Home › Books › The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the …
The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle
by
82/99
Critics' Rating Index
14/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
66/99
Volume of Reviews
32/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
For Sarah Krasnostein it begins with a Mennonite choir performing on a subway platform, a fleeting moment of witness that sets her on a fascinating journey to find out why people need to believe in absolute truths and what happens when their beliefs crash into her own. Some of the people Krasnostein interviews believe in things many people do not. Ghosts. UFOs. The literal creation of the universe in six days. Some believe in things most people would like to. Dying with dignity and autonomy. Facing up to our transgressions with truthfulness. Living with integrity and compassion. By turns devastating and delighting, and captured in snapshot-vivid detail, these six profiles with a death doula, a geologist who believes the world is six thousand years old, a lecturer in neurobiology who spends his weekends ghost hunting, the fiancé of a disappeared pilot and UFO enthusiasts, a woman incarcerated for killing her husband after suffering years of domestic violence, and Mennonite families in New York will leave you convinced that the most ordinary-seeming people are often the most remarkable and that deep and abiding commonalities can be found within the greatest differences. Vivid, unconventional, entertaining, and full of wonder, Krasnostein interweaves the stories of these believers with compassion and empathy, culminating in an unforgettable tour of the human condition that cuts to the core of who we are as people, and what we're doing on this earth.
Reviews
"Throughout, Krasnostein is measured and respectful of her interviewees while being forthright about beliefs she finds unconvincing or even distasteful."
"The profiles are fascinating—I can't imagine talking to paranormal enthusiasts for more than 10 minutes without nodding off or secretly checking my phone, but Krasnostein's portraits left me feeling melancholy all the same."
"Krasnostein's writing is lyrical and stylish, and imaginative in a way that often feels invigorating ..."
"This would be a very different, and less compelling book, if Krasnostein feigned agnosticism about who is more right then wrong, which she does not ..."
"While Krasnostein spent a remarkable amount of time with each of her subjects, meeting with some over a period of years, we only spend a few pages at a time with them ..."
"[a] thoughtful meditation on humans' desire for certainty, security, and solace ..."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!