Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing
Review: This was ambitious of Hansen, who has labored skillfullly but without distinction in general. Worth the read, though without the profundity the subject matter might suggest. I am waiting for Hansen to break out with his masterwork (and beginning to worry that he is satisfied to interest and intrigue us without realizing his full potential).
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful and thought provoking
Review: We seem to mystify people who are slaves to their pleasures. we often work too hard and rest too little, our food is plain, our days are without variety, we have no possessions nor much privacy, we live uncomfortably with our vows of chastity and obedience; but God is present here and that makes this our heaven on earth. -Mother Superior to Mariette, Mariette in Ecstasy In this spare novel Ron Hansen succeeds brilliantly at what must surely be one of the most difficult tasks for any writer : he makes the miraculous plausible. In so doing, he raises fascinating questions about how we would react to miracles, were we to witness them, and about why those miracles might occur. In 1906, seventeen year old Mariette Baptiste enters an upstate New York convent, joining the order of The Sisters of the Crucifixion. Pretty, pious, and personable, she quickly becomes the darling of the place, even though these same traits, and the fact that the Mother Superior is her sister, inspire some jealousy and even forbidden lusts. Since her confirmation, at age thirteen, Mariette has had a calling and has heard the voice of Christ speaking to her, preparing her for some great events. So she, and some of the nuns who love her, are prepared when, upon the death of her sister, Mariette is afflicted with stigmata. But others, particularly those who have resented her anyway, are less willing to accept the miraculous nature of these happenings, suspecting Mariette of an attention-seeking hoax. And when the wounds are healed just as suddenly as they appeared, both sides see this as confirmation of their own, very divergent, beliefs. Hansen recreates the atmosphere and daily life of the convent in convincing detail. He allows the remarkable occurrences to speak for themselves for the most part, and allows just enough wiggle room for more dubious readers to question whether Mariette is a saint or a charlatan. One of the most unlikely facets of the story, for a believer, is that this young girl in the middle of nowhere would be chosen as the recipient of these manifestations of God's presence. Equally perplexing is why these signs should be made so ambiguous and left open to doubt. Hansen answers these questions as Mother Saint-Raphael explains to Mariette why, even though she personally believes in Mariette, she is willing to let the matter be dismissed by church officials : Skeptics will always prevail. God gives us just enough to seek Him, and never enough to fully find him. To do more would inhibit our freedom, and our freedom is very dear to God. This idea, that God purposely leaves the decision of whether to have faith in the hands of men, rather than to force them to believe, is fundamental to the view of Man as having Free Will. Of course, it can also be easily ridiculed as an easy way out of ever proving God's existence. Regardless of which side of the argument you come down on, this is a beautiful, thought-provoking, novel about the awesome power, and the inevitable limits, of faith. GRADE : A+
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Beautiful
Review: When I am asked what my favorite book of all time is, I can never name just one. But if I am permitted to name 5, this is one of them. It isn't for everyone. Read the first three pages. If the quality of the writing - its spareness, its contemplative power, its absolute rightness for the subject matter - doesn't move you and seduce you, move on. On the other hand, if you find yourself feeling, as I have, soothed and quieted and taken up into a kind of literary forest refuge, close the book, buy it, and find the right time to sink into it and let it take you over.
It is the story of a young nun in a cloistered convent in upstate New York at the turn of the last century. It's the story of spiritual rivalries, and of family relationships in their emotional and psychological complexity. It's a mystery. And it's pure poetry on the page, like seeing a ballet and knowing for the first time what beauty can be made by moving a human body.
I haven't read Mariette for years, but its images and language still haunt me. I will read it again some day. Maybe soon, if life is kind. Hansen has the gift. You will look for his other books after reading this one. They also have their virtues - he's not commercial in the sense of repeating a successful style and making a formula out of it - but I find this one unique.
Rating:
Summary: A divergence among the faithful.
Review: With the advent of the year 2000 and with our thoughts turned to the other-worldly it may be time to remember that "God gives us just enough to seek Him, and never enough to fully find Him. To do more would inhibit our freedom, and our freedom is very dear to God." Read this novel and find out how God's showing too much of Himself can cause a split in a community of His most faithful.
| 
