Rating: 
Summary: A Life Changing Book
Review: I read this book six years ago, in my last semester in college, and, through the travels and travails of my life since then, I've kept it not far from my side. I must admit that I am not Catholic, and never will be, and that I struggle every day with my faith (something Merton could relate to). What I related to most, though, was the fact that this man struggled constantly with issues so terribly neglected in modern times: issues surrounding charity, asceticism, non-violence, and the downside of capitalism. One can cull a tremendous amount of very relevant social criticism from this book, a good sixty years after it was written. I would have to argue, though, that at the point of authorship of Seven Storey, Merton owed only a few of his ideas to the left. He was overwhelmed with an idealistic, Christian/Utopian vision of peace, love and charity. This left him very untied to the outside world, however often he argued that Gethsemani was the "real American." I have struggled with Christian utopianism for years, quite convinced that it could never work, and at other times believing that it is the only true salvation for humanity. Merton naively believed that the struggles of mankind, as impermanent as they were, might be solved through the sense of humility and charity that the "real" Catholic church brings. It is a huge, impossible dream. And, in escaping to Gesthemani, perhaps he was escaping from the thorny issues that surround such idealism. But, for the most part, he was right on. The rot that was (and is) Western civilization, built layer by layer for centuries, was finally seeing its stinking fruition at the time of his conversion and subsequent vocation in the Catholic church. With American hegemony, in the present time, we have not seen the rot disappear, only to take upon a different mutation. What I believe is the very essence of Christianity: non-violence and
charity, has been replaced by an amorphous and greedy capitalist system that keeps pace with the continuation of a military-industrial complex. Civilization holds on by a thread. In this new century, we continue to avoid peaceful answers. And although he did not have all the best solutions, Merton asked most of the right questions.
Rating:
Summary: food for the soul
Review: Most reviewers have touched on my own reflections. The book is not meant to be a scientific journal (re: one reviewer wrote Merton should have studied Newton's laws of motion). The story is one man's own spiritual journey---take it or leave it---but don't dismiss it because it doesn't cover the disciplines you find most fulfilling and awarding. Science is grand---but it does little to account for the life and light in the soul; that is why Merton turns to the poets and contemplatives in his yearning for truth or for some kind of answer to the longing in the deepest parts of him. Anyone dissatisfied with believing only what they can touch,see, feel may not enjoy this book. It is the transcendents Merton is concerned with when he realizes time and again materialism and atheism leave him empty and spiritually bankrupt.Take Merton's book for what it is. A man's spiritual journey. If you want a man's scientific journey or a man's journey from religious dogma to secular dogma---read something else.
Rating:
Summary: Great autobiography of this important Monastic figure
Review: Just about anyone interested in purchasing this book is more than likely somewhat familiar with some of Merton's other works. He was perhaps the 20th century's greatest Christian contemplative mind we had the privilege of reading. This is due to the fact that so many people have expressed over the years that Thomas Merton is the reason they were drawn to the Christian faith. Even people of other religions respect this man's skilled and wise approach to otherwise dogmatic dialogues. One of the reason's this autobiography is so wonderful, is that most of us can relate to it's contents. This is not a person who just achieved some sort of "holy lifestyle" without going through some tribulations in his earlier years. What draws one to Thomas Merton is his simplistic writing. In this book we find out what causes produced the effect of wanting to join the Abbey of Gethsemani down in Kentucky for him. From his years growing up in France, then on to England. Back to new York. And then, he found his home. That home was the Abbey of Gethsemani. Merton is able to bring people closer to Jesus, because he makes the story alive. Relevant to this very life in a modern era, not just a society that we are all too disconnected from by now (the society during the times of Jesus). This book is so applicable to 2004, not withstanding the fact that there are a great many of his years not documented in this work stemming from it's publication to his Death in Thailand. Recalling a sad time soon after his acceptance of Christianity, Merton quotes God's caution to the Israelites, "For the Land which thou goest to possess is not like the land of Egypt," and remarks that he had "made the terrible mistake of entering the Christian life as if it were merely the natural life invested with a kind of supernatural mode by grace." He slowly and nervously was to learn God was dreadfully more than some mere underwriter of value. In this book Merton shows a hungriness, a drive to understand the meaning of life. The secret to living a completely holy life, immersed in servitude to our Creator. This hungriness we can all relate to, it is the drive to understand truth.
Rating: 
Summary: I love you, Merty!
Review: It has been a couple of years since I read this autobiography. From the perspective of an always aspiring writer and poet, I applaud this piece of literature for capturing the interest of even the most adamant unbeliever or un-anchored agnostic simply for the raw and accessible story which it conveys. From the stand-point of a spiritual seeker, a self-censoring #4 on the Enneagram (read "Merton: An Enneagram Profile", by Suzanne Zuercher), and a religious tolerant (which Merton certainly became in his later life), I connected with it instantly on a very intimate level. I can honestly credit Merton for inspiring me to investigate Christianity much more deeply without the usual repugnance and negative bias I had approached it with before, and has since become one of my favorite writers, artists, thinkers, and Christians... period! Merton was a very "human" being. His struggles with pride, ego, Biblical understanding, lust, vanity, etc. may help the spiritually inclined reader to accept his or her own flaws in a more forgiving light. He reminds us that nobody is perfect. I highly recommend this book to both the fan of compelling autobiography, and to the aspiring contemplative.
Rating:
Summary: A book that makes you face yourself and turn to God
Review: I'm reading this book for the 2nd time -- the 1st time changed my life. Funny, that seems to be a recurrent theme in these reviews. I started reading it expecting a dense academic work, and was VERY pleasantly surprised to find that it is a life-changing book and a good read to boot. Merton is unbelievable; his candid (and funny) observations about himself, his self-absorbtion, his pride and his misery made me so clearly see the same things in myself, and humbly sprint back into God's arms. P.S. -- In response to the reviewer who was disappointed because Merton didn't discuss having a child out of wedlock in the book (How dare we compare the book to St. Augustine's Confessions?): It is my understanding that, in his original manuscript, Merton was very frank about his past, including the pregnancy. However, his superiors at Gethsemene made him take it out, "cleaning the book up" a bit for his 1950s audience.
Rating:
Summary: Very open, shareful. Makes you want Merton for a friend.
Review: Merton knew how to plow through his past life so that the grace of God, the spirit of Christ would become so apparent in all that happened to him and through him in this autobiography. No sentimentalism. No archaic language. His descriptions of the Eucharist and the other sacraments are clean and fresh and deep and vivid, touching the reader with a strange, immediate conviction. His words pulsate with faith. He makes you say, "well, maybe I don't know..." I think Merton brings the worldly closer to the church and the churchy closer to the world. People don't know where to place him. You cannot stick a label on him. This book is great for just anyone. Those who are cradle Catholics will benefit greatly from this man who came into the church, this man who was so biased against anything Catholic, and yet who came in no contact with any "crisis" that suddenly made him say, "LORD! LORD!". No. That is, no crisis of the "world". It was spiritual. The account of "something" that happened to him while laying in his bed is simple and vivid. He makes you realize that what is spiritual has to do with what is human.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Uninspiring
Review: I struggled through 350 pages of this book before finally giving up. It was extremely boring and as another reviewer aptly put it 'flat and wooden'. As a Catholic convert who has read a fair number of conversion stories (both ancient and modern) this book pales in comparison. I have read conversion stories which are 1/10th the length, but which pack 10 times the inspirational punch. The favorable comparison of this book with St. Augustines Confessions is absurd and insulting to this great saint. The chief problem seems to be that Merton is so self absorbed that he is really writing a book about himself instead of about God, or his relationship with God. This self centeredness fits in perfectly with modern society and probably explains why so many people are fond of it. For the well read Catholic looking to be inspired, steer clear of this mundane book and take a look at something like Saint Therese of Lisieux's 'Story of a soul', or G.K. Chesterton's 'Orthodoxy'. Please don't waste your time or money on this book
Rating: 
Summary: Filled with anguish and guilt
Review: I reviewed this book a few years ago. It has, however, receded greatly in its importance in my life, as I am now married happily and have left all the guilt of my life as a single man behind. Yes, Seven Storey has some good commentary about the plight of modern mankind in it, but the guilt that Merton feels about his life it seems almost pathological, now that I look back on it. I believe that such a lack of relectiveness related to his own failures (and blaming himself for the evils of the world now seems very strange) within the framework of Catholic church teaching, one sees the darkness of the dogmatism of the time. Perhaps because I have myself become satisfied with my spiritual growth, and not torn usunder and anguished by it, I can no longer very well relate to this book. In many ways, it kept those dark days of guilt about sex and living a happy, fulfilled life as a man very much in the fore. I am glad I once knew this book, and it meant so much to me at one time, but on the whole, I believe that it appeals to people who are possibly WAY too hard on themselves. I think we should all lighten up a bit, in the end, and the world will be a happier place. Perhaps this means getting beyond the dogma of organized religion.
Rating:
Summary: boring
Review: I don't have much to say for this book. It doesn't reveal anything interesting to the learned reader, and just drones on and on about the suffocation of christian dogma. Simply, it added nothing to my experience.
Rating:
Summary: Modern Contemplative Speaks
Review: This mystic speaks with the sincerity of a saint and the pen of a poet. Every page - and there are many of them - is delight to read, and feels, somehow, like they are the memories of the reader, not just Merton's.
It's important to remember, however, that Merton disowned this book later in his live. He said it was not "disciplined enough" or something like that. I would only object to his rigid stances of Catholicism in relation to other Christians. I too believe in "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church". However, it is this believe that compells me to approach the multitude of Protestant churches with compassion and not condemnation, which unfortunately Merton sometimes does. Perhaps this is why he felt he had to disown it. Either way, it is a beautiful book, a spirtual book, and a wonderful conversion story of the rare type of person who actually and legitatmely managed to find peace in this life.
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