A review by dragonlilly
This Is Why I Came by Mary Rakow

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

4.0

This was a very beautiful work, and more insightful and well crafted than I was honestly expecting. I loved the ways Rakow explored the books of the Bible, and the interesting perspectives that were brought forth out of these stories as well. I don't find any of the changes or the restructuring of the stories to be at all heretical, and I think it does exactly what Rakow meant to do - crafts a form of the Bible (New Testament mostly) that can touch audiences and aid them like it did for the woman in the book. In general, this is a fascinating work that looks deeply at faith, what it means to doubt, what it means to try to have faith in something, and it observes some of the questions Christians may have when considering their faith and God. The book is not perfect, but I think the new perspectives it brings were wonderful to consume. I also appreciate some of the artistic research put into this book, and the poetic references. I also found the last chapter to be incredibly affecting, especially for this current period of my life in terms of my relationship with my own faith, the different ways to be Catholic, and my interest in going back to confession after a very long time like the woman in the book did.