Captivating and concerning, but more details would be welcome.
In the first of a planned series, McCutchen recounts coming face to face with God, Jesus, angels, demons and other visions while spending time at a strange church that she visits with her sister.
Having moved through a series of breakups, job losses and injuries, McCutchen was immediately embraced by the church’s “dirty hippies” and their pastor, who offered her free room and board in exchange for cleaning the church building. This cleanup job soon involved glitter from heaven and puddles of water appearing on the church floors, and her visions included whirlwinds and other supernatural sights. McCutchen’s visions grow stranger and more alarming as the people at her church, especially the pastor, become more threatening, controlling and cultlike. At one point, the pastor even forbids her to speak, and in response, she goes on a 40-day fast. During this imposed silence, McCutchen reflects, “That’s why I was so glad that God, Jesus, and the angels started talking to me, because no one else wanted to.” It is statements like this that make McCutchen’s memoir both moving and disturbing. She doesn’t seem to question where her visions come from, nor does she make much effort to interpret or glean lessons from them, which may make the book difficult to connect with. Similarly, there is little examination of the church’s strange social hierarchy, so making sense of her unique story can be difficult. The narrative and prose are scattered, panicked and urgent, and while McCutchen’s relationship with God is very personal, the book does little to communicate what her relationship with God means in light of these visions. This is no doubt a story McCutchen desperately needed to tell, and while it’s certainly intriguing, readers are left on the outside.
Captivating and concerning, but more details would be welcome.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492386285
Page Count: 62
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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