Read Beyond the Point A Novel Claire Gibson 9780062853745 Books
"An inspiring tribute to female friendship and female courage!"--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Huntress.
Three women are brought together in an enthralling story of friendship, heartbreak, and resilience. Set at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, this is an amazing debut novel.
Duty. Honor. Country. That’s West Point’s motto, and every cadet who passes through its stone gates vows to live it. But on the eve of 9/11, as Dani, Hannah and Avery face four grueling years ahead, they realize they’ll only survive if they do it together.
Everyone knows Dani is going places. With athletic talent and a brilliant mind, she navigates West Point’s predominantly male environment with wit and confidence, breaking stereotypes and embracing new friends.
Hannah’s grandfather, a legendary Army general, offers a stark warning about the dangers that lie ahead, but she moves forward anyway, letting faith guide her path. When she meets her soul mate at West Point, the future looks perfect, just as planned.
Wild child Avery moves fast and doesn’t mind breaking a few rules (and hearts) along the way. But she can’t outpace her self-doubt, and the harder she tries, the further it leads her down a treacherous path.
The world—of business, of love, and of war—awaits Dani, Hannah, and Avery beyond the gates of West Point. These three women know that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But soon, that adage no longer rings true—for their future, or their friendship. As they’re pulled in different directions, will their hard-forged bond prevail or shatter?
Beyond the Point is a heartfelt look at how our closest friends can become our fiercest battle buddies. After all, the greatest battles we fight rarely require a uniform.
Read Beyond the Point A Novel Claire Gibson 9780062853745 Books
"I started the book and quickly got involved in the lives of these three women. I was not able to put it down. I laughed, I cried, and I felt the joy and pain of each woman. Highly recommend this for you if you are interested in West Point or have military members in your family. This will give you a better understanding of what the students, male and female, go through and how it affects their lives after they leave."
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Beyond the Point A Novel Claire Gibson 9780062853745 Books Reviews :
Beyond the Point A Novel Claire Gibson 9780062853745 Books Reviews
- The story itself based on something not really written about in this day in age despite women being an integral part of our military for a long time was eagerly anticipated and it did not disappoint. I served in the U.S. Army and spent some time serving at West Point-- Ms. Gibson does a fantastic job of capturing the heart of soldiers friendship and adds the female bonding that I experienced in a way I did not think could be written down. I am passing this book on to all my friends and we will all rejoice in how our friendships got us through hard times and made the good times amazing. Well Done!
- Once she hits her stride, Claire Gibson writes powerfully by any standard about love and grief. Whatever your reaction to other aspects of the book, it's worth reading for that element alone, which begins to peak about 80% in. Stay with the story until she gets there; it's where a literary sensibility begins to show through, although there are occasional glimmers before that. Your initial impression may be that the genre of Beyond the Point is Young Adult, but it soon grows into a more complicated and more adult hybrid genre as the characters mature.
If you come from a military background, you will probably find the pace gratifyingly brisk and matter-of-fact — pared, in fact, to the barest of essentials. If you're more of a literary reader, you may ask what's the rush. It's hard to tell from a single book whether that's more the writer or the editor, perhaps striving to hold the book under some arbitrary word count. The language is usually transparent, geared toward conveying the facts of the story rather than elegance or beauty in its telling. Again if you're from a military background, you may venerate that utilitarian approach. But if you love language and storytelling in their own right, you may want to see more of the occasional moments when Gibson pauses for a sentence or two to appreciate the texture of the world around her characters and story. It may be part of the essence of the military-academy experience that cadets have no time or attention to spare for such details, but as a reader I expect a narrator to notice what characters may not. The hymn "For the Beauty of the Earth" springs to mind. Whether your perspective is Christian or literary, it would seem appropriate to celebrate a little more of that.
The story itself is engaging and sometimes gripping, though I would have been hooked earlier with a less just-the-facts-ma'am approach. Certain plot elements are deliberately fragmented, with pieces of events that occur in a short time — mere moments, hours, or days — doled teasingly out over a much longer period. In one or two cases that works well, including the opening event that becomes central to the story. In others it feels like an editorial gimmick to add probably excessive suspense to a story that is really about love and faith.
Certain millennial tics distract throughout, most prominently a determination to not this and to not that, where standard language would be not to do that. Some may perceive that as long-needed modernizing of our language; to others it comes across as distractingly breathless or, worse yet, unwitting. Another tic is the millennial comma after conjunctions like Yet, So, But, Although, etc, as the first word of a sentence. Perhaps some editors are accepting or even insisting on that nowadays. But, 😉 it does come across as careless or unknowing to those whose usual reading predates the millennium. Finally, it wouldn't hurt to use a few more strong-form past tenses and participles to maintain the traditional shined/shone and related distinctions.
I was told Beyond the Point is "not a Christian book although it's written by a Christian author." That appears to be mostly true. The characters live in a real world, harsh if sometimes lacking in texture, not the rosy-bubble world often seen in specifically Christian fiction. They are reasonably complex people, their life events not teed up neatly for the purpose of scoring easy points. Faith and doubt enter for the most part as authentic portrayals of the characters and their emotions, much as a literary writer would approach a Christian character.
I'll be interested to see what direction Gibson goes with her next book. Will the buds of broader observation we see in Beyond The Point blossom into a more literary direction resembling Sue Monk Kidd? Or will she harden into the utilitarian, just-the-plot mold that characterizes the first half of Beyond The Point? A book taking the first direction might interest me a great deal.
Although (to my surprise) I downloaded Beyond The Point on its first day of general release, I received no promotional benefit for this review. A Christian friend who apparently takes much inspiration from Claire Gibson's podcast suggested I might like to look at this book while she read and reacted to chapters of my own secular story with a Christian character. That's my only (and remote) connection to the author, and the friend in question probably won't even see this review. - I started the book and quickly got involved in the lives of these three women. I was not able to put it down. I laughed, I cried, and I felt the joy and pain of each woman. Highly recommend this for you if you are interested in West Point or have military members in your family. This will give you a better understanding of what the students, male and female, go through and how it affects their lives after they leave.
- So far I’m halfway through and loving it. The characters seem very realistic. I love how the story unfolds from different perspectives. I can’t wait to read more. I’m developing a new appreciation for our women in the military. Also, many of the struggles the young women are going through are relatable to non-military women. Very impressive for a debut novel! Please write more.
- This is emotional book of three young girls embarking on the rest iof their lives. Hannah was my favorite but all three arrived at womanhood with emotional stories. Would rate it 5 plus stars.
- Beautiful story of friendship, full of depth and layers. The author did a great job developing the characters. The book had me laughing and crying. The book tells a story of three female West Point cadets, it follows them through their time at West Point, and beyond to life after graduation and serving in the army. It exposed the insecurities, challenges, and obstacles faced by women at a military academy that is predominantly male and as officers in the army.
- This book captured my attention from page 1! It is very well written...I was always anxious to pick up where I left off the night before! It was a great story...I highly recommend
- This book was a beautiful commemoration of the life of Army West Point women. Well-written, a page turner, evoking all the emotions so many military families felt in the early 2000’s, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a window into the life of a West Point grad. I can’t wait to share this book with my tribe of battle buddy Army wives.