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Summary: The Secular Religious
Review: Mariette in Estacy is as others have described it a beautiful and poetic book. However, most of the reviewsI have read(I have not read all of them)see the book as a battle between Faith and Unbelief. I rather see it as an examination of the question, where is the world of faith and spirituality? The reveals that the world of the convent is no better than the secular world for the faith life.... The revelation is the spiritual life of monks and nuns is no different, no better from that of the laity. Ultimately it asks the question... who was true to her vows? It looks as though it was Mariette.
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Summary: Mysterious Ways
Review: Mariette is a young woman entering a monastery. She seems to be a near-saint, possibly undergoing a stigmata, and this endears her to some nuns and separates her from others. The events of the novel explore the mysterious nature of mystical experience and of faith. It also explores the ways in which individual motives effect the perceptions of faith.
This is one of those books that you read in a single sitting and then immediately begin reading it again. This is certainly a novel I will continually return to. Simply reading this gorgeous prose and the mysterious, iradescent images creates an almost numinous experience.
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Summary: Fascinating structure, well written but does one care?
Review: Much to my surprise, this is a book very easy to set down and down and down. The structure of the book is innovative and effective. Each of the three sections begins by setting the scene not through coherent sentences but through sentence pieces which describe precisely and poetically the scene. The sense is very similar to how a participant would observe the scene.
The plot is built through a series of short entries of days identified by their religious calendar designation. Interspersed are snippets of an after-the-fact investigation into the events surrounding the postulate Mariette. The excerpts of spiritual readings (lectio divina) accompanying the meals are used to establish the mind-set in which the events occur. This complex structure melds into very readable prose that presents the characters and plot in an interesting and effective manner. Unfortunately, the characters, even prominant characters, are not given sufficient personality to become truly human - they state their emotions rather than display them. This causes the reader to question if the author knows whether the events at the center of the novels - the stigmata of Mariette - are real, the result of hysteria, or self-inflicted. This causes the multiple responses to the stigmata to appear arbitrary - not the outgrowth of experience and personality. Reading this novel never causes one to care about the characters or reflect upon the questions raised by the novel. Only the writing style keeps the reader's attention.
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Summary: Great story telling within beautifully written prose!
Review: My bookclub read this book, and it provided the basis for excellent discussion of the prose (beautifully written, especially the achingly acute descriptions of physical surroundings), the plot and the story. The club spans all religious preferences, and each member had a different idea about what happened. Some found it a book of true sacrifice; for others, it was a book of relationships and obsessive love. It made me want to read the rest of Hansen's works -- each of which is very well written, and oh so different from the other.
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Summary: Beautiful Poetic Prose, yet lacking action or depth
Review: Reviewer: Rain from Freeland, WA USA Mariette in Ecstasy is a wonderful piece of long poetry; though it is refered to as a 'novel' on the cover.Each scene is finely and exquisitely detailed from the weather down to the little noises within the silence of prayer. Ron Hansen has written a feast for the senses, the imagination and even the soul in it's vague, yet insigtful descriptions of devotional religious ectasy. -That's what I really liked about this novel What bothered me was the lack of action. pages and pages would go by without anything really significant occuring, the story seemed to be going stagnate near the middle.. In my opinion, the novel does little to keep the reader interested, to keep them turning pages and reading. There are no mystery's to be unraveled and very little fresh blood to keep the narrative interesting and moving. But the above, of course, is partly due to my own biases. I love stories with intense emotion and unique characters and while the authors super-sensual poetic style of writing theroghly engaged my imaginatioin and put me right there into each scene, the lack of action and intense emotion failed to keep me there. However, despite all of this, I think any religious person with a relationship with God would really appreciate the the spiritual aspect of the book. Sometimes after readind it, I felt a little closer to God myself. If you're in to stories that get your blood pumping and engage your intellect while firering your emotions, Mariette in Ecstasy probably isn't for you. But if you want to relax and read some most beautiful and poetic prose, to fully live in each scene of this story; then by all means get this book, it should give you hours upon hours of enjoyment.
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Summary: well, it's different
Review: Ron Hansen certainly went about a lot of research in order to put this book together, which as far as I can tell is a fairly accurate portrayal of an early 20th century convent in upstate New York. Unfortunately for me, I tend to like books that have some closure, and therefore I was not overly fond of this novel. The enigma that surrounds the main character, while enchanting at first becomes merely annoying, in that a reader isn't sure of what is really going on. Perhaps Hansen has a reason for this, but to a reader who is also a writer, I felt as though Hansen wasn't always sure himself what was happening to his characters.
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Summary: Another Grand Slam by Mr. Hansen!
Review: Ron Hansen is among the best writers delving into unusual real-life historical situations, and trying to make sense of them. Mariette is a pretty 17 year old drawn to the convent, who immediately becomes a special, vision influenced, faith inspired, stigmatized True Believer. Many of the older nuns are skeptical (to say the least), while the younger ones are in awe. Mr. Hansen's guides us right into the heart and soul of this Catholic community, and of course Mariette. After reading this book, one feels a certain understanding of this potential saint, and how religion may become an obsession. I would personally agree with her physician / father, the scientific skeptic, but Mariette's story is certainly believable in the hands of a fine writer like Mr. Hansen!
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Summary: One of the best books of the last half of the 20th century.
Review: Ron Hansen offers the finest literary example of "Show, but don't tell" that has ever been. Despite the "professional" reviews you'll read here, this will, in fact, keep you thinking endlessly. What *really* happened can only be answered by each reader for him or herself.
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Summary: ENCHANTINGLY BEAUTIFUL WRITING -- A MOVING STORY
Review: Ron Hansen's MARIETTE IN ECTASY is yet another work that I have stumbled across (is there really such a thing as an accident...?) that will go onto my mental shelf of the finest books I've read. It's a testament to Hansen's imaginationg and writing skills that a story set in a convent in upstate New York in 1906 could be so compelling, so deeply moving, so filled with achingly crafted images that reveal everyday things in such a new light. The cloistered sisters, seen by outsiders as drab and similar in appearances, blossom in Hansen's hands as distinct individuals, their characters as varied and deeply developed as any in fiction. Their devotion, their hopes and fears, their humor, their emotions are all brought to life vividly -- and with the arrival of seventeen year-old Mariette into their midst as as aspiring postulant, everything about their lives changes. Mariette -- blood sister of the current prioress -- is a very devout girl, given to episodes of ecstacy. Her father, a physician, decribes her as being perhaps 'too highly strung' for a religious calling. She is a naturally beautiful young woman -- and this fact alone arouses a bit of jealousy and suspicion among her sisters-to-be. As her ecstatic experiences increase in both frequency and occurrance, some of these suspicions deepen -- and we can see a veritable wall rise up dividing those in the order who love and adore her, taking her experiences as fact, and those who are certain that she is a charlatan, taking them all for a ride. Which group is correct? The reader must come to this conclusion in his or her own way -- Hansen tells this story so wonderfully, leaving us to decide. He draws no firm, easy answers for us. This is not a Hollywood film story, all tied up nicely with a bow -- this is a story intended to make us think, to consider its events for ourselves, filtering it as we must, each through the beliefs, imaginations and intellects which we have developed over the courses of our lives. This is that rare level of writing that is honoring to its readers -- it tells a beautiful, meaningful story without hammering home a preconceived point. It respects our intelligence, at the same time being enormously entertaining.
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Summary: terrible
Review: That Ron Hansen has a career as a writer is beyond my comprehension. The only thing worse than this book is the B movie based on it.
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