Invisible: A Novel by Ginny L Yttrup (Review)

Invisible: A Novel

 

From the back cover:

 

Ellyn DeMoss-- chef, cafe owner, and lover of butter-- is hiding behind her extra weight. But what is she hiding? While Ellyn sees the good in others, she has only condemnation for herself. So when a handsome widower claims he’s attracted to Ellyn, she’s certain there’s something wrong with him.

 

Sabina Jackson -- tall, slender, and exotic -- left her husband, young adult daughters, and a thriving counseling practice to spend a year in Northern California where she says she’s come to heal. But it seems to Ellyn that Sabina’s doing more hiding than healing. What’s she hiding from? Is it God?

 Twila Boaz has come out of hiding and is working to gain back the pounds she lost when her only goal was to disappear. When her eating disorder is triggered again, though she longs to hide, she instead follows God and fights for her own survival. But will she succeed?

 As these women’s lives intertwine, their eyes open to the glory within each of them as they begin to recognize themselves as being created in God’s image.

 

My thoughts:

 

Invisible by Ginny L. Yttrup follows the intermingling of the lives of 4 main characters---Ellyn DeMoss, Sabina Jackson, Twila Boaz and Dr. Miles Becker-- and how each of these characters (and each of us) have our own issues that make us want to be invisible to the world. But as these characters find out we are not invisible to the world, to our friends or to God. We are created in His image and if we put our trust in Him and allow Him to work in our lives we can become so much more than ourselves.

 

Take Ellyn--she is an overweight, very self conscious, chef who is hiding behind her chef's clothes and does not think that anyone can like her for her. She drowns her sorrows in buttery croissants and pastries. She knows that God is there, but she feels like she is invisible to Him and that "Earl" is who is in her head ALL the time telling her that she is worthless because of her weight. As the story unfolds we see Ellyn dealing with her weight issues and struggling with seeing herself as a child of God.

 

Sabina has her own demons to deal with. As a counselor, she lost a patient to suicide and she is dealing with tragedy of not being able to see God in the situation and hiding from him---to the point of closing all the blind and curtains in her house and hiding.

 

Twila is the character that is so different. She is coming off of treatment for dealing with anorexia; however she is probably the most strongly rooted person in God and his pain and suffering. She is like a lighthouse beacon for the other characters, even though she doesn't understand that.

 

Dr. Becker is your lovable male hero in the story. He has a strong relationship with God, even though he is afraid of what the next step in his life is. He offers a little bit of a balance to the female characters, although at times I really am not sure that his story line really fit with the others in the best possible way.

 

Invisible was a great book! Yttrup did an excellent job of keeping the flow of the book going, while also keeping the reader guessing as to some of the issues that each character was facing. There was just the right amount of humor, tears, and understandings to make the story flow. The only issue that I had with the book was that at times the relationship between Dr. Becker and Ellyn was sort of dorky, but I guess that may just be how the relationship was forming.

 

This book made me think. It made me think about my own issues with food and how I perceive myself in the world. Do I want to be invisible? Do I do things to sabotage myself being created in the image of God? How do I view others?

 

I would very HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book!

 

Disclaimer: This book was provided free of charge by the publisher and Handlebar Marketing in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are my own.