Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2005 | Page 156

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Popular Culture Review
heroine. Above all, one rule is clear: the reader will find no blatant sexual
descriptions or foul language. Novels often go for over 200 pages before there is
even a hint of a kiss. However, marriage and a desire for having children is a
given. This does not mean that themes such as rape and prostitution are not
found in these novels. Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love (1997) takes no less
than 464 pages for a prostitute to be converted to Christianity by, again, a
perfect Christian man, who never falters in his forgiveness of her sin. The
epilogue states that even after sixty-eight years of marriage, her grave marker
would read, “Though fallen low, God raised her up, An angel” (Rivers 1997,
464). It should be noted here that, according to many of our informants, this
theme and this book in particular is not carried in some Baptist Bookstores, as it
is too sexually suggestive.
Readers form definite opinions regarding the differences in secular and
IRF plot scenarios. One “bom again” Christian informant from Texas explained
this. Lori Wick is her favorite IRF author, she said, because, “whether the main
character is a man or a woman they go through a character change, and I leam
something, some lesson about myself. Maybe something that is a sin that I did
not even know was a sin, like worry.” She said Wick often portrays both female
and male characters as having problems that they are working out. Men are not
always portrayed as “perfect.” The man nurtures the woman. This, she says
makes her consider that, “thinking about the Christian men I know, they are not
so patient or perfect.” This informant’s comments were ty