My Rating: 5/10I don’t remember how I thought of reading this book, but somehow, I discovered it and booked it at my local library. The front cover of the book didn’t give the story; I thought may be, it is about ‘the ecstasy’ (the drug) and its experience. I could not imagine anything else! So, it was a surprise for me when it started with the description of nuns’ lives at the convent!
I found out that the book is about ‘Stigmata’; which are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. I have heard a lot about it in documentaries and have also seen the movie; but it was the first time I was reading a book on the topic. You can click here to know more about Stigmata.
I found out that the book is about ‘Stigmata’; which are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. I have heard a lot about it in documentaries and have also seen the movie; but it was the first time I was reading a book on the topic. You can click here to know more about Stigmata.
The book describes numerous scenes depicting Sisters’ lives in the convent; its quite detailed and I could imagine their lives there: sewing, cooking and off course praying! Ron Hansen has written the book in a different style using present tense and short sentences. For example, the book starts with few one-liners:
Half-moon and a wrack of gray clouds.
Wallowing beetles in green pond water.
Toads.
Cattails sway and unsway.
There are parts in the book which are incomprehensible if you don’t know Bible or if you are not religiously inclined. Overall, a different but not outstanding book. Here’s what is it about:
THE EXCERPT
In 1906, a beautiful seventeen-year old postulant enters the convent of the sisters of the crucifixion in upstate New York. When she begins to bleed from hands, feet and side, the entire community is thrown into turmoil. Is Mariette a cunning sham, or sexually hysterical, or does God stalk her like a pitiless lover? Mariette in Ecstasy is a stunning immersion into the society of a small convent at the turn of the century, where a mysterious and ultimately harrowing world lied beneath the lovely, placid surface of everyday life.
Half-moon and a wrack of gray clouds.
Wallowing beetles in green pond water.
Toads.
Cattails sway and unsway.
There are parts in the book which are incomprehensible if you don’t know Bible or if you are not religiously inclined. Overall, a different but not outstanding book. Here’s what is it about:
THE EXCERPT
In 1906, a beautiful seventeen-year old postulant enters the convent of the sisters of the crucifixion in upstate New York. When she begins to bleed from hands, feet and side, the entire community is thrown into turmoil. Is Mariette a cunning sham, or sexually hysterical, or does God stalk her like a pitiless lover? Mariette in Ecstasy is a stunning immersion into the society of a small convent at the turn of the century, where a mysterious and ultimately harrowing world lied beneath the lovely, placid surface of everyday life.
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