Review by New York Times Review
my own faith may be thinned by a skeptic nature, but two recent books, "The Devoted," by Blair Hurley, and "The World Is a Narrow Bridge," by Aaron Thier, reminded me why I once believed in God - a hopeful, aching desire that, despite all my flaws, life would turn out ?.?. But as each of these captivating novels demonstrates, reassurance is a slippery creature. Hurley's intimate, fluid debut narrates the religious unraveling of Nicole, a Zen Buddhist in present-day Boston. Estranged from her Irish Catholic family, she suffers at the hands of her Zendo's Master, a mentor who dominates her both spiritually and sexually. Nicole flees to Brooklyn, but the Master's reach is long and cruel. Despite all his preaching about impermanence, this is a dude who cannot let go. The beauty of "The Devoted" lies in its intricate descriptions of religion's hush and ritual. "Sometimes meditation was like following a bouncing ball down a flight of stairs. ... It floated her down levels of thought, leading her toward something silent and immovable at the core of her." Later, in a vain attempt to please her family, Nicole attends an Easter service as the scorned Buddhist. "She could see a mosaic of human faces, all of them familiar in their still poses. Of course they wanted the same things she did ... the promise that sadness was not the inherent state of their lives, that the axle of the world turned on secret wells of joy." One breathes deeper reading these passages, in all their tender generosity - but we're not allowed to linger. Hurley's quick to remind us of religion's ugliest traits, too: its intolerance, partition and patriarchy. The intense back story of "The Devoted" - involving a depressed mother, the sexual abuse scandals in the Boston Archdiocese in the mid-90s and a disastrous road trip Nicole undertook as a teenager - threatens to overshadow Nicole's story in the present. But Hurley balances the heavy plot points, allowing them to converse rather than overcomplicate. Ultimately this is a novel as tender and fervent as a prayer. Equally impassioned is Aaron Thier's wonderfully zany new novel, "The World Is a Narrow Bridge." Thier's third book is an intentionally choppier read than "The Devoted," told in ambitious floating paragraphs that cover an absurdist range of subject matter, including neutrinos, Matt Damon, rain shadows and the systematic genocide of indigenous peoples. "I'm the American patriot here," one of the main characters, Murphy, declares, "because I hate this country. Freedom died at Wounded Knee." The grounding story involves an anxious, likable couple, Eva and Murphy, who embark on an epic cross-country road trip after the Old Testament God, Yahweh, taps Eva to become his new prophet. Eva is not thrilled, but Yahweh hounds her anyway: "You will visit all the great cities, and the small cities, and the towns, and the county fairs, and harvest festivals, and sporting contests, and you will tell them the name of the Lord, which is Yahweh. And on the internet. ... Tell it my name. That the internet should know I am the Lord." The humor is essential here, given Eva and Murphy's dark collective suffering. Together they consider the age-old question, Should we have a baby even though the world is a capitalist, violent, immoral death trap ? The answer is predictable, but well-earned. While the novel sags in moments of tangential exposition, its prose is powerful, filled with dread and compassion - a welcome surrealist take on Alexis de Tocqueville. As Thier writes, "It's love versus God," and at this point in our country, who knows which one will win? SHARMA SHIELDS'S new novel, "The Cassandra," will be published next year.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 16, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* How do you shoehorn the life that you make into the strict confines of the religion you're brought up in? All her childhood, Nicole Hennessy typifies the consummate Boston Irish Catholic, her faith hammered in by her overzealous mother. But when devastating tragedy strikes and the rock-solid Catholic community seems shaken to its very foundation, Nicole is left anchorless. She finds succor in Buddhism, whose central tenet of endless rebirth appeals to her need for reinvention. Attachment is a no-no in Buddhism, but Nicole's Zen master has very different ideas. He exerts a stifling influence on her, exploiting her need for absolution and a way to escape her fractured past. Hurley's debut is a breathtaking performance, portraying not just the ugly corners of an abusive relationship but also how faith can color the contours of our lives. With absolutely spot-on descriptions of Boston, this spellbinding story adds much-needed nuance to the discussion of faith and what we're willing to forsake in the name of absolution. Yes, the master is creepy and manipulative, but that's almost beside the point. Even if Nicole could eventually break free, she would only be treating the symptoms and not the disease. That is the real horror.--Poornima Apte Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The complicated and often treacherous relationship between religious master and student fuels Hurley's quietly chilling debut. In her early 20s, aimless, and grieving the recent death of her father, Nicole begins attending a zendo in the Boston area and is drawn to the master who dispenses wisdom there. He selects her out of the group for a secret sexual relationship, which continues for years. The bulk of the novel takes place 10 years after their meeting, with Nicole attempting to break away from their dysfunctional relationship by moving to New York, where her brother lives with his family, and making a life for herself. It backtracks through the intervening years and through Nicole's childhood and adolescence, when she began to doubt the Catholic faith she was raised on and became drawn to Buddhism as a replacement. Though Hurley occasionally enters the point of view of the otherwise-unnamed master, he remains a shadowy figure. Nicole's spiritual journey is realistically convoluted, and Hurley subtly brings out the parallels between the potential for sexual abuse in Buddhism and Catholicism. This thoughtful novel carefully untangles the often knotty interconnection between romantic and religious love, revealing the dangers inherent in each without denying their value. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT Nicole Hennessey was raised in a devout Catholic home in Boston. Then in her teens, she discovered Buddhism, which moved her in a way far beyond her family's religion. Despite her dabbling in sex and drugs, Nicole seeks answers from Zen Buddhist teachings, or koans, and eventually finds a spiritual teacher. However, the guru's hold on Nicole evolves into something complicated and unyielding until finally she runs away to live near her brother in New York. Hurley's outstanding first novel tells an engrossing tale about a young woman seeking a spirituality that can only be found within herself. It also speaks to the motivations of those around her-some love her, some use her for their own needs, and others are too selfish to consider her desires at all. As she moves through tragedy after tragedy, -Nicole continues to find strength in her Zen beliefs and makes a new life. VERDICT All lovers of great fiction with complex characters as well as anyone fascinated by narratives about religious cults will want this insightful story.--Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. -Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young woman's life is controlled by her Zen Buddhist master in this debut novel about spirituality and sexual power.Nicole is having an affair with her Zen master. He spies her, a damaged spiritual seeker, in his Boston Zendo, "pretty in a half formed way," and he begins to groom her to abandon her sense of self while he takes advantage of her naivet. She has a troubled past, and she goes to the Zendo in search of a connection that he is happy to abuse during their backroom private sessions. Nicole is haunted by guilt from her Catholic upbringing and a harsh secret involving her past as a teenage runaway; her master uses this to wrap her around his finger. "You are mine," he tells her. "No other teacher will want you, once you have been shaped by my instruction." Though her master makes a point of distancing himself from the patriarchal structure and rules of Catholicism, Nicolewho once wanted to be a nun and who rebelled against a strictly religious motheris drawn to his firm commands. Even when she wants most fervently to escape him, her body responds to his voice "like church bells, like the smell of incense." Their sexual relationship lasts a decade. "They were teacher and student, very old, accustomed friends; [yet] each time he let his hand travel up her skirt, the shock was fresh." When Nicole realizes the relationship is too controlling and tries to take some liberty by moving away, making a new friend, and finding a new Zendo, her master creeps his way into her new life. He finds her and forces her hand: Abandon life as she knows it to be rid of him, or submit and be his.Not quite a spiritual thriller but a thoughtful exploration of faith, surrender, and ecstasy. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
