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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | 271.97 Johnson | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | 921 Johnson, M. 2011 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS
An unforgettable spiritual autobiography about a search for meaning that begins alongside one of the great religious icons of our time and ends with a return to the secular world
At seventeen, Mary Johnson saw Mother Teresa's face on the cover of Time and experienced her calling. Eighteen months later, she entered a convent in the South Bronx to begin her religious training. Not without difficulty, this bright, independent-minded Texas teenager eventually adapted to the sisters' austere life of poverty and devotion, and in time became close to Mother Teresa herself.
Still, beneath the white and blue sari beat the heart of an ordinary young woman facing the struggles we all share--the desire for love and connection, meaning and identity. During her twenty years with the Missionaries of Charity, Sister Donata, as she was known, grappled with her faith, her sexuality, the politics of the order, and her complicated relationship with Mother Teresa. Eventually, she left the church to find her own path--one that led to love and herself.
Provocative, profound, and emotionally charged, An Unquenchable Thirst presents a rare, privileged view of Mother Teresa. At the same time, it is a unique and magnificent memoir of self-discovery.
Author Notes
For twenty years, as Sister Donata, Mary Johnson was a Missionary of Charity, a nun in Mother Teresa's order, until she left in 1997. A respected teacher and public speaker, she has been named a Fellow of the MacDowell Colony and is on the board of A Room of Her Own Foundation. She lives in New Hampshire.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Johnson, a writer and Fellow of the MacDowell Colony, left the Missionaries of Charity in 1997. She overshares the 20 years she spent as a nun under the direction of Mother Theresa. As Sister Donata (a name meaning "freely given"), Johnson lived obediently in poverty and chastity-most of the time. Yet she was chafed by the rules more than by her blue-edged sari. For her, Jesus' words, "I came that you may have life, and have it to the full," meant she had to leave: "my faith left my soul cold." She profiles "Mother" beyond the myth and provides chilling reports of vicious, bullying nuns. She details her growth from a teenager obsessed with the ideal of Mother Theresa into an adult who needed touch and privacy and eye contact, all forbidden by Mother. Johnson writes candidly of self-flagellation, humiliation, and her furtive exploration of her sexuality. Johnson "recreated" the first half of her story, going back to her adolescence and her initial decade as a nun, from her memories; it's tedious compared to the intense, believable second half that includes her last years of working with Mother Theresa. The epilogue, covering her life after she left the order, teases with riches never mined. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Beautifully crafted memoir of one woman's experience in Mother Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity.Early on, Johnson compares prayer to immersion in water: "I could close my eyes and float on the river of God's Love almost at will." Readers, too, will find themselves transported into another world by this powerful, revealing memoir. An aspirant to the Missionaries of Charity at age 19, the author spent 20 years living a life both extraordinarily simple and heart-wrenchingly complex. Johnson skillfully demonstrates this juxtaposition through her writingmundane events, such as gathering eggs or learning to play the piano, often have tragic or miraculous implications. As she progressed in the order and became Sister Donata, the issues she faced became darker: a sexually predatory subordinate, theological disputes, an increasingly rigid system of rules and regulations and a love affair with a priest. Throughout the book, the author describes her interactions with Mother Teresa, but she does not try to pass off their relationship as especially close, but instead describes their time together with honesty and telling detail. She writes about a nun who got tired and hungry, became frustrated and disappointed, and liked candyMother Teresa actually emerges as a fairly normal person rather than a saintly archetype. As it became increasingly clear to Johnson that the Missionaries of Charity's vision and management were diverging from her own beliefs and values, she struggled with her place in the order and eventually made the decision to leave after two decades of service.Johnson's portrayal of her time as a nun is likely to be controversial; her memoir is exceptional.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* At 17, Johnson read an article about Mother Teresa in her Texas high-school library. Less than two years later, she was on her way to a South Bronx convent to begin training as one of the famous nun's Missionaries of Charity. Her fascinating memoir details her evolution from devoted disciple to distressed, exhausted nun, determined to leave her vocation and answer a calling to live in the wider world. She brings readers close to her story, showing her triumphs and temptations, limning characters as compelling as those in any novel: the predatory sister with whom she has an affair, the sisters in the general council who seem more concerned with the business of running the organization than with the poor they are there to serve, and, of course, Mother Teresa, who slides in and out of the story, as famous as anyone in the world yet unknowable even by those closest to her. Yet the book is mostly about Johnson Sister Donata, as she was known for 20 years and her inner and outer lives that never meshed, no matter how hard she tried to reconcile them. Her mesmerizing account of trying to orbit the sun that was Mother Teresa vividly captures a life in turmoil.--Cooper, Ilen. Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Mary Johnson, as Sister Donata, spent 20 years as a Missionary of Charity in Rome in the order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She lived and worked closely with Mother Teresa serving some of the world's poorest citizens. Her memoir shows a bright, independent young woman who tries to adapt to a world of rules, painful regiments, and unobtainable righteousness. This is an extraordinarily revealing and intimate portrait of her daily struggle to balance the spiritual with the worldly. She faces the all-too-human desires of any young person, seeking love, community, meaning, and purpose for her life. After 20 years, a disillusioned and skeptical Johnson left the order in 1997 and finally also left behind the church and her faith. In her brief epilog, she writes of her life over the last ten-plus years, obtaining a graduate degree (MFA in writing), marrying, and establishing a foundation offering retreats for women writers. VERDICT Johnson presents a remarkable, elegant spiritual memoir showcasing her journey, a fascinating view inside the world of Mother Teresa's organization, and Johnson's own "dark night of the soul." An excellent companion read to Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light-The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta, which chronicles the revered icon's own crisis of faith.-Nancy Richey, Western Kentucky Univ. Lib., Bowling Green (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.