes her son Jasper promise no matter what not to call an Ambulance. Gabriel is born but Rachels life is lost. And so begins the amazing life of Gabriel Fisher. A boy who grows to become a giant with a heart of gold.
I fell in love with Gabriel and found it so easy to picture his community as I have spent a bit of time visiting the Amish town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania that is mentioned in the book. This is a book that each time I had to put the book down I carried the story with me. I wondered what was going to happen next. I felt protective of Gabriel.
This is the most beautiful story. It touched my heart.
You have to read Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo. I know you wont regret it. Let Gabriel Fisher become a part of your life.
Every once in a while a wholesome, feel good story, that tugs at your emotional core, comes your way! Life, Death and Giants is that story!
Ron Rindo has created the character of Gabriel beautifully. The second illegitimate child of a banished Amish girl, Gabriel is exceptional in a number of varied ways. He has a special connection to the people he meets as well as having an extraordinary ability to spiritually equate with any animal species he encounters.
He achieves financial success due to his distinctive physical attributes and abilities and journeys far from home. However, it is to this home he returns to complete his life cycle.
Ron Rindo writes with wonderful description from the viewpoint of various characters; Hannah Fisher,Gabriel’s maternal grandmother; Dr Thomas Kennedy, the local veterinarian, who supports Gabriel’s connection to fauna; Billy Walton, the local football coach and the first person to recognise Gabriels immense athletic abilities.
I cannot say enough about this book! It was extremely hard to put down. As soon as you meet the characters you are transported into their stories rapidly and totally. It is captivating and engrossing from beginning to end!