Forbidden Passion, Religious Revelation, and a Transsexual Priest
Written: May 19 '02 (Updated May 19 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Brilliant concept, Fascinating characters, Well-executed story, Laughter & Tears
Cons: zero
The Bottom Line: A captivating novel that amazed me and completely swept me away. Read my lips: Read this book.
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| irbykb's Full Review: |
Our story begins with Cecilia, a Catholic nun. Her birth name was Agnes, but she changed her name to Cecilia when she joined the convent in rural Minnesota in the year 1910. Cecilia was the pianist of the convent; she played the piano during Mass.
Cecilia’s concentration on playing piano increased as she studied and learned pieces by Brahms, Beethoven, Debussy, Schubert, and Chopin. Her passion for music was a disturbance to the Mother Superior, who eventually banned her from the convent due to her passionate love for playing Chopin’s pieces.
Distraught, she emancipated herself from the convent and walked on foot until she came upon a farmhouse. The owner of the farmhouse, Berndt, arranged for her to sleep in the barn and help him with the farm and house work in exchange for room and board.
Berndt fell in love with Agnes, and eventually convinced her to let go of her former life and love him, which she did with amazing veracity. He brought her a piano and she played endlessly and taught lessons to people from the neighboring farms. They lived happily together for awhile, until a tragic occurence left Berndt dead, and Agnes barely surviving a terrible flood.
*All of this happens in the first chapter.*
In the 2nd chapter, in a section titled “The Exchange”, Agnes comes upon a priest. She recognizes him as the priest, Father Damien Modeste. He has perished in the flood. Damien Modeste was a Catholic missionary who stopped by Agnes & Berndt’s home on his way to the Native American village known as Little No Horse. She sat with his lifeless body as she pondered what it was she was about to do.
And so it came to pass that Agnes became Father Damien. She carried out his mission of journeying to Little No Horse to replace Father Hugo, the reservation's only priest, who had passed away.
Heresy or Divine Will? is the question the reader is now asking. Did Agnes act as Father Damien for personal gain, to mock God and further her own power? Or was she giving her life in service of others so that God may be served?
I came to understand that Agnes was searching. Both for God, and for herself. Agnes’ life as Father Damien endures many trials, many hardships, and many close calls. She comes to learn more about people and their devices than one can conceivably imagine. She learns how the Ojibwe, the Native Americans who reside at Little No Horse, are closer to divinity and in deeper realization of God than just about anyone else.
As Agnes prays, hears confession, follows, and leads the people of Little No Horse, Father Damien is writing constant letters to the Pope, asking for help and forgiveness and begging for a reply. You’ll never guess what finally happens when the church sends someone to answer his letters, and ends up making discoveries far beyond anything he’s ever known before.
Colorful characters and intriguing stories entertain us for the entirity of the book. The intricate webs woven between the families of the reservation are mostly my favorite parts.
When a writer is able to make a reader feel what she feels, and revel in the sheer miracle of human existence, you know you have found something worth your time and more.
Agnes’ life as Father Damien in Little No Horse is one of the most fascinating fictional biographies I have ever encountered. Her dreams and fantasies and her most sacred personal truths are revealed with no detail spared.
Her unique experience as the town’s confessor and confidante is unparalleled in excitement, intrigue, and unadulterated authenticity.
There are so many characters worth talking about from The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: Mary Kashpaw, Nanapush, Fleur, Lulu, Pauline Puyat, Gregory Wekkles, Father Jude. However, anything I start to write turns into a huge spoiler because all the stories are so connected I can’t tell one without telling them all.
The author, Louise Erdrich outdoes herself with this enchanthing, charismatic novel. Louise writes what she knows, as her own ethnicity is partly Ojibwe, the Native American tribe of North Dakota. Little No Horse is not an actual place, rather it is a conglomeration of Erdrich’s reservation life experiences.
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is an involved novel you will want to absorb every morsel of. It took me a couple of weeks to finish it, and even longer to come up with a way to write about it.
Ms. Erdrich, I am patiently awaiting the release of your next novel, hopefully another masterpiece that continues in the fashion of my friends from Little No Horse.
Sincerely, irbykb
Hardcover, 361 pages, $26.00.
ISBN #: 0-06-018727-1
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
irbykb
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Member: katie
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 82
Trusted by: 44 members
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Only the soul that loves is truly happy. -Goethe
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