I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything on my blog. It has been a crazy few months. We just came back from California, but that is a story for another blog post….
This particular blog post deals with my very first book review on my blog. I was blessed to received an advanced copy of Image and Likeness: Literary Reflections on the Theology of the Body written by a slew of different authors. In all honesty, it is the first anthology that I have read?? Or is it… I don’t remember… hahaha
Let’s start the review… buckle up…. here we go!!!
This is where you can buy it:
Image and Likeness on Amazon.ca
Image and Likeness on Amazon.com
My overall feeling about the book was that it left me with a sort of unsettling feeling after reading a few of the author contributions. There were some great stories, but there were ones that really left me feeling uncomfortable and very uneasy. I’m not sure if that is the response that I’m supposed to be feeling, but that’s honestly how I felt.
I have read quite a few books about the Theology of the Body, some novels that had TOB related themes, but I never felt the uneasiness I felt reading this collection of stories.
I think a few of the stories got the TOB cry of the heart correct, and the author was able to portray that in his or her work, but for some, I don’t think it related to the TOB themes.
There was a particular story that dealt with superstition. This was probably my least favourite short story. It set up the rest of the book to make me feel extremely uncomfortable. I wondered after reading this story, if this was what all the stories were going to make me feel like. I didn’t want to continue reading the book, but a few of my favourite authors contributed to the anthology, so I decided to keep reading.
One written by Leslie Lynch kept me wanting to know more about the characters in her short story…. What is she going to do?? Will they get married?? Will she go through with it?? I really enjoyed reading her particular short story, and it was one of the reasons I kept reading.
Theresa Linden is another author I enjoyed reading. She wrote a few great stories for this collection, but I think her first story needed a brief introduction. I knew what she was writing about because I have read a number of her novels, so I’ve come across her characters before, but for the untrained Theresa readers, they may not understand that her first short story takes place in a post apocalyptic society. The characters in her story are from her series Chasing Liberty.
Overall, would I read the book again?? Probably not. I might read a few of the stories in the distant future but not the whole book.
Here is a list of the contributing authors
Would I recommend this book?? Maybe… It wouldn’t be the first book I would recommend people read if they were searching for good fiction books on TOB, but if a person was specifically looking for an anthology, I’d recommend it.
Out of 5, I’d probably give it a 2.5. It was okay. The few stories that were great weren’t enough to override the ones that left me feeling restless.
TOBCatholicMom 