Customer Reviews

The Barn at the End of the World : The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While I own a few books with both "spiritual" and "quest" in the title, I confess that I've not been able to finish many of them. They get too dry, weighty, or ascetic.

O'Reilley is the antidote. Like her earlier book, The Peaceable Classroom, she takes a wry, sincere cut on the journey to find the "we in me". This book reveals the power of a light touch to heady matters. If you've read Thomas Merton, Thich Nat Nhat Hanh or other heavier religious voices, you'll appreciate O'Reilley's keen insight into matters of the heart and soul. She brings the wit of H.L. Mencken to the subject matter of St. Augustine.

I loved reading Ms. O'Reilley's thoughts as she delved into her spiritual life through the retelling of the "everyday." As a fairly young woman with children myself, I enjoyed this author's empty-nester vitality and exploration of a life she obviously enjoys living. She does things that I hope I would do someday when I no longer have the children at home. Again, as a woman with children, I could relate in a very earthy way to finding holiness in... well... "dirty work." I like that Ms. O'Reilly doesn't mince the details in an attempt to be pious or meek. On the other hand, much of her writing style is absolutely delicious to read, no matter what the subject matter. This author can make sheep rectums something wonderful to read about!

I also love the way the author lives, something I would describe as very loving living. I love the value she places on many aspects of different spiritual traditions. It comes together in wonderful harmony, something that is very soothing and pleasing to read. (I would agree with some other reviewers that this book is not a solid reference for Buddhism or Quaker beliefs, but it certainly has a wonderfully lovely tone!) This book is about spiritual living - with or without a denominational label. I often found myself feeling a great sense of peace and calm while reading it, and enjoyed it immensely.

This book is heartily recommended!

The calm, witty, and down-to-sheep insights offered by Mary Rose O'Reilley are a wonderful antidote to hectic days. I read a bit each lunchtime and am transported to college days of Zen meditation and current deepening involvement in Quaker worship and testimonies. When I can't get to Quaker meeting on Sunday, I look forward to meeting this simple testimony on Monday. Quakers usually do not proselytize, having a horror of trying to persuade, but this Friendly book makes a most convincing account of the abiding appeal and basic truth of the Inner Light. Highly recommended.

I loved this book! The author was candid and honest about her persuit of God. She didn't claim to have any great hidden revelation to share, and yet she shared so much. Including her own human nature to be irritable with others who are different.

Having grown up on a farm, I understood why she found the barn to be such a rich source of spiritual inspiration. I read this book through to the end and wished for more. It closely matches my own spiritual journey.

Who could resist the title, along with the beautiful cover? The chapters are short, and the content is a fascinating mix as our heroine, Mary Rose O'Reilly tells us what is going on in her true life. Her sons are grown and she's decided to work in a barn, with a young man named Ben and a lot of sheep. She moves from the day-to-day workings of sheep work - it isn't at all what you might think, the lovely young shepherdess herding the sheep through the meadows. Aside from sheep sheering, there is more than some of us need to know about sheep - I can't go into details here, but there is something about rubber bands and the rear-end of the sheep that can only be described within the context of the book. In addition, she moves from her days as a Catholic novice to her life as a Quaker and a Buddhist, to her trip to England to sing with a musical group, Sacred Harps. This is definitely not a deep read, not the answer to a spiritual quest. If you like well-written books which meander a bit (this IS a book by a woman going through the some changes in her life), you will probably enjoy this one. I've nibbled my way through this book, a chapter here, a chapter there. It is a beautiful book to give as a gift, perhaps to a 50-something woman with an interest in spirituality, music and nature! Might be great in paperback, but that's a year away...

In the past 15 years, I've read two, "personal memoir"-type books by women writers that totally blew my doors off: Terry Tempest Williams' "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place" and Mary Rose O'Reilly's "The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd." Very different books, at the end of the day, but both women think and write from deep religious traditions in their lives. Likewise, both have an abiding love for "the land," concretely and metaphorically, so what you hear at the end of that same day are calm but passonate voices that make you listen, make you want to listen hard to the observations, but with sense of deep fulfillment for the experience of it.

As for "Barn," I am neither a Quaker, a Buddhist, a farmer, a teacher nor an "older, adventurous woman" (as one reviewer suggested would be the type of person who would enjoy "Barn"). SO WHAT! "Barn" is a truly a banquet of wise and penetrating insights into the essence work (and working with and caring for animals in particular), of friendship, love, responsibility, accountability to yourself and to others, silence, mediation, the sacred, and, ultimately living honestly. There is much humor, gentleness, and "character" (for want of a better word to describe her inner strength) in the 90-odd "chapters" (some as short as 1 page) that are more like mini-essays on discrete but interrelated topics, so much so that I found myself going back, often, re-reading passages, savoring her prose and her insights, shutting the book, just letting the writing sink in. "Barn," resonated with me (an "semi-older, adventurous man") on more levels than I could ever have predicted. I'm a big fan of Thich Nhat Hanh's work, so the chapters recounting her experience at Plum Village and Thay's "dharma talks" were an added "bonus." Give it a shot, and take your time reading it; it's worth it.

I loved this book! Unlike the authors of so many other "spiritual quest" books I have read, Mary Rose O'Reilley comes across as a real person; someone with faults, misgivings, and cravings for cream tarts. She gets cranky, she hates her roomate who's always happy with everything, she complains about the food at the monastery, and generally stumbles and bumbles along in her search for enlightenment. Yet, she retains a great sense of humor and an earthy outlook on things spiritual. This makes her more real and likable to me than people who claim to "love everyone" as they cut others off on the freeway. O'Reilley is no saint, but she's no hypocrite, either. She IS funny, warm, likable and very human. She's someone I would enjoy being friends with. In short, Mary Rose O'Reilley is a mensch.

If you're not into Animal Husbandry (or wifery, for that matter) and can get past the first 75 pages, you may glean some Buddhist philosophical insight from this book. Mary's writing is superb, to be sure. It's eloquent and poetic prose that flows in a very readable way; yet, she sure loves lambs and sheep and is darn proud to admit it. Furthermore, she obviously is a very special and wonderful person which, I suspect, comes more from her Quaker and countrified background, rather than any Buddhist influence.

My expectations, I'm afraid, were for more of her Buddhist views based on her experience with the legendary Vietnamese monk Thich N'hat Hahn. The description of her retreat at his place was excellent; but before I knew it I was reading again about people messing around with animal parts.

For a bucolic read about nature and its spiritual complements, this is a fine book. If you're searching for the least bit of Buddhist philosophy, I'm afraid that's what you'll find: the least bit. Perhaps the title should have been: The Barn at the End of the World : A Year in the Life of a Shepherd, Quaker Buddhist.

O'Reilley's memoir shared more than I expected from her attention-catching title. When I began the book, I wanted to understand a friend's fascination with sheep...when I finished I was beginning to understand, perhaps, a bit of the mindfulness it takes to be a shepherd. Learning to accept and learning to love both must begin with ourselves, is one message that came through on this first read. This is a book which I will read again in a couple of years...when I do, I expect I will be reading a completely different book, gaining new glimpses of what it means to be human / God's creation.

The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd by Mary Rose O'Reilley is a beautiful and insightful memoir. There is something to be learned, pondered over, and highlighted for posterity on almost every page of this book. O'Reilley's humor and down-to-earth honesty regarding spiritual and personal matters made me feel at home, even in unknown territory. While reading this memoir, I learned to pause, remember, and cherish my own breath, to accept what is and what is not.