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Wounded: A Love Story
If a miracle happened to you, wouldn't you tell everyone? What if they thought you were crazy?
Poor in health but rich in faith, Gina Merritt—a young, broke, African-American single mother—sits in a pew on Ash Wednesday and has a holy vision. When it fades, her palms are bleeding. Anthony Priest, the junkie sitting beside her, instinctively touches her when she cries out, but Gina flees in shock and pain. A prize-winning journalist before drugs destroyed his career, Anthony is flooded with a sense of well-being and knows he is cured of his addiction. Without understanding why, Anthony follows Gina home to find some answers. Together they search for an answer to this miraculous event and along the way they cross paths with a skeptical evangelical pastor, a gentle Catholic priest, a certifiable religious zealot, and an oversized transvestite drug dealer, all of whom lend their opinion. It's a quest for truth, sanity, and grace . and an unexpected love story.
Poor in health but rich in faith, Gina Merritt—a young, broke, African-American single mother—sits in a pew on Ash Wednesday and has a holy vision. When it fades, her palms are bleeding. Anthony Priest, the junkie sitting beside her, instinctively touches her when she cries out, but Gina flees in shock and pain. A prize-winning journalist before drugs destroyed his career, Anthony is flooded with a sense of well-being and knows he is cured of his addiction. Without understanding why, Anthony follows Gina home to find some answers. Together they search for an answer to this miraculous event and along the way they cross paths with a skeptical evangelical pastor, a gentle Catholic priest, a certifiable religious zealot, and an oversized transvestite drug dealer, all of whom lend their opinion. It's a quest for truth, sanity, and grace . and an unexpected love story.
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
6 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Claudia Mair Burney
13 books135 followersClaudia Mair Burney is the author of the novel Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White, as well as the Amanda Bell Brown Mysteries and the Exorsista series for teens. Her work has appeared in Discipleship Journal magazine, The One Year Life Verse Devotional Bible, and Justice in the Burbs. She lives in Michigan with her husband, five of their seven children, and a quirky dwarf rabbit.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 1, 2009
This is a difficult book to review. It has so many different things: tragedy, self-discovery, love, redemption, religion, and so much more woven together seamlessly.
I love Ms. Burney's affinity for flawed/broken people. The heroine is a young, black, single mother who struggles with fibromyalgia, depression, and a bipolar personality. The hero is a former award-winning journalist who is slowly killing himself through an addiction to heroin.
I won't bother with the details of the plot, but I will say that this is one of the most enjoyable Sunday school lessons that I have had outside of church. The Anthony Priest character relates the stories of various saints and stigmatas in such a way that you find yourself waiting expectantly for the next time he says, "Let me tell you a story."
You WILL find some of yourself in this books. We share in the characters' searches for love/acceptance, family, and home while examining our own tendencies towards insecurity, prejudice, and self-destruction.
But, best of all, you're reminded that miracles can happen.
I love Ms. Burney's affinity for flawed/broken people. The heroine is a young, black, single mother who struggles with fibromyalgia, depression, and a bipolar personality. The hero is a former award-winning journalist who is slowly killing himself through an addiction to heroin.
I won't bother with the details of the plot, but I will say that this is one of the most enjoyable Sunday school lessons that I have had outside of church. The Anthony Priest character relates the stories of various saints and stigmatas in such a way that you find yourself waiting expectantly for the next time he says, "Let me tell you a story."
You WILL find some of yourself in this books. We share in the characters' searches for love/acceptance, family, and home while examining our own tendencies towards insecurity, prejudice, and self-destruction.
But, best of all, you're reminded that miracles can happen.
February 22, 2018
4.5 stars actually.
One of the most unusual, memorable books I've ever read. And the perfect read for Lent, which is not something you can say about very many books!
(Side note: Goodreads, please allow ratings to include half-stars already!)
One of the most unusual, memorable books I've ever read. And the perfect read for Lent, which is not something you can say about very many books!
(Side note: Goodreads, please allow ratings to include half-stars already!)
December 21, 2008
This book is really beautiful. It is the story of an unlikely woman who receives stigmata. The author uses really wonderful language to talk about God, and weaves in the poetry of St. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi and several other mystics. It also gives interesting portrayals of Christianity in America today, from a Vineyard church to Catholicism to a new monastic community. Fascinating read and very hard to put down...I really loved it!
February 18, 2009
A touching story, but somehow not what I was expecting.
December 31, 2015
This book was not what I expected.. but in a good way. very touching story. This was my first time reading anything by Claudia Mair Burney but I'm looking forward to reading more by her.
December 2, 2021
This book was amazing!!!!
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July 18, 2018There was nothing special about Gina Merritt's worship that Ash Wednesday. Her prayer of "Share with me, Jesus" was her normal breath prayer of choice: "I dug my little prayer because it was my way of asking Jesus to bear my cross, while at the same time opening my hands to receive a portion of His. I loved Him." As a young, single mother with bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia, Gina was familiar with sacrifice, pain, and suffering, but when her prayer is answered with the sudden onset of stigmata, the concepts of suffering and healing take on completely new dimensions in her life.
Wounded was a tough read for me. It engaged me in really thoughtful, spiritual, challenging ways. The story dealt with so many big issues: faith, mysteries, miracles, stories, pain, trust, redemption, and love. The book's subtitle is "a love story," and this was primarily a love story between Gina and God. I found the way Gina sometimes conceptualized her relationship to God unexpectedly unconventional, but step by step, it made sense in terms of who she was and what she needed, and there's probably no such thing as a conventional relationship with God.
The secondary love story was between Gina and Anthony Priest, the heroin-addicted journalist who witnessed the onset of her stigmata. Believing his addiction was healed by Gina's touch, he follows her to her home, and together and apart, the two of them search for truth.
The story was told in multiple first-person POV sections, and Burney did an excellent job keeping the characters, and their reactions to each other, distinct. I loved that these characters were not perfect people. The actions of the characters were born of their personalities and their histories, not any demands of the plot or a need to have Christians act a certain way. I don't read a lot of Christian fiction, but my biggest pet peeve when I do is that the characters are far too perfect or too morally superior, or their flaws are all superficial and unchallenging. But Wounded was a story about really wrestling with faith and doubt, not about how to be perfect in one's Christianity or how Christianity solves everything. It's about how to be where you need to be, and how to be whole, and how to love (God and everyone else, too) wholly and selflessly. It was a story rooted in the real world. This was both a strength and a possible flaw of this book; I mean, I like Wentworth Miller too, and the references worked for me, but they do date the book. There's also some unchecked transphobia expressed by characters that made me wince.
Wounded was a tough read for me. It engaged me in really thoughtful, spiritual, challenging ways. The story dealt with so many big issues: faith, mysteries, miracles, stories, pain, trust, redemption, and love. The book's subtitle is "a love story," and this was primarily a love story between Gina and God. I found the way Gina sometimes conceptualized her relationship to God unexpectedly unconventional, but step by step, it made sense in terms of who she was and what she needed, and there's probably no such thing as a conventional relationship with God.
The secondary love story was between Gina and Anthony Priest, the heroin-addicted journalist who witnessed the onset of her stigmata. Believing his addiction was healed by Gina's touch, he follows her to her home, and together and apart, the two of them search for truth.
The story was told in multiple first-person POV sections, and Burney did an excellent job keeping the characters, and their reactions to each other, distinct. I loved that these characters were not perfect people. The actions of the characters were born of their personalities and their histories, not any demands of the plot or a need to have Christians act a certain way. I don't read a lot of Christian fiction, but my biggest pet peeve when I do is that the characters are far too perfect or too morally superior, or their flaws are all superficial and unchallenging. But Wounded was a story about really wrestling with faith and doubt, not about how to be perfect in one's Christianity or how Christianity solves everything. It's about how to be where you need to be, and how to be whole, and how to love (God and everyone else, too) wholly and selflessly. It was a story rooted in the real world. This was both a strength and a possible flaw of this book; I mean, I like Wentworth Miller too, and the references worked for me, but they do date the book. There's also some unchecked transphobia expressed by characters that made me wince.
June 29, 2016
From Publisher: Poor in health but rich in faith, Gina Merritt—a young, broke, African-American single mother—sits in a pew on Ash Wednesday and has a holy vision. When it fades, her palms are bleeding. Anthony Priest, the junkie sitting beside her, instinctively touches her when she cries out, but Gina flees in shock and pain. A prize-winning journalist before drugs destroyed his career, Anthony is flooded with a sense of well-being and knows he is cured of his addiction. Without understanding why, Anthony follows Gina home to find some answers. Together they search for an answer to this miraculous event and along the way they cross paths with a skeptical evangelical pastor, a gentle Catholic priest, a certifiable religious zealot, and an oversized transvestite drug dealer, all of whom lend their opinion. It's a quest for truth, sanity, and grace . and an unexpected love story.
March 17, 2010
Wounded: A Love Story by Claudia Mair Burney, was an interesting read. I'd rated it 3 stars because I have such mixed emotions about it. The story line was intersting enough - as in it held my attention until the very end. The ending, for me, could have been better. I felt like I was left hanging a little bit, but it was also a little predictable.
I thought it was a okay read since this is Lenten season. So the theme of the book was fitting for me. The characters were interesting. When asked, personally, to summarize the storyline, I can't really describe it.
So would I recommend this to a friend - I guess the answer would be yes.
I thought it was a okay read since this is Lenten season. So the theme of the book was fitting for me. The characters were interesting. When asked, personally, to summarize the storyline, I can't really describe it.
So would I recommend this to a friend - I guess the answer would be yes.
April 21, 2015
Was quite skeptical about this book from the back cover synopsis and the subject of stigmata. I wasn't looking forward to the lessons on Catholicism et al., but read it all nonetheless because I have enjoyed other CMB books. The love story...both the superficial and the spiritual were well portrayed.
The relationship between Priest and his mother was just absolute madness. Felt like they both needed some emergency family therapy, sheesh!!! Unfortunately, the condescending, resentful ways she treats her son is all too common.
Didn't like how it ended...so abrupt and no word from Gina. Would have liked to get a bit more after "then she died".
The relationship between Priest and his mother was just absolute madness. Felt like they both needed some emergency family therapy, sheesh!!! Unfortunately, the condescending, resentful ways she treats her son is all too common.
Didn't like how it ended...so abrupt and no word from Gina. Would have liked to get a bit more after "then she died".
January 22, 2010
What a great book. Any Christian reading this will be fascinated. The author's description of main character's stigmata experiences were amazing and totally put you in the main characters shoes. I loved the concept that something like this could happen to someone so broken. And the healing powers of the blood - its confirmation of what every Christian believes about the healing and redemptive powers of Christ's blood. I loved it!
January 22, 2010
What a great book. Any Christian reading this will be fascinated. The author's description of main character's stigmata experiences were amazing and totally put you in the main characters shoes. I loved the concept that something like this could happen to someone so broken. And the healing powers of the blood - its confirmation of what every Christian believes about the healing and redemptive powers of Christ's blood. I loved it!
January 12, 2012
=/ Sadly, not quite the same as her other book "Zora and Nicky". Similar, but too much at the same time. Too much religion (maybe the stigmata stuff bothered me?) that it seemed to suffocate the characters. Too much of a white (but possibly mulatto in denial) guy trying to sound black. Too many point of views that kept switching around and around and around. Wasn't really able to finish it, but it's still well enough written.
February 12, 2010
First Faith n Fiction round table book! And wow the reactions so far have been interesting..
I ended up loving this book. I loved the deeply flawed human characters, I loved the hunger for God, I loved the exploration of suffering and faith and I loved the mysticism. I can't believe a Christian publishing house took a chance on this one, but I'm so glad they did.
I ended up loving this book. I loved the deeply flawed human characters, I loved the hunger for God, I loved the exploration of suffering and faith and I loved the mysticism. I can't believe a Christian publishing house took a chance on this one, but I'm so glad they did.
May 8, 2015
This was a really different type of love story. A love story between Gina "soul Sistah" and Priest "white boy soul brotha". And a love story between Christ and Gina. And a love/hate story between Priest and Veronica. So many stories rolled up into this book. It was heartbreaking and joyous at the same time to read Gina's story.
March 4, 2010
It was a fascinating read, I loved the idea of such flawed people being touched by something so powerful and dramatic as stigmata. As a non christian I found the whole thing a bit too 'godly', but still a good read.
August 25, 2015
Honestly, I'm not sure what I think about this book. I definitely love the fact that it's not just about two people falling in love with each other but also about falling in love with Jesus. The straight-up honesty and reality of the characters also made the book enjoyable.
January 7, 2010
I couldn't put it down!
July 19, 2012
I loved this book. The storyline was wonderful, but what I really loved was how the author used the characters and was able to draw me into the story.
September 30, 2011
Broken characters with wounded hearts, and a powerful rawness. Loved this book.
September 30, 2011
This book is about a girl named gina who becomes overwhelmed with this type of miracle god gave her. and people think she afflected it on her self but really she didnt.
November 21, 2011
2.5. A talented author, but the content didn't much snag my interest. Very well told, though.
February 1, 2014
This book went beyond the usual love story, which I'm not really into anyway. Really enjoyed the book. Reminded me of a Lisa Samson story. Also enjoyed the humor in this book.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews