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.