The Nativity Thief Book Review

IMPORTANT BACKGROUND INFO: 

I received this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review. :-)

The Nativity Thief, contrary to what might be assumed from the title, is not a Christmas story. It is a self-published novel set in Sweden during the year 1852. The book is written by Anna Severson, and follows a 14-year-old boy named Tore who has experienced more than his fair share of sorrow and hurt, and is grappling with horrible anger directed at everyone. After his mother dies, Tore is taken in by the village’s Woodmaster, someone who Tore stole from. More than anything else, this is a story of inward redemption, healing, and struggling.

Also, important note – this book is considered adult Christian fiction rather than middle grade or young adult. This doesn’t mean the book is inappropriate (it wasn’t), it just means that it deals with heavier themes than you would see in a middle grade or YA book.

WHAT I LIKED: 

Anna Severson did an incredibly job crafting characters. They were complex, and for the most part none of them felt like cardboard cutouts – even the background characters. Character development was subtle despite being most of the plot. It felt like you were watching the characters change in real time rather than being told about.

Often character development in books involves a character doing or saying something directly contradictory to something he or she believed in the beginning of the book – and it’s written in a way that makes sure you can tell. Maybe it’s because the plot was focused on character development, but in the Nativity Thief the characters would take a step forward and then two steps back. It wasn’t straight forward – they actually struggled to change.

Another thing I appreciated about the character development in this book was how the characters had to take responsibility for what they said and did. It was satisfying to see characters actually have to apologize. Nothing was left hanging.

The story itself was very engaging, and I wanted to keep reading. It’s something that stuck with me for a while, and I kept thinking of, even long after I’d finished it.

CONTENT CONCERNS/THINGS TO KNOW: 

Please note that I read laser focused on looking for content concerns so that I can write this review. It’s going to seem like there are a lot, but often they’re incredibly easy to gloss over or miss, and they’re not as concerning within the context of the story.

Christian/other beliefs:

This story is based in a village where everyone considers himself or herself a “Christian.” A major part of the story involves Tore wrestling with the hypocrisy he sees in the self-righteous churchgoing villagers. Tore has an especially difficult time with the Vicar, because he is supposed to be shepherding the flock well, but instead uses his position to belittle others and gain power. The Vicar really is an awful, horrible, hypocritical person. He even uses his sermons to try and put someone he doesn’t like in jail.

Tore also wrestles with whether or not God is good and if He even exists. The Vicar’s daughter has an attitude of disbelief as well, in part because she can also see the hypocrisy of those who claim to follow Him.

Tore tells one of the village women that he has laid a spell on the woodcarver and they use wolf’s blood and witch’s hair.

Romance:

Tore has a crush on the Vicar’s daughter. Another boy has a crush on a different girl. People use their knowledge of each other’s crush’s to humiliate each other.

There is a flirty girl who likes to get the attention of guys and pits them against each other to gain their attention. The Woodmaster gets engaged.

We’re never told the age of the school master, but he seems awfully friendly with some of the school girls.

Some women of the town spread rumors that Tore is the Woodmaster’s illegitimate son. They are not true.

Violence:

Nothing graphic, but people die, often from sad circumstances. There are a couple of ‘school yard’ fights that end in a bloody nose. Tore burns himself trying to char a rope tying his hands together. It’s mentioned that Tore accidentally cuts himself. The cook at the poorhouse boxes his ear and it gets bloody. Nothing is graphic, though.

The woodmaster’s punishments are often very harsh, involving tying Tore up, or sitting on him, or whipping him, or things like that. He slaps Tore in a fit of anger. Some of them are merited, but some of them seem excessively harsh for a character that is supposed to be a good guardian.

We’re told the Woodmaster lost his family in a fire.

Language:

We’re told that Tore uses profanity, and that someone else swears (but we aren’t told what words). Two uses of the D word to mean condemned. Someone says that Tore plagues the Woodmaster like a demon from hell.

Other Things to Know:

There are a lot of characters with disabilities in the novel. The villagers aren’t very nice to them, for example, making fun of Klara for having a club foot or calling a little girl (who I think is supposed to have Down Syndrome) an “idiot Child.” This may be because it’s what would have occurred historically. The novel doesn’t pain the name calling/meanness in a good light.

A cholera epidemic sweeps through the poor house Tore ends up in. He catches it, and the guy who sleeps in the bed next to his dies from it. Tore is also forced to clean up “night soil” which is excrement, and really gross.

Tore is frequently referred to as “the drunkard’s boy” because his mother was an alcoholic who died from it. We’re told that someone’s father often drinks too much and it results in violence. The Vicar’s daughter wants to know why women can’t smoke and men can.

Tore has a “sudden urge” to kiss a little girl’s cheeks – it’s worded very strangely, but I think it’s more in a cute little baby way than anything else.

Also, I’m not going to lie – I was a bit disturbed by the Woodmasters treatment of Tore. I know that some of it was the direct result of Tore running away, disobeying, calling names, etc., but in many cases it seemed excessive – almost like abuse. I don’t know. I might be over thinking it. Let me know if you agree!

CONCLUSION:

The world of The Nativity Thief is not a ‘gentle’ world. It wasn’t overly rough or inappropriate, but people got hurt and sinned and the book didn’t gloss over it. It felt real. Tore’s sister dies because she’s ill and the village won’t help. Tore is an angry, lying, thief at the start of the story, and a big theme is the hypocrisy of the church. People fight. It’s not a sweet story.

But The Nativity Thief is well written, interesting, and makes you think. It’s something that sticks with you long after you’ve finished. The characters are well defined, and their arcs are real.

I read this book without really knowing what to expect because it was far outside of what I normally read, and I enjoyed it. If you’re in to fiction like this, I genuinely think you might enjoy The Nativity Thief.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Do you agree with how the Woodmaster punishes Tore? Is physical punishment ever appropriate?
Does it matter how you physically punish someone?

Why do you think Tore feels comfortable in and opens up in the kitchen?

Why does Tore have a soft spot for Marta?

Why is the Woodmaster so harsh? Do you think he was actually a decent man, or do you think he needed to grow as much as Tore?

Why do you think the Woodmaster keeps going after Tore when Tore runs away?

Why do you think the Woodmaster falls in love with Freja?

Do you think Tore views the world correctly?

AFFILIATE LINKS: 

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The Nativity Thief

BOOK SUMMARY:

Taken from the author’s family’s farm website, which you can find here.

“Fourteen-year-old Tore Neeson, the village trouble-maker, steals a master carpenter’s priceless Nativity to save his sister’s life, but a reversal of fortune leaves him more destitute and desperate than ever. To his frustration, he soon finds himself indentured to the very man he wronged.

In his angry struggle to free himself from the control of the inflexible Herr Andersson and the censure of other disapproving villagers, Tore blinds himself to the knowledge that all that stands between him and complete ruin is his most feared and hated enemy: the woodmaster.”