Rating: 
Summary: A Life Of Love In Practice
Review: THE LONG LONELINESS is one of the deepest and most beneficial books for soul-searching that I have ever read. The only books akin and deeper are those in the Bible. Perhaps this is because Dorothy Day lived the life depicted in the books of the New Testament; she lived with Jesus as her guide.After reading Dorothy's autobiography, I continued to re-read it time and again. Each time, I was moved in a different way. She provides a transcendant power of example through her works -- works, that is -- for the other. This book makes clear her determination to practice the life of love and not simply to dwell on theories thereof. Dorothy had many an encounter with difficult predicamets, yet, none overwhelmed her. She constantly moved; moved towards the poor. To live among the poor, that was her goal -- a goal that she not only completed but, also, enjoyed. She loved each person in this world. This is seen throughout these pages when references are made to mentors like Saint Theresa of Avila. Dorothy refers often to St. Theresa's synopsis of this world: ...Life is like a night spent in an uncomfortable inn... Which, to Dorothy, makes it all the more neccessary to live this life helping those who need the most help, the poor. To let go of the material and hold onto what you can not touch; that is the goal of this life -- that was Dorothy's goal. And to reach that goal -- to find not only herself but her very soul and the Creator of that soul -- she lived among the poor. Doing so out of love. The crux of this book, then -- to me, at least -- is that you can say and think many things but if you do not act upon and, hence, practice those thoughts, they will remain only in your mind. And it behooves us to practice the Gospel because our lives are merely eighty-years or so, if that. So to focus on the material in life instead of the Godly, is a life of sadness. Sadness because a void from within is constantly present if you are not close to God, and the only way to become close to God is by loving His creation. To love His creation, we must work with one another because we are His creation -- and when we work with love, He is loved and we feel that love. Read this book. You will cry, laugh, think cunningly and, ultimately, find yourself. Your interpretation will be different than mine, but one thing is clear: love in practice is the message.
Rating:
Summary: A Life Of Love In Practice
Review: THE LONG LONELINESS is one of the deepest and most beneficial books for soul-searching that I have ever read. The only books akin and deeper are those in the Bible. Perhaps this is because Dorothy Day lived the life depicted in the books of the New Testament; she lived with Jesus as her guide. After reading Dorothy's autobiography, I continued to re-read it time and again. Each time, I was moved in a different way. She provides a transcendant power of example through her works -- works, that is -- for the other. This book makes clear her determination to practice the life of love and not simply to dwell on theories thereof. Dorothy had many an encounter with difficult predicamets, yet, none overwhelmed her. She constantly moved; moved towards the poor. To live among the poor, that was her goal -- a goal that she not only completed but, also, enjoyed. She loved each person in this world. This is seen throughout these pages when references are made to mentors like Saint Theresa of Avila. Dorothy refers often to St. Theresa's synopsis of this world: ...Life is like a night spent in an uncomfortable inn... Which, to Dorothy, makes it all the more neccessary to live this life helping those who need the most help, the poor. To let go of the material and hold onto what you can not touch; that is the goal of this life -- that was Dorothy's goal. And to reach that goal -- to find not only herself but her very soul and the Creator of that soul -- she lived among the poor. Doing so out of love. The crux of this book, then -- to me, at least -- is that you can say and think many things but if you do not act upon and, hence, practice those thoughts, they will remain only in your mind. And it behooves us to practice the Gospel because our lives are merely eighty-years or so, if that. So to focus on the material in life instead of the Godly, is a life of sadness. Sadness because a void from within is constantly present if you are not close to God, and the only way to become close to God is by loving His creation. To love His creation, we must work with one another because we are His creation -- and when we work with love, He is loved and we feel that love. Read this book. You will cry, laugh, think cunningly and, ultimately, find yourself. Your interpretation will be different than mine, but one thing is clear: love in practice is the message.
Rating: 
Summary: The Long Loneliness
Review: This book is Dorothy Day's own autobiography. I know she was a remarkable woman. Everything that I have seen and heard about her has been outstanding. I was excited when I found this book.
However, I felt disappointed by this book. It was rather boring and dry. Dorothy must have been very humble, because she writes about herself in a mundane fashion. It sounds like this is the diary account of her life. I guess she must not have realized how heroic she really was. She also experienced significant pain and isolation in her life, hence the title.
Rating: 
Summary: No Saint!
Review: This is an honest and unadorned self-portrait. Ms. Day appears to have been one of those rare people whose own generosity and compassion and relentless energy served to inspire thousands of other to insist on a fully human life for themselves, and for their fellow citizens. A smoker, a drinker, a lover of food and sex--my kind of saint.
Rating: 
Summary: No Inspiration
Review: Why is it great people like Gandhi and Dorothy Day are great leaders but lousy at inspirational writing? Like Gandhi, Day's account of her life is monotonous and dreary - somewhat experimental with politics, and full of banal and obvious resolutions to help the poor. She writes with excitement I grant you that, but she lacks poetry and prose. Even her conversion to Catholicsim reads like a dreary point-of-fact papal encyclical. No Saint Augustine of Hippo, Miss Day seemed more obsessed with pollitics and been-tried-before social theories. Her experiments on community and religion remind me much of the Amish and the Puritans. To some extent, like many strict Catholics she went to extremes. Dorothy Day needed to lighten up! One can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless, but without music, song, dance, art or poetry of any kind life is a dreary dull existence fit for mindless animals! If Saint Francis of Assisi is a fine wine, Dorothy Day is soured vinegar! Saints John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Augustine of Hippo, and Alphonsus Liguouri all wrote with prose, poetry, and excitement of the spiritual life! I confess as curious as I was and still am of Dorothy Day after seeing the semi-biographical movie "Entertaining Angels," I can't help but wonder that this philanthropist was no more moved by music or poetry than a garden toad or a frog on a lilly pad! She talks well of her time in jail and all that she suffered, at first abhoring it, then bearing it as a matter of course, and later happily embracing such as a means to an end and the sanctification of her soul and perhaps the souls of others. Well enough but many saints have said this all too often before and it seems a trifle masochist. However easy the book is to read, I had to force myself to finish it because of Dorothy Day's constant digressions on political and social philoposphy, quoting some authors and historical figures I am familiar with, and quoting many I have never heard of. I stand with the general position of many Catholics I know on this one, and that is that politics and spirituality make bad partners. This book was written in the 1950's, sometime during the Korean War and concludes with the death of her mentor - Peter Maurin. Dorothy Day died sometime in 1980. So I have ordered a more complete biography by Rober Coles to fill in the remaning thirty years. Before reading the Long Loneliness I had been thinking seriously about joining the Catholic Workers, but not now. Curiously, Dorothy Day's biography reminds me why I left the Missionary Brothers of Charity; and that is: No Inspiration!
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