Book Description
This revised workbook is designed to help the man explore the issues and practice the skills presented in Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts. Full of lively exercises and enlightening self-tests that will help you and your partner apply what you are learning directly to your relationship, this version of the workbook approaches the issues from a man's perspective. Each exercise includes an estimate of how long it will take, so you can easily fit the program into a busy schedule. Call-outs in the book let you know the best times to do the exercises as you read.
Customer Reviews:
Learning about each other.......2007-01-10
You will definitely need the actual book to use the workbooks. My fiance and I have been working through the lessons and are about halfway through the workbooks. The best thing about the exercises is that there are so many things about my future wife that I didn't know, especially in regards to how she thinks and feels about certain aspects of life. We are becoming closer as we're beginning to understand each other at a deeper level. I'm learning more about how women communicate and how they really aren't able to come to grips with exactly how we operate either. The exercises vary from childhood influences to budgeting to love languages. We look forward to each time we work through the lessons. I highly recommend them for any couple preparing for marriage.
Product Description
In life you never really know when you might meet someone who will change your life. And more importantly you never know when your influence might change another. This book is about influence. It is about a man who lived in a simple place but had extraordinary insight. He also had something else on his side. He had time; time to invest himself in the life of another who was lost on his journey. This story is based on the thousands of athletes I have counseled and the great mentors and teachers from whom I have learned. I have brought my twenty plus years of peak performance coaching together and compressed them into a story of two fictitious characters; a rancher with a passion for teaching truth and a young golf professional at the end of his rope. They represent each of us in the various stages of growth. For in life we must be willing to coach and be coached, either one alone will leave us empty.
Customer Reviews:
This Book Is A Life Changer.......2007-09-27
I've loved reading from a very youg age. I'm now 60 years old. I have read comic books, text books, even read most of the World Book Encyclopedia one summer while I was in junior high. I have read junk and some of the classics. I have read self-help books and most of all, I have read much of the Bible, but I have never read a book that has made such an impact on my life as Golf's Sacred Journey. (And it even helped my golf game.)
This book transformed my game........2007-06-16
Life is NOT a game. There are things way more important than golf, like my relationship with God through Christ. And the opportunity to use this great game and this great book to share my faith in Christ. As I often say on the course, "I love this game!" and I love Jesus more than ever.
Greatest Golf Book Ever.......2007-05-15
I have read a number of golf psychology books. This is by far the best. I would recommend it to my golfing buddies, but I don't want them to learn the lessons of this book. I need the income from our $2 bets.
Book Description
In Patrick Morley's true sequel to The Man in the Mirror a man is taken beyond the day-to-day problems he faces and is confronted with seven major seasons of life that can make him or break him. Includes a leader's guide for small groups. Formerly titled The Seven Seasons of a Man's Life.
Customer Reviews:
Help for Navigating the Season's of a Man's Life.......2005-12-31
I found Morley's book to be exceptionally well written and full of substantive, easy-to-understand, and useful-for-living insight for men based on a solid Biblical foundation.
The book examines many practical and periodic aspects of how we tend to think about life and its many challenges. Morely offers an excellent framework for thinking about where God is leading you and how His plan works in your life. This is challenging and useful stuff. For example, have you ever found yourself pondering a career decision and reading "What Color is My Parachute" only to be left wondering what God's part is in all this? Morley points to some answers that may help. Morley has a nice way of introducing a few memorable phrases that helpf in applying these insights on a day-to-day basis such as, " there is a difference between a Good Idea and a God Idea", and "focusing on being used instead of being something".
The bottom line is that this is a highly practical book for Christian men or men investigating the virtues of a Christian life. It challenges us to let God become the center of our world-view rather than the many alternatives our culture offers in His place.
If you are a man who liked Warren's very popular "The Purpose Driven Life" and wanted some additional day-to-day application then this book may fit the bill.
To women I highly recommended this book as a gift to the men in your life and to checkout Morley's book for women and couples in his very successful "Man in the Mirror" Library.
Men should read this book for guidance and advice.......2003-12-30
This book represents Christian experience and suggestions for the day-to-day issues Christian men face in the world. This book is well written, is an easy read, and is highly recommended. Once you have read this book, you will want to read it again.
Book Description
The author teaches men to use their brains first to recognize the unsuitable mates who make up the Dirty Seven Sisters. To better illustrate each type, she includes celebrity examples, such as Angelina Jolie, Anna Nicole Smith, Brooke Shields, Cher, Dr. Laura, Jennifer Lopez, Joan Crawford, Julia Roberts, Kate Moss, Kathy Lee Gifford, Lorena Bobbit, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Marilyn Monroe, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith, Mia Farrow, Monica Lewinsky, Naomi Campbell, Tonya Harding, and many more.
Celebrity weddings and TV shows only underline the superficiality of some mating practices. As the author says:
"TV shows like The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Change of Heart, The Dating Game, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, Joe Millionaire, Married by America, and Blind Date present a kinder- gartner's eye-view of dating. A man spends a few minutes with an attractive girl, surrounded by cameras, and they are now ready to get married and have children together. What if one of these beauties is a Dirty Seven Sister? We do not see that part, because it is always off camera."
Who are the Dirty Seven Sisters?
The Dirty Seven Sisters are the women, who because of their underlying personality and character flaws, bring unhappiness and chaos into men's lives once they bag their prey. Marshall warns men to move on from them, regardless of their sexual needs and genetic impulse to have children. These women may be sexy and attractive, but they don't have the potential to be true life partners. She bares their character traits that are impossible to live with, why they are impossible, and tells men what to do about them. Conversely, she also describes the excellent qualities of a good mate.
True and Funny
Marshall's humorous take on the absurdities of today's dating scene does not hide her seriousness to revolutionize our approach to dating and mating, which produces a divorce rate of over 50%. She says, "This field guide will give you the tools to recognize and avoid the noxious and obnoxious females who are like Angel of Death mushrooms, beautiful yet deadly. Lesson #1: Beautiful does not necessarily mean good."
Customer Reviews:
Required Reading for Young Men.......2007-08-09
This is a behavioral treatise on the modern woman, not a pyschological study of how she got that way. When you say she has "issues", she's "neurotic", she has "baggage", shes "insane", all of the "types" are neatly catagorized here for your enlightenment. Of course there's combos and overlap of each variety as she states.
My biggest disagreement with the author is saying this covers only about 10% of all females and if you "try hard enough" you'll find a decent woman within the remaining 90%. Well, you shouldn't have to try that hard if 9 out of 10 women are not a dirty sister. In my lengthy experience with the women of the world I would have say it's the other way around or 9 out of 10 are in some way dirty (by her definition) and you have to work VERY hard to find the "one".
Sorry ladies you're all in there. Exposed in all your wacky glory. The mature, mentally stable, intelligent, balanced, rational woman is an exception indeed. Me, my friends, my relatives and every guy I've ever known; will testify to this. It's not our imaginations. Too many of us who took the plunge with a dirty sister live it every day. It's the reality and it's misery.
Married already? She's in there! Not married yet? Read this!
Life's too short to spend it with a nut case.
You were warned.
Caveat andro--let the male beware!.......2006-12-11
I just read this book, which describes the "Dirty 7 Sisters," a collective title for the types of gals whom guys should avoid at all costs--complete with celebrity examples (Madonna, Naomi Campbell, Mariah Carey & many more). The 7 types are: the PMS Queen, Needee Nellie, the Material Girl, Shopaholica, the Wedding Belle, the Mom, & the Psycho Babbler. The emergence of such women apparently was a side effect of the Women's Lib movement of the past 30-40 years.
Don't get me wrong. It's a good thing for women to work the same jobs & earn the same salaries as men. It's just that with every good comes some bad. We guys have to second-guess the motives of the gals we date, just like they mercilessly analyze our intentions toward them. Just because sex is as scarce to us as water is to someone walking in a desert, doesn't mean we should jump at the first sign of water. That water may turn out to be salty or poisoned. Caveat andro--let the male beware!
Nous sommes ainsi amusé.......2005-11-04
Amusing for perhaps just a moment. But we believe that our authoress is of the mind that she has none of the objectionable traits of these Sept Soeurs Mortelles. Mayhap this is true but it would seems that she is the eighth type, the "Felis Domesticus".
Now this is a prefectly delightful book for the self-centered and the in-denial; those who are most likely attracted to the dysfunctionality she so scathingly limns in her pop-culture People-esque style. Analysis by celebrity is right up there with horoscopes as barometer and psychological tool extraordinaire.
If this authoress taught the bitter man likely to purchase this book why he perpetually seeks out unstable women, what there is within himself that needs further examination, this nasty little diatribe would not be necessary. And we The Dirty Sisters would be left alone, in peace, and untroubled.
Reciprocity would be ideal.......2005-08-09
If only there were honest, and an accurate review of men for women, there might not be a 50% divorce rate.
Some men like em...some don't.......2005-06-13
Unless the reader has had experience with the types of women that are described in this book, it might be difficult to believe that such women exist. Certainly there are women in the real world that share some of the characteristics of the "Dirty Seven Sisters" that are described in gritty and somewhat vituperative detail in the book, but these women can develop relationships with men in a manner which might be loosely described as "symbiotic". Some men in the upper income bracket for example may find the "Material Girl" very suitable for a long-term relationship. Such a woman, due to her need for money and material status, will do most anything that these men need, including engaging in the type of sex they desire and in serving as arm-candy for various outings on the town. The money that they spend on the "Material Girl" is viewed as a mere entertainment expense. Some wealthy men therefore prefer the "Material Girl" and will not heed any advice to avoid them. The same goes for the rest of the "Dirty Seven Sisters": some men, because of their tastes and outlooks, however peculiar to external observers, may prefer being subjugated to "The Mom", or having a temporary fling with "Shopaholica." Personal tastes dictate some strange combinations of partners at times, but these relationships can also evolve in ways that are not predictable, due to the tensions of life and the particular contexts in which they find themselves. In that respect the author finds the personalities and neuronal synapses of the "Dirty Seven Sisters" fixed in time and unchangeable. But it is rare to find a human being who does not and cannot adapt themselves to new challenges and new outlooks. The author though does not admit the possibility of change in these women, who she views as the most despicable of the female human species. This reviewer agrees somewhat with her assessment, but others may not, and again, may view these women as highly desirable, even knowing in full their "wickedness." The author, and the reader, should remember that good character, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
In addition to the author's purely subjective biases against the "Dirty Seven Sisters" there are other problems with the book. One example is her claim that only ten percent of women qualify for admission into the club of the "Dirty Seven Sisters." Years of research and observation she says, leads her to this conclusion. The largest contingent of these women exist in the developed countries, with only a small number, if any, residing in the "Third World". She does not offer any statistical studies substantiating these claims, and no references are given that would shed more light on her claims. The reader should really not expect this however, for this book is really aimed at those who are looking for the type of woman that the author would characterize as "good." Those who enjoy the company of the "Dirty Seven Sisters", whether this is because of sex or some other form of entertainment, would perhaps welcome the presence of a statistical study in the book. This would allow them to estimate their best chances of finding one of these women, or the best places to find them.
Book Description
It wasn't until the success of "The Sopranos" that New Jersey's powerful DeCavalcante family became legitimized in the eyes of big city capos. But a higher profile meant higher risk. Member turned against member, and eventually one of them turned to reporter Greg B. Smith to expose the rise and fall of one of the most notorious families in America.
Customer Reviews:
The fall of a crime family.......2007-08-16
I am on the fence with this one. It wasn't bad but there wasn't necessarily anything that was good about it either. Smith attempts to piece together the 1,000 hours of evidence with the known history in order to show us the downfall of the DeCavalcante family. We see it; we see the Mafioso family crumble under the weight of its degenerate members, so Smith succeeded there. But it is his telling that hampers this book from being an out right winner.
One thing that particularly frustrated me was that you would be reading along and Smith would describe something. It would seem as though it came out of nowhere and didn't really belong, but you shrug your shoulders and take it as part of the story. Then further into the book he would talk about that exact same scene, word for word. With no explanation. And this didn't happen just once. It happened repeatedly. Why he did this I could not make sense of it. Additionally, he would have some scenes where you know there is not a wire and Smith could not have known what was said. For example, when Joey O, Anthony Capo and I think Gallo were waiting in a stolen care outside Majuri's house to whack him we are given a word for word recital of their conversation. Yet they were in a stolen car and the three people in the car were not informants, so how does he know this? This was where Smith would try to recreate the scene, which is also where a loosely based scene was turned to fiction in order to further the book. This happened several times.
There were some redeeming qualities. For one, Smith has a dry sense of humor and you can sense it throughout the book as comments are dropped in between the mob's conversation. Additionally, we would read some of the conversations that were going on and can't help but laugh at these violent men. Some of their conversations are hilarious, and I give credit to Smith for strategically interspersing some of these amidst other such despicable acts throughout the book. It adds a comical element to the DeCavalcante crime family, and other crime families, that are usually glossed over.
All in all, a decent rendering of a fall of a crime family. I would read other books first, such as The Valachi Papers, Wiseguys and Underboss, but this is a good addition for anyone looking to read more about organized crime.
3.5 stars.
Made Men.......2007-01-03
Book was sent in satifactory condition and in a prompt manner. I appreciate not having to wait for order Thank You!!
Sopranos come to life...........2005-07-14
The casual, almost semi-cynical, form of writing suits the subject of this book: A minor crime family in New York area finds itself cast in a major TV production. Although the Sopranos don't labor under the lack of respect that the Decalvacantes or "farmers" receive, you do get a unique perspective of the crime family imitating fiction or vice versa. Like many Mafia books, this one is episodic as I suppose it has to be and it is difficult to keep the characters in their place (anyone ever hear of a organizational tree?). Still, it is easy to read and see what is going on.
The faults of the book are that the author's reporter-style writing comes through a bit much. He relies on structured chronological headings, almost like a time stamp. However, this isn't much of a fault and his style works well.
I enjoyed it. It was a quick read. If you like the Sopranos, you'll like this book and it will give you more insight into the real "real" life characters.
Use this book to line your bird cage...........2005-05-31
What a waste of ink!!! I wish there was a way to give this book a review of a negative 5 stars. This author is terrible. The words are mispelled there are sentence fragments riddled throughout all the paragraphs. Most of the time I had to re-read the sentence because I thought it was me. The author left me hanging many times throughout the book. I was like "What the F$%^? Who wrote this garbage?" He must have graduated with his Associates Degree from Essex County College in Newark, NJ. It probably wouldn't have been a bad read if it was written properly. I am surprised no one wacked him for writing so terribly. Geeeze.
They didn't just talk Sopranos, the DeCavalcantes lived it........2004-11-09
If you like the Sopranos, you will love this book. Greg B. Smith writes about the DeCavalcante crime family. They are the most powerful mob family in Jersey. You hear of the more popular families such as the Gambinos, the Colombos, the Bonnanos, the Genovese and the Luchese family. I love how they talk about all these families and the capos in each of them. My favorite capo in the book is John Gotti of the Gambino crime family. Vinny Ocean, the Boss of the DeCavalcante family, has problems with his underboss Joey O Masella because he uses his money to buy coke, marijuana and extasy. Vinny Ocean is the most respected and feared man in Jersey, owning his own casino boat, many restaurants is NY and NJ and has his own Strip club called Wiggles. I have a feeling that Vinny is going to whack Joey O. I will definitely read another one of his books. I can't wait until I finish this book to find out what happens.
Book Description
In Patrick Morley's true sequel to The Man in the Mirror a man is taken beyond the day-to-day problems he faces and is confronted with seven major seasons of life that can make him or break him. The softcover edition includes a leader's guide for small groups.
Customer Reviews:
Life changing.......2002-10-10
Morley really does break it down. I would accuse him of stealing my life story, but I know that most men struggle with these same issues.
This book is not for the faint of heart. You must be willing to be open and honest and look at your life from a diffent angel. Morley does an excellent job of driving home the hard truths through obvious examples and situations that he experienced himself.
All in all, a great read for any man who is looking for that pure joy only found in a close walk with Jesus. I am grateful for the opportunity to read it.
Generalities.......2002-06-03
This is an okay men's book designed to generate reflection and discourse. I found that most of the generalizations were pretty close to what I experienced in my own life, although the recommendations/suggestions were not always that strong or helpful. Morley's prior book, Man in the Mirror, was a little better than this one. I picked up Seven Seasons because I thought there would be more in-depth discussion on the challenges that men face. True, there was a little more, but it was pretty much the same material as Mirror, with a touch here and there.
I found the weekend seminar that Morley's group sponsors to have had more of an impact than simply reading this book; however, the seminars also were designed towards setting up small group discussions on the material, which I really didn't care to participate in.
This book makes a good read one time through, and then looks good on any Christian man's bookshelf (along with all those other must-haves to impress the wife and guy friends). Borrow this from your church library or from a friend, but save your money and give it to mission work instead.
Peace Out.
Scripture Centered Family Leadership.......2000-07-12
I received this book from a good friend during a particularly hard time in my life. Pat's ability to hammer home the real stuff that today's husband and father must deal with, and tie it back to God's word is unique and a real gift. A hundred times I saw myself in Pat's scenarios of life, dealing with frustrations, triumphs and tribulations.
This book is targeted to the open minded individual seeking to develop a lasting maturity that will make him a better husband, father, and follower of Christ. It might not be for those who lack patience or the willingness to submit to God's word and learn from the teaching of the Bible.
Sunday school pablum.......2000-05-12
Listening to Morley (I bought this book on tape) is like attending an adult Sunday school class where the speaker is pedantic, shallow and long winded.
The title enticed me into thinking that Morley would have insights to share about a man's journey along the thinking of Daniel J. Levinson - NOT.
In a nutshell Morley preaches " accept Jesus, love your wife, pray for your kids and get a decent job." Save your time and money there is nothing her but warmed over Sunday school pablum.
I found this book to be inspirational and informative........1998-10-18
This book was given to me by a friend interested in my spiritual well-being and overall happiness. Morley "has been there and done that" and this book clearly demonstrates how a right relationship with Jesus is necessary to accomplish anything. A good book for the man seeking understanding of where he's been and where he's headed.
Average customer rating:
- A moving read
- A Thoroughly Satisfying Read
- The Church and Us
- a voice teacher and early music fan
- A Necessary Perspective
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Seventy Times Seven
Salvatore Sapienza
Manufacturer: Southern Tier Editions
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General
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ASIN: 1560235993 |
Book Description
"Give me chastity and self-restraint, but not just right now."
—The Confessions of Saint Augustine
"Jesus instructed us to forgive those who have wronged us seventy times seven times," Brother Vito Fortunato teaches the boys in his high school religion class, but it's Vito himself who has the most trouble with forgiveness: trying to forgive the Church, the gay community, and most of all, himself. Just a few months from his final vows as a Brother in the Catholic Church, Vito finds himself at a crossroads, torn between his spirituality and his sexuality as a fully out and proud gay man. Will a summer of volunteer work at an AIDS center in San Francisco—and a love affair with Gabriel, a recently divorced landscaper—help Vito decide his calling—and his future?
Seventy Times Seven is a poignant, sexy, funny, and romantic novel set in the early 1990s about a young man's struggle to integrate his religious beliefs with his sexual desires. The gap between sexuality and spirituality is punctuated throughout the novel with quotes from the Scripture, and from song lyrics from Prince and Madonna, artists who merged the two worlds in provocative and groundbreaking fashion. Vito struggles too, with the idealism that drives his desire to change the archaic ways of the Catholic Church and its views on AIDS and homosexuality.
An excerpt from Seventy Times Seven: "Come on, let's go in," Tim implored outside the Christopher Street video store. "It'll be a riot. I know you're a Brother, but you don't have to do anything, just watch. But, whatever you do, don't make me laugh. They're hardcore in there."
Tim has always been able to persuade me to take risks. He took me into my first gay bar, Uncle Charlie's in the Village, when I was seventeen years old (the legal drinking age in New York was eighteen at the time, so we didn't look out of place). Two years later, we snorted coke off of his Barney's credit card in the bathroom of the Roxy. He later was a part of my first threesome experience with some guy we met at the Spike. There was one risk, however, that Tim was unsuccessful in persuading me to take, and that was leaving religious life. Taking me into the video store that night required little effort on his part.
Sal Sapienza's first novel, Seventy Times Seven, is an entertaining and enlightening look at the struggle many gay men experience as their try to reconcile their religion with their sexual natures.
Customer Reviews:
A moving read.......2007-09-07
Can an openly gay Brother stay true to God and to himself?
That is the spiritual and sexual dilemma that propels Sal Sapienza's novel, "Seventy Times Seven.''
Set in the early 1990s, Sapienza illuminates with sweet elegance and piercing insight the challenges of 27-year-old brother Victor "Vito" Fortunato who teaches religion to 25 freshman at Mount Saint Vincent High, a Catholic school in Brooklyn.
Fortunato isn't your typical brother. Instead of cloaking his sexuality, Vito unleashes it. He celebrates his gay pride. He likes to drink with his guy friends at the bars, dances shirtless. He wears Obsession the cologne and sleeps naked in his comforter. He's even been a third party in a threesome when he was younger.
Basically, Vito is your fun and foxy, good-natured Italian progressive Brother. He hopes that his forward-mentality will change the staid and tradition-driven Catholic church once he becomes a full-fledged priest.
Months before he is to take the final vows to become that priest, Vito decides to volunteer at an AIDS service center in San Francisco. There he meets a divorced landscaper named Gabriel and falls in love. They engage in a romantic and passionate affair and Victor must decide how he really wants to live his life.
The power of the book is how Vito copes with his commitment to God and to himself. By being true to himself, does he betray his higher power? Or by committing "holy" to God, does he dishonor himself?
The book serves as Vito's spiritual guide, as he questions which path to take. He wants to bridge his two worlds and feel complete, fulfilled and devoted to each.
But the book is also the road of forgiveness, which echoes the book's title. In the book's beginning, Vito teaches his class of 14 students, to forgive those who have wronged us which is taken from the Biblical passage.
Besides the internal spiritual tug of war Vito struggles with, I also enjoyed the pop references sprinkled throughout the book which harken back to the early nineties which Sapienza has fun paying tribute to.
We see mentions of a new Fox show "Beverly Hills 90120" and NBC's former "Saved By The Bell." Sapienza also uses songs from Madonna (Like A Prayer) as a literary tool to show the reader Vito's state of mind. (Who better than Madonna can personify the intersection of sexuality and spirituality and that you can have a little of both.) And that is what Vito captures in the book. That it's okay to be gay and religious. You don't have to give up one to have the other in your life.
There aren't many novels that truely explore the state of homosexuality in the Catholic Church the way Sapienza does.
He doesn't crucify the church but he explains through Vito's eyes what is wrong with the Church and how it needs to change to better encompass and represent all of its members, gay or not.
Seventy Time Seven is a tender and touching read by first-time author Sapienza. Gay and religious fiction would benefit with more of his spiritual tales.
A Thoroughly Satisfying Read.......2007-05-07
Seventy Times Seven was a tough read for me. As a somewhat bitterly ex-catholic gay boy who has been battling HIV for eleven years, I found that many parts of Sal Sapienza's novel hit very close to home. After I reached the end, though, I recognized that the journey had been well worth it, despite the emotional bumps I hit along the way.
The story's main character is Vito, a cute gay Italian boy who is just getting ready to take final vows in his Catholic brotherhood. The book chronicles his struggle to incorporate his religious calling with his more sensual, secular urgings. To be honest, I liked Vito. I wanted to sleep with Vito, but I didn't identify with Vito - not one bit. I empathized much more with his best friend Tim, a light-hearted hedonist who seems to take great delight in leading his conflicted friend astray. My guess is that most gay guys who, like me, reached young adulthood in the eighties will also more closely identify with Tim. To me, he is more or less the embodiment of gay eighties culture - chastened somewhat by the looming threat of AIDS, but still trying to live life to the fullest.
And speaking of gay eighties cultural references - Sapienza uses them liberally, but not gratuitously, throughout the book. He weaves the pop songs and mega-stars from that time right into the story, using them as metaphors for the various issues that Vito struggles with along the way. This gives the novel the quality of a modern-day parable, and though I'm sure I'm not the only reader who wanted to shake Vito by the shoulders from time to time and scream "Are you out of your mind?", I found his crisis, as a whole, to be genuine and believable.
A fine first novel by Sal Sapienza. It had a nice, steady pace, well developed characters and just enough pathos to engage readers emotionally without carrying them into the realm of soap opera. Seventy Times Seven roughed me up a bit emotionally, but in the end it left me feeling hopeful about myself and about life in general. Can one ask any more of a novel than that?
The Church and Us.......2007-01-19
Sapienza, Salvatore. Seventy Times Seven. New York: Harrington Park Press, 2006.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Seventy Times Seven, Salvatore Sapienza's first novel explores the Catholic religion and homosexuality. The main character is a Catholic brother and a teacher and his story is told by a real life former brother and an openly gay man. It is set in the early 1990s and we find Brother Vito Fortunato close to his final vows as a brother in the Catholic church. He is torn between his spirituality and his gay sexuality. While teaching catechism, he struggles with his own issues of forgiveness--forgiving Mother Church, forgiving the homosexual community but most of all forgiving himself. Yet there was that summer when he volunteered at a San Francisco AIDS center and fell in love with Gabriel, a recently divorced landscaper, and this has caught Vito between sexual identity and his personal idealism. It takes him on the path of attempting to change the views of the church on homosexuality and Aids.
Sapienza, himself, is a former Catholic brother of the Marist Order who taught high school English. He worked alongside Father Mychal Judge, the chaplain to the New York Fire Department who died in the 9/11 attacks. Included in the book is Sapienza's essay on his experiences with Father Judge.
The title for the book comes from the Biblical passage that Jesus taught us to forgive those who have wronged us "seventy times seven times." While Vito teaches this ideal of forgiveness he realizes that he must also adhere to this adage. How does one integrate his religious beliefs with his sexual desires? And this is what punctuates the novel all the way through. He does this by not only using quotes from Scripture but with song lyrics from Madonna and Prince--two artists who merged these two worlds both provocatively and in a groundbreaking manner. Alongside that problem Vito also struggles with an idealism that drives him to change the ways of the Church.
Vito yearns for a quiet gay life--one of more than pride parades and bars. He wants to celebrate his desire for a same-sex meaningful relationship. His candor is real, yet delicate and his prose tells the story of salvation. There are twists and turns and the reader is engrossed from start to finish. And the story is moving, touching those parts of the gay psyche that makes us proud that Sapienza has bothered to write his story. The book took me to places I have never been and the prose made the trip a pleasure. The conflicts are real, present, and important. This is not a book about religion but about the dignity of man. The insight that the book gives, allows us to embrace ourselves and is this not what the spirit tells us to do?
When I first began reading, I thought that I would be reading about a closeted priest who in his struggles to accept himself led a life of pain and shame. But I was wrong. Being gay is not the struggle here. Rather it is the incorporation of his sexual nature to his spirituality. The men Vito meets denounce religion, just as the Church does homosexuality. The period in which the novel is set was that time when sexuality and spirituality were juxtaposed. Many went dancing shirtless at night and to church the next morning. Sexual beings could also be spiritual--there is no mutual exclusivity here. One would think that a book of this nature would be a heavy read but it is far from that. It is a delight and shows us that faith in the human spirit can rule out any adversary.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. When I finished it, I felt renewed and cleansed and that I had just read a really fascinating book. We have had so much about the abuses of the Catholic church that to me it was a special treat to read about someone who knowingly and consciously went against it. Although one man can't do it all, one can crack the door open.
AMOS LASSEN
a voice teacher and early music fan.......2007-01-09
My first love is music, but I am also an avid reader,though I don't usually bother to review books, only music. However, I just felt that I had to comment on this wonderfully written book by Salvatore Sapienza. Upon scanning the outside cover for the first time the quote from 'The Confessions of Saint Augustine'really drew me into all of it: "Give me chastity and self-restraint, but not just right now." That thought truly speaks to all of us faced with everyday temptations in our lives. Each chapter of this book begins with a quotation, usually from the bible, that sets the tone for the ensuing chapter.
One thing that impressed me was how strongly the author's characterizations were, no matter how few times the character appeared in the book, I left it all feeling that I had a real knowledge of that person. Even, the mentor priest at Vito's retreat, was clearly understood as he attempted to truly help Vito to make his very important decision, that is to become a priest or follow his 'true' feelings of love for Gabe.
The wrestling of his conscience was a revealing part of the book for me, as a practising Catholic, and not because of the homosexuality, but because Vito was so incredibly sincere and honest and seeking the answer from his God. Just one of many real-life situations in this incredible book.
I kept wondering: "What will Vito decide in a situation that is so wrapped up in 'dogma', sincere though it may be. And how does he know if his feelings for Gabe are real.
A book truly worth reading, regardless of who are what you do or are!!!!!
A Necessary Perspective.......2007-01-05
Salvatore Sapienza embarks on a daunting task with Seventy Times Seven: a tale about the healthy mingling of sex and spirituality. In a society where sex--especially homosexual love--is often portrayed as evil, books such as this one fulfill a critical need. Many of us struggle to perceive God as the source of love rather than punitive rage as taught by people more concerned with hell than emotional or spiritual health. Seventy Times Seven has its erotic moments but is not an erotic novel. Instead Sapienza gives us an enjoyable and often humorous story peopled with likable, realistic characters who demonstrate how acceptance of one's sexuality augments rather than detracts from healthy faith; hating any aspect of ourselves diminishes our ability to love others. While the writing can be simplistic, Mr. Sapienza has accomplished something very good with this novel.
Average customer rating:
- Rich Chocolaty Goodness
- Adultery, incest, madness, murder, and suicide--all in "a narrative nervous breakdown"
- A mild disclaimer " I didn't get it"
- Melville's Wrong Turn
- American Heartbreak
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Pierre, or The Ambiguities: Volume Seven, Scholarly Edition (Melville)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Northwestern University Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0810102676 |
Book Description
By some strange arts, Isabel's wonderful story might have been, some way, and for some cause, forged for her, in her childhood, and craftily impressed upon her youthful mind; which so--like a slight mark in a young tree--and now enlargingly grown with her growth, till it had become this immense staring marvel. Tested by any thing real, practical, and reasonable, what less probable, for instance, than that fancied crossing of the sea in her childhood, when upon Pierre's subsequent questioning of her, she did not even know that the sea was salt.
Download Description
By some strange arts, Isabel's wonderful story might have been, some way, and for some cause, forged for her, in her childhood, and craftily impressed upon her youthful mind; which so--like a slight mark in a young tree--and now enlargingly grown with her growth, till it had become this immense staring marvel. Tested by any thing real, practical, and reasonable, what less probable, for instance, than that fancied crossing of the sea in her childhood, when upon Pierre's subsequent questioning of her, she did not even know that the sea was salt.
Customer Reviews:
Rich Chocolaty Goodness.......2006-11-17
The thing about Bartleby, the Scrivener is that it makes you want to read everything else Melville wrote. Right now I'm about half way through Pierre; or, The Ambiguities and think it an immensely satisfying layer cake so far. When I'm finished I hope to go fishing. Apropos of which, great bolshy yarblockos to Clifton Fadiman, who wrote the following paragraph in an introduction to Moby Dick round about 1941:
"A pessimism as profound as Melville's, if not pathological--and his was not--can exist only in a man who, whatever his gifts, does not posess that of humor. There is much pessimism in Shakespeare but with it goes a certain sweetness, a kind of radiance. His bad men--Macbeth, Iago--may be irretrievable, but the world itself is not irretrievable. This sense of balance comes from the fact that Shakespeare has humor, even in the plays of the later period. Melville had none. For proof, reread Chapter 100, a labored, shrill, and inept attempt at laughter. Perhaps I should qualify these strictures, for there is a kind of vast, grinning, unjolly, sardonic humor in him at times--Ishmael's first encounter with Queequeg is an example. But this humor is bilious, not sanguine, and has no power to uplift the heart."
Is it me or is this just a bit too saucy and overbold? Fadiman was a noted intellectual but was obviously unafraid of making a right eejit of himself--can you beat the blinkered quality of his indictment? Talk about a blind spot! That's the trouble with introductions to novels, they're right there in front, always getting in your way, distracting you with their gibberish. Luckily there's no introduction in my copy of Pierre so I was able to proceed directly to the first page unmolested. The story of Pierre Glendinning is straightforward enough but it unfolds amid a vast and stunningly considered narration that is for me the novel's chief delight. Here's what strikes me at this point: Melville swallowed with obvious relish the Classics, the King James Version of the Bible and most of Shakespeare and then brung them all back up again in a glorious nineteenth-century American amalgam. I'm practically certain that this is some of the most capaciously vivid and readable English I have ever encountered, the type of prose D. H. Lawrence wished he could type but was too blotto with hormones to actually type coherently on his typewriter. Forget everything you've ever read or heard about this novel--the critical response since its first appearance in 1852 has been for the most part laughably inept and spineless--and just start right in. Believe me, if you're a certain type of reader you will be well pleased. Would it help if I told you that the manservant in Saddle-Meadows is named Dates? Or the local clergyman Falsgrave? Perhaps not. Getting back to Bartleby though for a minute, what a peach that is. Funny and poignant and mysterious. When I finished it a couple of weeks ago I went out on my bicycle and did a victory lap round the neighbourhood, sealing my exultant passage with a cigarette which I actually smoked while awheel. Bliss that was. When you smoke on a bicycle the whole world is your ashtray! Try it sometime and tell those Lance Spandexes out there speeding down the byways to bugger off for a change.
Adultery, incest, madness, murder, and suicide--all in "a narrative nervous breakdown".......2006-04-30
"Pierre" is perhaps Melville's most difficult and challenging novel--and that's saying something. Despairing over his inability to support his family, Melville began writing a book designed to be popular--a counterpoint to the sensational novels written and read by contemporary women, using inspiration from French romances and even from Hawthorne's novels. Wavering between psychological melodrama and social satire, Melville ultimately increased the book's length by half again, incorporating his rage against the literary world by adding a subplot about a young man's desperate struggle to become a writer.
The stumbling point for most readers is the novel's opaque prose, the "thees and thous" of its antiquated dialogue, and the labyrinthine hodgepodge of a plot. But the density is broken by colloquial asides, sparkling sarcasm, and an occasional passage that approaches Dickensian mirth, such as Melville's description of the "Preposterous Mrs. Tartan!" and her undercover attempts to play matchmaker between Pierre and her daughter: "Once, and only once, had a dim suspicion passed through Pierre's mind, that Mrs. Tartan was a lady thimble-rigger, and slyly rolled the pea."
Behind the mask of the prose, however, is a modernist--even scandalous--story of a young, somewhat deluded man whose nihilistic descent leads to his destruction. Engaged to Lucy Tartan, Pierre adores his mother (their make-believe brother-sister relationship is almost creepy in its amorous undertones) and worships the memory of his long-dead father. This idyllic world is shattered by a missive from a woman, Isabel, who claims to be his half-sister--a claim supported by a more-than-passing resemblance to a portrait of his father. Complicating matters are his romantic feelings for this alleged half-sister.
Convincing himself that he is choosing honor over duty, he breaks off his engagement and flees to Manhattan with Isabel, taking along a local woman who had been disgraced by an out-of-wedlock tryst. Disowned by his mother and cut off from his family fortune, Pierre finds shelter for this odd trio among bohemian neighbors in a dilapidated part of town. His finances slowly evaporating, Pierre struggles to support them by writing a novel. And then, just when the plot can barely handle another twist, his estranged fiancee Lucy shows up at their doorstep.
To go any further would spoil the fun for the reader. Yet even such a basic plot summary omits some memorable and extraordinary scenes and sketches: his first meeting with Isabel, the near-riot that greets them during their first night in Manhattan, the eccentric philosopher who refuses to put his scholarly brilliance into written form.
Adultery, incest, madness, murder, and suicide--all the ingredients of a bleak nineteenth-century melodrama are wrapped in archaic language and modern themes. In her life of Melville, Robertson-Lorant calls "Pierre" "a narrative nervous breakdown" that is a "minefield" for biographers. It's also a goldmine; in no other work does Melville more clearly ridicule his critics, his friends and family, and even himself. The weird universe of "Pierre" is not the place to start if you've never read Melville, but it's certainly where you should go if you want better to understand his life and works.
A mild disclaimer " I didn't get it" .......2005-11-03
This complicated,work so full of ambiguity and difficulty in language and style is one I have found almost unreadable. The broad spaces and the great ranging adventurous mind of Melville in Moby Dick(The work which preceded this and in which all of Melville's writing climaxed) is followed by a claustrophic, domestic drama which seems to go nowhere.
My sense many other people have a more generous attitude towards this work, than I do and understand it more deeply.
As my old high- school Physics teacher Dave Levenstein ( of blessed memory) said when asked about the Theory of Relativitiy-
"I read some of that Einstein stuff and I just didn't get it." In regard to 'Pierre" I too "just didn't get it."
Melville's Wrong Turn.......2004-03-14
Ah, Pierre, you lusty Frenchman, where do you go wrong? Actually the main character Pierre is an American in the early 19th century who is well-off leading an easy life, until suddenly a mysterious woman crosses his path, who happens to be his sister, that he has rather strong feelings for, not to mention the creepy way he calls his mother sister in the early part of the book. Overly dramatic, it reads as if Melville made it up as he wrote, since so many crucial facts and events are suddenly mentioned with no foreshadowing or even hint of them. It does have a brief amusing chapter that attacks critics as people who praise medicore writers that risk nothing. Melville desperately wants Pierre to be like Shakespeare's Hamlet, butt alas, Pierre is much too flat and shallow for that. Aside from Melville Scholars, this novel isn't worth serious reading and skimming a few chapters would demonstrate it's many problems. Go for "Moby-Dick" or "Bartleby the Scrivner" for a real sense of Melville's writing.
American Heartbreak.......2002-10-11
Pierre has all the markings of an awful book--flat characters, overblown writing, shameless melodrama. So why is it such a masterpiece? Melville seems to have put all of himself into this work--his despair, his religious doubts, his understanding of human psychology--with an intensity that makes the usual standards of plot, style and character obsolete. The analysis of Pierre's mother as she turns on her husband/son and Melville's agonizing descriptions of the writing process were two of the book's highlights for me. The Beats loved Pierre--maybe they saw a model for their own art, where elegance takes a back seat to energy. The novel was a critical disaster at the time, but look where it ranks on amazon 150 years later. I hope Melville's somewhere watching.
Customer Reviews:
Action Brain Candy.......2005-05-11
Keith Douglas does a great job describing military action sequences. He makes it easy to get lost in what the SEALs are doing at the moment during the story. This series is great for readers that are action-minded, and simply love it when "stuff blows up".
Just start to a great series!.......2005-04-24
The first in this series and is by far one of the best. While it may seem to start out slow, all first books are like this. This book however heats up and never starts. It will bring to life the characters you will get used to as you read the series,
lets you see their personalities, etc. The action is wonderfully written. A book that can be read more than once.
The one that started it all!!.......2001-05-03
I have read the entire series of Seal Team Seven and still come back to re-read the novel that started it all!! Douglass's initial portrayal of the Team is very authentic - the close ties to the Teams and their brothers-in-arms. Everything seems to have been well though out and kept as realistic as it could be. Too bad after the 4th or 5th novel, this gets lost in a sea of techno-gadgetry and Rambo-esque battles.
Hang on tight for a great roller coaster ride! Hoo-Yaah!.......1998-06-13
This is the book that starts it all. A great book about the Navy SEALs. If you are into the subject, you will love this book and are bound to enjoy the rest of Keith Douglass' series. Great characters and great action! You'll soon be looking for the next book in the series.
Great Story.......1998-01-24
I loved this book! It had an excellent blend of suspense and a good storyline. I love Douglas's description of the battles and how he describes each encounter so thoroughly. I enjoyed reading about the raid on the plutonium carrying boat and how they rescued the ship. This is a great book for anyone who enjoyes other special ops books.
Book Description
Having barely survived a hair-raising archaeological dig in Tikal, Guatemala, Indiana Jones has retumed to New York just in time to get caught up in a controversy. The mysterious writings of Colonel Percy Fawcett, a missing British explorer, have tumed up, and what they describe could revolutionize history--and make or break several scientific reputations. For Percy paints a tantalizing picture of a lost city in the Brazilian jungle and a mythical red-headed race who may be the descendants of ancient Celtic Druids. . .No one loves mystery or adventure more than Indiana Jones. So with his trusty bullwhip in hand and the lovely Deidre Campbell firmly in tow, he sets out for the wilds of the Amazon, but Indy has more enemies than he knows, including a bunch of hard-nosed thugs and a cannibalistic Indian tribe who are out to make him instant history. And if he survives what they throw his way, there's still the fabled city itself. . .where the inhabitants practice the magic of the "seven veils" and no one leaves alive!
Customer Reviews:
This is NOT Indiana Jones............2005-09-16
I understand that with any successful franchise, i.e. star wars, star trek, Indiana Jones, you will get 50+ books from a multitude of authors. Each one will bring their distinctive writing style, and ideas to the character, and try and produce a good book. Sometimes they are successful, and you can actually picture these characters in the story, based on their movies, and you will get a feeling like Indiana Jones actually had that adventure. When I read an Indiana Jones book, I want to picture the crack of the whip, the smart ass grin, and dangerous happenstances he always finds himself in. If you are a fan of the movies, these types of books are almost surely going to disappoint, but like a sucker, I read them anyway, because I enjoy the character, (movies), so much. This book did not stay true to the Indiana Jones character whatsoever, and should be avoided like a piece of bad fruit. I did think it was interesting though, that the picture of the author on the back cover looks like Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Maybe it is, in a sense, Belloq coming back to smear Indiana Jones in an awful book, that has our hero getting married, and following his wife around like a puppy. This is an imposter Indy, and in no way resembles the one we know and love. The author has our hero getting outsmarted, and outclassed at every turn. He is a bumbling archaeologist, who is love sick, and pathetic. We are also treated to some mumbo jumbo religion from nowhere Africa, which takes up way too many pages. I realize every one of the movies has a supernatural element to it, and that this is always intregal to the story, but the author of this book takes up like, 3/4 of the book with information on it, rituals in detail, and all kinds of goofy dreamlike trances, gods(lower case), and meditations...(sigh). Basically this book was a complete waste of time. I will keep reading, though, and hope to find the Indiana Jones I loved as a kid in one of these books.
Easy read and fun.......2005-05-10
This book is not what I would call a literary masterpiece, but I do have to give it extra points for being an easy read. It is fun, fast paced, and has the combination of occult and adventure that spells Indiana Jones. I recommended this to my wife and she is now reading the entire series as well. For those of you who say the "veils" are weird, explain the arc openning ceremony, the thuggie human sacrifice, the knight of the crusades still alive... Need I go on. Read it, you'll like it.
Weird...........2001-08-22
This book started out ok then got weird with all the veiling stuff. It had action but I mean come on this is Indiana Jones! I liked the book, but for gods sake take out the veil ideas!
Seven Veils - a book full of suprises.......2001-05-27
Was Indiana Jones ever married? This book will give you the answer to that question. The storyline to this book is a little far fetched. I enjoyed the continuing love story between Indy and the heroine introduced in last book (Deidre Campbell from Dance of the Giants) more than I did the actual story. Seven Veils didn't quite hold my attention like the first two books did, but it is fun reading and by no means is it a bad book.
It was all right . . ........1999-11-06
. . . the plot about the dreaming city was just too weird and hard to work. There were some good parts, some of the exciting adventure you would expect to see in one of the novels (along with a good dash of romance as well) but for me the book just didn't work that well. Now, if Indy had been looking for the lost tomb of Alexander the Great ...
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