The Passion of Terri Heart [Paperback]

Eugene Mirabelli (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0935891064 | ISBN-13: 978-0935891065 | Publication Date: September 2004

Maureen Teresa McFinn, a parochial school graduate, changes her name to Terri Heart when she becomes an actress in pornographic movies. Just as she is achieving a kind of shabby stardom, she becomes pregnant. Solitary and in murderous desperation after her baby's birth, Terri has an ecstatic vision during a blinding snow squall. From that moment on she sees that her role is to shelter the homeless and love the loveless, no matter what happens. Told by Michael Bruno, a huge bear of a man, an academic with two ex-wives, a gargantuan appetite and a skeptical view of life. This is the story of Terri Heart, porn actress and practitioner of what the Church calls the corporal works of mercy, an astonishing novel of the sacred and the profane.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Passion of Terri Heart continues to prove Mirabelli is a master of the erotic novel of the deepest import. -- Drexel Online Journal

About the Author

Eugene Mirabelli was born in Massachusetts. Over the years he has found employment in writing freelance articles, advertising copy, technical reports, book reviews and books. He taught in the graduate writing program at the State University of New York at Albany during its heyday, and currently contributes articles and reviews to an alternative newsweekly in upstate New York. He has received grants for his fiction, including a Rockefeller Grant. His years as a teacher have given him an abiding interest in education. Mirabelli is one of the founders and directors of Alternative Literary Programs in the Schools (ALPS), and currently serves as its treasurer. ALPS is a non-profit corporation which brings poets and writers to the schools of New York State to give creative writing workshops.

Eugene Mirabelli's sixth novel, The Passion of Terri Heart, is his second to be published by Spring Harbor Press. His earlier works include The World at Noon (Guernica Editions, Toronto) The Burning Air (Houghton Mifflin), The Way In (Viking Press), and No Resting Place (Viking Press).

Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Spring Harbor Pr (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935891064
• ISBN-13: 978-0935891065
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,163,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate story and a great read!, October 30, 2004

By 

Barbara Loves Books (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Passion of Terri Heart (Paperback)

The Passion of Terri Heart is a truly crazy modern saint's life that moves along so fast you're grateful when a huge blizzard finally forces Terri, the central character, to spend three quiet days and nights with Michael Bruno, the skeptical teller of her story. And it's a good, readable story. Terri is an actress in porn films but also a genuinely loving person who wants to redeem the world, or at least some of the lost souls around her. The novel has explicit scenes about the making of x-rated films as well as scenes of genuine passion and intellectual discussion, so its not meant for prudes or dummies.

Mirabelli has created amazing characters, and his writing is so sensuous and visual that it's like watching a movie. Five stars for this one.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars extremely thought provoking read, June 8, 2005

By 

Far-ranging Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Passion of Terri Heart (Paperback)

This is a strange, quick, and surprisingly powerful book. It was endorsed by a religious social critic and a woman known for her photographs of porn scenes, which is not a combination you usually find. The story is about a shabby porn star (Terri Heart) who's also a kind of savior of losers and lost souls. She's certainly not a saint , but in her own generous (maybe a bit too generous), open-hearted way she does help the walking wounded of this world. The story is told by a brainy but skeptical or maybe even cynical older man, Michael Bruno, who is saved even as he tries to save Terri Heart. This very fast, readable book unapologetically shows how to make a pornographic movie and at the same time how to love, how to put together a family, how live a better life. Five stars.