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A review by louismunozjr
Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan
2.0
Pride Month Read 2023 #5: 2 stars, "It was okay,"... barely.
Part of my education was at Catholic parochial schools, and I was very inspired by the lives of the saints books I read and RE-read. Many of the saints had had a calling, and many also gave up their lives as martyrs. I myself felt a calling during my preteen and early teen years, and while I wasn't also aspiring to some day be a martyr, I was very moved by someone giving up their lives as a martyr.
I bring this up because the main character of this book, "Father David," recklessly gives up his life and livelihood and becomes a kind of martyr, yet it absolutely made no sense, neither in a real-world sense nor at least within the context of this novel. And so while there are some beautiful passages in this book, and there are some interesting things being presented about faith, about purpose, and about some other important life issues, the idea of this priest being so completely out of touch, with himself, with his parishioners, with consequences, with COMMON SENSE, doesn't make me much respect the various authorial choices made and presented. For this and other reasons, I found myself deeply disappointed by the false, unnecessary, and completely nonsensical "martyrdom" of Father David.
Part of my education was at Catholic parochial schools, and I was very inspired by the lives of the saints books I read and RE-read. Many of the saints had had a calling, and many also gave up their lives as martyrs. I myself felt a calling during my preteen and early teen years, and while I wasn't also aspiring to some day be a martyr, I was very moved by someone giving up their lives as a martyr.
I bring this up because the main character of this book, "Father David," recklessly gives up his life and livelihood and becomes a kind of martyr, yet it absolutely made no sense, neither in a real-world sense nor at least within the context of this novel. And so while there are some beautiful passages in this book, and there are some interesting things being presented about faith, about purpose, and about some other important life issues, the idea of this priest being so completely out of touch, with himself, with his parishioners, with consequences, with COMMON SENSE, doesn't make me much respect the various authorial choices made and presented. For this and other reasons, I found myself deeply disappointed by the false, unnecessary, and completely nonsensical "martyrdom" of Father David.