Unveiled

Michael Snyder’s debut novel, My Name is Russell Fink, is a departure from the norm in today’s Christian fiction. Perhaps that is because “normal” isn’t a part of Russell Fink’s life. In his mid-twenties, Russell has led a mediocre life and is proud of it. His father is a fallen faith healer bent on making it back to the big time. His mother is a not-so-closet alcoholic still putting on the front of a doting minister’s wife. Peter, his occasionally con-man brother, is an aspiring novelist intent on jotting down every one of his family’s sorry secrets for a future Pulitzer Prize winning memoir. In short Russell’s family is what by any definition is normally labeled, dysfunctional.

Russell’s problems are compounded by a job he hates yet can’t seem to get fired from, a camera hound fiancée he can’t manage to dump, and the fact the only level headed member of the family is his grandfather (in prison for killing Russell’s grandmother). It’s little surprise that faith and God have faded into the annoying fringes of our hero’s life. That is until, Sonny his psychic Basset Hound, appears to have been murdered. That event leads Russell on a search for his best friend’s killer in which he finds more than he bargained for, including the girl he always really loved and should have married. His greatest discovery is the meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation.

This is one of the books that is, I think intentionally, hard to classify. Is it Chick Lit? Is it comedy? Is it a mystery? It’s the kind of book that a guy like me wouldn’t normally crack the front cover if paid to. And, it’s one of those books that reach a point of critical mass and you know there’s something good out there you can’t afford to miss by putting it down. If you are part of the 10 percent of the population that has lived a perfect life, My Name is Russell Fink will totally mystify you. And, if you are one of the unfortunates in life with no sense of humor this story might even offend you. But for those of us who have experienced disappointment, frustration, disillusionment, and even failure we say, “Thank you Russell Fink!”

A review in Publisher’s Weekly finds fault with the number of “crazy characters and rampant story lines” in Snyder’s hilarious novel. That is what I applaud it for. Only a few of us have perfect families. Only a few have lived lives with perfectly plotted, three-act storylines. This is a book for the rest of us.