Rating: 
Summary: No part sufficient for a whole to develop
Review: The overall sense I received from this work is that Catherine Whitney is more interested in speaking of herself (without so much as answering the question of why she suddenly shifted from would-be religious Sister to unbelieving radical feminist). The anecdotal information about several Sisters in the earlier chapters seems a promise of real development later, but this promise remains unfulfilled.Half stories, some of which seem flavoured by stereotypes and prejudiced assumptions, are profoundly unsatisfying, particularly since the natural presumption to which the early chapters would lead was that depth, development, and understanding of the various Sisters' situations would follow. It did not happen. There is a sampling of moments from various Sisters' lives (not, as the sub-title implies, a chronicle of a year in the life of an Order), but no insight into anything.
Rating: 
Summary: A Glimpse
Review: The reviewer below notes that the subtitle is a bit misleading and I agree. I was expecting the story of one woman's time spent in cloistered seclusion. The story that unfolded, however, was far more intriguing. Whitney adeptly addresses her own "calling" while exploring the faith of other women and the evolution of modern standards for nuns. If this topic holds the same type of fascination for you, I strongly recommend the novel Lying Awake by Mark Salzman.
Rating:
Summary: Subtitle leads to false expectations - good in its own right
Review: The subtitle "A Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns" leads one to expect a book similiar to The View from a Monastery or A Monastic Year - both of which are excellent books. The books is rather another of the "sisters meet Vatican II' style written from the point of few of a Catholic-educated, nonpracticing Catholic. The focus of the book is on what it means to be called; initially the author works from the premise that "called" means primarily called to religious life. At the conclusion, her primary insight is that ones "call" may be to a particular aspect of secular life. She traces her slowing change view of nuns and call primarily through sisters she knew as a child or young adult - most of whom left the order. By not including some of those who joined the order after the substantial changes (for example, one who serves as a hospital chaplain), she fails to explore what a "call to religious life" means today. This results in an understanding of call that is primarily individualistic in a church that is fundamentally communal. The author is also sloppy in her Catholic terminology, sloppy in a way that reveals that her research assumed as a base the Church from which she was estranged rather than the Church of today. An example: she refers to the nun serving the King County Jail as "saying Mass" a role reserved for ordained priests rather than the more accurate "presiding at a Eucharistic service". What the book truly is a memoir-exploration of a non-practicing Catholic sifting through her childhood with adult eyes, using the nuns who taught her in school as a catalyst for this exploration. In this exploration, we learn the stories of several young nuns who entered and left the order. We learn the stories of some who stayed, who redefined what it meant to be a nun (Dominican sister to be more precise). Those who stayed are presented rightly as remarkable people facing the world squarely in the face - assisting in jail, in urban social services, in hospitals, in rural Hispanic populations ... The writing is such that you get a sense of who each person is in a very short section which leaves you wanting more or leaves you chuckling about the description if you know the individual described in person or through books. For example, she briefly mentions Fr. Joseph as becoming charimatic - Fr. Joseph has written and self published a delightful biography. I recommend the book as a delight insight into a particular side of Catholic childhood and female religious orders. I am concerned that some readers may mistake the book for a more universal statement.
Rating:
Summary: Subtitle leads to false expectations - good in its own right
Review: The subtitle "A Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns" leads one to expect a book similiar to The View from a Monastery or A Monastic Year - both of which are excellent books. The books is rather another of the "sisters meet Vatican II' style written from the point of few of a Catholic-educated, nonpracticing Catholic. The focus of the book is on what it means to be called; initially the author works from the premise that "called" means primarily called to religious life. At the conclusion, her primary insight is that ones "call" may be to a particular aspect of secular life. She traces her slowing change view of nuns and call primarily through sisters she knew as a child or young adult - most of whom left the order. By not including some of those who joined the order after the substantial changes (for example, one who serves as a hospital chaplain), she fails to explore what a "call to religious life" means today. This results in an understanding of call that is primarily individualistic in a church that is fundamentally communal. The author is also sloppy in her Catholic terminology, sloppy in a way that reveals that her research assumed as a base the Church from which she was estranged rather than the Church of today. An example: she refers to the nun serving the King County Jail as "saying Mass" a role reserved for ordained priests rather than the more accurate "presiding at a Eucharistic service". What the book truly is a memoir-exploration of a non-practicing Catholic sifting through her childhood with adult eyes, using the nuns who taught her in school as a catalyst for this exploration. In this exploration, we learn the stories of several young nuns who entered and left the order. We learn the stories of some who stayed, who redefined what it meant to be a nun (Dominican sister to be more precise). Those who stayed are presented rightly as remarkable people facing the world squarely in the face - assisting in jail, in urban social services, in hospitals, in rural Hispanic populations ... The writing is such that you get a sense of who each person is in a very short section which leaves you wanting more or leaves you chuckling about the description if you know the individual described in person or through books. For example, she briefly mentions Fr. Joseph as becoming charimatic - Fr. Joseph has written and self published a delightful biography. I recommend the book as a delight insight into a particular side of Catholic childhood and female religious orders. I am concerned that some readers may mistake the book for a more universal statement.
Rating: 
Summary: A refreshing, sensitive portrayal of modern Nuns
Review: This book evoked a number of emotions as I read it. There were times I laughed aloud, remembering my own Catholic school days. Many times books of this type resort to veiled "nun bashing". We tend to focus on Sister Matilda, the drill sergeant, who rapped our knuckles with the ruler! Ms Whitney, however, portrays these Nuns as real, human women who are continually growing and rededicating themselves. Though their numbers are fewer at this time, they are reaching out to others in more diverse ways. Many of the women who left the Convent seem to still have a bond with the Nuns. This speaks well for Religious life! The author's own spiritual journey, woven throughout the story, was thought provoking and touching. I found her characters, as well as the message of the book ,very believable.
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing, sensitive portrayal of modern Nuns
Review: This book evoked a number of emotions as I read it. There were times I laughed aloud, remembering my own Catholic school days. Many times books of this type resort to veiled "nun bashing". We tend to focus on Sister Matilda, the drill sergeant, who rapped our knuckles with the ruler! Ms Whitney, however, portrays these Nuns as real, human women who are continually growing and rededicating themselves. Though their numbers are fewer at this time, they are reaching out to others in more diverse ways. Many of the women who left the Convent seem to still have a bond with the Nuns. This speaks well for Religious life! The author's own spiritual journey, woven throughout the story, was thought provoking and touching. I found her characters, as well as the message of the book ,very believable.
Rating:
Summary: This book is more than the title suggests
Review: When Whitney went to the Pacific Northwest to interview the Dominican sisters who had shaped her childhood, she met far more than old teachers in a community that was struggling to find its place in the modern world. She confronted her own loss of faith and began a personal quest for spiritual identity. The Calling is a penetrating analysis of the Dominican sisters who had been a significant part of the author's life from grade school through high school. It's also a journey inward. All this said, The Calling is not a ponderous, self-absorbed examination of conscience. With honesty, humor, and an obvious affection for the nuns, the author opens the doors to a modern religious community, and lets us inside. Through the personalities she remembers, she moves from past to present with ease, and with a style that reads like chapters in a novel. It's a great experience.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading title, great book
Review: While the subtitle of this book is incredibly misleading (this book in no way chronicles a year in the life of an order of nun, but rather a lot of different years for different nuns in one order....), I found that the author captured the mysticism of spiritual calling and the sense of sacred place at the center of religious orders. She exposed her own misgivings and feelings very clearly and chronicled (nicely) her own spiritual quest.
Rating: 
Summary: Cliche-ridden, disorganized, self-absorbed
Review: Whitney's book is a real disappointment. Apart from factual errors about the history of the community she is writing about (who in the world edited this?), "The Calling" is less about "a year in the life of an order of nuns" than a self-absorbed, shallow "journey" toward....? Who knows? In any event, the account focuses more on the author than the sisters (not nuns)--most of whom are only superficially drawn, and many of whom get lost or forgotten in the course of the narrative. And the author's own "journey" is certainly not toward faith or anything deep but, it appears, toward some sort of ungrounded self-affirmation. As one who has spent a lot of time in convents and knows hundreds (thousands?) of sisters, this book leaves at best a limited, and at worst a misguidedly stereotyped, image of religious life in both the past and the present. If this is all you ever read about sisters, do not assume that you now "know" or "understand" anything--except, perhaps, about the author! Instead, read "Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan," "Poverty, Chastity, and Change," by Carole Garibaldi Rogers, "Cloister Walk," by Kathleen Norris, "Virgin Time," by Patricia Hampl, "Dead Man Walking," by Helen Prejean, or almost anything by Joan Chittister. For history, read Jo Ann McNamara's "Sisters in Arms." Do not waste your money on this one....
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