Open Heart: Part Two of the Book of Bebb

by Frederick Buechner

After inheriting one hundred thousand dollars from a loyal Indian friend, elderly Leo Bebb moves to the North to begin an evangelist movement

Genres: Fiction

275 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1972

About the author

Frederick Buechner is a highly influential writer and theologian who has won awards for his poetry, short stories, novels and theological writings. His work pioneered the genre of spiritual memoir, laying the groundwork for writers such as Anne Lamott, Rob Bell and Lauren Winner.

His first book, A Long Day's Dying, was published to acclaim just two years after he graduated from Princeton. He entered Union Theological Seminary in 1954 where he studied under renowned theologians that included Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and James Muilenberg. In 1955, his short story "The Tiger" which had been published in the New Yorker won the O. Henry Prize.

After seminary he spent nine years at Phillips Exeter Academy, establishing a religion department and teaching courses in both religion and English. Among his students was the future author, John Irving. In 1969 he gave the Noble Lectures at Harvard. He presented a theological autobiography on a day in his life, which was published as The Alphabet of Grace.

In the years that followed he began publishing more novels, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Godric. At the same time, he was also writing a series of spiritual autobiographies. A central theme in his theological writing is looking for God in the everyday, listening and paying attention, to hear God speak to people through their personal lives.

Reviews

[Craig Childs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy Buechner's novels, and a lot of readers consider the four volumes that comprise THE BOOK OF BEBB to be his finest. But they didn't work for me at all.

These books lack the succint, straightforward, proignant style of Buechner's later novels like SON OF LAUGHTER and ON THE ROAD WITH THE ARCHANGEL. Instead, these stories are an uneasy mix of
slapstick humor, theological rumination, existential angst, and melodrama.

It was hard to care for the characters, who are either overly passive (like the narrator and his wife) or simply too erratic and quirky to be believable (like the enigmatic Leo Bebb and his various cohorts and relatives).I felt like Buechner tried to turn all of them into "lovable losers"
but instead they just kept coming off as just bizarre and pitiful.

The writing style itself veers from coarse to poetical to overwrought--often all within a single scene. Metaphors tended to be overused and overworked, which made for tedious reading.

BOOK OF BEBB is out of print, but older copies are easy to find on the internet. Also, an e-book for kindle is now available. It can be purchased as a single-volume edition, or each novel can be found separately:
1. LION COUNTRY
2. OPEN HEART
3. LOVE FEAST
4. TREASURE HUNT

[Porter Sprigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beuchner falls into the same trap his narrator accuses himself of. Shapelessness that leads to boredom.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book of Bebb is another 2.5/5. Again, I find the story is more about Antonio Parr than Leo Bebb. I enjoyed it a bit more than "Lion Country." Having just read a short piece by Timothy Larsen where he critiques John Updike for being too obsessed with sexual infidelity, I'm inclined to think Buechner might be guilty of the same in the Bebb saga. Also, Bebb's failed attempts to start a Southern-style revival church, which is purportedly the driving plot of "Open Heart" according to the blurb on the back of the book, is a minimal plot-line at best.

[J. Alfred · Rating 3 out of 5]

At one point in this book, Bebb, the larger-than-life saint or insane person or sex criminal (or all three?) says that he's "Broker than the ten commandments," and in a text that centers around adultery, violence, and despair (that's probably implied in one of the big ten, right?) this pretty much hits the spot. It also highlights Buechner's facility with speech and his ability to get live people into his books.
Also: the seventies must have been weird times.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent second book about Bebb, the flamboyant evangelist. Better than Lion Country, the first one. Many poignant scenes, including a trip in which Leo our protagonist travels by train shortly after learning of a terrible family secret. One of the best chapters I've read in a long time. Sometimes perhaps Buechner's imagination gets the best of him and he ends up in places that are just downright weird, but perseverance is well worth the payoff. Musings on the past, on forgiveness, on the fruit of charity, on what-ifs are often profound in this work. I'd recommend it on its own except the reader'd be pretty lost not having read Lion Country first.

[Bull Weaver · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely one of Buechner's weaker books. He relies to much on assuming the reader can 'fill in the blank' on what the characters of his novels are really doing and thinking. Sometimes that's not possible. I read most of this aloud to another person and found myself constantly finishing unfinished sentences that Buechner just left the reader guessing about. As a fiction writer myself, this is a bad job of fiction, and I'd say that about anyone who used the same open-ended cryptic technique. He did better with Brendan, Godric, The Storm, Son of Laughter, and the Wizard's Tide (though that was largely autobiographical). Even Lion Country, the first of the Book of Bebb was better than this. Don't know if I'll bother to try reading the last two novels in that series.

[Sarrah Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one where Lucille (Bebb's wife) disappears and we wonder where she's gone. She's never felt that Bebb truly loved her, and she dies in her rocking chair (whose motion "acts like a pump" and causes the blood to spurt unceasingly out of the scars on her arm) while Brownie reads chapters from the Bible to her. Herman Redpath goes on an insane spritual journey to "Heaven", Sharon decides to sleep with Tony (Tono, her husband's nephew) and Bebb takes the family to Europe to escape it all.

[Josiah Pitts · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable sequel to Lion Country , but I never found myself quite as dazzled with this one. Still, a good entry in the book of Bebb. I'm eager to see where these characters will end up when it's all said and done.

[Rocky Curtiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am loving the story of Leo Bebb, but mostly for Frederick Beuchner's writing. So descriptive and real as he brings out not only the sights, but also the sounds and smells. I am in awe.

[Elizabeth Payne]

giving up on this...maybe I'll try again some day, but it's just kind of a weird story and I really don't know what the point or meaning is

[Scott Gamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.58

[Brenda Funk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I do believe this series is growing on me. I liked this novel better than the first in the series. I am finding the characters and the writing has a way of sticking in the mind as I continue to ponder them long after the book is done -- for me usually one of the markers of good literature.

[Linda Gaines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read it. Still excellent

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Lion Country I had to find out what happens next to Bebb and his entourage. Charlatan or genius - probably both. Never a dull moment with Buechner.