A Review

I finally finished reading The Life of Teresa of Avila last night.

Okay. It is a taxing read in that it takes St. Teresa a horridly long time to get to a point. On the other hand, this is good for getting to know her. For me, I would have liked more of her childhood, young adulthood etc., but as I read I began to understand that although this Saint loved her life, she was really into detaching from the world and clinging to the Cross. She touches on her many hardships regarding the "reform" of her Carmelite order as well as a smidgen of how to pray, which, I believe is covered in more detail in her book Interior Castle.

Still. I am glad I read it, but on the other hand it was absolutely painful to read. It was so s-l-o-w going for me. That isn't always a bad thing, but I like to get information and move on. In my case, reading the back of an holy card or perhaps an on-line brief summary of her life would have been EASIER.

I may brave Interior Castle one of these days, but I reckon it won't be any time soon. I haven't the patience, really, and that is what you'll need to read this book. In any event, I am open to a good flogging and correction from those of you who cannot do anything but gush over this book. Your opinions in my comments section may encourage (the better!) one of my readers to read a book God meant for her/him! God forgive me if this review keeps anyone from reading it - that is NOT my intention. My intention is to warn those of you who want to read this book like you'd read To Kill a Mockingbird (for example), I am warning that this is a book you have to pray before you read. It was worthwhile spiritually to read this, because otherwise I would not have read it. I wanted to RUSH it like so many other things in my life - realizing that it's not possible with this book, it became quite a (worthwhile, in the end) challenge to read.