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Faith: Stories: A Powerful International Short Story Anthology on Faith, Doubt, and Belief
Expanding the conversation begun in Stories, this important gathering of writers explores the diverse world of faith in all its Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Quaker, and Confucian beliefs, as well as Jewish and Christian ones. From James A. Michener to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, from Amy Tan to Hanif Kureishi, Stories investigates the boundaries of faith and ritual in everyday life. In one story, a one-eyed Chinese child learns that all heavens are not the same. In another, a wealthy moneylender finds a relic of the Prophet Muhammad and decides to keep it instead of returning it to its shrine. In a third, a father whose son begins to blindly preach the Koran becomes engaged in a fanaticism of his own.
With subtlety and surprise, wit and candor, these stories explore issues of faith such as sacrifice, superstition, myth, and disbelief. Together they form an illuminating prism of the religious experience in today's world.
With subtlety and surprise, wit and candor, these stories explore issues of faith such as sacrifice, superstition, myth, and disbelief. Together they form an illuminating prism of the religious experience in today's world.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 23, 2021
Daly Walker's "I Am the Grass," is one of the best short stories I've read in years. The whole collection of short stories on faith was eye opening, but I specifically want to read more of Walker's work.
August 31, 2016
It is always a bit of random when the stories are arranged by the last name of the author instead of any threads of themes. Some of the stories are intriguing and well-written, yet some others are quite puzzling.
My favorite one is by Remy Rougeau, a cloistered monk himself. The story is called “Cello”, an event of religion-group-exchange. It is funny and witty, vividly accessible with the touch of Anthony Trollope. Yet the climax is surprising and moving. We finally realized, as the observing monk Antoine, on Cello, the aged abbess, “ who had survived immense suffering in the Himalayas to offer a living witness to anyone interested: nothing less than the reversal of world order. Weak as she was — weak as all human beings are — she had found freedom from pain, which was the same as freedom from the desire for fame and fortune”. Written by a monk himself, this story carries the indisputable authenticity.
Tova Reich’s “The Third Generation” is a biting sardonic tale of a Jewish family merchandizing and profiteering from Holocaust. Their third generation, a young woman, suddenly turned from a “Holocaust nut” into a Catholic Nun. Even the mother, who is the secularly sane and decent one in the family, could not understand her daughter’s choice of “suffering and salvation, martyrdom and redemption”. Somewhere when the grandfather and father pumping the business, the third generation flipped in sheer disgust. There is no middle ground to return to — not a Jewish womanhood of normal life and ordinariness. She was radicalized intentionally but with unintended results.
In reverse order, Hanif Kureishi’s “My Son the Fanatic” resonates with immigrant families when there is a sudden disintegration of generation’s view on life and spirituality. In the end, father and son, they are all standing as individuals fighting what they think is the justice and moral in their world view. Fanatic or not, that depends on the view point and the magnitude of violence, otherwise, it is called heroism.
Mary Gordon’s “Deacon” hinges the whole story on one line of misunderstanding: “ You know you are greatly beloved”. In the proximity of relationship, often the closeness touch from a mere human overrides the theoretical God. This is a well-crafted story with a good dollop of wit and irony.
I am not quite sure what to make of Joyce Carol Oates “At the seminary”. But the story is very well written and sharply intriguing. The same with Garbriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. I need to read these stories again to comment.
My favorite one is by Remy Rougeau, a cloistered monk himself. The story is called “Cello”, an event of religion-group-exchange. It is funny and witty, vividly accessible with the touch of Anthony Trollope. Yet the climax is surprising and moving. We finally realized, as the observing monk Antoine, on Cello, the aged abbess, “ who had survived immense suffering in the Himalayas to offer a living witness to anyone interested: nothing less than the reversal of world order. Weak as she was — weak as all human beings are — she had found freedom from pain, which was the same as freedom from the desire for fame and fortune”. Written by a monk himself, this story carries the indisputable authenticity.
Tova Reich’s “The Third Generation” is a biting sardonic tale of a Jewish family merchandizing and profiteering from Holocaust. Their third generation, a young woman, suddenly turned from a “Holocaust nut” into a Catholic Nun. Even the mother, who is the secularly sane and decent one in the family, could not understand her daughter’s choice of “suffering and salvation, martyrdom and redemption”. Somewhere when the grandfather and father pumping the business, the third generation flipped in sheer disgust. There is no middle ground to return to — not a Jewish womanhood of normal life and ordinariness. She was radicalized intentionally but with unintended results.
In reverse order, Hanif Kureishi’s “My Son the Fanatic” resonates with immigrant families when there is a sudden disintegration of generation’s view on life and spirituality. In the end, father and son, they are all standing as individuals fighting what they think is the justice and moral in their world view. Fanatic or not, that depends on the view point and the magnitude of violence, otherwise, it is called heroism.
Mary Gordon’s “Deacon” hinges the whole story on one line of misunderstanding: “ You know you are greatly beloved”. In the proximity of relationship, often the closeness touch from a mere human overrides the theoretical God. This is a well-crafted story with a good dollop of wit and irony.
I am not quite sure what to make of Joyce Carol Oates “At the seminary”. But the story is very well written and sharply intriguing. The same with Garbriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. I need to read these stories again to comment.
December 9, 2012
Kum ba ya (for Converse)
December 7, 2007
A wonderful collection of short stories that does truly cover the "Vagaries of Faith".
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews