A lost soul in search of redemption, beset by uncertainty
598991
In this story of the far future, sci-fi master Philip K. Dick introduces Joe Fernwright, a man who makes his living by healing broken pottery - until his business dries up on him.  Stuck in a world that has no more use for him, Joe passes his time playing silly word games until called by a mysterious entity named Glimmung to undergo a life-changing experience.  Glimmung wants him to go to a place called "Plowman's Planet" to help him in an overwhelming undertaking: raising a vast cathedral and all its contents from the depths of the sea.  Despite the alien Kalends' prediction of failure (or perhaps because of it) he agrees, at least for the moment.

This is a pretty confusing story, even for Dick, with so many wild ideas, plain absurdities, thinly veiled symbols, and supposedly infallible predictions pointing in different directions that the reader's expectations are continually being toyed with.  Are the Kalends really infallible?  Exactly what kind of failure are the Kalends claiming will happen?  How much free will do the various participants really have?  Does Glimmung even care if he succeeds or not?  Despite the theoretical and borderline theosophical bent of these questions, the protagonist's dilemma is always defined in very specific terms: yes or no, stay or go, help or hinder.  Clearly Dick wanted to write a novel about the nature of religious belief and modern man's relationship to it, but his own personal uncertainties made it impossible to provide the kind of real conclusions that he hoped for.  So instead he portrays his protagonist as a lost soul in search of redemption but continually beset by a lack of certainty.  Will he throw his life away in meaningless gesture?  Or will his defiance bring down the very god that has chosen him?  Don't expect any easy answers from Dick.

Despite all the craziness, at well under 200 pages of easy reading, this reviewer breezed through the book in nothing flat.  An entertaining read even if it doesn't make as much sense as you'd like it to, but probably not one of Dick's best novels.
2178317
Siddhartha centers around a young man's desire to go out and explore the world, finding out on his own the paths, pitfalls, and destructive forces within one's nature. One of the key elements is Siddhartha choosing his own destiny--whatever that may be-- and having to work with the results. Through a character change, he is able to find redemption.

Perhaps one of the most effective aspects of Hesse's novel is just the way it is written. His prose and detail make this story such an easy read, yet there is a deep, underlying poetic tone that affirms its message about individual quest and salvation. The story of Siddhartha venturing out from his parents and friend, and leaving despite his encounter with the Enlightened One, really becomes parallel to the story of the lost son who must find his way back home (in this sense, the idea of home is spiritual).

Once Siddhartha leaves the life of the Samanas, he becomes drawn into the life of wealth, flesh, and excess: "The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally that vice that he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish-- acquisitiveness. Property, possessions, and riches had also trapped him." He seemingly must continue to go down deeper out of himself, and fall into eventual despair before he rises.

The real awakening he experiences comes at his lowest point. As he contemplates suicide by a river, he hears the sound from the depths of his soul that turns the tide of his outlook-- the sound of "Om", the prayer, which translates to "The Perfect One." There he understands the mistake he is about to commit, and the transformation begins, but not before going through other struggles.

The story really is a testament to the philosophy that one must listen to the voice in their life guiding them to the right choice. Although Siddhartha makes many foolish mistakes along the way-- he fails to listen to fatherly advice, or counsel from his friend, or even words from their spiritual leader-- yet, it is almost critical for him to make these mistakes to gain a greater sense of himself. The journey into mistakes and correcting of these is as important as hearing that voice that guides.
2270290
Where does the loneliness we feel take us? How do we recover from terrible loss and redeem guilt? And how do we live the life we've been given? In this beautiful sophomore novel, Elizabeth Strout (AMY AND ISABELLE) carefully constructs ABIDE WITH ME, which explores faith, community, numbing loss, the tremendous power of words used carelessly, and redemption.

It's 1959, and the threat of nuclear destruction is uppermost in the minds of Americans. Against the gray cold backdrop of northern Maine, Reverend Tyler Caskey deals with his own devastation as he grieves the loss of his colorful and lively wife, Lauren. The once vibrant and articulate pastor is now reduced to reading old sermons to his Congregationalist church on Sunday mornings and is barely able to cope with each day. His family is splintered: his youngest daughter, Jeannie, has been parceled out to his unloving mother to raise, and Katherine has become alternately sullen and silent or screaming and acting out in kindergarten.

Caskey's housekeeper, Connie Hatch, tries to keeps order in the 100-year-old farmhouse in the small town of West Annett that serves as parsonage, but her own terrible secrets are a ticking time bomb. Tyler's congregation is becoming impatient with his grief; their gossip is about to involve him in events that will change his perceptions of his life and his abilities, while causing him to face a few secrets of his own. Dealing with problems is something he's not particularly good at. Lauren's final words ring in his ears: "Tyler, you're such a coward, you know."

The colorless town, with its rather colorless meals, is nevertheless richly portrayed, from the gold gingko leaves in the autumn to such lovely phrases as "her earlier visit to his office hung over his shoulders like a cape dampened by rain." Strout adeptly handles the flashbacks that slowly flesh out Tyler and Lauren's courtship and early marriage, and the terrible days leading up to her death. Some very specific sexual details, however, will limit conservative readers' enjoyment of the book.

One of Strout's strengths is her well-developed characters. Their interior lives are much more complex than the simplicity they present to the world, and their secrets darker than anyone would suspect. Strout makes them interesting yet believable. Connie is 46 years old, part Indian, with beautiful green eyes and a birthmark on the side of her nose, "red as raspberry jam." She alternately repels the reader and attracts. Tyler's difficult mother, who criticizes and repeats the same stories over and over again, will be recognizable as a character type most of us have encountered, especially in the church.

Tyler is a curious mixture of strength and vulnerability. "It might have been this quality, as much as any other, that continued to make the minister so popular with his congregation: these moments of sudden bafflement, deep uncertainty. Surfacing from a man who appeared always in control of himself, who shouldered his misfortunes with the gentle air of an abstracted acceptance, these instances of open-faced bewilderment allowed people, particularly women but by no means only women, to view him as surprisingly and suddenly vulnerable..." Tyler lives in fear that he will lose his connection to God, "The Feeling," those moments of transcendence that have been so important to him. It's our bond with Tyler and especially his relationship with his daughter, Katherine, that ensures we won't put the book down until the very last page.

Redemption and yearning are symbolized by the old hymn lyrics from Abide with Me, which appear throughout the book: "Abide with me; fast falls the eventide...The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide." Tyler comes to find that he isn't given an easy life, but it's a life in which God offers his presence. Readers who enjoyed Gail Godwin's EVENTIDE, Kent Haruf's PLAINSONG or Susan Howatch's Starbridge series should find this novel an absorbing pleasure

  --- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby (phrelanzer@aol.com)
1641022
The author has managed to weave into a coherency, the concept of reincarnation with the basic human desire to go back and correct the mistakes one makes in life.  At the same time, the author has painted both  vividly lush and ghastly pictures of English middle-class life from pre-World War I to post-WW II. The reader is finally challenged to decide on his/her own what version of the heroine's life stories  one wishes to adopt.  But even then, the choices are not as definite and satisfying as one would wish.  What the reader gets however, is a moving potrayal of a family's love and survival.
2768912
McLaughlin combines his experience with travel writing with a desire to explore how life can be lived more in keeping with our true values.  He creates a character who is bold enough to risk jumping out of the box, only to find the free fall everyone warns him of isn't there.  McLaughlin reminds us that when material pursuits are swept away, that people can be genuinely kind and generous.  Take a journey across the nation with our protagonist as he rediscovers his own heart and those of the people he encounters everywhere.
89191
Likened to a purgatory for lost souls, for those who were desperate and made attempts to snuff life out of it, most of the time unsuccessfully though, Moristoun was a place for people who had a second chance in this world. Theres a new beginning to try out there that is similar to Utopia, maybe less puritanical than heaven, with bars to wallow in pints and football to squabble about, which is short of life on earth but it is life nevertheless. Its a nice read, though full of similes and comparisons to nature and facts that could hamper reading, and use of Scottish dialect that keeps you looking for their meanings in English.  Its full of inconsistencies to real life, which lends itself to being a fictional story. Overall, I could say that the author is more than very talented in creating such a unique idea and putting it into writing. Read it and see for yourself.
2703395
What an eclectic book! Painful loss, committed love of both family and friends through profound challenges, deeply buried secrets to be uuntangled, genuine (not forced) forgiveness, spiritual faith, racial tension, and more--all with a nice touch of humor here and there. I thought at one point I'd figured out the secret, but the writer surprised me. As in real life, the story doesn't tie everything up neatly, but still the ending will have you saying amen and maybe even hallelujah in hope for the future.

The story unfolds a bit slowly, but if you don't need a fast pace it's worth sticking with it.

My only quibble is a conversation about life after death. The characters' views are the writer's privilege, of course, but since the participants in the discussion were people of faith, as a committed Christian I would have liked at least the Methodist minister to express a traditional belief in an afterlife. But that's my personal preference.

A touching read, and the audiobook narrator is wonderful.
737896
This is not a typical "how to" book in the religious or spiritual genre.  Rather, it is a memoir of the authors's quest to find his way back "home" in the spiritual sense.  He tells the story with a certain authenticity and desperation that really resonated with me.  Clearly, his path and mine are not exactly the same; no two paths ever are.  Yet, his successes and failures, wrong turns and doubts, all gave me hope that I'm not alone on this journey, and that all is well.

"Pastor" Dave is a wonderful, kind and caring man who was the pastor at the church that I grew up in during much of my childhood and young adult years.  He always was open to other viewpoints and treated everyone with love, respect and dignity.  I always held him in the highest personal regard.  However, after reading his new book, I now feel like I know him as a friend and fellow sojourner on the path home.  It's a beautiful story by a beautiful human being, and one that I will treasure and turn back to for years to come.
4977038
Everyone has a book in them and Sergey Baranovs Path is his, one which is imbued with existential angst and fist-shaking at the worlds corruption, human failings, exploitations and delusions.
A rebel with a cause, he has found his essential essence in Huachuma (San Pedro) ceremonies and in the plant medicine Huichol and Chavin cultures of Mexico and pre-Incan Peru.
Path is his personal recollection about how he has found the world and his determined but frustrating journey, which has taken him from a childhood in the Ukraine to adolescence in Israel and young adulthood in California, towards finding his true purpose in Peru, one of the few countries in the world that has not legislated against plant medicines.
Particularly touching are his chapters featuring the animals that have come into his life his dog, hawk and owl, all of which suffered from injury and premature death. And readers will also feel for him around the manner of his Mothers passing.
His Sartrean Nausea at the bad faith behind employment in the Western World will be familiar to many Gringos who visit or settle in the Sacred Valley and his expose of the manipulations, cynicism and material greed of American cult leaders is completely laudatory.
His sections on the American pharmaceutical industry are based on passionately held views that the West, with its science and commerciality, has betrayed the high ideals of those who genuinely wish to heal the sick.
In some respects Path is his manifesto for spiritual questors who are alienated from Western materialism and are seeking a deeper understanding of the universe we occupy and of the human condition within it.
My own life journey has many parallels with his but has not entailed so much personal isolation and geographic relocation and its sequence was from existentialism to astrology and from initiation to kabbalah and to imaginal shamanism, none of which is to be found in Path.
I also stopped trying to blame others for the worlds faults some 30 years ago after a decade of tireless political campaigning.
Whilst not agreeing with a number of his conclusions, including his narrow definition of shamanism as being solely plant-based, his claim that there are absolute truths, his rejection of the need to speculate on the Afterlife and his need to vilify others, I can recognize him as an illuminator of what it means to be human and respect him for baring his soul so openly.
1240554
This is a courageous memoir of emotional and spiritual healing from self-hatred and self-abuse to self-affirmation.  Samadhi explores painful themes dominating her early life - emotional abuse, incest, religious oppression, and homophobia - and through her story we watch her grow from navet and victimization to strength and self-awareness.  An intrepid explorer of both inner and outer worlds, Samadhi searches through other countries and cultures for the deeper reality of the people she meets and for meaningful connection with them, at the same time as she celebrates the precious quality of the short time they share together.  Her empathy embraces a broad mix of races, cultures, classes and religions.  Of particular interest are her reflections on the Middle East, where she spent several years.  She shares her first hand experience with religious dogma and extremism, and she takes a hard look at gender relations.  She confronts oppressive authorities throughout her life and her travels, but she comes to realize that her biggest challenge is to confront her own self-oppression.  Her book is both a testament to and a celebration of her success in finding her own voice.  With its intimate style, it offers a map of the heart for others on their own inner journey.
619142
McEver addresses what matters--life, loss, redemption, faith, and love--in both metaphors and cries from the heart. In stark, burnished words, he reflects on memorable moments he's passed on the highway of life: first wife taken from him, second betraying him, friends offering support, others leaving this world, nostalgia for the South, and frustration with New York City. One hopes he has found what he is looking for in the woman who "rides besides me into this dark valley."
2577953
The story opens slowly with the disjointed ramblings of an old man close to death.  As the ramblings begin to shift into focus, the narrative switches to twelve-year-old Sol, explaining the ghosts in his life.  The account focuses on one short month in Sol's life, using the memories recounted to him by others and his own logical guesses to fill in missing information.

Sol appears as a carefree farm boy near the turn of the century, and while the time and setting are important to the tale he unfolds, it is a story without time or place.  There are undercurrents around Sol over which he has no control; his destiny is largely decided by the decisions and misunderstandings of those around him.

Weems' characters are dimensional, human; they are people we meet daily.  His narrative moves like an undertow--pulling the reader relentlessly, but not overt.  The reader wants Sol to prevail over the evil in the world and is caught in his story.  The author sees most people as basically good, and he offers to each the opportunity for a happy ending.  It is a hypnotic story.  We can hope the Weems has many more.
3490387
Snyder's excellent writing draws you into this story of loss and redemption. A gentle story of a modern day man who comes full circle from his Maine childhood to his success in the world and back again to his childhood home. Having spent much of his life running from his humble beginnings, he ultimately learns that the ways of the world must yield to the ways of the heart for true happiness and peace to come. He shows us that each of us is in our own way a fallen angel in need of redemption.
3054228
What makes a reviewer grant a 5-star rating to an author's first book? A man who read Gillian Royes tale,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Goat-Woman-of-Largo-Bay/dp/1451627416/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Goat Woman of Largo Bay</a>, and thought it an excellent read for so many reasons. The book touched my heart. Many years ago when I was trying to figure out my own existence, I remember a counselor telling me that the dissolution of my spirit just might be my Dark night of the Soul.

In Christian terms, the Dark night of the Soul refers to the supreme anguish a person experiences, a definite meaninglessness and hopelessness, that drives her/him towards God. In&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Goat-Woman-of-Largo-Bay/dp/1451627416/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Goat Woman of Largo Bay</a>, Simone, caught up in the dissolution of her marriage and an unfortunate vehicular accident that left her beloved daughter dead, is reeling in a kind of despair. But, God, she is not seeking. She is seeking herself. Her quest is for a person--a being--one that will gift her decimated thinking with some beam of hope--any light ray--that life, as she has known it, is still worthwhile.

As a result, this deeply troubled Simone, squats on a very tiny island off the coast of Largo Bay. She seeks no one. She seeks no thing. She seeks to survive. She seeks to find meaning in her own personality. In her distressed mind, she hopes only to prove that, as a woman, she is worthwhile, if to no one else, then at least to herself.

How? Her distraught mind guilts her to believe that she must survive on the island that at one time had joined the small village of Largo Bay via narrow peninsula. Now, because of a ferocious past hurricane, the island and its decaying hotel ruins are left to the ravages of the open sea. This decimated hotel becomes Simone's refuge.

Fortunately, two brave villagers who first thought they saw life on the tiny island, eventually realize that&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Goat-Woman-of-Largo-Bay/dp/1451627416/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Goat Woman of Largo Bay</a>&nbsp;is a human being, a woman, Simone. They begin providing her with much removed warmth because she is so distant. As time passes, it appears that Simone may be on the brink of a total mental breakdown, fighting the possessive ghosts of her past. She shares any spoken thoughts with a stranded mutt of a dog named Cammy.

What will happen to&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Goat-Woman-of-Largo-Bay/dp/1451627416/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Goat Woman of Largo Bay</a>? Can she survive--alone? Who, if anyone, can break through her well fortified mental fortress to ease her isolated anguish? Will it be a villager, a family member who finally tracks her down, or will it take another ferocious storm?

These questions I will leave for you, the reader. Suffice it to say,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Goat-Woman-of-Largo-Bay/dp/1451627416/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Goat Woman of Largo Bay</a>&nbsp;is not usual cloak/dagger/suspense with romance thrown in. Author Gillian Royes' novel will disturb you--it will haunt you, because all of us, in one way or another have had our own Dark Night of the Soul. How Simone survives what she has set out for herself as an almost impossible task will leave your imagination demanding some kind of closure if not her rescue!

I cannot recommend books of this caliber high enough. The Goat Woman of Largo Bay is a tale for both female and male readers who hope the human spirit will survive in spite of indomitable odds. I take my hat off to author Gillian Royes. Please keep on writing and writing and writing ...

This review was written by Regis Schilken, author of TEARS OF DECEIT.
3444124
This book is a gift for the soul. The author is a master at depicting the character's personal, and plausible, journey from despair, fear, anger and hopelessness to a rebirth of faith in God that returns her to a state of joy and a profoundly meaningful life. Truly inspiring and thought provoking.
3344215
Elizabeth Perkins had a very troubled childhood.  She lost her mother as she was born and her father died in an ?accident ?seventeen years ago.  She has suffered recurrent dreams of this trauma for many years and the spirits of her parents cannot rest within her heart.  She meets the man of her dreams.  He is a very spiritual man with strong and unwavering faith in God and the scripture.  He is the one destined to lead ?Lizzie? back to God and she is on the brink of finding happiness.
Her fiance's life is now threatened and Lizzie?s world is about to delve back into a cycle of loss and sadness.  She has already lost her mother and father; must she loose her fianc? Ryan Denlinger as well?  She utilizes the images that trouble her as she sleeps to recreate the scene of her father?s death and the days she spent by his lifeless body as a child.  These painful memories and sleepless nights lead her to a startling realization.  Is it possible that her father?s death and the threats on Ryan?s life are related? As she finds her way ?home? she will find that God has been with her in many forms.  She wants a closer relationship with God and her fianc? will take her there ? if he survives.
This book will serve a dual purpose.  It will satisfy those looking for a good mystery with a surprising and unexpected ending.  It will also serve to remind those that follow God or the ones who have lost ?the way home? that God is alive and will guide you to your purpose and peace ? if you have faith.  It is suitable for any audience, young or old and it is timeless.
Pick up a copy for yourself and for anyone trying to cope with loss.  The therapy found within these pages is for anyone and everyone who may feel that their life is tumbling from their hands.
Tyrone Vincent Banks of Betsie's Literary Page
3972755
Frank Bascombe, now seven years beyond his divorce from Ann known as X in THE SPORTSWRITER, is in a self-described Existence Period, where he has adopted an orientation of accepting life, though slightly detached. He finds a certain amount of satisfaction in his job as a real estate agent in Haddam, New Jersey, where he lived with his ex-wife and two children, though they have moved to Conn. Yet Frank would not be Frank if there was not a great deal of introspection and contemplation of life in general.

Over a few day period at the Fourth of July, 1988, he is in a reflective mood as he engages with a Vermont couple that are hopelessly confused about the direction that they want to take including which house to buy; his girlfriend of a few months Sally who senses Frank's inability to firmly seize reality, and his son Paul who has adopted strange behavior to the point of worrying Ann. Frank hopes to establish a better rapport with Paul with a two-day trip to the Basketball and Baseball Halls of Fame; the trip becomes far more than miles covered.

There is no doubt that the book can be tedious with long descriptions of roads, buildings, scenery, etc. Virtually every interaction diverts into a lengthy thought process that may or may not be pertinent to what is at hand. Yet Frank's concerns and situation resonant with similarly reflective readers. Ford's writing just may not sit well with the American non-reflective character, more interested in business and shopping, squeezing out opportunities for thought.

The events of the weekend are interesting but by far the focus is Frank's attempt to grasp where he is at this point in his life and how he wants to proceed with the significant others in his life.