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Synopsis
An acrobat-turned-nun is forced to question her faith in this beautifully crafted tale full of religion, revenge, and magical realism.
Review
What strikes one most about Holy Fools is how far removed it is from Harris' previous works. This novel is the writer's most ambitious offering yet, with an altogether darker tone. That said, all of Harris' trademarks are present. Gallic setting? Check. Strong, yet spiritual, female protagonist? Check. Pervasive air of sensuality? It's all there.
The year is 1610 when we first encounter Juliette in her alternative incarnation as L'Ailée — a tight-rope walker and star attraction of a traveling circus led by playwright and pantomime villain Guy LeMerle. When her Theatre des Cieux hits trouble, a pregnant Juliette flees to a remote coastal convent to become Soeur Auguste, give birth to a daughter, and enjoy an idyllic existence, close to nature.
Five years on, the death of the Reverend Mother marks a turning point both in Juliette's life and the novel — an 11-year-old new abbess arrives, accompanied by LeMerle in the guise of a priest. The convent is torn apart by the pair's relentless reformations, but LeMerle ensures that Juliette doesn't reveal his true identity by holding her child
hostage. This leaves him free to engineer a series of preposterous miracles, culminating in a showdown worthy of the big top.
Despite the man's cruelty and egotism, Juliette's long-held passion for LeMerle lingers. The medieval setting does nothing to detract from the modernity of this tale of a single mother's struggle and love for an unsuitable man. Harris' flavorsome prose perfectly conjures up 17th-century France. The repressed nuns compare unfavorably with the free-spirited performers of Juliette's past — the most sympathetic characters are those in touch with nature and emotion rather than those with strong religious beliefs. Ultimately, the book reflects her view that, "Churches, like any other institution, are only as good or bad as the individuals who serve them." (LCD)
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Synopsis
An ex-nun surveys 4,000 years in the history of God, mainly through the lenses of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Review
As soon as humans could draw on cave walls we were busy creating creators, Karen Armstrong contends in her painstakingly researched A History of God. And ever since then, we have continuously adapted God to our needs — or, rather, cultures have shaped different notions of God, or gods, as they have seen fit. Rest assured, however: this book is hardly a cynical dismissal of divinity, for it repeatedly indicates that the omnipresent, universal need for God could be construed as stemming from, and therefore proof of, the true divinity.
A former Catholic nun who has documented elsewhere her own departure from religious practices, Armstrong is an ideal guide on this rather heady, always fair-minded journey from the fall of paganism to the rise of monotheism. Although she discusses Hinduism and Buddhism with great respect, she lingers longest on the often mercenary mutations of Christianity, Judaism, and, finally, Islam — which, she points out, was initially established by Mohammed with far greater openmindedness that were its monotheistic predecessors.
Armstrong's overview of the millenniums-long development and, to some degree, demise of organized divinity was written nearly a decade before the events of September 11, 2001, yet her conclusion clearly anticipates a calamity of that sort. For her, the question of God's existence is not half as germane as how much humanity has needed him, or her, or it — and how useful different understandings of God have proven at pivotal cultural moments. And right now, she suggests, we are a spiritually thirsty society, not served even remotely well by the models of fundamentalism and nihilism that dominate today's religious landscape. (LR)
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