pollyannamum's review
5.0
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.
heyhawk's review
4.0
I first read this back when I thought I was going to write a thesis on Walker Percy. It mostly holds up, though Elie seems to really dislike The Last Gentleman and Lost in the Cosmos, which I think are among Percy's best along with the Moviegoer and Love in the Ruins. He also praises The Thanatos Syndrome, which I think is Percy's weakest book despite Lancelot's unconvincing narrator. Overall, though, a really good joint biography for anyone interested in any of these authors.
persey's review
3.0
Penetrating overall, but I think the author rather forced the connections between these four American Catholics, Dorothy Day in particular being somewhat of an odd man out, in regard to age and her non-literary pursuits. I also wondered at times what the author was choosing to leave out; his dismissal of Merton's death almost in passing as an accident without examining other theories struck me in particular.
davidewright_philosophy's review
5.0
This is a fantastic book and I found it revelatory for all four of the book's subjects (O'Connor, Day, Merton, and Percy) and American Catholicism in the 20th century. To move in time with each of these four people and keep drawing together themes and historical intersections for each writer must have been a tremendous undertaking and one fraught with difficulty--though I think Elie succeeds strikingly well. One virtue of the book was that it never spent too long on discussing any particular person, so if I was feeling annoyed or frustrated with one person, I wouldn't have to read too much longer until the discussion would shift to someone else. Also, while I can claim no expertise on any of the four subjects, I found Elie's engagement with the narratives employed by other biographers of these to be thoughtful and helpful in terms of giving me tropes and easy but false explanations/interpretations that I should watch for if I read any other biographies of these subjects. Overall, I would say that if someone has an interest in any one of these four people, then that person should consider reading this book as that person will come more substantial and complex as one sees how they related to the other three and the challenges of their respective lifetimes.
yagdetochitala's review against another edition
4.0
I had a great time reading this book, despite not having read a single word by any of the four authors central to the book and not being catholic, or christian, for that matter. The writing is not dull, the voice of the author is warm and friendly. The strories are captivating, especially that of Dorothy Day. Catholicism and religious experience are described in such a manner that made me curious and sympathetic, eager to find out more.
mrskatiefitz's review
5.0
This lengthy volume traces the lives and work of four Catholic writers of the twentieth century - Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor, and Walker Percy - and shows how and where they crossed paths, as well as how world events and changes in the church influenced each one's vocation.
I read this just after finishing [b:The Seven Storey Mountain|175078|The Seven Storey Mountain|Thomas Merton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347432281s/175078.jpg|982713], which I loved, but which left out some of the more controversial details of Thomas Merton's life. It was interesting to learn what the censors removed from the manuscript, and also to see how the fame Merton gained after publishing that book influenced the rest of his life.
I also found myself wishing I'd had a book like this when I was writing my Flannery O'Connor thesis in college. Though I had read many of the essays and letters referenced by Elie in this book, I did not have the larger historical context, nor the direct connections between her correspondence and her short stories. There are a few stories I plan to revisit after reading about O'Connor's process in writing them.
Finally, I now want to read [b:The Moviegoer|10739|The Moviegoer|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437668043s/10739.jpg|1209450] in the near future. This is one of several books by Walker Percy that figured heavily into Elie's book, and my curiosity has been piqued, especially since the book has been sitting on my shelf for several months after I won it in a giveaway. I don't own anything by Dorothy Day, and I have always felt wary of her, but this book encouraged me to read more about her too. Of the four figures in this book, she is the only one with an open cause for sainthood, and because her vocation is so different from mine, I think I could learn a lot by reading more about her.
This review also appears on my Instagram.
I read this just after finishing [b:The Seven Storey Mountain|175078|The Seven Storey Mountain|Thomas Merton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347432281s/175078.jpg|982713], which I loved, but which left out some of the more controversial details of Thomas Merton's life. It was interesting to learn what the censors removed from the manuscript, and also to see how the fame Merton gained after publishing that book influenced the rest of his life.
I also found myself wishing I'd had a book like this when I was writing my Flannery O'Connor thesis in college. Though I had read many of the essays and letters referenced by Elie in this book, I did not have the larger historical context, nor the direct connections between her correspondence and her short stories. There are a few stories I plan to revisit after reading about O'Connor's process in writing them.
Finally, I now want to read [b:The Moviegoer|10739|The Moviegoer|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437668043s/10739.jpg|1209450] in the near future. This is one of several books by Walker Percy that figured heavily into Elie's book, and my curiosity has been piqued, especially since the book has been sitting on my shelf for several months after I won it in a giveaway. I don't own anything by Dorothy Day, and I have always felt wary of her, but this book encouraged me to read more about her too. Of the four figures in this book, she is the only one with an open cause for sainthood, and because her vocation is so different from mine, I think I could learn a lot by reading more about her.
This review also appears on my Instagram.
bookhound's review against another edition
4.0
It was interesting to see how these four lives intertwined and inspired. I especially appreciated learning more about Flannery O'Connor and Merton since I'd read much of Day already. (Also-Alice Walker's visit to O'Connor's house after her death to confront her! What an image.) They weren't perfect, but did give some light to travel by and engaged with the issues of their day in a way that makes the reader think about how to grapple with their own time.