The View from a Monastery (Hardcover)

by Benet Tvedten (Author) "In the northeastern corner of South Dakota where I live, there are two attractions to which sightseers are drawn: a cheese factory and a monastery..." (more)
Key Phrases: hands under the scapular, mother abbey, novice master, Brother Felix, Father Dan, Abbot Gilbert (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The View from a Monastery by Brother Benet Tvedten, is a memoir of life in the Benedictine community at South Dakota's Blue Cloud Abbey. (This abbey was famously described by Kathleen Norris in both Dakota and The Cloister Walk.) Tvedten mines his 40 years at Blue Cloud for colorful stories about the routines, rituals, and leisure activities that have filled his life, and writes an engaging narrative about the liberation he has found in the restrictions of his Benedictine community. The View from a Monastery is perhaps most affecting in its descriptions of Tvetden's discernment of his vocation. Raised Protestant in a small town in North Dakota, Tvetden read Thomas Merton's The Seven-Storey Mountain as a teenager, which put him on the road to conversion--a painful decision for both him and his family. The first time his parents saw him with his head shaved (a requirement at the Abbey), they cried. The first time he had to spend Christmas apart from them, he cried. Most of Tvetden's stories about monastic life, however, are happier ones. He has immense affection and reverence for the foibles and eccentricities of his brothers, such as Father Francis (who raised wild birds in his cell) and Brother Lawrence (who sold bad paintings to unsuspecting tourists). With stories like these, Tvetden gives the lie to the popular notion that monasteries are little patches of sweet bye-and-bye here on earth. Instead, he gives readers reasons to take joy in the flaws of creation. "If you've heard that monks are saints, you've been told a lie," Tvedten writes. "Like everyone else, we're sinners. You may even be scandalized by some of the things that happen in the monastery. If you are running away from yourself, you won't escape here." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly
Brother Tvedten is a Benedictine monk in the Blue Cloud Monastery in South Dakota, made known by Kathleen Norris through her writings. Tvedten addresses the growing public interest in monasticism that has been fueled, at least in part, by Norriss books. The reader will not find, however, that his writing style is similar to hers. While Norris is poetical and introspective, Tvedten is prosaic and straightforward. He demythologizes monastic life, mentioning his own misconceptions about the cloister when he decided to become a monk. Readers who imagine that monks are either prudish and uptight or walking on clouds of mystic holiness will discover their mistake when they read these stories. The monks he introduces are ordinary people, with the same occurrence of eccentrics as in the general population (which is to say, plenty). One interesting aspect of Tvedtens account is that he became a monk before Vatican II and has therefore observed its effects on the monastery. Many of his anecdotes are humorous; Tvedten is a James Herriot of Benedictines, showing the same affection for his life and the people in it while appreciating the funny side.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 193 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (May 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573221341
• ISBN-13: 978-1573221344
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,067,201 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reason for enjoyment depends on reader's background, February 1, 2001

By	M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The View from a Monastery (Paperback)

Contrary to the Amazon editor review, Br. Benet was raised Catholic in a mixed Lutheran-Catholic marriage. As for Jon Hassler's comparison to The Seven Story Mountain, I find the relationship weak at best - as if he and I read different books for one or the other. I point these items out because false expectations can easily make one fail to enjoy the book for what it is.

It is not a conversion story. It is not even a particularly spiritual story. It is gentle musings by an older brother of the Blue Cloud monastery on his experiences in the monastery - musing of the same nature as casual conversation as two people get to know each other. For its gentle musings, the book is one of several good books on monastic life. Personally, I prefer A Monastic Year : Reflections from a Monastery.

It is also an astute study of how monastic communities adapt the Rule of St. Benedict to contemporary life and to individual situtations within the monastic culture. Here the book is the best I know - anyone reading the Rule must also read this book.

Finally, the book provides the context within which Roberta Bondi and Kathleen Norris (both Protestant) write. For those unfamilar with the monastic culture, this is an excellent way to gain a realistic (not idealistic) view of the life style they have come to value. For this, too, I highly recommend the book.

As for the book itself, it is filled with delightful characters - saintly and not-so-saintly. There is the German monk for whom nothing American will ever measure up. There is the monk who appoints himself library censor, the infirmary nurse into folk remedies, the missionary to the Dakotas forced to take a "sabbatical", the mischevious dog, the "falling" priest, the gentle scholar, the novitiate who left and when dying of AIDS has the community come to his support. All of them described in brief chapters that are a pleasure to read - clear, unobtrustive prose that values the message above the word. If nothing else, after reading this delightful book, everyone should be able to say "I, too, can be religious ... <name> is as flawed as I".

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful representation of daily life at St. Cloud Abbey, August 13, 2001

By	Kathy Wiley (Mt. Pleasant, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The View from a Monastery (Paperback)

Every year I visit a monastery for a few days to retreat into a quiet environment and reconnect with the spiritual. This year I found myself at Blue Cloud Abbey near Marvin, South Dakota. There was a joyful spirit there which helped my find my smile and begin again to radiate the glow of Christ's love. These Benedictine monks present themselves wholly transparent to their visitors. They reveal their true personalities without reserve. They are, therefore, delightful and personable. It's refreshing, especially for a woman, to leave the daily duties of a household and career and be taken care of by a holy community who happen to be men. It sort of restores a woman's faith in the abilities of the opposite sex. I was given the gift of getting to know a few of these men before I met Br. Benet and found out through a fellow retreatant that he had written a book. I spent the next day reading it and was inspired with his ability to transcend joyful laughter as well as reverence through his skillfully written stories. I loved his honesty: "There are many false notions about monasticism. Pious people think that monks are holy. People who don't know much about religion think we are peculiar. The truth of the matter is that we are neither, though I have known individual monks who were both. Most of us are ordinary men who find that it is easier for us to be holy here than in some other place." I also loved the pictures he painted with words of his most memorable friends: "Brother Patrick was holy. His holiness was not the kind that is commonly associated with sanctity, but he was my kind of saint. He was not a plaster saint. He had a solid piety without being the least bit sanctimonious." Br. Benent then proceeded to describe this unusual monk who had fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and worked on the General Motors assembly line before joining the Benedictines. Br. Patrick's tendency to spin tall tales,especially regarding his war days and his pranks at the expense of the other monks made this monk a colorful person indeed. Even at his bedside, as he lay dying from inoperable cancer, his colorful spirit presented itself: ". . eager as ever to entertain all of the "brethren" (as he called us) who gathered at his bedside. Sitting on the edge of his bed and chain-smoking cigarettes ("Why not? I don't have lung cancer"), he regaled us with war stories and recollections of his youth in an upstate New York town where he could buy a bucket of beer for a nickel." Being Protestant, I found this book helpful in explaining Catholic practices, the difference between Trappists and Benedictines and the meaning of St. Benedict's Rule. But the most wonderful thing about this book is how Br. Benet has revealed the everyday life struggles and celebrations that are unique to monastic life but are not so very different from experiences that we all have in other communities. The mystery exists, however, that there is something special here. Not everything can be put into words; some things have to be experienced to be understood.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm and fuzzy and yet substantial, November 28, 2002

By	Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The View from a Monastery (Paperback)

Brother Benet exemplifies the linear life path. While in high school, he saw his first Benedictines and decided that he belonged with them. He showed remarkable maturity as he chose a specific abbey to enter, right out of college, and chose to become a brother rather than a priest.

The author's goal seems to be a modest one. He describes his life in a monastery and how he got to be there. He offers hilarious stories of characters he meets along the way -- not always the easiest men to live with, but definitely a source of spiritual challenge.

Brother Benet can write. Each chapter is a self-contained essay, reminiscent of James Herriot. In fact, one of the most appealing chapters includes a description of "Katie the collie" and the efforts of the brothers to create a properly monastic canine.

Reading between the lines, Brother Benet seems to have the perfect quietly cheerful temperament to live in community. He finds humor in frustrating events and as well as changes in monastic life: don't miss the reference to "liturgical lingerie." In telling his story, he has the advantage of someone who dealt with visitors, and he remains aware of an outsider's perspective. He tells us, without fuss, of his own struggles and also his ownn joys.

Brother Benet also allows a glimpse of life in a contemporary monastery. In some ways, the "confreres" come across as a special fraternity. Watching a television show, they act like any group of males, using less than religious language. Yet there is caring, not only for themselves, for for those whose lives have touched the monastery. When a former postulant lies dying of AIDS, the monastery sends two brothers to be with him. And when two strangers, clad only in sheets, make the monastery a stop on their unique pilgrimage, the monks offer a washing machine as well as a room and meals.

As a career coach, I hear people talk about finding meaning in their lives. Here's someone who has found meaning in a particularly unusual and dedicated way. Reading this book helps define the concept of "vocation" and "calling," although the vast majority of us will not find ourselves called so openly to such an extreme. Brother Benet offes an insightful non-New-Age perspective on spirituality, purpose and yes, abundance.