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How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem by Rod Dreher
balletbookworm's review against another edition
I'm not going to rate this bc I think this is very much an instance of "this book is not for me." And Dreher even said those of us looking for straight literary criticism wouldn't find it here. Lesson learned.
For those of a more religious or spiritual bent, they would probably get far more out of Dreher's writing. This is very much a memoir crossed with spiritual self-examination in parallel with the Pilgrim's journey through Dante's Divine Comedy.
For those of a more religious or spiritual bent, they would probably get far more out of Dreher's writing. This is very much a memoir crossed with spiritual self-examination in parallel with the Pilgrim's journey through Dante's Divine Comedy.
jbmorgan86's review against another edition
4.0
I recently read Dreher's Benedict Option. Honestly, I hated the book. Dreher comes off as a doomsday prophet in full hysteria. That being said, the book really made me think. While I don't agree with his extremist views about the end of western civilization or Christianity, it's nice to see a Christian thinker wrestle with the complex problem of "Christ and culture." It was because of this that I decided to pick up Dreher's previous work, How Dante Can Save Your Life (and the provocative title).
Dreher never seemed to fit into his family. He was always the bookish intellectual with a passion for foreign films and French cuisine. His blue-collar family didn't get him. While wrestling with these issues, Dreher's sister dies at a young age. Dreher and his family move back to his home town to be with his family, but the problems start right back up again. This time, Dreher falls into a deep depression and even gets physically ill. One day he picked up a copy of The Inferno in a book start and was instantly entranced by the opening lines:
"Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost"
Dreher then developed an obsession with Dante. He sees a priest, a therapist, and reads the Divine Comedy and pulls himself out of his slump. This book tells that story. There are a lot of good quotable nuggets here. In many ways, it is The Benedict Option without the hysteria and homophobia.
Dreher never seemed to fit into his family. He was always the bookish intellectual with a passion for foreign films and French cuisine. His blue-collar family didn't get him. While wrestling with these issues, Dreher's sister dies at a young age. Dreher and his family move back to his home town to be with his family, but the problems start right back up again. This time, Dreher falls into a deep depression and even gets physically ill. One day he picked up a copy of The Inferno in a book start and was instantly entranced by the opening lines:
"Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost"
Dreher then developed an obsession with Dante. He sees a priest, a therapist, and reads the Divine Comedy and pulls himself out of his slump. This book tells that story. There are a lot of good quotable nuggets here. In many ways, it is The Benedict Option without the hysteria and homophobia.
authorjbr's review against another edition
4.0
This has a fascinating perspective on how to view art: not just as story to be understood, but as life to be experienced and submitted to.
smsloyer's review against another edition
5.0
This book came into my life at a much needed time. The author Rod Dreher is already well known to me due to his popular (albeit controversial) [b:The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation|31625593|The Benedict Option A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation|Rod Dreher|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471974415s/31625593.jpg|52307552] as well as his column at The American Conservative. It was recommended to me by a close friend just days before stress began taking a serious physical and mental toll on my body, something similar to the experience of the author.
How Dante Can Save Your Life (abbreviated as HDCSYL from here on) reads like a personal reflection on The Divine Comedy. You walk alongside Dante and Virgil's trek through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise all the while following the journey of the author through loss, the realization of the depths of his own sin and brokenness, and his journey home - both to his physical home and his home in the embrace of the Heavenly Father.
The personal element of HDCSYL creates a sense of intimacy with Dante's masterwork, as I see Rod's struggles reflected in my own life. It's very clear that when viewed with the right lens, is a journey primarily of healing and reconciliation. Purgatorio in particularly paints an picture (artistic, but not iconographic) of man's reconciliation with the source of life - the Divine, Triune God. Witnessing Rod overcome the Epstein-Barr virus as well as his struggle accepting his place back at home in Starhill is the same type of reconciliation as he ultimately learns to accept the love freely given by the Father and seek the Lord first and foremost.
I don't think this book will benefit everyone. Yet, because through Divine Providence it was put into my hands at a time in my life I needed this message most, this has become one of my favorite books. I highly recommend it.
How Dante Can Save Your Life (abbreviated as HDCSYL from here on) reads like a personal reflection on The Divine Comedy. You walk alongside Dante and Virgil's trek through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise all the while following the journey of the author through loss, the realization of the depths of his own sin and brokenness, and his journey home - both to his physical home and his home in the embrace of the Heavenly Father.
The personal element of HDCSYL creates a sense of intimacy with Dante's masterwork, as I see Rod's struggles reflected in my own life. It's very clear that when viewed with the right lens,
I don't think this book will benefit everyone. Yet, because through Divine Providence it was put into my hands at a time in my life I needed this message most, this has become one of my favorite books. I highly recommend it.
josiahdegraaf's review against another edition
4.0
This is really more of a Dante-themed memoir than a commentary on Dante (though you do get a bit of that within this book). As a Dante-themed memoir, however, it was quite good. While there are some valid questions to be asked about the wisdom of writing about family members who are either still living or who only died recently with the hard honesty that Dreher displays here, this was a moving book on what it looks like to learn to love difficult people without letting them take over your life. While I've never found myself in anything close to the situation that Dreher did with a resentful family, I did see a lot of similarities between the ways he tends to think and approach life and the ways that I do. And so between the similarities of our thoughts and the wealth of his insights on the life moved by love, this book had a lot to offer.
Rating: 3.5-4 Stars (Good).
Rating: 3.5-4 Stars (Good).
samluce's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book! You will get much more from it if you have read the Comedia but it isn't necessary. I didn't agree with all of Dreher's theological implications but as with art, you don't have to agree to appreciate it. I don't agree with Dante in much of what he says but after reading the Divine Comedy I would have to agree with Dreher I think Dante may have saved my life as well.
mmazelli's review against another edition
5.0
I'm giving this book 5 stars because it resonated with me, not just because of the journey I'm on reading the Divine Comedy, but because I could relate to Dreher's story. Listening to this book was time well spent.
averamo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
magistratrium's review against another edition
5.0
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this book from Netgalley and I read it slowly as I was reading Dante's Divine Comedy. Rod Dreher was at a low point in his life and just as Dante was lost in a dark wood at the beginning of The Inferno, Dreher was lost and ill and seeking for meaning in his life. As he read through Dante's masterpiece, Rod Dreher began to see what was holding him back from healing and grace and the love of God. This spiritual journey with the help of several mentors as well as Dante's Divine Comedy is set down in the book and was a tremendous help not only is understanding Dante's work, but in my own spiritual journey. I will read this book again as I finish my own reading of The Divine Comedy. Highly recommended.
ben_smitty's review against another edition
2.0
How Dante Can Save Your Life, or Why Does My Family Hate Me, Can't They See It's Them? and Other Sermons with Tidbits On Why I Left The Catholic Church.
I was surprised by how little this had to do with Dante and how much this was really just a memoir about Dreher's family. Not that I mind memoirs, but Dreher's uncharitable portrayal of his family as people who just can't tolerate difference of opinion is also a bit off-putting. His characters are also kind of uninteresting, which may be due to his one-dimensional descriptions. Concerning a certain clergyman, he writes, "He had a back bone. He was the real deal." You know what I mean.
I was surprised by how little this had to do with Dante and how much this was really just a memoir about Dreher's family. Not that I mind memoirs, but Dreher's uncharitable portrayal of his family as people who just can't tolerate difference of opinion is also a bit off-putting. His characters are also kind of uninteresting, which may be due to his one-dimensional descriptions. Concerning a certain clergyman, he writes, "He had a back bone. He was the real deal." You know what I mean.