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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
You don't need to be religious to enjoy this story. The focus is on Ana, a strong female voice in a time that silenced women.
I was nervous that I wouldn’t like this-that my faith would change my opinions. But this is Ana’s story, so I liked and appreciated the touches of what I know while simultaneously loving her story of self growth and discovery
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was hesitant to read this at first bc I don’t really vibe w Christianity like that but this was really cool. Kinda debating reading the Bible so I can understand the lore
Formerly Catholic, now an atheist, sobbed reading a book about the wife of Jesus.
This story is massive. It spans Anna's entire life and part of her husband's life, across the many places she traveled (and was exiled to), and full of the colorful characters that filled her days. This story put more pieces together, gave me a fuller context, and had me empathizing with the plight of Jesus more than 13 years in Catholic school did. Ana wants nothing more than to be heard, and her father allowing her to learn to read and to write let her exercise this longing - a longing impossible in the high-control environment she lives in. Her voracious writing tells the silent tales of women in scripture and women in her life. These stories, these voices, are so often discarded, overlooked, ignored, and erased. Ana is a true partner to Jesus, as much as she can be in this time period. She loves and supports him through hardship, poverty, being ostracized, his larger-than-life ideas and his feverish devotion to God. Through it all, she loses and finds herself again and again. The one constant, besides her love for her husband, is her longing for her words to outlive her. Seeing the Bible stories I'm so familiar with happen both on the page and in the background with Jesus as a real person was fascinating. The historical, political, and relational context these events were presented in made them all the more heartbreaking. I found myself forgetting how Jesus' story ends, and having hope for Ana and Jesus to be reunited and live in harmony for once. The end of Jesus' story is not the end of Ana's, and the support and love from the women in her life propel her to who she was always meant to be.
This story is massive. It spans Anna's entire life and part of her husband's life, across the many places she traveled (and was exiled to), and full of the colorful characters that filled her days. This story put more pieces together, gave me a fuller context, and had me empathizing with the plight of Jesus more than 13 years in Catholic school did. Ana wants nothing more than to be heard, and her father allowing her to learn to read and to write let her exercise this longing - a longing impossible in the high-control environment she lives in. Her voracious writing tells the silent tales of women in scripture and women in her life. These stories, these voices, are so often discarded, overlooked, ignored, and erased. Ana is a true partner to Jesus, as much as she can be in this time period. She loves and supports him through hardship, poverty, being ostracized, his larger-than-life ideas and his feverish devotion to God. Through it all, she loses and finds herself again and again. The one constant, besides her love for her husband, is her longing for her words to outlive her. Seeing the Bible stories I'm so familiar with happen both on the page and in the background with Jesus as a real person was fascinating. The historical, political, and relational context these events were presented in made them all the more heartbreaking. I found myself forgetting how Jesus' story ends, and having hope for Ana and Jesus to be reunited and live in harmony for once. The end of Jesus' story is not the end of Ana's, and the support and love from the women in her life propel her to who she was always meant to be.
3.5 stars
The story was pretty good, the writing only so so.
The story was pretty good, the writing only so so.
shoutout to being raised roman catholic so i could understand loads of the references in this book. but aside from that i didn't really fall in love with it. maybe coz it reminded me too much of assemblies in primary school or not-compulsory-but-not-really-optional confirmation club lol
Imagine a narrative as exhausting and depressing to read as King Lear. Now imagine that, minus any poetry or trajectory within that narrative. This was such a slog + an ordeal to get through and I am, fullll of regret.
Such a beautiful and spirited book! The audio narrator elevated (or made!) the story very much. Maybe these imaginings aren't for everybody, but they are thoughtful and well reasoned in the author's note.
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No