The Passion of Reverend Nash

This book is well-written, not contrived, with subtle but sturdy plot development. I'm most impressed with the author's able depiction of congregational life. Life in a parish is messy, rewarding, and oddly dangerous. This book does remind me of the best narratives about congregational life - yes, Gail Godwin or Buechner's The Final Beast. Author weaves other sources well and there's a nice interplay going on between the kind of healing that spiritual direction offers and the kind of healing that therapy offers. Nice work.

I couldn't stop reading this book. I was nabbed immediately by the clear, crisp prose style, the acute observations of family dynamics, and the gutsy depiction of a character who seems almost arrogantly larger-than-life -- to some of the very people who surround her. The character of Jordanna Nash reminded me, in fact, very much of my own older sister (one of the key relationships in the novel is between Jordanna and her younger sister). I loved the depiction of Jordanna Nash's apparently supreme confidence, her occasional obtuseness, and her swelling, wounded heart. She is a character I've never read before, and yet I recognize her type from real life. I was compelled to follow her story until it was through, and though I wished for a different end for Jordanna, I recognized the aptness of the one she's chosen. This is a book about a woman who throws herself into life. It is about connection and moral choices. But mostly it is about how people keep going after tragedy strikes. The style of the book just kept me reading, and I was very sorry when it was through. Too bad the author has only two novels out so far.

What happens to us when a major cataclysmic event re-orders our lives? How do we go about organizing our world and rewiring our nerve endings to deal with pain and loss? This novel deals with these issues but ups the ante and forces us to see these things through the eyes of one who is supposed to be more perfect spiritually and her view from behind the pulpit. The juxtaposition of a person of faith dealing with grief, loss and questioning faith while simultaneously holding the position of religious leader compounds and heightens those issues. As the reviewer from the Christian Science Monitor put it ?The Passion of Reverend Nash is one of those novels that's so wonderful you're afraid to recommend it because if your friends don't like it, you'll just pity them.?