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The Cloister Walk | 
 enlarge | Author: Kathleen Norris
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $9.75
You Save: $5.25 (35%)
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Rating:  60 reviews
Sales Rank: 28262
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 1573225843
Dewey Decimal Number: 255
UPC: 710261013502
EAN: 9781573225847
ASIN: 1573225843
Publication Date: April 1, 1997
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Amazon.com Review
In the tradition of Thomas Merton, Kathleen Norris gives us an intimate look at how religious life fills a gap in the soul. Her poetic sensibilities internalize the monastery as a symbol of spirituality, with its sanctity and humor, questioning and uncertainty, rhythm and vigor. Beyond moral precepts and Bible stories, Cloister Walk is a very personal account of religion lived fully. It depicts a depth and beauty of spirituality in monastic life that has survived the vicissitudes of Roman Catholic politics and pomp.
Product Description
A reverent study of the monastic world assesses the meaning of the cloistered life in modern times, journeying through a liturgical year to capture the relevance and spiritual significance of the religious life. Reprint. Tour. NYT. PW.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 55 more reviews...
 Please Walk Away December 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Beneath its beautiful cover this book started well then rapidly became a modernist exercise in denunciation of matters, beliefs, situations that find Kathleen Norris' disfavor. She hides her complaints well at first with her pretense of praise for the ancient Benedictine traditions, but like M. Scott Peck's In Search of Stones, which this work reminds me of so much, it soon becomes clear the topics within have varying degrees of subject matter in common with what this misleadingly marketed book is about. I wanted a book about modern Benedictines and the experience of residing among them and instead got a bellicose, self-obsessed, self-congratulatory account of times selectively spent brushing up against a semi-monastic existence. A boring, frustrating, sometimes almost unfathomable letdown because in description The Cloister Walk sounded so good.
self-absorbed, rambling, scattered, disjointed.... October 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
For the life of me, I don't see what people get out of Kathleen Norris' writing! Her thoughts are jumbled, scattered, rambling, disjointed, and highly self-absorbed to boot!
If you want to read a REAL book about monastic life, I recommend The Genessee Diary. Pass on this one. I feel that I've completely wasted the few hours I spent trudging through this tome.
 The Cloister Walk Review August 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Book Review
The Cloister Walk
In Kathleen Norris' book, The Cloister Walk, she invites the readers into her life as a Protestant, poet, feminist, married woman who is drawn to the monistic life of the Benedictines. She details the struggles she has with reconciling what she knew as a child with what she is learning today. Kathleen also finds great joy in experiencing life as she does, and seems to have no intentions of converting to the Catholic faith; she is happy being Protestant. While Kathleen takes the reader on her journey with her, she takes time to fill the reader in on her past so that they can fully appreciate her present.
This book was not what I expected when I first chose it specifically from its title. I was expecting a book about someone who is in a cloister and writing about that life, but once I understood what the intent of the book was I enjoyed journeying with Kathleen. I also found myself wanting to know what happened in her life once the pages ended. One of the biggest strengths of the book was that it was engaging and kept me interested in Kathleen's life. The book also shed some light on the Benedictine life and left me wanting to know more. In my position at my parish, I am often asked about good books. I can easily suggest this one as an option, though not as a book to obtain knowledge about the Catholic faith, but as a good summer read, which I think can often times be very valuable.
 A Helpful, Thoughtful Book June 14, 2008
It's been a few years, but memory tells me this was - and is - a wonderful book. I suppose it makes a difference to have been to the monastery in Minnesota where the author went, and to have met Ms. Norris; nonetheless, she has a lot to say. Her thought-full exposition of the Psalms was particularly helpful, although I would have been happier if she had chosen a more recent translation (such as the NRSV or the CEV)than the often-difficult-to-understand King James Version. I have recommended this book many times, and continue to do so.
 "My little story...has turned into prayer."--Emily Dickinson January 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the elements of Kathleen Norris which makes reading her so fundamentally satisfying is her ability to weave the words and thoughts of others so seamlessly into her own observations of endeavoring to live a life of faith. "The Cloister Walk" seems to do this with greater facility and to greater effect than "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography."
In "The Cloister Walk," Norris, an apathetic Christian turned agnostic turned yearning Protestant, relates her experiences (physical and spiritual) as an oblate with the Benedictines. This is an accessible memoir of one woman's account of opening the eyes of her heart in her search for God and one that can be enjoyed by anyone striving to hear a still small voice within.
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