Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Next book

A MATTER OF THE HEART

A MONK'S JOURNAL

An intriguing collection of thoughts and impressions that offer a rare glimpse into a solitary life.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

A Trappist monk reflects on such subjects as spirituality and the daily minutiae of monastic life in a series of journal entries spanning more than half a century.

Quenon has spent the last six-and-a-half decades as a monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Having authored multiple other works, including In Praise of the Useless Life (2018) and the poetry book Unquiet Vigil (2014), he now offers pages from his journals, which he’s divided into five parts spanning from 1970 to 2022, and added footnotes to provide additional context and definitions of terms that may be unfamiliar to readers. Some accounts are highly personal, such as one of the death of his twin sister in 1995, while other musings are more philosophical and esoteric, as in this entry from 1993: “The act of wanting belongs to the idiom of the ego….Beyond that is a desire which is not set by the ego or derived from self-knowledge in the usual sense of the word. On that deeper level, I do not know what I want, in terms of a clear definition of a goal. I only know that I do want and even that is not always clear to me.” Overall, the author offers a unique mix of reminiscences, philosophical musings, and historical connections, as when he presents his impressions of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Throughout, Quenon makes the disparate parts of his unique life feel universal by regularly including events that will be relatable to people outside the monastery. Some passages, such as his middle-of-the-night thought that “God is not the predator but the prey,” may befuddle more than enlighten, but most observations—including his wry comments on mass consumerism or his ideas regarding connections between Taoism founder Lao Tzu and Jesus—contribute to the work’s accessibility.

An intriguing collection of thoughts and impressions that offer a rare glimpse into a solitary life.

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024

ISBN: 9781958972410

Page Count: 166

Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing

Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024

Next book

ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

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

Next book

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

AND OTHER ESSAYS

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

Close Quickview