A narrator, especially in a memoir, needs to be honest so that we, as readers, want to follow the journey. Honesty and integrity were infused throughout the narrative in your book. I appreciated reading about Mother Teresa, as well as yourself, as human beings trying the best you could to live a helpful life. Your real affection
for her and she for you were apparent. I thought you depicted the kind of things I know of religious life, having a priest-brother and hearing his tales, and having priests stay at our house when I was a child, again as real people with concerns beyond their jobs. My brother was, to me, first my brother, then the man who stood on an altar offering mass. These people you write about are not cookie-cutter characters, they are individuals. Your bravery in going beyond and telling the most intimate details of lives denied human companionship on many levels, was important, I think, and you did it in a way that was both personal and private, matter of fact, not sensational, normal.
Your book was infused with how you grappled with the distinction between duty to obey and the question of unwavering obedience, which translated to me as a larger question of individual freedom and blind faith. I related to your journey in my own transitions in belief systems from child-like faith to questioning, reflecting, pondering. "I wanted the opportunity to speak truth to power," you said. Power, if 'good' authority, understands truth, I think.
"So much depends on the stories we tell ourselves, and on the questions we ask, or fail to ask," you note. At many steps in our lives it benefits us to review these stories we tell ourselves, and to wonder what questions we are now ready to ponder. In your book your review was life affirming and life changing and, I suspect, led you to more questions. After reading your book, I think I have a few more of my own. Thank you for leading me there as I followed along on your journey.
...From Teri Crane, CA. Dr. Teri Crane is a writer, retired teacher and marriage and family therapist. After stepping aside from classroom teaching, she decided to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College where she wrote a memoir, We Never Used the ‘F’ Word, which is still pre-published. Currently she is working on an historical fiction novel about women coming west, and moderating online classes for teachers through LA County Office of Education. She is a certified Journal to the Self Workshop instructor.