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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and Insightful Book, May 26, 2009
This review is from: The Passion of Mary-Margaret (Paperback)
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I loved this book. More importantly, I have thought a lot about it -- what it means to be a spouse, a parent, a Christian, a citizen of the world; what it means to forgive and be forgiven; what it means to take risks -- and what qualifies as a risk.
It is not perfect. The first 50 pages were tough going -- the first-person narrative seemed to meander around, discussing everything but the plot of the novel. It is the author's way of letting the reader get to know Mary-Margaret before the reader knows her story; it works imperfectly.
After the slow start, the narrator (Mary-Margaret) starts dropping hints about what transpired in her very interesting life. As one reviewer noted, about everything imaginable happened to MM or to someone for whom she cared. This approach keeps the reader's interest, but it does feel a little manipulative.
At the core of the book is a love story between MM and Jesus. Yes, MM loves a flesh-and-blood man as well (and also has deep platonic relationships with many others), but Jesus is her passion. When I re-read my last sentence, I think to myself, "How can one make a relationship with God interesting to a reader -- who necessarily is outside the relationship?" Samson has accomplished this task by making MM very real and by making MM's Jesus very real to her. At the end of the day, all of the plot devices (loves, dangers, deaths, births, lies, diseases, frustrations -- yes, many are over-the-top) exist to 'flesh out' MM's relationship with Jesus.
As a Protestant, I have wondered why Catholic priests and nuns are not permitted to marry. My thought process was, "If a Protestant minister and his/her spouse can be effective in the same community that has a Catholic church, why cannot the Catholic priest also marry?" I now understand that my utiliterian approach to this issue completely missed the mark. This book opened my eyes to the level of commitment that a 'religious' person can have to God and the intensity that the relationship with God can be. For MM, at times, her love of Jesus was all-consuming. In fact, she had to step away a bit from the intensity of that relationship to care for her husband and child during that phase of her life, and that decision was painful -- and joyous -- for her.
My description of MM makes her sound holier-than-thou and rather boring. She is not boring! She is witty, creative, spirited, willful, and silly. She reminds me of no one -- and of everyone.
Samson's prose can be just right. At one point, MM writes, "I'm the most me I ever am around my son." The book is peppered with lines that speak deeply about MM's relationship with Jesus, her husband, her birth family, and her best friend.
I recommend this book to any Christian who enjoys novels about ideas and relationships.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unique Perspective and Unusual Tale of Redemption, May 21, 2009
This review is from: The Passion of Mary-Margaret (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Many books are written in the first person narrative however few are as folksy and tender as The Passion of Mary-Margaret. Mary-Margaret, a religious sister, pens the tale of her life as she is coming to the end of it. The story flashes back and forward several times as thoughts change and enter her mind. The thread feels very much like an elderly person's pattern of speech. It reminded me a little of Mark Twain's "Jim Baker's Blue Jay Yarn" where Jim told one story after another in what seemed like an endless supply of seemingly unconnected tales.
But in The Passion of Mary-Margaret, the theme is quite clear throughout. Mary-Margaret is an unusual character who knows at a very young age that she loves Jesus and will always serve as a religious sister. Jesus puts many broken people in her path and she consistently and lovingly introduces them to their Savior. Redemption and loving service are very strong throughout.
Unlike many stories of religion or religious orders, Mary-Margaret's story is unusual because her Jesus is very personal. She may go through the religious rites but her personal relationship with her God colors everything she does or touches. It is a very refreshing outlook and takes into account true life rather than just looking the other way when bad things happen.
The book's description was a little deceptive because her story revolves around her relationship with Jesus, not with Jude, the earthly love of her life. And I found this all the more entrancing. Jude's storyline supported this especially when she was asked to show him love that would ultimately change the course of her life.
The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was that it moved slowly. The stops and starts of Mary-Margaret's narrative, however indicative of an elderly narrator, seemed excessive at times. For me, it broke the rhythm of the story and it took a lot of concentration to stay in the story. It is well written and deep and the stop/start narrative isn't conducive to the depth, in my opinion.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! Speechless! Just - Wow!!, September 17, 2009
This review is from: The Passion of Mary-Margaret (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Silly me. I held off reading this book for a while thinking it would be boring. Silly, silly me. What I didn't expect was The Passion of Mary-Margaret to knock me out of my socks they way it did.
I loved, loved, loved this book! The Passion of Mary-Margaret has got to be one of the amazing fictional Christian books out there dealing with the subject of redeeming love. I couldn't put this book down for several days as I read it.
In my brief, inept way, The Passion of Mary-Margaret is a type of Hosea love story. Only the prostitute is Jude and the pursuer is Mary-Margaret (MM). Only MM's first love - her desire throughout the whole book - is to Jesus Christ and her selfless devotion to serve Him and the people of the community as a Sister(just short of being a nun) in the Catholic faith. However, Jesus calls her to set aside her current ambitions as a Sister in the Faith to go pursue Jude, a handsome boy she had a stirring but harmless crush on during her childhood. Only he's not a boy anymore and he's not so innocent. And after all the mistakes he's done, and all the memories of his abusive past, he has no desire to be loved or redeemed. He just wants to rot away and die alone.
Lisa Sampson did a pretty amazing job writing a book in a journal format. Just when you knew what was going to happen, Lisa drops a tidbit that would leave you surprised and screaming for more. And the ending is...is...is...joyous!
My favorite parts in this book were the times MM and Jesus would have face-to-face talks. MM always doubted her sanity when she'd have her talks with Jesus and never spoke of them to anyone, but she also relished them to no end. And the moments where Jesus laughed....I just had to stop and soak it in.
The Passion of Mary Margaret is truly an amazing fictional love story. It's love in demonstration in so many levels. Brotherly love, heavenly love, erotic love, and overall selfless love. It's beauty is how God can take things that were beaten, battered, and forgotten and turn it around for good. Beauty from ashes.
This is a Wow, Wow, Wow book. Seriously consider reading it.
(PS: After you read this book, consider reading "Love Revolution" by Joyce Meyers. It's non-fiction, but you are impacted by the love demonstrated in this book which is fiction, Joyce Meyers helps you to consider what you can do in real life to impact lives in amazing ways with small demonstrations of love.)
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