Georges Bernanos
"Blessed are the meek..."
This is the story of a young man, a priest, who, after recently graduating from the seminary, is assigned to a small French town to serve as their parish priest. In the beginning, it could be mistaken that the main problem this priest suffers is a kind of insecurity that comes about from being so new and in such a difficult situation - after all, most of the villagers don't necessarily seem to want too much "religion" in their lives - but through the diary, the reader sees that no matter what the supposed shortcomings of this particular priest, he is someone who has fought for a very pure and steadfast faith which has helped him rise up from abject poverty, go through seminary, as well as serve with grace in a place where neither his parishioners nor his superiors understand him at all.
July 2010
Emma Richler
This is a book consisting of five shorter stories revolving around the Weiss family, as narrated by the family's third and middle child, Jemima. From the beginning, it is obvious that Jem, as she is called, is not a stupid child, although she seems to be most comfortable within the safety of her family, particularly her "almost-twin" Jude, and her younger sister Harriet. Within these accounts, though, the reader sees from the beginning idiosyncracies in Jem's mind, which serve her quite poorly as an adult when the safe cocoon of family is gone.
As sad and scary the flashes of Jem's adult life seems to be, I still enjoyed this book. I was pulled very close to Jem whilst reading this book, and really quite enjoyed following the way this girl's mind worked sometimes. As I came closer to the end of the book though, I couldn't help but think of how some of Jem's upbringing most definitely contributed to her adult confusion, as one of the minor themes of the book dealt with growing up in a home where the parents didn't share the same religious faith, and as a result, Jem ended up with none. In seeing things in this light, it made it all the more understandable that without some sort of spiritual anchor to cling to, once she and her siblings grew up and moved up and moved on, she would have a hard time dealing with life in general.
June 2010
