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Sister North
Sam was a Chicago lawyer content to drift though life on his good looks and his wife's money, until a violent crime shatters his world. Newly addicted to watching Sister North, a nun with a popular television show, Sam embarks on a trip to Lake Eagleton, Wisconsin, to see the nun personally, seeking forgiveness and spiritual guidance. In Lake Eagleton, he finds out much more about Sister North, himself, and falling in love than he ever expected. Sister North is a novel of forgiveness and hope that takes a poignant and humorous look at what passes for love and faith in the twenty-first century.
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
7 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Jim Kokoris
15 books74 followersChicago-area novelist Jim Kokoris is the author of three books, "The Rich Part of Life," "Sister North," and "The Pursuit of Other Interests." His books have been published in 15 languages and have been optioned for film consideration. The winner of The Friends Of American Writers Award for Best First Novel ( 2001), his humor essays have appeared regularly in The Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine.
He is married and has three sons.
He is married and has three sons.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 1, 2017
DNF - 50% through, hate spending time with the protagonist and getting bored with the story.
February 22, 2016
SUMMARY: Sam was content to drift aimlessly through life on his good looks and his wife’s money, until one day when tragedy strikes and shatters his world. When drinking fails to ease his pain – indeed, makes it worse – Sam sets out to find Sister North, a popular television personality, seeking meaning,forgiveness,and hope. COMMENTS: The characters in this book are real characters, funny and sad at the same time. Getting to know Sam in many ways is getting to know oneself.
August 15, 2007
For those in a life crisis, you will find much in common. The story of an almost smarmy lawyer (I think) who, after tragedy occurs in his life, turns to the TV to find Sister North, a nun with her own TV show. He makes a pilgrimage to the place where she lives, in order she may help him with his problems. Delightful and entertaining. Set in Chicago.
March 17, 2016
I think I love Jim Kokoris. What a fun book. Weird, complicated characters with unique settings and situations. I told my husband this morning if Mr. K wrote my oatmeal directions I think I would love to read it. Wonderfully fractured people. Good story.
August 5, 2020
Sister North, by Jim Kokoris, 2003. I enjoyed reading this novel, the second one I’ve read by Jim Kokoris (the other was In Pursuit of Other Interests). Kokoris captures some of the wackiness of life and the diversity of people in it with narrative that keeps the story moving forward and dialogue that gradually opens characters up to the reader’s compassion and comprehension. And characters there are – a petty car thief confidant, an out-for-a-buck small town operator, a prowling middle-aged regular, an Army General and his wife from Nebraska, and a mysterious nun-healer, among others. What I find interesting about the author’s approach in Sister North is that the eccentricity of nearly everyone in the book is what hit me first, but the characters’ humanity – their pain, their gifts, their reality – emerges through the pages, until what you see at the end is a community. A community that is transient, ephemeral even, but a community.
On the last page of Sister North, Willie (the itinerant now ex-car thief) is leaving and says to Sam (the main character):
“Hey, Sam, got one last question for you. Been thinking about this. You think it too late to change, too late to be good?”
Sam thought about this, saw the question hanging between them…He smiled. “I hope not,” he said.
Willie looked at him, thinking. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s a good answer.”
A good answer, and a powerful ending, reminiscent of one of my favorite quotations from Seamus Heaney. From Heaney:
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.
On the last page of Sister North, Willie (the itinerant now ex-car thief) is leaving and says to Sam (the main character):
“Hey, Sam, got one last question for you. Been thinking about this. You think it too late to change, too late to be good?”
Sam thought about this, saw the question hanging between them…He smiled. “I hope not,” he said.
Willie looked at him, thinking. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s a good answer.”
A good answer, and a powerful ending, reminiscent of one of my favorite quotations from Seamus Heaney. From Heaney:
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.
September 9, 2018
Sister North by Jim Kokoris
Sam, an attorney from Chicago led a mundane life. Down on his luck after a tragic (violent) incident, which greatly impacted his life. He starts to watch Sister North on T.V. and feels he may have a chance at redemption, if only he could talk to the Nun. He travels to Lake Eagleton Wisconsin to meet Sister North and speak to her personally. But when he arrives he finds she is missing, not sure when she is coming back, or if she will return at all.
An original story that moves at a steady pace with complex characters. Each person wants to speak to the Nun for their own personal reason. Each is battling their own demons, yet they all seek the same thing, guidance, forgiveness, acceptance. With vivid detail and raw emotions I really got to feel what each person felt, especially Sam. Troubled as he may be, I was still hoping he was able to find what he was looking for. Overall I found Sister North an (emotional) enjoyable read and feel others will enjoy it as well.
Sam, an attorney from Chicago led a mundane life. Down on his luck after a tragic (violent) incident, which greatly impacted his life. He starts to watch Sister North on T.V. and feels he may have a chance at redemption, if only he could talk to the Nun. He travels to Lake Eagleton Wisconsin to meet Sister North and speak to her personally. But when he arrives he finds she is missing, not sure when she is coming back, or if she will return at all.
An original story that moves at a steady pace with complex characters. Each person wants to speak to the Nun for their own personal reason. Each is battling their own demons, yet they all seek the same thing, guidance, forgiveness, acceptance. With vivid detail and raw emotions I really got to feel what each person felt, especially Sam. Troubled as he may be, I was still hoping he was able to find what he was looking for. Overall I found Sister North an (emotional) enjoyable read and feel others will enjoy it as well.
April 25, 2011
I first became a fan of Jim Korkoris after reading his terrific novel, The Pursuit of Other Interests. This book showcases all the same talents -- a highly readable writing style, well-developed characters, an engaging plot with enough dramatic twists to make you want to keep reading, and a light comic touch mixed with enough drama to make the goings-on in his books seem like slices of real life.
While "Pursuit ... " offered a great snapshot of all the challenges faced by someone who's lost their job, this book explores a more unique situation. A pretty boy lawyer, Sam, is bored with his small-time practice. He had a taste of the big time after marrying an overweight woman just because she was rich and the marriage enabled him to work for his father-in-law in a powerhouse law firm. After she lost weight and got her life together, though, she dropped him, and now he's struggling to keep a small practice afloat. His life gets complicated when a crazed husband who just lost a custody battle wants to take his anger out on all the lawyers who worked for his ex-wife. He shows up at Sam's office with a gun and kills Sam's secretary and then himself, and Sam escapes unscathed.
Wracked with survivor's guilt, Sam's only solace is watching a TV show hosted by a nun, who takes calls, offering hope to the hopeless. Sam decides to travel to the small lake town in Wisconsin where the nun lives, hoping for a chance to meet her.
But the nun is mysteriously absent when he arrives, and that becomes one of the book's 2 minor problems. The books takes on a Waiting for Godot feel, and it gets a little frustrating as you, the reader, must wait, as all the people who show up in town hoping to see her, must wait too, and decipher all the rumors that make you suspect she may never arrive or that she may even be dead. The nun, then becomes less important, as the story focuses on the relationship that develops between all the nun's fans -- burn victims, cancer patients, parents of missing children -- and the town's rsidents, who are milking the nun's popularity for everything they can get, charging ridiculous rates for hotels and selling T-shirts and bric-a-brac with her likeness on it.
The cast of characters are more than a bit quirky -- the hotelier who's overweight, wear muumuus and pines for his dead kitten, the former general who's hoping for insight on his lost son, and who inserts himself into conversations and likes to talk about bizarrely inappropriate topics (why he likes porn) at any time and in any company. En route to Wisconsin, Sam also hooks up with a hitchiker who it seems may try to steal his car, but then lingers in the town and pursues his goal of becoming a magician. They all teeter on the edge of being a little too adorable, but Korkoris gives them enough complexity and a potent combination of noble and selfish traits to make each of them believable and interesting.
The other main problem is that Sam develops a love interest with a woman (Meg, the nun's personal assistant) who hardly ever talks. She has her own mysterious past, which doesn't unravel until the very end. She barely speaks to anyone and her only interest is in running. (She would have competed in the Olympics if she hadn't tripped in a trial run.) It's hard to develop a rooting interest in their romantic attachment when all she and Sam do is run together. They both work on the restoration of the nun's house after a devastating storm, but most of the time she avoids Sam and when she does interact with him, it is only to convey necessary information, in the briefest of exchanges.
Still, Korkoris does mine her inarticulateness for some comic effect -- she hosts a Beatles night at the restaurant where she works and everyone hangs out, but in her role as DJ for the evening all she does between songs is introduce the title of the next one. Patrick, the socially clumsy general who vocalizes the awkward issues everyone else has the commonsense to keep quiet about, observes that it's not much of a show. And anytime Meg's on stage, it isn't.
In the final quarter of the book, though, everything starts to come together, and the lessons the book offers about how to fashion a reasonably content life for yourself after a devastating tragedy are compelling and make for both an entertaining and enlightening read.
While "Pursuit ... " offered a great snapshot of all the challenges faced by someone who's lost their job, this book explores a more unique situation. A pretty boy lawyer, Sam, is bored with his small-time practice. He had a taste of the big time after marrying an overweight woman just because she was rich and the marriage enabled him to work for his father-in-law in a powerhouse law firm. After she lost weight and got her life together, though, she dropped him, and now he's struggling to keep a small practice afloat. His life gets complicated when a crazed husband who just lost a custody battle wants to take his anger out on all the lawyers who worked for his ex-wife. He shows up at Sam's office with a gun and kills Sam's secretary and then himself, and Sam escapes unscathed.
Wracked with survivor's guilt, Sam's only solace is watching a TV show hosted by a nun, who takes calls, offering hope to the hopeless. Sam decides to travel to the small lake town in Wisconsin where the nun lives, hoping for a chance to meet her.
But the nun is mysteriously absent when he arrives, and that becomes one of the book's 2 minor problems. The books takes on a Waiting for Godot feel, and it gets a little frustrating as you, the reader, must wait, as all the people who show up in town hoping to see her, must wait too, and decipher all the rumors that make you suspect she may never arrive or that she may even be dead. The nun, then becomes less important, as the story focuses on the relationship that develops between all the nun's fans -- burn victims, cancer patients, parents of missing children -- and the town's rsidents, who are milking the nun's popularity for everything they can get, charging ridiculous rates for hotels and selling T-shirts and bric-a-brac with her likeness on it.
The cast of characters are more than a bit quirky -- the hotelier who's overweight, wear muumuus and pines for his dead kitten, the former general who's hoping for insight on his lost son, and who inserts himself into conversations and likes to talk about bizarrely inappropriate topics (why he likes porn) at any time and in any company. En route to Wisconsin, Sam also hooks up with a hitchiker who it seems may try to steal his car, but then lingers in the town and pursues his goal of becoming a magician. They all teeter on the edge of being a little too adorable, but Korkoris gives them enough complexity and a potent combination of noble and selfish traits to make each of them believable and interesting.
The other main problem is that Sam develops a love interest with a woman (Meg, the nun's personal assistant) who hardly ever talks. She has her own mysterious past, which doesn't unravel until the very end. She barely speaks to anyone and her only interest is in running. (She would have competed in the Olympics if she hadn't tripped in a trial run.) It's hard to develop a rooting interest in their romantic attachment when all she and Sam do is run together. They both work on the restoration of the nun's house after a devastating storm, but most of the time she avoids Sam and when she does interact with him, it is only to convey necessary information, in the briefest of exchanges.
Still, Korkoris does mine her inarticulateness for some comic effect -- she hosts a Beatles night at the restaurant where she works and everyone hangs out, but in her role as DJ for the evening all she does between songs is introduce the title of the next one. Patrick, the socially clumsy general who vocalizes the awkward issues everyone else has the commonsense to keep quiet about, observes that it's not much of a show. And anytime Meg's on stage, it isn't.
In the final quarter of the book, though, everything starts to come together, and the lessons the book offers about how to fashion a reasonably content life for yourself after a devastating tragedy are compelling and make for both an entertaining and enlightening read.
November 28, 2011
This is the story of a man who has lost his way in his life after his wife divorces him and he witnesses the shooting death of his secretary. He decides to drive out to see and talk to Sister North, a talk show host/nun who he feels can give him the answers to his life's questions. Unfortunately, the nun has left town and no one is quite sure when she'll return. Most of the book is spent after he gets to town, following him as he fills his time waiting for her to return.
I thought I'd enjoy this book much more. I like books where there isn't much action except for internal changes in the characters. Unfortunately, I didn't like the main characters at all. I thought a lot of their actions didn't make any sense. I didn't feel the growth and changes that were supposedly taking place. Finally, what happens with Sister North herself (avoiding spoilers) seemed a cop out.
I thought I'd enjoy this book much more. I like books where there isn't much action except for internal changes in the characters. Unfortunately, I didn't like the main characters at all. I thought a lot of their actions didn't make any sense. I didn't feel the growth and changes that were supposedly taking place. Finally, what happens with Sister North herself (avoiding spoilers) seemed a cop out.
July 4, 2009
3.75 stars. I just love Kokoris's writing style. It's frank, not overdone or flowery, and it projects a dry sense of humor. This is the second Kokoris book I've read and so far both have been packed with quirky and unique characters. Although, I didn't find this one quite as good as The Rich Part of Life I still enjoyed the story of Sam--a self absorbed underachiever who is inwardly conflicted and looking for a second chance in life.
October 31, 2015
I enjoyed this book. Easy read, but it didn't suck me in. I think this one can impact you more depending on where you are in life when you read it. (I did like the Wisconsin part, and I also liked the early humour. Would have liked to see more of his humour, cause it is catch you off guard humour that makes you chuckle.)
I might want to read his first book, as I hear it is better.
I might want to read his first book, as I hear it is better.
May 29, 2016
Really should be 3 1/2 stars. It was oddly good - I felt I knew where it was going, long before it got there, but it was still interesting reading.
August 15, 2007
I read Kokoris' Rich Part of Life and loved it, so I thought I'd try his second book. Definitely darker, I didn't find it quite as appealing in either characters or plot. It reminded me a lot of Anne Tyler's Saint Maybe, with a theme of redemption through being good.
February 18, 2011
I really like the author's writing style. He makes you feel that you are right there with the characters and sharing their experiences. This is a warm and funny book well worth the read. Kokoris is one of my favorite authors!
June 29, 2008
An easy read, I read through it because it attained my interest thoughout...however, the ending left me wishing for something more. Also, my friend's cousin is the author.
August 8, 2010
I loved this book! Warm, whimsical, and very human.
January 21, 2011
I wanted this to be as good as his other novel, The Rich Part of Life, which I loved. It wasn't. Stupid story, boring characters, lame ending.
March 5, 2011
Another great book by Jim Kokoris. This one is funny and touching and absurd-loved it!
June 13, 2011
I liked The Rich Part of Life so much better than this book. I didn't have any connection to the characters in this book and I really didn't care for the plot.
December 24, 2011
Jaded lawyer goes to small town to meet a TV nun, meets wacky small town characters, has inner epiphanie and becomes a new man with purpose in his life. Whatever.
Read
May 25, 2012Loved this book & this writer. Poignant, funny & clever. Great story of redemption with a cast of truly unique characters.
November 15, 2012
Grade: B
December 28, 2015
After the first twenty pages or so, I was tempted to stop; however, I persevered and came to enjoy this book. By the time I finished, I was glad I read it.
May 14, 2016
The book had a strong start, but for me the story began to drag...a bit like "Waiting for Godot". Perhaps it was meant to pause. Interesting pretense, though; I enjoy Kokoris' quirky stories.
April 2, 2022
If I didn't have a rule about finishing books I start, I definitely would have quit reading this one. The end was okay, making it (almost) 3 stars.
December 18, 2016
ANOTHER HAPPY NOV
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews