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ben_smitty's review
5.0
“Remember me not for the ill I've done but for the good I've dreamed.”
A beautiful retelling of St. Godric's life. While the real account of Godric's sainthood (like other accounts) can often seem glamorized, Buechner attempts to capture Godric's difficult life in a way that makes him more human.
A beautiful retelling of St. Godric's life. While the real account of Godric's sainthood (like other accounts) can often seem glamorized, Buechner attempts to capture Godric's difficult life in a way that makes him more human.
robebret's review
3.0
Honestly, not an easy book to read. However, it is a beautiful ending with a moving hymn to the Virgin and of true humility in life and in death.
owenbiesel's review
4.0
Staggeringly beautiful writing—practically poetry—and a fascinating semi-historical deconstruction of the life of a saint. I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished.
heyhawk's review
5.0
2020 review here: http://www.danscanon.com/2020/10/godric-by-frederick-buechner.html
I found the review below this weekend and was reminded how great Godric is, and how even though I really like A Confederacy of Dunces, this is a better book, and should have won the Pulitzer that year. And that last year I decided to add this to my "read yearly" list. So here we go...
http://dgmyers.blogspot.com/2010/05/godric.html
6/14/12: Looking at what I wrote last year after my yearly reread of Godric, it strikes me as odd that I was, and still am to some extent upset by the results of a Pulitzer prize contest that happened when I was 5. It is a great book, though...
I found the review below this weekend and was reminded how great Godric is, and how even though I really like A Confederacy of Dunces, this is a better book, and should have won the Pulitzer that year. And that last year I decided to add this to my "read yearly" list. So here we go...
http://dgmyers.blogspot.com/2010/05/godric.html
6/14/12: Looking at what I wrote last year after my yearly reread of Godric, it strikes me as odd that I was, and still am to some extent upset by the results of a Pulitzer prize contest that happened when I was 5. It is a great book, though...
the_dragon_starback's review
3.0
3.5.
"All the death that ever was, set next to life, would hardly fill a cup."
"What's prayer? It's shooting shafts into the dark. What mark they strike, if any, who's to say? It's reaching for a hand you cannot touch. The silence is so fathomless that prayers like plummets vanish in the sea. You beg. You whimper. You load God down with empty praise. You tell him sins that he already knows full well. You seek to change his changeless will. Yet Godric prays the way he breathes, for else his heart would wither in his breast. Prayer is the wind that fills his sail. Else waves would dash him on the rocks, or he would drift with the witless tides. And sometimes, by God's grace, a prayer is heard." -p. 142
"All the death that ever was, set next to life, would hardly fill a cup."
"What's prayer? It's shooting shafts into the dark. What mark they strike, if any, who's to say? It's reaching for a hand you cannot touch. The silence is so fathomless that prayers like plummets vanish in the sea. You beg. You whimper. You load God down with empty praise. You tell him sins that he already knows full well. You seek to change his changeless will. Yet Godric prays the way he breathes, for else his heart would wither in his breast. Prayer is the wind that fills his sail. Else waves would dash him on the rocks, or he would drift with the witless tides. And sometimes, by God's grace, a prayer is heard." -p. 142
emric's review
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Most definitely NOT FOR EVERYONE!!
It is a life story that is told from the POV of an old hermit, so it jumps around a bit. Written in an Old English style. Very beautiful.
It is a life story that is told from the POV of an old hermit, so it jumps around a bit. Written in an Old English style. Very beautiful.
Content Warnings
Minor: Incest
sleepysarah's review
4.0
Beautiful! Had trouble with crudeness, but it's not gratuitous so it's understandable. An amazing, intelligent, spiritually-invigorating story of a life.
k_gregz's review
4.0
I brought this to read during my stay in a monastery and it was not what I expected. I expected more spiritual reflections and less incest and mockery. It took a bit for me to warm up to it but it ended up being very funny and interesting. Godric's meanness towards monks was particularly amusing to read in a monastery.