Slow Brewing Tea

FIVE STARS ISN’T ENOUGH. I can’t recommend this book strongly enough.

I asked for a free copy from the author so I could give it an Independent review. He refused, siting that a reviewer had “judged my book without reading it thoroughly (stopped after 14%), and ironically missed an important message of the book—that judging people without walking in their shoes (or in this case a book without reading it) is irresponsible and against Jesus teaching.”

He rejected my offer to review it. (I found the review in question here on Net Galley, that is why I am posting here). So, I decided I had to investigate it myself. I bought a Kindle version on Amazon ($6.99).

My overall impression is that I highly recommend this book.

The characters are real, compelling, engaging, vividly described and leave the reader wanting to know them as friends. The plot has great depth even though nearly all of the story takes place in one location, on a mountain in Japan. It has many surprising storyline developments that the reader will not anticipate.

The writing is excellent. For a first novel, this author shows talent rarely seen. I would say there were some sentences that I would have edited differently, but I feel that way about nearly every book. The love story component is particularly brilliantly written. Great novels have plot, characters and great use of language. Five stars in all three is my opinion.

But what really sets this novel apart and got me excited to share is the ingenious weaving of biblical truths in three ways: casual conversations between characters, direct scriptural teaching and symbolism that runs from start to finish. All three will cause you to pause to let it soak in (brew slowly). The symbolism alone will make you to want to read and re-read this novel (I am on my second read). From little literary techniques (Isaiah’s shallow selfish thoughts developing to self-reflective maturity by the end) to slightly more obvious symbols of Christ, “I loved Ellie because she loved me first.”

I want to address The Shack references which have shown up on Amazon.. I agree with the connection people are seeing. In The Shack where spiritual enlightenment happens by visiting a remote shack. In Slow Brewing Tea, spiritual enlightenment happens in a tea room on a remote mountain in Japan. The Shack introduced many millions of people to faith. Despite criticism about the writing style and the “light Christian content” The Shack was an important book, in my opinion. Slow Brewing Tea does all The Shack does and more. I believe Slow Brewing Tea is better written and with more solid biblical content, making the tea room a better place to learn about Jesus than the shack.

Overall, Slow Brewing Tea, leaves the reader craving for more, more tea room teaching, more conversations with Isaiah, Nori and Akira, and more love.

I cannot overstate how much the world needs this novel right now.

This book breaks all the molds!

I am an avid reader of Christian fiction. And I would like to think of myself as someone who can write a decent, objective review. Maybe you won’t agree after reading this, but here goes.

I heard about this book first on Twitter. The author was posting some of the reviews that had come in and I was intrigued. But one of the reviews compared this book to The Shack. And I saw a review on Net Galley also that was comparing this book to The Shack. I almost didn’t buy it because of this. In my view, The Shack was okay, but not great. But, after reading all the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, I decided to go for it.

This is no Shack. In my opinion this is what Christianity has been waiting for in a novel. It’s rich in every way. Who would put a romantic love story into a Bible study, into a mystery, into a guide to evangelism, into a book on apologetics, into a setting to reach Eastern mystics, and into an expose on how a shy man thinks? Any two of those would be interesting, but all seven? It is a fascinating book--rich in symbolism and truly original teaching. I have been a life-long Christian, 52 year now. I am an avid Bible reader. I am in women’s Bible studies and a Christian book club for many years. I’ve never read a book like this.

All the facets I mentioned are woven into a great setting, the scenes painted with enough strokes to get you to see them but not so much you get bored with the descriptions.

The story is engaging because it is about a young man who is shy, comes from an abusive background and HATES Christianity. But he is convinced there is a good God and decides he is going to look in Japan for the way, The Tao (Taoism). He has a serious motorcycle accident and is rescued by a Japanese man, Itsuki. Itsuki becomes his mentor teaching Taoism and eventually leading him to the narrow gate. But Isaiah stubbornly holds onto his anti-Christian views despite all the amazing signs he witnesses of God’s love. The teaching from the Japanese family is patient, wise beyond this plane and delivered with grace. Just what an anti-Christian (and all of us) needs! Itsuki’s faith will stand out in my mind forever as a vivid portrayal of a man in Christ.

Hearing how this Japanese family teaches an anti-Christian and mentors him for 40 years in an instruction book in apologetics and practical fundamentals of the Gospel. I always wondered what the non-Christian thinks, and what they need to hear, and how they need to hear it. So that was interesting.

But the real value for me was learning along the way with Isaiah. The teaching of Christ in this book is original and it deepened my faith. I am a life-long Bible student, but I learned important new perspectives about my faith and about Jesus teachings.

I am not a prophet, but in my humble opinion this book will go down as one of the most epic Christian novels of the century. Big prediction, I know. But, read it slowly like the slowly brewed tea, and tell me I’m wrong.