Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful and thought-provoking...
Review: I've never read anything by Mark Salzman before, but I believe Lying Awake is a good starting place. This novel is a very profound, yet simple statement about faith and brings to life the journey of a nun who is faced with a heartbreaking decision. Eloquent writing and vivid imagery pull readers into a sanctuary of peace, undying love for God, and one woman's struggle to justify her faith.Sister John of the Cross, a Carmelite nun in Los Angeles, has spent the past 28 years in contemplative life. Like others before her, Sister John questions her reasons for being a nun and whether her faith is strong enough to sustain her. And like an answer from God, one day Sister John experiences intense holy visions unlike anything she's ever known before. The visions, although inspiring and glorious, are also accompanied by painful headaches that doctors feel is detrimental to her health. Now Sister John has a decision to make -- to ignore these cautions and accept these visions as special religious favors or to correct the "problem" and return to the ache and loss she felt before. Mark Salzman's novel is stunning and clear: With visions that bring Sister John closer to God, what consequences are there to her, one who has spent her whole life serving that God, once those visions disappear. Beautiful and powerful for such a short little book and one that will remain in memory for a long time to come.
Rating: 
Summary: BORING
Review: I thought this book must be some propaganda pamphlet published by the Catholic church, until I read more about it and the author. What do the chapter titles have to do with anything? I found them very annoying. Maybe it's because I'm not Catholic, but I thought this book very uninteresting except as a glimpse into why people who would normally be seen as losers in the outside world (she was fat, raised by non-caring grandparents, shunned by her mother)are attracted to this reclusive life. It can also be seen as an explanation (just a physical illness: epilepsy!!) for religious "enlightenment". Do NOT buy this book unless you are Catholic!
Rating: 
Summary: Like a prayer
Review: I read this story from start to finish in one evening - it's not a very long novel - I couldn't stop and everything in me settled and calmed. I love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Why are we here?
Review: A great book brings you this close to another's heart. Mark Salzman has done an informed and sensitive job of exploring what is hidden. Lots of wonderful similes. I could feel her childhood pain. I could understand her mid-life crisis. This book is food for spiritual growth, and maybe, for a second, a chance to walk in the path of a Carmelite nun.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Review: My daughter picked this book up in our local bookstore and said, "Mom, you just have to read this". I took her advice, and have not regretted it. This is a wonderful tale of a nun who experiences very rich moments of inspiration. We learn, also, of her growth in the religious life and her understanding of her relationship with God - especially powerful when she is faced with the decision about a medical treatment that will probably erase her "visions". A wonderful read. I will definitely pass it on to my mother, and to many of my friends.
Rating:
Summary: A struggle with faith, a loss or is it a find
Review: Sister John of the Cross is a Carmelite nun, part of a cloistered group in Los Angeles California. She is faced with worsening headaches that allow her to have visions or insights, leading her into a state of ecstasy and an extended understanding of the meaning of Christ in her life. When a pathological reason for the headaches is found she is faced with the possibility that her visions are part of the manifestations of the condition and not real. The question here is what is real and what is distortion, how does she interpret the visions? Was the physical condition part of Gods plan? How much of it is taken on faith and how is sister John going to deal with the turmoil? I found the insights into the life of a contemplative by the author unbelievably astute. I was amazed at his ability to make the reader understand the strength of their faith, and the wholehearted devotion that some would see as fanaticism with which these women live their lives. The prose is crisp and clear and as spare as the simple lives these women live. A very good book indeed....
Rating:
Summary: A book to contemplate
Review: First, I found this book sweet - not very realistic but sweet. I have spent some time visiting a Benedictine monastary and have a good friend who was a postulate there, so I have some basis for my observation. The sisters were too sweet and kind. Life seemed more of a Disney fairy tale than anything that would exist at a true convent. That said, the question that the book raises - how does God become known and present in my life and what form does that presence take - is a very relavent and difficult question. I have pondered this in my life and wondered about why there are times when God seems so far away and other times when God is so near. Lying Awake asks this question and answers it for a few of the characters. But it compels me to ask the question for myself and for my life. So, 4 stars because the message is good even if the setting is flawed.
Rating:
Summary: A sublime and beautiful spiritual work.
Review: Lying Awake is the most sublime and beautiful contemporary novel that I have read in years. It poses one of the most essential theological issues that a person can face - how can we know when we have truly encountered the living God? Sister John of the Cross is a discalced Carmelite nun who lives the contemplative life in community with a small group of other sisters. After a hard childhood, Helen (Sister John's given name) decides she has a vocation for the Carmelites. Her first thirteen years are a 'desert' experience where she does not enjoy the presence of God. Suddenly, God fills Sister John of the Cross with the inexpressible joy of His presence. Sister is able to record her experiences in journals. She publishes a well-received book of verse. The other sisters admire or envy her for the graces she receives. However, Sister John's experiences are closely linked to the occurrence of migraines. After collapsing at a communal event, she undergoes a battery of tests. Her doctor reveals that she has a localized epileptic disorder. Surgery to remove a small meningioma will relieve Sister's symptoms but it will also cause her ecstatic experiences to cease. For Sister John, this would be an unspeakable loss. Worse yet, she is flooded with doubts that her encounters with God have not been genuine and have only been the by-product of her illness. Sister John must decide if she can give up her experiences and whether she can face the probability of another extended stay in the desert. Mark Salzman's prose is so pristine that it is in itself an instance of grace. Salzman is a non-Catholic who has amazingly penetrated the nature of contemplative spirituality and describes it in lean yet eloquent prose. The larger question that Salzman posits for all of us is this: can we know God intimately in and through imperfect circumstances? How can we know it is Him whom we are dealing with, and not just the induced result of our emotions, enthusiasms, or needs? And can God transcend those inducements to still revel His love for us? I believe Salzman's answer is a resounding 'yes'. In this respect, Lying Awake is a spiritual work of the first order.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful. Take your time.
Review: This is a very short and easily read book. However, my advice is to consider it as a contemplative religious story, read it over time, savour it and consider the messages it delivers. Read too quickly, this book may seem too short, not descriptive enough, and remarkable shallow in the character development department. That's what I thought the first time that I read it. However, read in small amounts over a period of time, the book allows you to consider each word and phrase on its own. Think of it as a variant of theological readings, where chapters upon chapters are written based upon the analysis of a few words or sentences. The book brings up, in its own spare way, the age-old discussion of what exactly we deem to be heavenly gifts. Has epilepsy misled her all along, or is it a gift from God? How do we really explain and interpret our connections with the divine? From where do we draw a sense of authenticity about our experiences? From our elders, our doctors, our peers, our novices, or from a higher power? Saltzmann's book is very good. It -is- frustratingly short and doesn't offer much in the way of character development, but that's because you must rely upon yourself and your own relationship to the events in order to flesh out the seemingly missing half of the book. This book quietly demands that you think about Sister John of the Cross's situation, what she might be feeling, the words that she can not express. The development is there, you simply have to help construct it. If you do not or can not contribute in this way, the book may be a waste of time. I would encourage reading it and discussing it within a group setting, drawing out the subtle markers from Saltzmann's poetic work.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I like Mark Salzman's writing and I was looking forward to reading LYING AWAKE. Having just read it, I feel disappointed. The story and characters never caught hold of my imagination. Salzman presents a nun impassioned with religious feeling who writes of it in poetry. However, when diagnosed and treated for temporal lobe epilepsy, her intense feelings dissipate. Salzman presents us with the paradox of attributing spirituality to a physical disorder. It is a wonderful idea but his book speeds along without developing the characters, place, and issues with the complexity they deserve. A much better book about an impassioned life in a convent and the issues it creates is Ron Hansen's MARIETTE IN ECSTASY. And a provocative look at the relationship of epilepsy to visions and writing is Lauren Slater's book LYING.
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