Reviews for Monk Upstairs

The average rating for Monk Upstairs based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-07-15 00:00:00 Todd Nichols This book had a different tone than the first, but still felt like a very real picture of the characters and what they were going through. Again, I was surprised by how much I was pulled into their story and how much I sympathized with their troubles and failures. Again, too, the best part of the book was how quietly contemplative it was, how utterly real yet soft it was. Flaubert writes with a realism that's like a harsh fluorescent light: it exposes everything without mercy and almost makes a mockery of humans for wishing there were shadows, for in shadows lie romance and mystery. Farrington writes with a realism that's a little softer. Perhaps his realism is more like dawn--just as powerful, just as illuminating, but acknowledging the shadows cast by the objects in the story. Farrington's novel acknowledges that there is mystery in life--that's one of the reasons his character of ex-monk works so well. He's not preachy but philosophical, and it's very easy to take the religion out of the work and instead contemplate the mysteries of life and everything that we do not know.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-11-04 00:00:00 Scott Sundstrom Tim Farrington is one of my favorite authors. His writing combines deep, wide compassion with a sharp ear for verbal banter and an ironic, nimble sense of humor. His sensibility seems very Buddhist to me; the heart of his fiction is the idea that everything changes and ends, and yet all of the chaos and fluctuations of life and death are ultimately manifestations of Love. His works often deal with people dying, and this book is no exception.