Just read a wonderful book
Today I finished reading Long Way Back by Brendan Halpin. It was brilliant! I really got to bond with the characters. Halpin's dialog is great. It doesn't feel stilted, it sounds very natural. The climactic scene at the end made me weep with joy and love.
One of the things I like most was the characters' Catholicism. They're like the real Catholics I know. Most Catholics in books seem to me to be either extremely pious and devout, or have rejected the Church entirely. Almost all the Catholics I know, including myself, have some sort of detached relationship with the faith. They feel it in them, it fuels and aids them, but there are aspects that keep them from fully emmersing themselves in the church-going lifestyle. That's how these characters are. They're true to their faith in their personal belief and they act in a way that's conscientious, but they're not "devout" in the commonly accepted way of thinking. That made them seem all the more real to me. I found them behaving much like I do, skipping mass on Sunday, but showing devotion some other way, either by serving others or praying privately. In that way, it was a very hopeful book.
Needless to say, I highly recommend this book, whether you're Catholic or not (though if you're not Catholic, you might not get some of the jokes, but it won't ruin the book if you don't.)
Thank you for getting me out of my rut of mediocre books, Brendan Halpin!
One of the things I like most was the characters' Catholicism. They're like the real Catholics I know. Most Catholics in books seem to me to be either extremely pious and devout, or have rejected the Church entirely. Almost all the Catholics I know, including myself, have some sort of detached relationship with the faith. They feel it in them, it fuels and aids them, but there are aspects that keep them from fully emmersing themselves in the church-going lifestyle. That's how these characters are. They're true to their faith in their personal belief and they act in a way that's conscientious, but they're not "devout" in the commonly accepted way of thinking. That made them seem all the more real to me. I found them behaving much like I do, skipping mass on Sunday, but showing devotion some other way, either by serving others or praying privately. In that way, it was a very hopeful book.
Needless to say, I highly recommend this book, whether you're Catholic or not (though if you're not Catholic, you might not get some of the jokes, but it won't ruin the book if you don't.)
Thank you for getting me out of my rut of mediocre books, Brendan Halpin!