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Christopher
Young Christopher Lagorio sees the grandeur of God in the vast Minnesota sky, and in its cold lakes and dark forests. When a Catholic girl introduces him to the Eucharist, Christopher falls in love with her and with the mystery of the Church, but lacks sufficient faith to convert.
Haunted by the heavenly, yet born of this earth, Chris grows toward manhood seeking to discover and become worthy of the perfect girl, but yearning even more to satisfy his God-hunger.
Page by page, mystery by mystery, adventure after adventure, and with ever- growing urgency, Christopher struggles to see the Light that is ever ancient and ever new, and finally to hear the Song that is beyond human language.
A modern love story and a quest for the Holy Grail, Christopher is a tribute to genuine love and to the Faith that shaped the best of our Western Civilization.
Haunted by the heavenly, yet born of this earth, Chris grows toward manhood seeking to discover and become worthy of the perfect girl, but yearning even more to satisfy his God-hunger.
Page by page, mystery by mystery, adventure after adventure, and with ever- growing urgency, Christopher struggles to see the Light that is ever ancient and ever new, and finally to hear the Song that is beyond human language.
A modern love story and a quest for the Holy Grail, Christopher is a tribute to genuine love and to the Faith that shaped the best of our Western Civilization.
- GenresFiction
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 2011
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47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 29, 2012
Closer to five stars.
Three years ago I received the first novel by David Athey, Danny Gospel a novel I thoroughly enjoyed. His new novel Christopher
explores some similar themes, but not a repeat in any way.
The story follows Christopher starting at the age of eleven. Christopher is a lover of nature and does more than to stop to smell the roses, but to really look at a rose. His parents are a sort of hold out from the sixties with his mother being into alternative therapies and vegetarianism. Christopher comes to meet a young girl from a Catholic family whose Catholicism is quite fervent.
This basic plot sounds like a setup of sort with a critique of the sixties and what will obviously happen with Christopher contact with this Catholic family. Though this is not how this story really plays out at all and transcends a setup plot to be something much more fulfilling. The story really kept me guessing and invested into it. Christopher is sort of haunted by contact with a series of Catholic girls in his young adult life and struggles between seeing the theological reality of something and seeing himself in that theological reality himself. His introduction to stories on Grail Knights spark his imagination, and while the novel refers to him as a young knight, he is not a young knight without struggles or temptations. The novel is very frank about these struggles which go beyond silly teenage angst but speak more of the human condition and specifically the struggle towards manhood.
I enjoyed the characters throughout the novel and Christopher's parents are not simple stereotypes, but fully fleshed characters that contribute to the story. A well told novel that while having a good amount of Catholic red meat in it is enjoyable on several levels.
Three years ago I received the first novel by David Athey, Danny Gospel a novel I thoroughly enjoyed. His new novel Christopher
explores some similar themes, but not a repeat in any way.
The story follows Christopher starting at the age of eleven. Christopher is a lover of nature and does more than to stop to smell the roses, but to really look at a rose. His parents are a sort of hold out from the sixties with his mother being into alternative therapies and vegetarianism. Christopher comes to meet a young girl from a Catholic family whose Catholicism is quite fervent.
This basic plot sounds like a setup of sort with a critique of the sixties and what will obviously happen with Christopher contact with this Catholic family. Though this is not how this story really plays out at all and transcends a setup plot to be something much more fulfilling. The story really kept me guessing and invested into it. Christopher is sort of haunted by contact with a series of Catholic girls in his young adult life and struggles between seeing the theological reality of something and seeing himself in that theological reality himself. His introduction to stories on Grail Knights spark his imagination, and while the novel refers to him as a young knight, he is not a young knight without struggles or temptations. The novel is very frank about these struggles which go beyond silly teenage angst but speak more of the human condition and specifically the struggle towards manhood.
I enjoyed the characters throughout the novel and Christopher's parents are not simple stereotypes, but fully fleshed characters that contribute to the story. A well told novel that while having a good amount of Catholic red meat in it is enjoyable on several levels.
March 28, 2012
Disclaimer: I edited this book for Sophia Institute Press so of course I think it's great. A beautiful poetic novel about a young knight in search of the truth -- and the three girls he falls in love with along the way to seeking the Greatest Love.
May 2, 2012
Christopher is an engaging story which follows a boy in search of truth. Even at a young age, Christopher has the ability to see the presence of the holy in the natural world, yet he does not know God fully. Still, his mystical heart continues to search for true love which he must give himself to unconditionally.
July 16, 2012
Beautifully written. I found myself gasping at times, it was so beautiful. It is a growing up story, a boy into a man in the gorgeous city of Duluth, MN. It's also a story of his search for Truth, which he finds in the Catholic church. I enjoyed reading this book, it is lovely and compelling.
June 1, 2012
What a refreshing book! Would recommend it to older teens and up :-) Lots of short chapters that make you want to stay up way too late to see what happens next! I am looking forward to reading more by this author!
September 5, 2013
I hardly ever read "light" material. It's not so much that I'm not interested but whether I would have time to read up on heavier topics and themes. So when my friend Phil gave me this book, I was unsure if I would actually read it.
I ended up LOVING THE BOOK! I related to the main character in unfathomable ways! It was like watching some of my own love stories unfold, and so many of the events Christopher went through were realistic but intriguing.
The author used the short chapter method. I was a dummy for this style since it made me want to read more, and get to the next point in the story, and see how it develops. The last time I read a book with the same method was back five years ago when I read DA VINCI CODE. It's a great method to have short chapters so to keep your reader's interest.
As for the material, it's not incredibly lighthearted. The story follows Christopher as he grows up from being a very young boy to being a thought-filled teen. He isn't religious, but is deeply thoughtful with his connection to nature and the metaphysical dynamics all around him. The following citation gives you a glimpse into the author's style and the character's thought process:
"The boy's head became feverish, the big questions flashing like lightning. He struggled to think: how did people believe in a shrunken God so tiny that it could enter their hearts? If God existed...an all-consuming fire...then nobody could survive the touch of such a destroying Creator."
Indeed, this novel is about finding a bridge between nature and the Creator, between passionate desire and respectful dating. Each of the women Chris meets is as evangelically Catholic as the last, and Chris is not shy in being doubtful.
In fact, it is through his own doubts that he finds a bridge between the finite and the infinite.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read a love story but wants to have some spiritual substance as well. Young men should read this book, especially young agnostic men. They may learn a thing or two from Christopher's ponderings on the poetic wonders of our own surroundings.
I ended up LOVING THE BOOK! I related to the main character in unfathomable ways! It was like watching some of my own love stories unfold, and so many of the events Christopher went through were realistic but intriguing.
The author used the short chapter method. I was a dummy for this style since it made me want to read more, and get to the next point in the story, and see how it develops. The last time I read a book with the same method was back five years ago when I read DA VINCI CODE. It's a great method to have short chapters so to keep your reader's interest.
As for the material, it's not incredibly lighthearted. The story follows Christopher as he grows up from being a very young boy to being a thought-filled teen. He isn't religious, but is deeply thoughtful with his connection to nature and the metaphysical dynamics all around him. The following citation gives you a glimpse into the author's style and the character's thought process:
"The boy's head became feverish, the big questions flashing like lightning. He struggled to think: how did people believe in a shrunken God so tiny that it could enter their hearts? If God existed...an all-consuming fire...then nobody could survive the touch of such a destroying Creator."
Indeed, this novel is about finding a bridge between nature and the Creator, between passionate desire and respectful dating. Each of the women Chris meets is as evangelically Catholic as the last, and Chris is not shy in being doubtful.
In fact, it is through his own doubts that he finds a bridge between the finite and the infinite.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read a love story but wants to have some spiritual substance as well. Young men should read this book, especially young agnostic men. They may learn a thing or two from Christopher's ponderings on the poetic wonders of our own surroundings.
July 25, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Christopher, and would recommend it to anyone who likes to be moved and grown by a story. It's full of incredible pockets of imagery and epiphany that grip you, and cause you to pause and give space to them within yourself.
The author is no doubt a poet; this shows through in Athey's perception of the natural world and the inner life of a young man as he comes of age. However, this is not simply a coming-of-age story; it is also a dance of pursuit and retreat between Christopher Lagorio and the mystery of faith, and a very believable dance at that. Athey unpacks deep theological and philosophical truths with ease and poignancy along Christopher's journey. Athey also walks a fine line between wit and substance, and keeps the chapters relatively short, which personally kept me hooked. The pace of the novel is genius. I read it in only three sittings about a month ago, and the story still lingers inside me.
In short, Christopher is the kind of book that stays with you long after you finish reading and close the cover. It will make more of you by stretching your imagination and thoughts on faith and nature, and it will remind you of the reason why you read in the first place.
The author is no doubt a poet; this shows through in Athey's perception of the natural world and the inner life of a young man as he comes of age. However, this is not simply a coming-of-age story; it is also a dance of pursuit and retreat between Christopher Lagorio and the mystery of faith, and a very believable dance at that. Athey unpacks deep theological and philosophical truths with ease and poignancy along Christopher's journey. Athey also walks a fine line between wit and substance, and keeps the chapters relatively short, which personally kept me hooked. The pace of the novel is genius. I read it in only three sittings about a month ago, and the story still lingers inside me.
In short, Christopher is the kind of book that stays with you long after you finish reading and close the cover. It will make more of you by stretching your imagination and thoughts on faith and nature, and it will remind you of the reason why you read in the first place.
April 28, 2016
Poetic and profound.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews