For Rouenna: A Novel

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Mesmerizing and moving

Impressive, insightful, powerful

For Rouenna: A Novel
Sigrid Nunez
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312420633

Book Description

After my first book was published, the narrator tells us, I received some letters. Among them is one from a Rouenna Zycinski, asking to meet. Though fascinated by the stories Rouenna tells about her life as a combat nurse in Vietnam, the narrator flatly declines her request that they collaborate on a memoir. Later, however, in the aftermath of Rouennas shocking death, she is compelled to write about her friendand her friends war. An unforgettable novel about truth, memory, and unexpected heroism.

Customer Reviews:

Mesmerizing and moving.......2002-03-11

This novel juxtaposes the lives of narrator and subject in a manner that draws the reader deep into their lives. Although Vietnam is at the core of the story, the gut-wrenching sadness and horror of that experience is woven brilliantly into the stories of the lives of two women who are very different, yet who share a compassion for humanity that is rare and incredibly moving.The settings are created so vividly that it is hard to put this book down. For the first time in a long while,I am left with the urge to re-read very soon. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Impressive, insightful, powerful.......2001-11-16

FOR ROUENNA starts comfortably enough, with the narrator, a novelist, receiving a letter from a woman she barely remembers from childhood. This woman, the Rouenna of the title, pressures the narrator to visit her Brooklyn apartment so they can talk, though the narrator fears the intimacy of a face to face meeting. Eventually, though, they meet, becoming friends despite their differences. Their friendship has barely taken root when Rouenna commits suicide in her mother's house in New Jersey. As the narrator tries to come to terms with the loss, she finds herself writing about Rouenna - her difficult childhood in the projects of Staten Island, and, most compellingly, of her time in war-torn Vietnam as a military nurse. The story becomes a powerful, unsettling eulogy not only for Rouenna, but for the innocence America lost during those turbulent times.

This is not a typical Vietnam War novel. Page-wise, the war itself probably takes up no more than a third of the book. By structuring her novel this way, Nunez gives the war context, culturally, historically, and personally, so that its reach goes far beyond its era.

You should not miss reading this extraordinary novel.

Average customer rating:
Pour Rouenna
Sigrid Nunez , and Martine Leroy-Battistelli
Manufacturer: Flammarion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2080682032

Average customer rating:
For Rouenna
Sigrid Nunez
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTLXIU

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For Rouenna
Sigrid Nunez
Manufacturer: Moyer Bell Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RAZ23S

Average customer rating:
Für Rouenna.
Sigrid Nunez
Manufacturer: Luchterhand Literaturverlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 3630871240

Amazon.com

The Crow, a dark character created by James O'Barr, "warps together two of man's strongest emotions and desires--love and revenge," writes Ed Kramer in the preface to this anthology of theme stories and art. A black, nightmarish spirit with a harlequin mouth, the Crow was born to avenge the brutal slaying of his beloved. Incarnations of the Crow stalk time and space, bringing ruthless and horrible justice to rapists and murderers.

O'Barr and Kramer asked an incredible array of fantastic fiction writers to interpret this Goth phenomenon--from A.A. Attanasio to Gene Wolfe, Alan Dean Foster, Charles de Lint, Jack Dann, and Jane Yolen. Shattered Lives & Broken Dreams delivers chilling, graphic tales of mystic revenge, from some of the best modern fantasy authors. Poetry (from Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop, among others) and original art complete this ode to the Crow. Readers of the popular comic book series and fans of the movie starring Brandon Lee will find lots to chill and thrill them in this collection. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

"He avenges the innocent dead. He stalks the crimson road of the slain. He mourns lost love so ardently that desire and death become one. He is the dream-carrier of holy retribution. And in the name of love he delivers justice to the wicked."
--From the Introduction

With this chilling collection of stories and poems, J. O'Barr--the creator of The Crow--and Ed Kramer host an ominous array of interpretations of the gothic phenomenon by acclaimed writers well acquainted with the dark side, including Alan Dean Foster, Ramsey Campbell, Gene Wolfe, Storm Constantine, Nancy Collins, Andrew Vachss, Iggy Pop, and Henry Rollins.

Featuring original artwork by such top artists as Ron Walotsky, Rob Prior, Tom Canty, Tim Bradstreet, Don Maitz, and Bob Eggleton, The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams evokes a modern night-world and its tormented denizens ensnared by unspeakable evil, enslaved by unquenchable longing, engulfed by the thirst for revenge, and enfolded by the enigmatic, eternal wings of The Crow.

Here a resurrected gunslinger gets a final showdown with his archenemy. . . .
A murder victim and a dying boy mete out poetic justice to a sadistic criminal. . . . A serial killer turned government assassin takes three abused children under his savage wing. . . . A tormented rogue cop literally fights fire with fire. . . . A wise talking crow guides the vengeful hand of a murdered girl's lover. . . . and much more.

For both the confirmed fan and the curious newcomer, this spellbinding, shocking, darkly sensual collection offers passage to an extraordinary literary realm: a place of macabre morality tales and existential adventures, of terror and tenderness--from which no reader can hope to leave unchanged. For when you take flight with The Crow, there is no turning back.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Book If You've Read 'The Crow'.......2004-05-10

This is a good addition to 'The Crow'. However I did find some of the stories a little tedious and one or two just plain boring, and that is why it only gets 4 stars. Perhaps I found these less good because they weren't directly about The Crow, and more realted to the theme of revenge and death.

But a poem by Henry Rollins, and 'Spooky Codeine And he Dead Man' by O'Barr himself, and 'Twice By Fire' by Ramsey Campbell, this book gains its four stars, plus th great works by other writers, too many of which there are to mention.

I advise you buy 'The Crow' before this book, as a lot of the stories refer to things in 'The Crow'.

A good book for fans of The Crow and James O'Barr, as well as fans of dark fantasy/horror.

It's worth your time if you like The Crow.......2003-10-25

This is worth your time if you like The Crow movies or the graphic novel. There are many good stories in this volume. There is also some good poetry and some good art throughout the book. There is even a good Eric Draven story somewhere in the volume.

You will really like this book if you like The Crow or dark poetry. It's worth your time.

Wonderful and excellant.......2001-02-10

I really loved this book and I think they should have movies on some of the stories. I would recommend this to fellow Crow fans and Dark Fantasty. :)

loved it.......2000-08-19

indeed another great addition to the crow name..

Vengeance has never been truly well written as it is here..........2000-03-26

A book comemorating death? Would one buy something as such and still be rendered a person of sanity? The answer is yes on both accounts. The book The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams is just that. Edited by the creator, the book takes you on numerous adventures scribed by different writers on the mythos of the crow. Most of the stories deal with the same contextual theme of wrongful death, sadness and a way of making things better where things have gone wrong. The book succeeds in a number of aspects and truly brings out the vengeful spirit that is the Crow. Though the character was created in the early 80s, it has grown to fame by the release of two successful movies, one in which was immortalized by the late Brandon Lee. One might ask what is the difference between The Crow and the Marvel comic character, the Ghost Rider, which also serves as a vengeful spirit. While the latter seeks vengeance for things gone wrong, the former has the special attribute that it can be anyone or even anything that can pick the mantle of the Crow. Anyone can become his or her own special spirit of retribution.

Most of the stories and poetry are well-written though some are just too far fetched to be taken seriously, a number of stories delve more into fantasy than your regular fiction. A number of stories, however, capture your mind and heart from the instance you read them. Stories that traverse the here and now. On how things should have been, but aren't. James O'Barr's piece, "Spooky, Codeine and the Dead Man" is a perfect example of such. Another story would be "Moving Toward the Light" by Rick R. Reed, a though-provoking piece about pain and hurt. The story is extremely graphical and can truly touch the reader and make him witness first hand the descriptive pungent exploitation the character experiences. The story makes you think and wonder, can this truly happen in a world of today, and the answer to that painful question is an excruciating yes.

The book is a must read for not only horror fans, but those who truly believe that there are outside forces controlling the paths each one of us takes, a power that can right where things have gone wrong, horribly wrong.

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The Crow Broken Lives & Shattered Dreams - Limited Signed Numbered Traycased Edition with Bonus Portfolio of 20 Color Plates
James & Ed Kramers (editors) Ed Bryant, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Storm Constantine, Alan Dean Foster, Christopher Golden, Charles De Lint, Caitlin Kiernan, John Shirley, S.P. Somtow, Chet Williamson, Gene Wolfe, Jack Dann, Robert Harr O'Barr
Manufacturer: Donald M. Grant Publisher, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000P0U1CM

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The Crow: Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams
Ed Kramer , James O'Barr , and Ed Kramer
Manufacturer: Donald M Grant
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

King, Stephen | ( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1880418452

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Crow: Shattered Lives & Broken Dreams
Ed Kramer
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVN1J2

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Not Free SF Reader

A Mammoth

Standout edition of a standout series

The Best Annual SF Anthology gets better

A Stellar anthology of fabulous fiction

The Year's Best Science Fiction, Eighteenth Annual Collection

Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Dozois, Gardner | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Short Stories | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312274653

Amazon.com

Gardner Dozois has become the most influential editor in science fiction, and his best-of-the-year anthologies show why. He has chosen 23 stories by masters such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Swanwick, Brian Stableford, and Greg Egan, as well as newer writers Severna Park, Tananarive Due, and Eliot Fintushel.

Standouts include "Tendeleo's Story," Ian MacDonald's powerful tale of people whose lives are changed by an alien invader that is slowly eating Africa; "The Suspect Genome," a mystery by Peter F. Hamilton; the slow but moving "Going After Bobo" by Susan Palwick; and "The Great Goodbye" by Robert Charles Wilson. Hugo nominees include "Radiant Green Star" by Lucius Shepherd, "Oracle" by Greg Egan, and "On the Orion Line" by Stephen Baxter.

Dozois's summation of the year in science fiction alone is worth the cost of admission to these annual collections. Along with his usual takes on publishing, literature, film, and more, Dozois delivers a retrospective on the state of science fiction in the year 2000. Contrary to those who claim science fiction is either dead or (at least) losing its heart and soul since the deaths of authors like Isaac Asimov and Robert J. Heinlein, Dozois emphatically argues that the health of SF has never been stronger. Discussing increased numbers of novels being published (he includes numbers to prove his point), discoveries of young new writers, ongoing evolution of the literature, and innovative viewpoints to mine, Dozois bubbles over with enthusiasm for the genre in which he made his name, as well as the coming century and its mysterious developments waiting to surprise and delight us. --Bonnie Bouman

Book Description

The twenty-three stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our being, to the realm of the gods, and the moment just after now. Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles WilsonSupplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-08-01

This is a superb collection, this year. The stories average a massive 4.11. As usual, there is his rather long summation of the year, which people would probably by just by itself.

Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Juniper Tree - John Kessel
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Antibodies - Charles Stross
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Birthday of the World - Ursula K. Le Guin
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Savior - Nancy Kress
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Reef - Paul J. McAuley
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Going After Bobo - Susan Palwick
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Crux - Albert E. Cowdrey
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Cure for Everything - Severna Park
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Suspect Genome - Peter F. Hamilton
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Radiant Green Star - Lucius Shepard
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Great Wall of Mars - Alastair Reynolds
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Milo and Sylvie - Eliot Fintushel
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Snowball in Hell - Brian Stableford
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : On the Orion Line - Stephen Baxter
18 : Oracle - Greg Egan
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Obsidian Harvest - Rick Cook and Ernest Hogan
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Patient Zero - Tananarive Due
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : A Colder War - Charles Stross
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Real World - Steven Utley
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Thing About Benny - M. Shayne Bell
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : The Great Goodbye - Robert Charles Wilson
Year's Best Science Fiction 18 : Tendeléo's Story - Ian McDonald

Colony murder mystery reconstruction results.

4.5 out of 5

Worldline AI technology overrun.

5 out of 5

Conquering godhood changes.

3.5 out of 5

Humans a bit slow on the uptake about alien craft, muddle through disasters, and must have lost all the Stargate episodes when they tried the replicator thing. Oh, and AI's are quite fast.

5 out of 5

24 hour deep sea proxy people.

4 out of 5

Cat rescue not worth it.

4 out of 5

Terrorist investigation, timelines and tarts.

4 out of 5

Pharmaceutical breakthroughs rely heavily on the individual.

4 out of 5

Mandel's celebrity murder investigation.

4.5 out of 5

Archetypal creation.

4.5 out of 5

Mutant circus major's minder seeks permanent paternal punishment.

4.5 out of 5

Only a damaged but brilliant child is allowing the Conjoiners to continue to hold out, delaying the end of a battle that they cannot win.

4.5 out of 5

Shapeshifting kids.

3 out of 5

Transhumanism to posthumanish through violence and fire.

4.5 out of 5

Human expansion is slowed by a race of aliens, causing economic problems when the advanced alien technology is able to monkey with the laws of physics.

A not too bright teenager makes it out of the wreckage of a ship and from inside an enemy fortress with the help of the rest of his crew, with some valuable intel.

4 out of 5

In a reality where a man, similar to Alan Turing is working for the government in rather more unpleasant circumstances is visited by a reality hopping android woman things change rapidly. A man somewhat similar to C. S. Lewis has problems coping and believing.

4 out of 5

Aztec noir.

4 out of 5

Immune boy runs out of caretakers.

4.5 out of 5

The US works on highly advanced nuclear weapons programs to stop something far worse that the Soviets have available :

"What exactly are these weapons systems?'' demands the third inquisitor, a quiet, hawk-faced man sitting on the left of the panel.

The shoggot'im, they're called: servitors. There are several kinds of advanced robotic systems made out of molecular components: they can change shape, restructure material at the atomic level -- "

3.5 out of 5

Silurian search maybe entertaining.

3.5 out of 5

Botany with Abba overload.

3.5 out of 5

See ya later granddad, you stock old man.

4 out of 5

A Kenyan woman and her community come to terms with an alien infestation, as the outsider who fancies her adapts as well.

4 out of 5

A Mammoth.......2005-03-18

Once upon a time, there used to be several great SF Year's Best anthologies: Daw Year's Best, Terry Carr's Year's Best and Lester Del Rey's Year's Best, to name a few, not to mention Year's Best selections from various magazines like Analog and Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Now, the Year's Best anthologies are reduced to two in number, one of them being the one in review and the other one edited by Hartwell.

The present anthology is knows for its size. Mammoth is the right word for it. As it says on the cover, it contains more than 250,000 words. The table of content reads like the who's who of modern SF, containing names like Stephen Baxter, Ursula Le Guin, Greg Egan, Michael Swanwick, Peter Hamilton, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford.

Gardner Dozois is a good editor and I am sure the fiction presented in this book constitutes some of the better writings in the SF field for the year 2000, but put against the backdrop of SF in general (covering, say, the last 4 or 5 decades) I have to express my disappointment. The stories are adequate but there was not a single story in the book for which I could use superlatives. It makes me concerned about the prevailing standard of SF.

A point of contention: the anthology is unbalanced in at least two ways. First, there is a dirth of short stories here. More than 80% of the contents are novellas and very long stories. Second, once again, the electronic medium has been neglected. The only representation of an online magazine here is through Scifi.com from which two of the stories are taken. In actual fact, there are several professional quality online magazines in existence and it is hard to suppose that these magazines didn't carry stuff comparable to the dead tree magazines.

That said, there are several plus points in the anthology. First, quantitywise, the 617 pages are definitely worth the cover price of $26.95. Contentwise, it gives a good overview of the SF field of present day. In fact, Dozois' excellent introduction, titled Summation: 2000, is worth more than half the price in itself.

[...]

Standout edition of a standout series.......2002-02-28

This is the fifteenth edition I've read, and it's one of the strongest. As always, Dozois includes a wide range of styles and themes, from the lyrical to the hardest of hard science. So...while there's always something for everybody, you can't expect to enjoy every story. My favorites:

Good:
"Going After Bobo"--Heartwrenching, poetic character study, but the plot is pretty thin.
"Crux"--Dark detective story/social commentary set in a brutal post-holocaust future dominated by the Orient. Quite violent, with a fast paced and tighty knit plot.
"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O"--Time travel with two amazing characters. Provocative, in-your-face prose.
"Radiant Green Star"--Another violent future world dominated by the Orient. This time it's a traditional mystery combined with a poetic coming-of-age story.
"Great Wall of Mars"--A cult of humans with networked implants battle unnetworked humans for survival. Lots of action, great speculation on the potential of the human mind.
"A Colder War"--Alternate Cold War history with aliens causing major problems for both sides. Confusing plot, but highly realistic narrative keeps it interesting anyway.

Great:
"The Suspect Genome"--Future world whodunit, set in an England where police work has been somewhat privatized. Brilliant plot construction and writing keep you engaged all the way.
"On the Orion Line"--Man versus powerful and inscrutable aliens deep in space, far in the future. Well developed characters, fast paced and straightforward plot.
"Obsidian Harvest"--Another future world detective story set in England. What makes this one extraordinary is the premise, where the Aztecs dominate the world--human sacrifices, feathered capes, lots of tequila. Add hard-boiled prose in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett (his "Red Harvest" is great) and you have something unforgettable.
"Patient Zero"--Nightmarish account of a dreadful near-future. Great plot, great characters, and makes some strong statements in only fifteen pages.

The Best Annual SF Anthology gets better.......2001-10-05

Each year I look forward to this volume, and it never disappoints. Granted, some years are better than others, but often that reflects the quality of the fiction that appeared in a particular year. I thought last year's volume (#17) was a real high, and I was afraid this volume couldn't be as good. I'm glad to say I enjoyed this volume just as much.

For me, the stand-out story was "Oracle", by Greg Egan. It is a beaurifully researched and written story about a traveler from the future coming into the past and interceding in the life of Alan Turing. Turing's life moves in a somewhat different path than in our history, and leads him to have a public debate with C. S. Lewis on the possibility of machine intelligence. (Greg Egan does not use their actual names, but sticks close to their biographies, so the correlation is obvious).

"The Juniper Tree" by John Kessel started out as a well-written re-exploration of what I thought were pretty well-trodden SF themes, then manages to throw in a moral twist that left me reeling. A great story.

Great Wall of Mars by Alistair Reynolds is a pyrotechnic roller-coaster ride of a story. I mean literally. It contains two of the most memorable "rides" I can remember in science fiction. It's a slam-bang adventure that left me dazed.

"Antibodies" by Charles Stross was a nice surprise. It felt like reading a classic 50's SF story, but brought up-to-date. He's one of my favorite discoveries of the last year, and you get another great story by him in the same volume.

Other excllent stories include "Tendelo's Story" by Ian McDonald, "The Suspect Genome" by Peter F. Hamilton, "Radiant Green Star" by the amazing wordsmith Lucius Shepard, "Crux" by Albert Cowdrey, "The Real World" by Steven Utley, and "The Birthday of the World" by Ursula K. LeGuin.

If you seriously enjoy speculative fiction, buy this book.

A Stellar anthology of fabulous fiction.......2001-09-24

This latest edition of Gardner Dozois' long-running Year's Best SF anthology series is worth every penny. I enjoyed nearly every story in the volume and found it to be, on the whole, much stronger than previous year's editions.

Highlights of the volume include 'The Birthday of the World' by Ursula Le Guin; in which a race of 'gods' struggle for power, 'Crux' by Albert Cowdrey; a time travel adventure that has more similarities to the old pulp stories than most recent SF, 'Radiant Green Star' by Lucius Shepard; a fabulous story about an orphan's search for his father while he performs in a circus in Vietnam, 'Great Wall of Mars' by Alastair Reynolds; the story of a renegade colony on Mars and attempts to eradicate it, 'On the Orion Line' by Stephen Baxter; a story of war in space that I found to be one of Baxter's most literate and readable stories, 'A Colder War' by Charles Stross; a brilliant meld of Cthulu fiction and Cold War politics, and my favorite story in the volume 'Tendeleo's Story' by Ian McDonald; the story of a young girl in Africa who grows up amid invasion by alien spores.

Like all anthologies, not all stories will please all readers. I found 'Milo and Sylvie' by Eliot Fintushel to be WAY overlong, boring, and without a coherent plot. 'Snowball in Hell' by Brian Stableford bogged down with too much gengineering talk...too many big words, not enough plot extrapolation.

This truly is a collection of the Best SF of the year. There are only a handful of stories that didn't make the book that may have been deserving (stories by Jeffrey Ford, Kage Baker, Charles Sheffield, & Robert Reed spring immediately to mind). By and large the stories in this book are extremely well-written with fascinating plots. Consider 'Oracle' by Greg Egan, a story with thinly veiled characterizations of C.S. Lewis and Alan Turing...this is a story that science fiction is all about. With the exception of the two stories I mentioned earlier, there isn't a sub-par story in this collection. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:
The Year's Best Science Fiction Eighteenth Annual Collection
Gardner Dozois
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT4JJA

Average customer rating:
YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: Eighteenth Annual Collection
Gardner (ed.) Dozois
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTF5VG

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant clarity along with engaging warmth!.......2007-04-25

I am so deeply grateful to Thaddee Matura for the gift of his deeply insightful and yet accessible teachings in this treasure of a book. It seems just short of a miracle that he could summarizes the profound richest of the Franciscan spirituality in so few pages! I sure wish it had been written when I was writing my Masters thesis!

Original Writings of a Well Known Saint.......2005-03-24

The author, an eminent Franciscan scholar, bases this work on the 30 written pieces produced by Francis of Assisi, laying out a spiritual path developed for his contemporaries but equally valuable for present day Christians. Matura introduces Francis as a "true spiritual master of a special genre since he is a layperson without any school learning."

We learn that the path Francis proposed is one of love and adoration of God, communion with the church, love and service to all, and radical poverty. Francis's writings feature both positive and negative views of the human condition. On one hand men and women called to divine communion are made up of beautiful bodies, intellectual capabilities, perceptiveness, power, and knowledge. On the darker side, Francis writes, "We can claim as our own only our vices and our sins."

This book, while written in a clear style, is filled with complex ideas that an individual or group could explore in great depth. Reflection questions are included.

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