The Measure of a Lady by Deeanne Gist

I have waited nearly 24 hours from finishing this book to write the review. The reason is, I have some seriously mixed feelings about the story. I will start with the positives and they will lead into the unsettling negatives and perhaps you will decide it is a must read or perhaps you will decide to cross it off you list.

The Measure of a Lady is set in San Francisco during the middle of the Gold Rush. San Fran is a tent city inhabited my men, fallen women, and "sun-bonnets" (the women who maintain their virtue and socially acceptable mannerisms). Rachel Van Buren, her younger sister Lissa, and her younger brother Michael have been orphaned on their journey to San Fran and find upon their arrival that there is no method of returning home. Finding a building labeled "City Hotel", Rachel enters and realizes that she is no longer in Kansas, if I may be allowed to mix metaphors. Prevailing on the kindness of Johnnie Parker, former good Christian turned saloon owner, Rachel finds a lean to and becomes employed as a maid in the hotel. Her sister has a wild streak that gets her in major trouble, while Rachel holds so tightly to the reins it literally makes the reader cringe. The penultimate point of this book is very similar to the quote by Ghandi that I always keep in my mind, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." In other words, Ms. Gist, with uncanny skill, depth of emotion, and smooth, moving prose, captures the ultimate Christian folly: to judge so harshly and to separate yourself so much from the world that you forget that Christ daily interacted with sinners, adulterers, prostitutes etc. Rachel is so busy genuinely trying to separate herself from evil, she prevents her influence, love, compassion, and genuine conversion from spreading throughout the settlement.

The plot, the writing, and the two main characters could not have been more real to me. I literally could not put this book down and plan on picking it up and rereading it shortly. Very few works of fiction have touched me the way that I am currently being touched by The Measure of a Lady. I empathize with Rachel and her struggles to hold her family together on the "straight and narrow path". I know that this is a flaw of mine. I judge harshly and usually avoid those whose issues I deem irrepairable. I share her anxiety for a younger sister who may not be making virtuous choices and a younger brother who is pursuing money while deeming me "judgmental". I cannot imagine having to take the reins of my family only to watch my younger sister willfully behave as Lissa behaves. I hope to never have many of the conversations that Rachel & Lissa & Michael have throughout the book with my siblings. I hope things never get that bad for any of us.

Rachel & Johnnie are beautiful characters. They are written in such a way that I feel they are real and I can relate and empathize with them, their struggle to balance the world we live in with the world we want to live in. I hate Lissa, Michael, Mr Sumner, and many many of the supporting characters with a passion. They are written such that I believe you are supposed to feel for their plight, but I cannot empathize or sympathize with them on any level. I found myself angry that Lissa had nicer things than Rachel, and hoping that in the end she would get her due. Apparently that isn't going to happen in this book. Michael bothered me as well. I not only cannot relate to him, I feel he is a patsy for Lissa and a pawn for pretty much anyone else. Both siblings seem to me lured away from hard, honest work toward easy, dirty money. This book basically takes a family and tears it apart at the seams. That part makes me sick to my stomach.


Some of the scenes are haunting and some are upsetting. I am still angry at Lissa for coming in to Rachel's retaurant and breaking her fragile truce with life for no other reason than to be viscious. I love the scenes where Johnnie demonstrates his good judgment and Rachel bends her rules to protect her family. I am haunted by the thought of being so blind to the world around me that no one feels they can talk with me openly for fear of judgment. This book is as relevant as a history book could be to modern times. I hate it for revealing the weaknesses in a Christian society so openly and honestly. I love it for pointing out the strengths in a Christian society so that we can improve ourselves and make ourselves more available to serve and help those near us who we have the ability to aid. I have already ordered this book from Amazon and I highly recommend it to anyone who is brave enough to look at the good, the bad and the ugly in a modern Christian lifestyle.