Anybody who has every experienced that odd feeling of fascination while watching a Tati film will find Chion's cinematic psychotherapy a beautiful treasure. Chion is a wonderful poet and a brilliant film theorist; I would expect nothing less to pay tribute to Tati's magnificent artistry.

THIS BOOK READS LIKE REBECCA, AND GONE WITH THE WIND,, IT IS A SUSPENSEFUL READ WITH GREAT CHARACTERS. THE CLASSIC BEAUTIFUL HEARTLESS BEAUTY... a GREAT HISTORICAL NOVEL ,WHEN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CIVIL WAR LEFT SOME BITTER AND VENGEFUL... IF YOU ENJOY AN OLD STYLE ROMANCE NOVEL. THIS ONE WILL BE A PLEASURE

Vinean kolme aurinkoa - humaanisti kerrottu tieteistarina sarjakuvan keinoin - peittoaa Marvelit mennen tullen...

This compilation of interviews with the monks of New Clairvaux, California is a fascinating contribution to that part of Catholic literature that might be called, risking impertinence, "contemplative chic." The books of Thomas Merton remain a great influence, and there exists a considerable interest in Cistercian spirituality and the cloistered life. These ten monks, as diverse in ethnicity, personality, age, background, temperament, patterns of speech, as any ten persons you can find, share their views, their experiences, their recollections as to what prompted them to undertake the monastic adventure ... We have here a fairly down-to-earth lot, prayerful but not "head in the clouds" types, each of them conveying the necessity of perseverance and charity in a life that is anything but escapism!

There are three introductory chapters, explaining a little about Cistercian/Trappist history and detailing the schedule and the activities of your average monk (if there is such a thing!); these introductory chapters can probably be skimmed by those readers who have delved extensively into Merton or Pennington or who have made retreats at Trappist monasteries themselves. Some of the books in the Bibliography proffered as Suggested Reading can be avoided (Finley's book "Merton's Place of Nowhere" being not terribly magnetizing) ... and there are times when we read the interviews that we find Mr Perata's attempts to reproduce the speech of the monks to be a bit labored, but there is humor to be found (an octogenarian Irish monk: "readin', workin', & just meditatin' ... you've gotta start usin' your mantra"). Some of the personalities & histories in the interviews will be more attractive than others, but if the reader is interested in the Trappist life, "The Orchards of Perseverance" will be a welcome addition to the personal library. Essential? Perhaps not, but the words of these monks impart considerable charm & a fair amount of wisdom.

David Perata practiced much perseverance in compiling these interviews with nine Trappist monks and one postulant of Our Lady of New Clairvaux Abbey in Vina, California. His approach in letting the monks speak freely in virtually stream of consciousness style allows for unfiltered frankness and a good deal of humor. Their testimonies to their vocation certainly dispel the myth that monastic life is perennially harmonious and blissful. In the end, sticking with it is what it is all about.
As Perata asserts, "God is going to look at that perseverance and the positive qualities of these men, and judge them within those parameters... All the rest is merely dirty laundry!"
I found the unedited proliferation of "gonnas" and "wannas"
tedious after a while. Also, it is unfortunate that the interviews do not include a single monk of that monastery who entered after 1980. The postulant interviewed in 1991 left
after becoming a novice. One gets the impression that the monks interviewed are the last of their breed. Perhaps this is what motivated the author to undertake this chronicle of lives lived in fidelity to a call. If so, he has done an admirable job
with both text and photographs.

So many questions I had about Trappist Monks were answered in this book. This is a must read book if you are at all interested mans relationship with God from men who spend there whole life working on this relationship. The author allows you to me them personally for he has a personal relationship with them from an early age. This is the book you wish someone would write and has. I highly recommend this book.

This book is more about Vinas Solamnus than the Knightshood and it's founding. I found that the story might have been better if the writer had written it much longer, maybe even another book. We skip constantly by 6-15 year leaps in the early parts of the book, which made the character two-dimensional. A good book but buy at your own risk. Huma was much better!

This was a good Dragonlance book and one of the things I loved about it was that you don't need to be a major DL fanatic to like this book, the story was still there (perhaps it wasn't as meaningful) even if you haven't read the mainstream DL novels yet. The only thing I didn't like in this novel was the swift ending, it seemed like King started to write just to finish the story and stopped writing to tell the story. The very end was way too short and the way that Ergoth was taken care of seemed a bit cheap. But other than those few down points, this novel is totally worth reading.

This was an excellent book - One of the best i've read to date from the DragonLance series, and i've been an avid reader for about 8 years. The story was very well told, very interesting, and the first few chapters really drew my interest. So much, in fact, that I read the entire book in one sitting. The book relates the story of Vinas Solamnus, who, while a relatively important figure in the DragonLance series, was barely touched upon until now. I'd recommend this tale to any experienced DragonLance reader.