"But how should I tell it? When we are young we assume that, in age, we will be able to look back and remember our lives. But just as we forget the details of a story a few months after hearing it, so do the years hang like old clothes, forgotten in the wardrobe of our minds. Did I wear that? Who was I then?"
A spellbinding tale of two men: Father Paul Michel looks back at his life as a Canadian missionary on the desperately poor island of Ganae. He has rescued a black child from abject poverty. Jeannot, the child, becomes a priest and urges his people to rise against the people who oppress them and as a consequence, makes deadly enemies of the Vatican in Rome, the selfish mulatto rich and the ruling military. When the dictator of the island country dies, Jeannot runs for President and is elected. But his enemies will stop at nothing to destroy him.
Father Paul also has to deal with his dying mother's plea that he should leave priesthood telling him "I believed in God...I believed I had a soul that was immortal. But I have no soul. When we die, there is nothing...There is no other life."
-o0o-
as you read through this novel, you will recognize the similarity of the island country of Ganae to Haiti. the novel frankly questions our ideals of love, faith and power and explores the dangers one encounters when taking up the causes of the poor and the oppressed.
-o0o-
my camera is an idiot. it tells me i took this picture next month. well, the good thing is that we know i'm still alive then.
@cscecil - intense, indeed. anytime religion and politics are pitted in a novel, it has to be intense. i saw this church uptown this morning as partner and i drove by. funny thing: one camera gives me a date from a year ago, the other gives me an advance date. why, i'm like a time traveller! thank you so much, CS.
@pamfromcalgary - riveting. intense. and very well written. i guess, until i can reset the date on that camera, i will have to continue time travelling. :-) thanks so much, pam.
@bkbinthecity - you know, when i posted this picture last night, i was so tired and i didn't even recognized that the three crosses can actually related to love, faith and power, until now i read your comments. i guess i was more consumed by the picture's advance date than anything else. thanks to you, i got the meaning of my own picture. ;-)
@sunnygreenwood - thank you, anne. i have read all these books either recently or in the past and i refresh my memory of it by looking at the pages that i have marked while i was reading them. if five of my friends each gets to read at least one of these books, i think that will make the challenge a success. right @danig?
Right yep I'm reading so fast at the moment cos I have all these great books arriving from the library this week!
Time travel hey! If I bring my wand can we hang out in your time machine? Ooh how much fun would that be!
Oh btw I LOVE this photo, colours, shapes, perspective. Fabulosa!
@steeler - thank you, howard. the sky was beautiful "next month" when i took the pic. today is crappy although i went out early (though not early enough to catch the sunrise) and took some pics.
@danig - bring an extra wand, as a back up. i'm pretty sure my broom can carry us both :-) people better watch out eh because that would be a lot of fun for us if that indeed became a possibility.
there's one more box that is still taped. wonder which book it will be. or maybe i should do away with it now. i'm hosting my last radio show tonight at 9:00. want to listen?
@altadc - yay! that is great, alta! i have no idea what they cost, because i so prefer to hold the paperbook in my hand. the nice thing in bookstores here is that there's always a sale on books.
@patticake - thank you, patti. the processing was done 'in camera' so does that make it sooc? (i don't know what i pressed to do this, gotta try to understand the camera first. it's talking to me in gibberish :-))
August 22nd, 2011
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@sunnygreenwood - thank you, anne. i have read all these books either recently or in the past and i refresh my memory of it by looking at the pages that i have marked while i was reading them. if five of my friends each gets to read at least one of these books, i think that will make the challenge a success. right @danig?
Time travel hey! If I bring my wand can we hang out in your time machine? Ooh how much fun would that be!
Oh btw I LOVE this photo, colours, shapes, perspective. Fabulosa!
there's one more box that is still taped. wonder which book it will be. or maybe i should do away with it now. i'm hosting my last radio show tonight at 9:00. want to listen?