A Month of Sundays: Searching for the Spirit and My Sister [Paperback]

Julie Mars (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2005

A MONTH OF SUNDAYS is about the seven months that the author spent as her dying sister's primary caretaker, and after her sister died, the 31 houses of worship that she visited in 31 weeks in her hope of finding an outlet for her grief and getting some answers to spiritual questions. Her houses of worship include traditional churches, mosques, temples, Buddhist, Zen, Spiritualist, Scientology, Salvation Army, and so forth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beautiful, shining with pathos and humor, sung with unwavering honesty. I was completely caught by it." -- Rocco Lo Bosco, BUDDHA WEPT

"Beguiling... a work of stinging honesty that is difficult to put down." -- Jennifer Egan, LOOK AT ME

"Mars gives a revealing portrait of religious feeling in this country--something most progressive commentators and literati are woefully ignorant of.." -- —Michael Ventura, author of LETTERS AT 3AM Michael Ventura, author of LETTERS AT 3AM

"Riveting... all the makings of a classic story of pilgrimage told with candor, humor and a sense of adventure." -- Richard Selzer, LETTERS TO A YOUNG DOCTOR

"Uniquely authentic... The deep intuition and quiet listening to different spiritual world views were integrated in a most skillful manner.." -- --Stephen Levine, UNATTENDED SORROW --Stephen Levine, UNATTENDED SORROW Stephen Levine, UNATTENDED SORROW

About the Author

Julie Mars is the recipient of the NYS Council on the Arts Grant in Screenwriting, the NJ Council on the Arts Grant in Fiction, and the Cone Fellowship for Literary Criticism. She lives and teaches in Albuquerque, NM. Her novel, THE SECRET KEEPERS, was published by GreyCore in 2000.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: GreyCore Press (April 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974207454
• ISBN-13: 978-0974207452
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,234,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book, July 4, 2005

By 

Renate Phillips (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Month of Sundays: Searching for the Spirit and My Sister (Paperback)

In A MONTH OF SUNDAYS, author Julie Mars grapples with her beloved older sister Shirley's death - the events leading up to it, the death itself, and the chaotic feelings she's left with afterward. To cope with her grief, she visits a different church each week for 30 weeks in a search for understanding, peace, and meaning. Meaning does come, not with any grand, sweeping insights, but slowly, in bits of memory and experience. And that's what so beautiful about this book - the way Mars weaves together daily stories, past and present, as she seeks to cope with deep emotion. She stops to look at the events that most of us allow to drift by, and thus inspires us to pay closer attention to our own lives. She's a wonderful writer, and her stories are alive with her vivid prose. I gave copies of her book to several friends who are coping with personal loss, and copies to other friends, too, who are not - this book is for everyone with a drive to look deeply into life.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Step Forward Two Back in Grief, June 1, 2005

By 

Constance M. Gotsch "Novelist On Board" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Month of Sundays: Searching for the Spirit and My Sister (Paperback)

Two Steps Forward, One Back in Grief

In the preface of her newest book, A MONTH OF SUNDAYS: SEARCHING FOR THE SPIRIT AND MY SISTER, Albuquerque, New Mexico author, Julie Mars says: "For seven months, I took care of my sister, Shirley, who was dying of pancreatic cancer....I witness her intense spiritual turbulence and her return to Catholicism....I consider it an honor and a privilege to be with her every day as she considers the state of her soul....As my sister's faith forms its final shape and hardens, mine disappears....When I return home to Albuquerque, I feel a driving need...to go to church."
So Mars does, for 31 Sundays, the equivalent of a month, visiting Christian, Sort-of-Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Unitarian, and nonsectarian places of worship.
Each visit triggers thoughts, feelings and remembrances of Shirley, their siblings and parents; and Shirley's children. Using simple, direct language, Mars interweaves her family's relationships, Shirley's advance toward death, and her own spiritual search for something she can call God, into a microcosm of human experience.
A visit to the Church of the Latter Day Saints evokes this thought: "My father taught me, expected me, to be tough, to follow my own strong will, and not apologize for it. I did. But secretly, I locked myself in the closet and cried so hard I could not breathe. Waves of sadness washed over me, washing me away, and I was enormously bereft, lonely, scared of everything. That was when Shirley would whisper through the door that she wanted to come in. I would crawl into her lap and drink in her silence."
Describing this intimate moment, Mars states a universal truth. Independence can terrify. Everyone needs a safe person and a safe place. Everyone faces the moment when they must lose that security.
The combination of universal and personal experience in this and many other paragraphs in the book makes A MONTH OF SUNDAYS: SEARCHING FOR THE SPIRIT AND MY SISTER a compelling, tender, and moving read.
So do Mars' frank descriptions of caring for a dying person, right to the moment Shirley becomes so weak, she needs diapers, just before her "Final Dive," as Mars calls it, into delirium and coma. Mars' spiritual search and its climax, add a final touch on the last page of the story.
A MONTH OF SUNDAYS is a thoughtful and moving book for anyone, but especially for those facing illness, death, loss, spiritual crisis, and grief. The story is not for the airport or the beach, but for a time to sit down, and think, about life.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not an easy read, but a truly worthwhile one, August 15, 2005

By 

neysa99 (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Month of Sundays: Searching for the Spirit and My Sister (Paperback)

A Month of Sundays is a powerful book that reflects the process of grief better than any other book I've read. I deeply felt the author's pain and her need for spiritual truths and answers. Throughout her 31 Sundays, Ms. Mars doesn't find the kind of easy answers we all hope for, but this makes the story more raw and real. I wonder about her now, and I hope she has found some peace and comfort since writing this difficult story.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss and feels alone in the quest for meaning.