The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught: a novel - eBook

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught is book five in Neta Jackson’s fictional series about the Yada Yada Prayer Group, a diverse group of women living in Chicago who hold a weekly prayer time. One of the group’s members, Jodi, tells the book’s story as she and her companions get “caught” up in a slew of life’s difficulties. Ruth faces an unexpected and risky pregnancy in her fifties. Avis finds herself standing in the gap between her new husband and her daughter Rochelle in the situation created when Rochelle’s husband turns abusive. Among numerous other problems the characters face, Jodi deals with the usual drama of rearing two teenagers and involving herself in all of the other problems.
In a sense, the story’s “real-life” quality is part of its problem. It lacks narrative drive. Even within a character-driven story, a solid plot is attainable; this one takes too long – more than the first third of the book – to find any kind of momentum. Pages pass without any sort of progression, while Jodi’s often insipid internal monologue rolls along.
The story’s strong point lies in its presentation of interpersonal relationships between individuals who, self-absorbed due to their respective problems, regularly fail to communicate. Jackson creates several resonant scenes as such, and she is correct in pointing out that this alienation and lack of connection is a problem in 21st century churches, families, and job environments. However, I found these scenes to be too few and too late, hardly worth wading through four hundred pages. Though this reviewer found it wearying, fans of the series will enjoy catching up with the characters . – Amanda C. Dreher, Christian Book Previews.com