This is Why I Came
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A woman sits in prayerful meditation, waiting to offer her first confession in more than thirty years. She holds a small book on her lap, one that she's made, and tells herself again the Bible stories it contains, the ones she has written anew, for herself, each story told aslant, from Jonah to Jesus, Moses to Mary Magdalen. Woven together and stitched by hand, they provide a new version, virtually a new translation, of the heart of this ancient and sacred text. Rakow's Bernadette traces, through each brief and familiar story, a line where belief and disbelief touch, the line that has been her home, ragged and neglected, that hidden seam.
The result is an amazing book of extraordinary beauty, so human and humorous, and yet so holy it becomes a work of poetry, a canticle, a song of lament and praise. In the private terrain of silence and devotion, shared with us by a writer of power and grace, Rakow offers, through Bernadette, her own lectio divina for the modern world.
No reader will forget this book or be able to read the Bible itself without a new perspective on this text that remains, arguably, Western civilization's greatest literary achievement.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After a 30-year absence, a nameless woman visits her local church in hopes of receiving the sacrament of confession. As she waits her turn, she fingers a small, handmade book, which contains the woman's own interpretations of Biblical tales, written in the form of fables. From here, Rakow (The Memory Room) brilliantly swerves, leaving the nameless woman behind and immersing the reader in the character's handmade book: we see its table of contents, and then we read its stories, starting with tales of Adam and ending with the final days of Mary and Joseph after the death of Jesus. In these narratives, God fears his creations, and Joseph lives with the concern that Mary is less than honest when proclaiming her virginal pregnancy. Also tackled is the disappointment some feel when touched by their savior. After struggling with his faith, Jonah turns his back on God, and a blind man after Jesus restores his sight wonders if life was better when he could not see. A sense of compassion radiates from every character, and while familiarity with the Bible certainly deepens the appreciation of the book, these fabulous narratives shed light on their nameless author's own relationship with God and illuminate religious tales ingrained in so many readers' minds.
