Rating: 
Summary: Unstructured, inauthentic, tawdry
Review: "The Calling" may get high marks in high places, but one who knows about the real life of nuns may, with me, feel outrage about it. The material seems to genuinely engage the writer and her collaborating editors. They know that so-called inside stories about nuns make hot copy . One does not get a sense of serious archival research into the history of nuns; rather one catches echoes of snippets from journalistic sources. Better read Kathleen Norris' "Dakota" or Patricia Hampl's "Virgin Time" for realism with depth into what occurs in monasteries and convents. Instead of the pages in this book on prison minstry, take a look at Helen Prejean's "Dead Man Walking" or even see the film. This is a poor book by "non-fiction" standards and merely exploits stories perpetuating images of nuns as romantic, immature, ignorant, and gullible. It is trash.
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable easy read.
Review: As a former Sister, I found the book to be very accurate and descriptive of the life I once knew, particularly as it relates to the 60's and 70's.Catholics and non catholics alike will find the glimpses into the lives of Sisters de-mystifying. Not for those with extensive indepth knowledge or religious life. How any reviewer could possibly refer to this book as trash is beyond my comprehension. The negative reviews on Amazon show a jealousy or a sour grapes attitude. Perhaps they were written by women who were rejected by religious communities.
Rating: 
Summary: An astute and tender book.
Review: As a non-Catholic, this book opened my eyes to a world I had always wondered about. Whitney not only examines her own Catholic girlhood, but also gives the reader fascinating insight into the lives of a number of nuns. A great and illuminating read.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful and absorbing. Beautifully written.
Review: Catherine Whitney's The Calling was one of the biggest surprises I've had in a long time. If you read the acknowledgments, you discover that the author is a strong and reasoned critic of many of the restrictive and antique policies of the Church. Once in the body of the work, an astonishing transformation occurs, as Whitney sweeps us with her to another time and another place so completey that you begin leaning over in your chair to make room for your guardian angel. I could smell the chalk dust in the parochial school room of her past. And the book is funny as well as insightful. I became so absorbed the first time I read it I could hardly put it down. It's no crime thriller, but what a fun read!
Rating:
Summary: The Calling touched my life.
Review: I don't usually read religious books, but The Calling was an exception. For the first time in years I began to think about my life having a purpose. I was raised by nuns but dropped out of the Church. Ms. Whitney's honest, funny, moving account of her own encounters is making me rethink my life. I loved this book.
Rating: 
Summary: New Age Meets Old School Catholicism
Review: I enjoyed this combination memoir and history of an order of nuns. I am a Protestant with a keen interest in what makes religions tick, and this book did not disappoint. I now know why my Catholic-school friends used to tell me that I would go to Hell because I was not Catholic - they were taught this in school. Ms. Whitney provides what seems to be a relatively complete history of the Rosary Heights Dominican order, illustrated with histories of the lives of different sisters in the order. Her own childhood as a Catholic school student provides a good backdrop for this history. She is a lapsed Catholic, and although she portrays her own history lovingly, one does not get the sense that after this year she embraces Catholicism. There is a bit of "New Agey" spirituality in here. Ms. Whitney does an excellent job of portraying the "calling" of the nuns as something mysterious that is reserved for a chosen few, but then she goes on to equate this "calling" with a selected vocation. This doesn't ring true - I don't think people are called to be nuns in the same sense that a person may attend college to become an accountant. This criticism aside, this is a good book and I think that I have a better appreciation for the way Catholicism works now.
Rating:
Summary: Was she really called?
Review: I find it hard to believe that the author was ever "almost" a nun. This rambling memoir gives no insight into the vocation, and is blantantly wrong on a serious matter of theology, e.g. The Immaculate Conception. This church dogma refers to Mary being born with without original--immaculate at HER conception. It does NOT mean "she was not defiled in the process" of conceiving Jesus! This is a basic tenet of the Roman Catholic church, and one that jumps out at a reader with a background of religious education.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing but I'm glad I read it!
Review: I found this book to be extremely readable and engaging but also frustrating and not quite believable. I was unsure where journalism was in evidence or memoir or just poetic license. The structure of the book was also confusing with several narratives and seemingly important events abandoned and never resolved. In the end, I found the book disappointing and rather simplistic. The title itself was also misleading as I thought the book would be about an individual who spent a year living with a community of nuns. Instead this was a frustrating combination of fiction, memory and (doctored?) interviews. Despite all that, I would have to admit: I'm glad I read the book. As a lapsed Catholic also searching for something greater than myself and our consumer culture, I identified with many of the author's feelings and was intrigued by the personal discussions of prayer, a calling and vocations, and the role of the church.
Rating: 
Summary: Misleading Title!
Review: I got this book because as a post-Vatican II Catholic, I wanted to know what type of life nuns had. I never went to Catholic school and my parish really never had any nuns present. To date, I still don't know! This title is very misleading. The author did not chronicle a year in the life; she took anecdotes from various nuns of their personal experience with their vocation. Also, one should be warned that the author is a lapsed Catholic with some bitter feelings toward the male hierarchy of the Catholic church that she has not resolved. Most of the anecdotes in this book are by women who left their orders because they were dissatisfied. Overall, the book was well-written and kept me very interested, but I believe the title is completely misleading and will cause more people to buy the book than normally would have, myself included.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading Title!
Review: I got this book because as a post-Vatican II Catholic, I wanted to know what type of life nuns had. I never went to Catholic school and my parish really never had any nuns present. To date, I still don't know! This title is very misleading. The author did not chronicle a year in the life; she took anecdotes from various nuns of their personal experience with their vocation. Also, one should be warned that the author is a lapsed Catholic with some bitter feelings toward the male hierarchy of the Catholic church that she has not resolved. Most of the anecdotes in this book are by women who left their orders because they were dissatisfied. Overall, the book was well-written and kept me very interested, but I believe the title is completely misleading and will cause more people to buy the book than normally would have, myself included.
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