Journalist Whitney (Whose Life? A Balanced, Comprehensive View of Abortion from Its Historical Context to the Current Debate, 1991, etc.) returns here to her Catholic schoolgirl roots in a work mingling autobiography and ethnography. After her father’s death, she traveled back to the Seattle area for his funeral and made the inevitable trek up to Rosary Heights, a motherhouse run by the same order (even the same nuns) that had trained her as a child. Whitney chooses to interview these nuns for her book, making her research effort an intensely personal journey. Like many other Catholic baby boomers, Whitney had left the Church in her late teens, turned off by its authoritarianism and its apparent oppression of women, only to begin craving a deeper spirituality in midlife. (In particular, her detailed descriptions of pre-Vatican II parochial school will elicit many shared memories from Catholics of her generation.) But in contrast to other “growing up Catholic” tales, this one is almost obsequiously respectful: Whitney’s parents are shown as devout and loving working-class saints, and the nuns are always benevolent, if strict. The author remains conscious that the nuns, who appear very constrained by Catholic patriarchy, continue nonetheless to negotiate powerful spaces for themselves within the patriarchy. She is fascinated by their covert but palpable feminism. Whitney allows the nuns’ stories of their callings, convent lives, and occasional deconversions to intermingle in their diversity; she draws a portrait of complex, engaging, and committed women. Throughout, however, there’s the sense that in seeking out these contemporary nuns, Whitney was already nostalgic about them as a thing of the past; the average age in the order is 55, and there are hardly any new converts. So she writes wistfully, as if chronicling an endangered species. Oversweet at times, but thoughtful and well written.
Pub Date: March 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-517-70854-X
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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