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octophile's review against another edition
5.0
The Confessions is made up of two parts - the first is an autobiography, told from Augustine's theological standpoint, and the second consists of his theological musings.
Augustine's autobiography is really terrific. He does a great job of breaking down his life in order to recollect important points in his spiritual growth. His writing may seem overly self-righteous and penitent at first, but it doesn't take you long to realize his honesty in examining his motives, and his love and high-regard for many of the people in his life. It was a remarkably interesting and easy read.
However, it took me forever to get through the last part for a couple of reasons. First of all, he gets pretty abstract, which is not helped much by the archaic style of the translation. Second of all, I read this on my Kindle, which made it a bit harder for me to take breaks and then remember what he was talking about. (Once you get lost, you will stay lost.) The parts I did understand completely, though, were really interesting. If I read it again, I'd have to go very slowly and take notes.
Augustine's autobiography is really terrific. He does a great job of breaking down his life in order to recollect important points in his spiritual growth. His writing may seem overly self-righteous and penitent at first, but it doesn't take you long to realize his honesty in examining his motives, and his love and high-regard for many of the people in his life. It was a remarkably interesting and easy read.
However, it took me forever to get through the last part for a couple of reasons. First of all, he gets pretty abstract, which is not helped much by the archaic style of the translation. Second of all, I read this on my Kindle, which made it a bit harder for me to take breaks and then remember what he was talking about. (Once you get lost, you will stay lost.) The parts I did understand completely, though, were really interesting. If I read it again, I'd have to go very slowly and take notes.
jedidiah516's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I may be biased since I am a Catholic who chose St. Augustine as my confirmation saint, but this was a very fun read. The deep theological stuff is a bit hard to follow, but I think it’s still accessible to people who have little to no philosophy/theology background. I also found the autobiography portion to be very intriguing.
goosemixtapes's review
2.0
well, that was a downright terrible experience. maybe god does hate me for being gay, and the 321 pages of the confessions i had to read in the past week and a half is his tool of punishment.
look, i didn't go into this expecting to be let down! maybe as someone who used to be catholic but is now uncomfortable with Intense Catholicism for personal reasons, i should have had rock bottom hopes. (and maybe augustine calling the aeneid useless studies should have been my first sign we would not get along.) but the opening pages of this had me musing about the nature of god and god's presence and how faith and hope and certainty tie into religion. and then the later pages of this had me spiraling about my religious OCD and then the last hundred pages had me literally writing "die die die" in the margins because dear god in heaven how many times can one man make the same point and not be any clearer about it on the fourth go-around. the last three books gave me the exact same feeling as reading the second epilogue of war and peace, namely that i was reading 1) interesting ideas repeated over and over 2) very obvious ideas that did not need explaining but were explained in depth over and over 3) the same sentences time and time again. sometimes #3 was literal because i would zone out mid-paragraph and find myself scanning the same line three times. i know he’s dead but can someone please give this man an editor.
two stars because some of the ideas were interesting. i mean, if i took the interesting ideas from this book and cut down all the fluff in the form of bible verses, i'd have, like, ten pages of material. but still. two stars for those ten pages. that's all i am so glad to not be reading this anymore
look, i didn't go into this expecting to be let down! maybe as someone who used to be catholic but is now uncomfortable with Intense Catholicism for personal reasons, i should have had rock bottom hopes. (and maybe augustine calling the aeneid useless studies should have been my first sign we would not get along.) but the opening pages of this had me musing about the nature of god and god's presence and how faith and hope and certainty tie into religion. and then the later pages of this had me spiraling about my religious OCD and then the last hundred pages had me literally writing "die die die" in the margins because dear god in heaven how many times can one man make the same point and not be any clearer about it on the fourth go-around. the last three books gave me the exact same feeling as reading the second epilogue of war and peace, namely that i was reading 1) interesting ideas repeated over and over 2) very obvious ideas that did not need explaining but were explained in depth over and over 3) the same sentences time and time again. sometimes #3 was literal because i would zone out mid-paragraph and find myself scanning the same line three times. i know he’s dead but can someone please give this man an editor.
two stars because some of the ideas were interesting. i mean, if i took the interesting ideas from this book and cut down all the fluff in the form of bible verses, i'd have, like, ten pages of material. but still. two stars for those ten pages. that's all i am so glad to not be reading this anymore
iphios's review against another edition
4.0
In its own right this book is profound, but its reflection of my own personal experience elevates this to a different level. I am profoundly in love and swooning over this book, overwhelmed by the parallelism in my conversion and Augustine's own.
rebeccapeterson's review against another edition
4.0
Love this book! It makes me really ponder about morality and what it means to be in a relationship with God. As I was reading, I found myself questioning when time originated, how the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and how God can answer prayers in unexpected ways.