The story of four modern American Catholics who made literature out of their search for God
In the mid-twentieth century four Americ... read full description
In the mid-twentieth century four Americ... read full description
reviews
May 11, 2008
MichelleMarie
rated it: 
This book was unlike every other book I have ever read, which was perhaps why I enjoyed it. It follows the life of four authors: Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Walker Percy.
I wasn't expecting their lives to run into each others, and I wasn't expecting it to intrigue me into reading more of their writing now that I know so much about them.
Paul Elie writes like that of an esteemed professor, while I feel like a pupil of his sitting in his class every other day, an More...
I wasn't expecting their lives to run into each others, and I wasn't expecting it to intrigue me into reading more of their writing now that I know so much about them.
Paul Elie writes like that of an esteemed professor, while I feel like a pupil of his sitting in his class every other day, an More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 13, 2008
Gilbert
rated it: 
If you'd like to be informed about the life of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor, and Walker Percy and how these individuals became important to the Catholic church, then take the time to read.
I was very impressed at the author since he was basically an editor for each of these individuals and some how wove them perfectly together.
The book engaged me to keep up with my reading and afterwards, I became thirsty for more about the people mentioned in the book. There More...
I was very impressed at the author since he was basically an editor for each of these individuals and some how wove them perfectly together.
The book engaged me to keep up with my reading and afterwards, I became thirsty for more about the people mentioned in the book. There More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 08, 2011
Leif Erickson
rated it: 
A somewhat interesting look at Walker Percy, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Flannery O'Connor and how their lives (particularly their religious (particularly their Catholic-y religious)) intersect and mirror each other. The writing is a little forced at times (any time you want to trace a theme through the lives of multiple people, you are going to have to occasionally stretch a little -- a fault for which we cannot be too hard on the author, except perhaps to say that maybe he should not have
More...
Dec 31, 2007
Kristin
rated it:
Light reading, this was not. However, I recommend it to anyone who is interested in spirituality, literature, the contemplative life, social justice, Catholicism, and mid-century American culture- all at once!!! These topics are explored through the life stories of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor, and Walker Percy.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 26, 2011
Graham
rated it:
Things I learned from this, in the simplest terms possible:
-Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton seem really cool, though I have never read any of their work.
-Walker Percy was even cooler than I had thought, and if he were still alive I would do my best to drink a mint julep with him at some point. It's rare that I can read work by somebody with whom I disagree on so many points (though to be fair, as an avowed moderate, Percy did have many insights with which I do agree), but still More...
-Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton seem really cool, though I have never read any of their work.
-Walker Percy was even cooler than I had thought, and if he were still alive I would do my best to drink a mint julep with him at some point. It's rare that I can read work by somebody with whom I disagree on so many points (though to be fair, as an avowed moderate, Percy did have many insights with which I do agree), but still More...
Feb 12, 2011
Webster
rated it:
I have decided that instead of a patron saint, my blog will have a patron book, this one. (My blog is called "Witness," witness2christ.blogspot.com, and no I don't know how to make that appear in this review as a link!) I have just finished reading TLYSMBYO for the second time, greedily, the way I read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (three times) or Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean (five). Do you have books like this, that somehow answer deep wishes of your heart? How do you
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jan 18, 2010
Christopher
rated it:
This book entertained and inspired me; it felt like a combination of literary analysis, biography, and spiritual reflection about each of the four writers: O'Connor, Merton, Day, and Percy. The book enabled me to see O'Connor and Merton in a new light, and got me more interested in the lives and writings of Day and Percy. I was also fascinated by the correspondence that they maintained with each other, and how their dialogue with one another helped each of them to discover and refine their authe
More...
Jun 26, 2009
Jeremy
rated it:
This wonderful book chronicles the lives of four twentieth-century Catholic luminaries: Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor. Elie is one of the best writers I have read in a very long time. His prose is so clean and compelling. The book not only details these four fascinating lives and the connections among them but sets out the cultural context, dwelling within probably about fifty to seventy-five years of the last century.
The book reignited my always-smo More...
The book reignited my always-smo More...
Jan 24, 2010
Interesting connections between four eminent Catholic writers/thinkers: Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor. The book is especially good at drawing connections between the four, several of whom met or corresponded with one another. Yet each was also quite distinct.
Each portrait is complex, pointing out flaws as well as achievements. After reading the book, O'Connor is still my favorite, but I understand a lot more about the others as well. The book also More...
Each portrait is complex, pointing out flaws as well as achievements. After reading the book, O'Connor is still my favorite, but I understand a lot more about the others as well. The book also More...
Aug 05, 2011
Kelly
rated it:
Made a false start on this book over the summer, and had to rethink my expectations, but once I had done so the book started pulling together for me. Lesson: don't read it like it's a novel because it has no centralized story line, though these four lives intersect more than I would have expected. I admit I sort of argued my way through it. Elie spends time on all four authors, but he does spend the bulk of the first two or three chapters on Day and Merton. I still don't know how I feel abo
More...
Sep 30, 2011
David
rated it:
It's hard to communicate how very much I enjoyed this book. It took me forever to read, but that's partly because I didn't want to rush my way through it. On its face it's pretty innocuous--four Catholic writers from the mid-twentieth century and how their lives intersected--but the intersections are more profound than mere acquaintance, correspondence or coincidence. Walker Percy and Thomas Merton, for example, apparently only met once and didn't actually click, and Merton and Dorothy Day never
More...
Jul 12, 2011
Tom
rated it:
The title, taken from a Flannery O'Connor short story, sums up a key theme developed by Elie: one's spiritual experience, no matter how public or inspirational, always starts and ends at the deeply personal, individual level. As Elie says in final chapter, "The clear lines of any orthodoxy are made crooked by our experience, are complicated by our lives." This quote also sums up E's main achievement in this masterful group portrait of 4 American Catholic writers, O'Connor, Dorothy Da
More...
May 29, 2010
This book is terrific. It follows the friendship of four Catholic greats: thomas merton, flannery o'conner, walker percy, and dorothy day. They attempted (though not fully purposefully, but arguably successfully) changed the direction of catholism in the US to one of charity and "unjudging pity and love."
Unjudging pity. I love that. I don't like pity because it takes away a persons power if it's done in disparagement (no matter how innocently intended) . But unjudgin
Unjudging pity. I love that. I don't like pity because it takes away a persons power if it's done in disparagement (no matter how innocently intended) . But unjudgin
Jul 11, 2008
Matt
rated it:
Mr. Elie is an editor Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, and his book ties together the spiritual and literary lives of Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy, and Dorothy Day. More than anything, the book encouraged me to pursue writing as a means of discovering for myself what other authors have discovered for themselves: something hidden and fascinating at the core of any given subject, and it's a place you can't get to as a tourist. In fact, the book advocates a life of pilgrimage (i.e., wa
More...
Mar 02, 2009
Gwyneth
rated it:
I read this book the past week on rural home stays and enjoyed it immensely. I was already somewhat interested in 3 of the 4 people the book focuses on- Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Flannery O'Connor. Now I feel like I have learned so much about them, their faith and their writing. The author does an expert job of weaving their stories together in an interesting and very thought-provoking way. This book was very good company to me while traveling.
Nov 03, 2011
Doug
rated it: 
This is supposed to be about the convergence of four great contemporary Catholic writers, but the author spent too little time on that theme. Instead, he writes four biographies and shuffles them together. Because of this, the narrative is disjointed. On top of this, the writing is dry. There are good biographies on all four authors, and in a couple of cases, great autobiographies. Their relationship and their message is worthy of a book; hopefully, the publication of this one won't prevent a mo
More...
Jan 11, 2009
Stephanie
rated it:
Paul Elie manages (as Krista Tippett does on Speaking of Faith) to discuss the spritual quests of Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day in ways that are neither patronizing, idolizing, sentimental, or cynical. I want to learn to think this clearly, compassionately, and comprehensively.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 21, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
Beautiful book. Biography of Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy and Dorothy Day. All Catholic Writers, all writing in the early/mid-twentieth century. Contains information on their writing, their lives, and their correspondence with each other. I read a review that said it was, "ambitious and fully realized". Cannot say enough about how good this book is.
Feb 22, 2008
Gene
rated it:
So far a great hard-to-put-down read on the lives of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor and Percy Walker- who many consider the best Catholic American writers of the 20th century. The life of each is an intriguing adventure of searching, struggle and pilrimage to discover God in their lives as writers in the post WW II years. For a contemporary generation that seeks some wisdom among its religious roots and anchors for faith in world of ambivalance and often spiritual emptiness this i
More...
Feb 02, 2009
Mary Jo
rated it:
Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor each made a literary impression and a spiritual impression on the world around them. Rarely do I read a book more than once. I have read this book three times
Jun 10, 2009
Theresa
rated it:
Another book about spiritual seeking in 20th century America, this time braiding the stories of four writers, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Conner, and Thomas Merton. Lots of food for thought.
Nov 23, 2009
Ellen
rated it:
Shows the intellectual convergence of thought of Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, and Walker Percy as well as their raw humanity, warts and all. This book, more than any other, prompted my conversion to Catholicism, a choice I've not regretted.
Jun 23, 2008
Nathan
rated it:
Two of my favorite authors are Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton, so it was a foregone conclusion that I would find this book interesting, at least. But over the course of its nigh-600 page length, I was equally fascinated by Dorothy Day and Walker Percy. I had no idea that the four of them were connected at all, let alone exchanging letters and commenting on each others' works regularly. Written in almost novelistic way, their respective histories never even approached boring territory, an
More...
Jul 08, 2008
Elijah
rated it:
The book follows the lives of 4 Southern writers, Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Walker Percy. I always enjoy a thorough biography of writers' lives, including the sordid and thought-provoking details. For example, Walker Percy discovered the music of Bruce Springsteen shortly before he died and wrote him a letter. As it turns out, they were both O'Connor enthusiasts. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk/author slipped on a wet tile upon getting out of the shower during a lu
More...
Jul 29, 2011
Gina
rated it:
Elie is such a gifted storyteller that he--as the narrator--absolutely disappears from view as he weaves an incredibly well-designed exploration of four amazing personalities. In my all-time top 10.
Dec 15, 2009
John
rated it:
One of my favorites...where famous authors, activists and spiritual masters connect!
Aug 17, 2009
Keishua
rated it:
That God is mysterios and always connecting us to the peole and places we need.
