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mezzosherri's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating journey, decently told. I think Francis wanted to focus this book more on his vision quest rather than have it be a traditional memoir--this choice, alas, made the narrative arc tough to follow. Key biographical details and events would crop up unexpectedly, often mentioned in an offhand "you already know this" tone when, instead, the information was jarringly new or unexpected. (I will admit to a few moments where this technique worked quite well to illuminate my assumptive leaps and where they had gone wrong...)
Also, I found the end-of-chapter exercises to be a well-intentioned but unconvincing attempt to bring the lessons of Francis' 17-year silence to plain old folks like me. Everything in the telling suggests that the profundity of Francis' experience was rooted in the extreme nature of his path and his commitment to walking and to silence. I freely admit there are things we can learn from his journey to find deeper wells of compassion, empathy and active listening in our own selves and lives. But the attempts of the extreme practitioner to dish up these amuse-bouche-sized exercises just rang so false.
Also, I found the end-of-chapter exercises to be a well-intentioned but unconvincing attempt to bring the lessons of Francis' 17-year silence to plain old folks like me. Everything in the telling suggests that the profundity of Francis' experience was rooted in the extreme nature of his path and his commitment to walking and to silence. I freely admit there are things we can learn from his journey to find deeper wells of compassion, empathy and active listening in our own selves and lives. But the attempts of the extreme practitioner to dish up these amuse-bouche-sized exercises just rang so false.
lazygal's review against another edition
1.0
As a Quaker I was really interested in reading this exploration of silence, but the author's tone was, well, smug - something I would not have expected from a book of this nature. The author was more interested in telling us about his silence and his refusal to ride in cars than he was in really exploring silence as a means of communication for both him and others and how to find silence (or peace) in daily life.
The "exercises" weren't always connected to the content of each chapter, which would have seemed appropriate; sometimes they appeared to be haphazardly added because the chapter needed an exercise.
ARC provided by publisher.
The "exercises" weren't always connected to the content of each chapter, which would have seemed appropriate; sometimes they appeared to be haphazardly added because the chapter needed an exercise.
ARC provided by publisher.
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