Movement 113

eviews: books
wild Soose chase?
A self-confessed liturgy anorak is sorely disappointed..'
ATellin{, Place
Joy Mead I Wild Goose Publications
When A Telling Place arrived in
the office for review, I leaped on
it with eaEler anticipation. But
now, as I sit down to write this
review, I'm struglglling to explain
why I don't like it.
The book is a collection of meditations
which centre on the women in
the biblical narratives. The author
attempts to draw on the experience
of the biblical women who are on the
margins of history and telltheir story,
which has long been ignored. She
says that the book is 'not a book of
certainties and answers but of
explorations and of questions', which
is the sort of thing we like to hear at
scM.
They were women
who must have
loved, raged, lusted,
laughed and relaxed,
feeling and thinking
much as I have done,
but the book did
not help me
to relate to them
One of the stories which inspired the
author is the story of Jesus and the
Samaritan woman at the well, which
has long been one of my favourites.
The front cover shows a picture of
some women at a well which, when
added to the lovely calligraphic titles
and illustrations, makes the book very
visually pleasing. lndeed, there are
many reasons why I thought I would
like the book:
. I'm a self-confessed liturgl anorak
and have quite a collection of
litur$/ books.
. I'm inclined to judge a book by its
cover and this one looks so lovely.
. l'm a bit of a fan of literature which
sees biblical stories from the point
of view of the women in them.
. I love the stuff Wild Goose publish.
So I'm left to ask myself why it is,
when it seems that the book is just
my kind of thing, that I can't like it. I
wondered whether it was because I'd
read too much similar stuff and it was
like the time of year when you never
want to see another mince pie as
you've sickened yourself on them
over Christmas.
I looked at the meditations again
and I realised why it was I didn't like
them. None of the women felt real to
me. The author says 'we see how
emblematic the stories of these bible
women are - how intimately our own'.
lronically, that is exactly what I felt
was missing from the book: a sense
of identification with the biblical
women. They were women who must
have loved, raged, lusted, laughed
and relaxed, feeling and thinking
much as I have done, but the book
did not help me to relate to them.
The women in the book do things
which have been stereotyped as
womanly. They weep for generations
yet unborn, they await their own
flowering, they outburst the frames
described to hold them, they offer
the sweet womanliness of their free
flowing hair, and they have lifeblood
flowing from them. The author likes
to draw on images of bodiliness and
blood a little too much for my liking.
It all feels too much like bad liturgical
dance.
The author likes to
draw on images of
bodiliness and blood a
little too much for my
liking. lt all feels too
much like bad
liturgical dance
I read it aloud to my friend in the
hope a fresh viewpoint might help
with the review. We put our finger on
a problem: who will use this book? I
couldn't read it aloud with a straight
face, so that rules it out for corporate
worship. 'And if you used it for private
prayer you'd feel like a freak', she
commented.
So l'm afraid l'll have to say that if
you are after some reflections which
are rooted in reality and still have a
beautifully poetic quality to them, try
anything else Wild Goose have
published, but don't try this. I
Marie Pattison
28lmovement