Customer Reviews

The Miracle

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The church announces the discovery of documents containing the secret prophecy of the Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette...that the Virgin will reappear during a specific 8 day period. Wallace takes us to Lourdes for these eight days and introduces us to a cast of characters drawn here for a variety of reasons. Set against a detailed description one of the world's most popular pilgrimage sites, this is an exploration of the meaning and role of faith and science in people's lives. Do miracles really occur? Or are there rational, scientific explanations? Does religion have any merit, or is it just so much superstitious nonsense? These are some of the questions raised by the stories of these various individuals. Each finds their own answers, but the reader is left to find their own answers in their own lives. Filled with unique and interesting characters and a vibrant setting, this book is well paced and entertaining. The author also does a good job of avoiding the predictable, and the ending includes a few surprises.

Wallace pulls you through the story, you really want to know, will she appear? What will happen to some of the characters who are sick, or wishing for miracles? What I didn't like, another reader mentioned, the regular descriptions of the women's bodies when the undressed. interesting how it was always the attractive women that managed to undress down to the skin for the reader! It felt kind of creepy, kind of peeping tomish. And I'm afraid the women characters were all portrayed pretty stereotypically, either beautiful saints, or cold business women. Overall, character development a big zero!

I liked all of Irving Wallace's novels. He gives his heart to whatever he writes, along with the huge amount of research he does on each topic. His works range from wide topics like pornography to religion. I would recommend everybody to read all his novels except for maybe - The Golden Room. Is there any site devoted to Irving Wallace?

Bernadette Edens has an excellent review for this book. I read it hoping I would see a miracle. I was very satisfied for the inspiration that came out of it. The people all involved in the story plot have different lifestyles but they are all going to the Lourdes for a miracle cure. The terrorist plans to blow up the grotto backfire when he sees a blind girl he has fallen in love with at the grotto while the bomb is ticking away. This is very suspenseful. The story does have a perculiar ending that is ironic and serves the story well and in effect, has a miracle cure to the end for a lot of those who went. Did I give away too much?

I liked reading about Amanda when she was talking about being a doctor who knows about the reason for some of the happenings in question. I didn't care much about reading about someone undressing and what bodily features were there while it was occurring. It was difficult to understand throughout the book. Reading about a medical diagnosis on a person's condition would seem appropiate if it were in connection with the miracle of a wanted recovery but it seemed like an odd part in the book. I thought I would love reading about a miracle but it seemed like hard reading that wasn't very interesting. Maybe if I read it a second time I might like it more. Things happened while the characters were going from place to place. There was talk about going to the places. I feel like I got lost while I was reading the book. I didn't have a full understanding of the context of the book. I was trying to focus on the miracle in the book. Reading about undressing, a man and degenerating bones isn't too great. For someone to show an improvement in health is more exciting. Reading this book seemed dark and bleak.