The Monk Downstairs: A Novel - Softcover

Farrington, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062517864 ISBN 13: 9780062517869

Publisher: HarperOne, 2003

Synopsis

Rebecca Martin is a single mother with an apartment to rent and a sense that she has used up her illusions. I had the romantic thing with my first husband, thank you very much, she tells a hapless suitor. I'm thirty-eight years old, and I've got a daughter learning to read and a job I don't quite like. I don't need the violin music. But when the new tenant in her in-law apartment turns out to be Michael Christopher, on the lam after twenty years in a monastery and smack dab in the middle of a dark night of the soul, Rebecca begins to suspect that she is not as thoroughly disillusioned as she had thought. Her daughter, Mary Martha, is delighted with the new arrival, as is Rebecca's mother, Phoebe, a rollicking widow making a new life for herself among the spiritual eccentrics of the coastal town of Bolinas. Even Rebecca's best friend, Bonnie, once a confirmed cynic in matters of the heart, urges Rebecca on. But none of them, Rebecca feels, understands how complicated and dangerous love actually is. As her unlikely friendship with the ex-monk grows toward something deeper, and Michael wrestles with his despair while adjusting to a second career flipping hamburgers at McDonald's, Rebecca struggles with her own temptation to hope. But it is not until she is brought up short by the realities of life and death that she begins to glimpse the real mystery of love, and the unfathomable depths of faith. Beautifully written and playfully engaging, this novel. is about one man wrestling with his yearning for a life of contemplation and the need for a life of action in the world. But it's Rebecca's spirit, as well as her relationships with Mary Martha, Phoebe, her irresponsible surfer ex-husband Rory -- and, of course, the monk downstairs -- that makes this story shine.

About this title

Review

This is a relatively short book - one that could be easily read in an afternoon, but I found myself savoring it over several days. About 1/2 through I found myself thinking that I would keep this on my bookshelf forever, but having finished it I know I must send it on to the next reader to also savor and enjoy! There is humor, pathos, romance, and comtemplative soul searching all rolled into this story. Rebecca and Mike are characters that I could see myself having dinner with and calling my friends; Phoebe is just quirky and eccentric enough to make me want to invite her too just so the evening didn't get too quiet! I loved this book. --http://www.paperbackswap.com/Monk-Downstairs-Plus-Tim-Farrington/book/0061122424/

About the Author

Tim Farrington is the author of Lizzie's War, The Monk Downstairs, a New York Times Notable Book and The Monk Upstairs, as well as the critically acclaimed novels The California Book of the Dead and Blues for Hannah.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0062517864
• ISBN 13: 9780062517869
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304