by Jennifer Fisher Bryant ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1997
What does it take for a person to begin a spiritual journey? What is the process through which one goes to find meaning in life? In a remarkable biography in the new Men of Spirit series, Bryant (Lucretia Mott, 1996, etc.) addresses these questions to help explicate the life of Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk who recorded his spiritual experiences in his journals and in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Merton was born in France in 1915, the child of a New Zealander father and American mother, both professional artists. Bryant makes clear how their examples of individualism and creative thinking were carried on by their son, who had a nomadic, even dissolute youth before zealously converting to Catholicism. The books and poetry borne of his gift for writing connected with others and had a deep impact on people's lives after WW II. Bryant relies too heavily on Monica Furlong's biography, but ably conveys to a younger audience, involved in their own spiritual journeys, the message of Merton. They may come away from this book not only with a real sense of the man and his writings, but courage enough for their present and future struggles as well. (index, not seen, b&w photos, further reading) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8028-5109-6
Page Count: 197
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997
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by Gary Paulsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001
Paulsen recalls personal experiences that he incorporated into Hatchet (1987) and its three sequels, from savage attacks by moose and mosquitoes to watching helplessly as a heart-attack victim dies. As usual, his real adventures are every bit as vivid and hair-raising as those in his fiction, and he relates them with relish—discoursing on “The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition,” for instance: “Something that you would never consider eating, something completely repulsive and ugly and disgusting, something so gross it would make you vomit just looking at it, becomes absolutely delicious if you’re starving.” Specific examples follow, to prove that he knows whereof he writes. The author adds incidents from his Iditarod races, describes how he made, then learned to hunt with, bow and arrow, then closes with methods of cooking outdoors sans pots or pans. It’s a patchwork, but an entertaining one, and as likely to win him new fans as to answer questions from his old ones. (Autobiography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32650-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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by Jack Gantos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)
An exhilarating summer marked by death, gore and fire sparks deep thoughts in a small-town lad not uncoincidentally named “Jack Gantos.”
The gore is all Jack’s, which to his continuing embarrassment “would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames” whenever anything exciting or upsetting happens. And that would be on every other page, seemingly, as even though Jack’s feuding parents unite to ground him for the summer after several mishaps, he does get out. He mixes with the undertaker’s daughter, a band of Hell’s Angels out to exact fiery revenge for a member flattened in town by a truck and, especially, with arthritic neighbor Miss Volker, for whom he furnishes the “hired hands” that transcribe what becomes a series of impassioned obituaries for the local paper as elderly town residents suddenly begin passing on in rapid succession. Eventually the unusual body count draws the—justified, as it turns out—attention of the police. Ultimately, the obits and the many Landmark Books that Jack reads (this is 1962) in his hours of confinement all combine in his head to broaden his perspective about both history in general and the slow decline his own town is experiencing.
Characteristically provocative gothic comedy, with sublime undertones. (Autobiographical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-37993-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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