I kept reading in the hopes that something would happen, but nothing really does.

So why read it? The book is exquisitely written and translated. I marked several passages that I really enjoyed, but it was not a book to rock you off your seat.

"They meet in the pages of a notebook left out in the rain." is quoted off the back cover and unless I missed it, this did not happen.
It is a "homage to books and to those that write them." That is what intrigued me and drew me in.

The two main characters, an illiterate painter who is coping the texts (before Guttenberg's printer) and the young mother trying to find herself after having to "relearn" everything after the birth of her daughter, are both able to find something in this place that helps them to reconnect with something they had lost: the painter lost his will to paint after the death of his lover, the young woman became a mother and lost herself in the day today caring of her child.

Each experience was life changing for them and Mount Saint Michel is the place they are able to find that part of themselves again. The woman writes while her daughter naps, the painter finds his way back when he is able to sketch for a boy that has survived an illness - one his lover never survived.

This place that has stood for centuries has a power within that enables the people within it and the people who come to it, to find their way.

I also enjoyed the story of the monk in the garden who was thought to be an 'idiot' by the others, but gardening and herbs are his 'art' and he is able to use his skills to help others. He is also much more than the others see. I loved that aspect.

Those who enjoy literary works.

There were various passages that resonated with me. I liked that the place seemed to 'heal' those that needed healing in what ever way they required it - physical, emotional, spiritual.

One line off the back cover of the book never really materialized in the book and that was a disappointment.

Sit and think about what it really meant. It is not a book that is meant to whiz and grab you. It is meant to make you think, make you consider, open you up to thoughts.

I felt a little stupid at times, like I just wasn't getting it, but I persevered and was glad that I did. There is more to this book than surface.

Is French Canadian.

The words are exquisite. It is a much more cerebral book than I realized.

This is not a flashy book. You much be prepared to delved down into the surface. What you find is as lovley as the words themselves.

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Created Feb 08, 2020 at 2:51pm • Submit your own review...