bookshelf

OUR LADY OF THE LOST AND FOUND

Name: OUR LADY OF THE LOST AND FOUND
Author: Diane Schoemperlen
ISBN: 0-670-89977-1

A NOVEL OF MARY, FAITH, AND FRIENDSHIP

by Diane Schoemperlen ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2001

Ambitious and intelligent, but more a collection of fascinating essays than a fulfilling piece of fiction.

bookshelf

What would you do if the Virgin Mary came to visit for a week? Taking off from this entertaining premise, the author of In the Language of Love (1996) falls short, though not for want of trying.

The narrator, a fussy but endearing writer in her 40s who lives in some northern suburb, seems an unlikely candidate for divine visitation. But Mary, weary from constant miracle-making, nonetheless takes up temporary residence in her guest bedroom. Despite the casual slacks, brown cardigan, and sneakers, there is no doubt this is indeed the Mother of God. And although Mary requests complete secrecy, she realizes the writer will be too tempted (so to speak) by the material at hand and agrees to allow a book to be written about her so long as it's called a “novel.” Presumably, this is the result: a document of quiet mornings spent over coffee and the paper, trips to the mall, and other quotidian events. Anecdotes about Mary's previous earthly visitations and stories about saints and martyrs both familiar and obscure comprise much of the text; they illustrate the strength of belief and narrate the course of history from a Marian perspective. Schoemperlen also makes random forays into the narrator's memory, more often than not including discussions of Pythagorean theory, the nature of truth, the melding of history and fiction, and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Though these tidbits and occasionally endless lists speak to the narrator's larger examination of the nature of fact and faith, they ultimately prove frustrating. The Virgin Mary is sitting right there in the kitchen! Yet Schoemperlen dangles her in front of the reader for 300 pages without ever allowing Mary much to say for herself. The supposed core of the story, meeting the Mother of God, isn't strong enough to balance the tangents.

Ambitious and intelligent, but more a collection of fascinating essays than a fulfilling piece of fiction.

Pub Date: May 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-670-89977-1

Page Count: 350

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2001

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
BY THE BOOK
by Diane Schoemperlen

- BOOK REVIEW
RED PLAID SHIRT
by Diane Schoemperlen

- BOOK REVIEW
FORMS OF DEVOTION
by Diane Schoemperlen

bookshelf

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

by C.S. Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1942

bookshelf

These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942

ISBN: 0060652934

Page Count: 53

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL MY ROAD BEFORE ME
by C.S. Lewis

- BOOK REVIEW
PRESENT CONCERNS
by C.S. Lewis

- BOOK REVIEW
BOXEN
by C.S. Lewis

bookshelf

THE CHOSEN

by Chaim Potok ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 28, 1967

bookshelf

This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.