Customer Reviews

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: Journey to the Summit (Encounter the Saints)

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Parents of boys interested in sports and thinking manliness and Godliness don't mix, owe it to their sons to introduce them to the life of Pier Giorgio Frassati. Though a continent and a century removed, Pier Giorgio shared the same idealism, problems and interests as our own young people. His teenage years were interupted by World War I; his parents didn't understand him; he struggled with his studies. He loved to climb and ski and hike the mountains of Italy and sports were his passion. But his greater passions were the love of God as expressed in his daily attendance at Mass and all-night Adoration, and his special love of, and personal sacrifices for, the poor. At his death, at the age of 24, he was personally, finacially responsible for 120 poor families. No wonder, Pope John Paul II called him the "Man of the Beatitudes". His life is an incredible read for any young man.

Loved this book. My son read this one out loud to us. We were edified by Pier Giorgio's life. Well written, easy to follow but yet so inspirational.
I recommend it and another read aloud book for the whole famly-Destination: Bethlehem. It's easily becoming a tradition to read during Advent and Christmas season.

This book fits a perfect bill of a love-hate relationship. There are things I absolutely LOVE about the book, and several things that I hated.

First off, the book, overall, has an excellent message which was thought provoking even to me as an adult: How we really ought to love more deeply and take care of those around us, especially the poor. Namely, to have charity as Christ would. So that is the great thing about the book that I absolutely love; you can rise to the book and come away from it inspired to do more. It had a great effect on me, and inspired me to look into the life of Frassati even more.

But the negative aspect of it I could have done without. My first pet peeve was when the book stated that the Frassati children were lonely BECAUSE they were taught at home and were not allowed to go to school. Okay, so as a homeschooler that really irritated me. It irritated me even further when I researched the saint and I couldn't find anything in regards to them not having friends at a young age because they were homeschooled... rather it was the parents that didn't want them having outside friends that was the problem. Minor thing, a little white out took care of that! LOL

But the whole middle section of the book seemed to pit Frassati against his parents, left and right. Now I know that his parents were well-known to be harsh and he grew up in a hard family. However, it seemed there should have been lots of things you could have focused on in a children's book... and this would be at the very bottom of my list to include, or at least highlight the obedience of Frassati to his parents rather than how wrong they constantly were. After all, especially in a Catholic book, children should be ENCOURAGED to be obedient... this commandment of God and Church is difficult for them and thus I don't appreciate it when a book encourages their sinful nature rather than their good. So keep this in mind when you are considering the book!

Overall, I still think it is an excellent book. I just had to heavily edit parts of it so the kids can get an excellent story without the negative. Since this wasn't a Jr. High or High school book, they really should have been more careful in what they put in it. However, I still have to recommend the book, especially with supervision and reading it with them, it would be a great book to have on hand.

Boys in particular should really love the story of Blsd. Frassati. He had a very active life and was quite the young man!